Eurooptic vortex burris nightforce sale




teslong borescope digital camera barrel monitor


As an Amazon Associate, this site earns a commission from Amazon sales.









February 26th, 2014

TECH TIP: Take-Down Procedure for AR Bolt Assembly

Accurate, modular, and supremely versatile, the AR15 is America’s favorite semi-auto rifle. But let’s face it, the AR is a maintenance hog. The AR’s gas tube blows carbon and soot right into the middle of the bolt assembly where it cakes on to the metal. The AR bolt also has many tiny parts, and small recesses, which must be cleaned regularly. This author has seen numerous ARs fail simply because there was gunk (dried lube, carbon, brass shavings) in the ejector slot or extractor spring recess.

AR15 Bolt Disassembly

A Clean AR is a Happy AR — Whether You Run ‘Wet’ or ‘Dry’
There are various schools of thought when it comes to maintaining an AR. Some folks prefer to run their AR “dry” with minimal lube on the lugs and friction surfaces. Other shooters prefer to run their ARs “wet”, with lots of lube. But whatever your preference, you need to clean your AR regularly. And nothing is more important than the AR’s bolt/carrier assembly. Because it is involved in feeding, firing, and extracting, the AR-15 bolt/carrier assembly can be considered the most critical portion of the AR-15 from a maintenance standpoint.

Bolt Take-Down Guide on Top Quark Blog
The editor of the Top Quark Blog has created an excellent illustrated AR15 Bolt Take-Down Guide that shows how to disassemble an AR15 bolt and carrier for regular cleaning. Even if you’re an experienced AR15 shooter, you can learn something from this page (sample at right), and you may want to bookmark it for future reference. The photos are large and clear and there are helpful hints for each step of the process.

The author knows his stuff and offers some important insights. For example, he notes that “Extractor springs in most AR15 bolt assemblies are fairly weak, and this can lead to various extraction-related failures. One of the few high points about Colt assemblies is their usage of higher-strength extractor springs. You can tell the difference by looking at the inner plastic insert. ‘Normal’ springs feature a blue plastic insert, Colt strong springs have a black insert.”

There is one notable oversight on this page — the author doesn’t cover disassembly and cleaning of the ejector assembly. This is actually quite important. A few small brass shavings, combined with carbon and lube in the ejector slot, WILL cause malfunctions. In fact, when this editor is called to diagnose problem ARs, the first things I look at (after swapping magazines) are the ejector recess and the slot for the extractor. Clogged ejectors are responsible for fail-to-ejects and other jams. It is essential that you keep the ejector hole clean. Old, gooey lube residues mixed with carbon and tiny brass shavings in the ejector recess will create all sorts of problems. As shown in the diagram below, it is simple to remove the ejector (#6) and ejector spring (#5), by drifting the ejector retaining pin (#4).

AR15 Bolt Assembly Diagram

Permalink Tech Tip 9 Comments »
January 10th, 2013

Pacific Tool and Gauge (PT&G) 2013 SHOT Show Specials

Pacific Tool and Gauge Dave KiffPacific Tool and Gauge is running a SHOT Show Special with big savings on bolts, bottom metal, chamber reamers, gauges and more. SHOT Show Special prices are offered for FOUR DAYS ONLY: January 15 through January 18, 2013. If you see something you want in the Specials list below, don’t hesitate. You can save $20-$30 (or more) on these SHOT Show Special items.

Call (541) 826-5808 to order and mention the SHOT Show Special. Remember deals expire at the end of the day on January 18, 2013!!

PT&G 2013 SHOT Show Specials

CHAMBER REAMERS
Custom and Wildcat Chamber Reamers
(Sm to Med) with removable pilot — $135 each

Standard SAAMI or CIP Chamber Reamers
HSS with removable pilot — $110 each
Carbide with removable pilot — $175 each

BOTTOM METAL
Remington “Stealth” Detachable Mag Bottom Metal — $99 each
L/A: BDL bolt in black | L/A: M5 black | S/A: M5 black
(Not including mag box and no engraving)
Remington PT&G Stealth Bottom Metal

Remington & Winchester Trigger Guard — $79 each
Long Action and Short Action Aluminum in the white
(Not including follower or spring)

ONE-PIECE BOLTS
RH custom size on the OD. L/A or S/A, with or without flutes
Your choice of extractor type — $175 each

RH standard size .699 OD, with or without flutes.
Your choice of extractor type — $149 each

PT&G one piece 1-piece bolt

HEADSPACE GAUGES
Small to medium — $25 each
Large (50BMG) gauges — $42.50 each


PT&G Expands Plant, Adds New Products, Launches Custom Shop

Dave Kiff, founder of PT&G, tells us there are many positive new developments at his company: “We will have new products coming out for 2013. There will be 14 new reamers, fixtures and rifle parts coming out after SHOT Show [plus] we are adding more bolts and bottom metal. Plus, we are now able to sell overseas with our ITAR in place.”

Pacific Tool and Gauge Dave Kiff

Pacific Tool and Gauge Dave KiffWith ever-increasing demand for its products, PT&G has grown dramatically in recent years. The company has invested $2.5 million dollars, expanded its production facilities, and added many more highly-trained staffers. Dave notes: “We have gone from 49 people to 126 toolmakers and office staff. Two years ago I decided to grow to meet the demands and needs of our customers and added machinery, buildings, and new employees. It has been a long, hard road but… we are just about over our growing pains.”

New PT&G Custom Shop
Dave has started a custom shop with fast turn-around. Dave says: “We are offering a 48-hour delivery on emergency tools and a 1-6 week delivery on tools that a gunsmith can wait on[.] We are able to stock SAAMI and Match grade chamber reamers on the shelf.”

Enhanced Certification System
Dave has created a new certification system: “[We have] put together a certification-auditable form that is stapled to the invoice and is filed so that if a customer has a question on a reamer size we can look up the tool and read the inspection data. This is working great.”

Pacific Tool and Gauge Dave Kiff

Permalink Gunsmithing, Hot Deals 3 Comments »
October 4th, 2011

Bolt-Tail Cleaner Tools for .223 and .308 ARs

Here’s a simple tool that may benefit you AR15 and AR10 shooters out there. The G&G Tools’ Bolt Cleaner and Polisher uses a radiused scraper with a cleaning pad to remove stubborn carbon from the tail of your AR bolts. The G&G Tool is offered in both a .223 version and a .308 version, both priced at $29.99. There is also a more basic (scraper only) unit for $19.99.

There are other ways to remove carbon (soaking in solvent and scraping with a knife), but G&G’s tools make the job quick and easy. Credit The Firearm Blog for finding this device. Watch the video below to see the tool in action.

G & G Tools AR15 bolt cleaner tool

Permalink Gear Review, New Product No Comments »
May 11th, 2011

Stolle Panda Drop Port Conversion by S&S Precision Rifles

The Drop Port is a great feature for benchrest shooters. You can run a bolt without an ejector, yet your cartridge will extract smoothly and reliably each time you pull the bolt back. Stiller’s Precision Firearms pioneered the Drop Port design, and Jerry Stiller offers this as a popular option with his Cobra, Viper, Python, D-Back, and Diamondback actions. The Drop Port is amazing in its simplicity (watch video below). As you pull the bolt rearwards, the fired case slides downward into a funnel. As it tilts nose-down, the case rotates free of the six-o’clock extractor, falls nose first down the funnel, and finally exits through a hole in the bottom of the stock. Gravity does all the work.

S&S Panda Drop Port Conversion
Until recently, if you wanted a Drop Port, your only option was to purchase a Stiller action or engineer a conversion yourself. Now the owners of Kelbly Panda actions can enjoy drop-port functionality via a conversion performed by S&S Precision Rifles in Texas. The folks at S&S will mill a slot in the bottom of your action, and then install a drop funnel in your stock. The conversion work is done so well you’d think the Pandas were originally made as Drop Ports by Kelbly. Drop Port conversions will be available for popular small match cartridges including 22 PPC, 6 PPC, 6mmBR, 6BRX, 6 Dasher, 6.5 Grendel, and 30 BR (plus other wildcats in the BR family).

Conversion Will Be Costly — New Actions Are Best Candidates
This conversion will not be cheap. Because Drop Ports require a six o’clock extractor, you’ll probably need a replacement bolt for your Panda. S&S is in discussion with Pacific Tool & Gauge to provide these bolts. You can probably resell your existing bolt, but the upfront conversion cost could approach $400 with new bolt and labor. S&S hopes to announce firm pricing in 4-6 weeks. Don “Stick” Starks, S&S’s lead gunsmith, also cautions that this conversion is most cost-effective with Panda actions that have not yet been installed, or which are set up with pillars (as opposed to glue-ins). Stick explained: “If your Panda is already glued in, then we have to remove the action, mill the port, install the funnel, and then re-bed the whole thing. That’s going to substantially increase your cost. It’s more logical to do this on a Panda that has not yet be put in a rifle.”

In the video above, you can watch S&S Precision convert a Stolle Panda action to a Drop Port, and then see how the converted Panda functions. The rifle is a 30BR owned by FORUM member Truckincars, who also created the video.

Permalink - Videos, Gunsmithing, New Product 2 Comments »
May 8th, 2010

Tech Tip: Fit One-Piece McFarland™ Gas Rings in Your AR

If you use an AR-platform rifle for varminting, multi-gun matches, or Service Rifle competition, one simple upgrade you can make to enhance reliability is to replace the mil-spec gas rings with a one-piece McFarland™ bolt gas ring. The McFarland ring is a single spiral of spring steel that loops around the bolt three times and leaves no path for gas leakage. With conventional gas rings, you need to correctly rotate each ring so the “gap” does not line up, thereby allowing gas blow-by that can cause cycling problems. The one-piece ring is an inexpensive, “set and forget” solution that eliminates the need to monitor your ring position on the bolt body.

McFarland 1-piece AR15 bolt gas ring

The one-piece McFarland gas ring is recommended by Fulton Armory and other AR experts. Installation is simple and the one-piece rings last a very long time. One AR user comments: “Ever since I tried single rings I would never change back to mil-spec rings. I’ve experienced more consistent recoils and cyclic rates of fire. And, as to wear — I haven’t worn one out yet.” On Brownells.com, two gunsmiths offered these reviews:

“Easy install, zero chance of a gap, one less thing to worry about in the bolt carrier group. This item should greatly improve gas pressure consistency. This is a ‘must have’ item.” — Jake, SC

“The concept is simple and sound. The one-piece gas ring removes the possibility of gaps lining up. It installs easily, holds great tension, and is cheap. Doesn’t get much better.” — Lane, TN

The McFarland™ one-piece bolt gas ring can be purchased from Brownells for $3.99 (item 100-001-257) or from Fulton Armory for $2.99 (item FA-AR-300-109). Purchase three or four at once to save on shipping costs — that should be enough for a decade of AR shooting.

Permalink Gunsmithing, Tech Tip 12 Comments »
November 1st, 2009

Basic Gunsmithing Videos from MidwayUSA

Larry Potterfield, owner and founder of MidwayUSA, has created some basic gunsmithing videos that are worth watching. These show some key aspects of rifle metal-working, such as crowning a barrel. Be aware that these videos are really just teasers — they don’t illustrate most of the critical preparatory steps a skilled gunsmith will do, such as leveling his lathe precisely, and indicating the barrel very, very carefully. Nonetheless, there are some good, basic tips in the videos, which should be informative for all shooters, whether they do their own smithing or not. Please note that benchrest smiths may employ more advanced methods.

VIDEO One: Cutting and Crowning a Barrel (Radiused Crown)

YouTube Preview Image

VIDEO Two: Threading and Chambering an Octagon Barrel

YouTube Preview Image

VIDEO Three: Trueing the Bolt Face on a Mauser 98

YouTube Preview Image
Permalink News 1 Comment »
April 10th, 2009

IBS Issues New Rules for Bolt-Handing and Begg's Skeleton Stock

International Benchrest ShootersOn the eve of the new competitive shooting season, the rulemakers of the International Benchrest Shooters (IBS) issued two decisions that will affect the short-range benchrest game.

On March 31st, the IBS Executive Board took the following actions:

Modification of Bolts-Out Rule
In order to safely allow competitors to check seating depth, et. al. in the loading area, the E-Board voted to allow the allow insertion of bolts in the loading areas. However, placing the bolt in the gun while in the loading area is permitted ONLY under the following circumstances (read carefully).

1. Competitor strips the bolt of the fire control system.
2. Competitor uses a dummy round without primer or powder.
3. Competitor inserts a NRA “chamber flag” or other IBS-approved indicator inside the bare bolt.
4. Competitor displays all of these items to those around him.

NOTE: Violation of the above rules will result in an immediate disqualification from the tournament. According to the IBS Executive Board: “The change in the bolts-out rule will not take effect until we establish the exact type of bare bolt indicator that will be readily available to competitors. A likely date of inception is June 1, 2009. Until that time, the existing ‘bolts-out rule’ applies.”

Approval of Current Beggs Stock
An IBS member asked the Executive Board to rule on the legality of the Gene Beggs’ modular stock for competition. This stock (shown below) features a separate, clamped bag-riding forearm rather than a conventional one-piece stock. The Excutive Board determined: “After consulting the Group and Score Committees there was a consensus among board members that the rules really did not envision a stock of this type. In the interest of not inhibiting innovation, the E-Board approved the Beggs Stock as currently configured, for HV, LV, SP, and VFS (as appropriate) competition in 2009. So that similar innovations can be more readily assessed, the Executive board will do a comprehensive review of the stock configuration rules prior to the July 1 deadline for agenda item submission.”

Gene Beggs Stock

Permalink Competition, News No Comments »
December 20th, 2008

Emergency Surgery — Stan Ware Fixes a 40X

Stan Ware SGR CustomMinnesotan Stan Ware is an extremely knowledgeable gunsmith, known for his precise machine work and attention to detail. When you have work done by Stan, you know he will “sweat the details” to ensure that everything is assembled to the correct, precise tolerances. Stan is also a successful benchrest competitor, shooting in score matches, and Hunter Benchrest matches using his innovative short-neck Wolf Pup wildcat.

Stan recently received a Remington 40X receiver from a customer on the West Coast. Supposedly, the action had been “trued” by a California gunsmith (who shall remain nameless), who also fitted (using the term loosely) a PT&G replacement bolt. To be brutally honest, the California gunsmith butchered the job, and Stan Ware was called in to “save the day.”

Stan looked over the 40X action carefully and was able to determine flaws in the truing work and serious problems with the way the replacement bolt was fitted and the bolt handle attached. Faulty work by the California smith resulted in a myriad of problems — the bolt timing was off, the bolt was headspacing on the handle (not the lugs), the bolt was not camming correctly, the lugs were lapped improperly and they were not bearing correctly inside the action. All in all, this action needed major surgery. In the videos below, Stan explains how he diagnosed the problems, and he illustrates the work he did to restore the 40X to a safe, functioning condition.

Moral of the story? When you have action work to do, go to a respected smith like Stan Ware (SGR Custom Rifles), rather than some local “gun plumber” who may mess up the action big-time, leaving it downright dangerous. Watch the videos below, and you’ll be amazed at the problems that Stan had to correct.

Part 1 — Diagnosing the Problems
Stan explains: “We recently received this action to be fixed. Because the bolt is such a good example of what the things you want to avoid, I put together this video. It’s a great example of what happens when the bolt is out of time or not in the correct position.”

YouTube Preview Image

Part 2 — Fixing the Lugs
According to Stan, “We encountered some more problems after machining the bolt handle off and installing the new Kiff bolt. We found that the lugs were lapped at a angle and that we were loosing cam as we rotated the bolt. So, we decided to go back in and re-cut the integral lugs and true the bolt lugs.”

YouTube Preview Image

Part 3 — Final Bolt Installation
Stan notes: “Here we show you what was done to correct the bolt that was not installed correctly. The Kiff bolt (Pacific Tool & Gauge) is a good system and laid out well. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to accurize his 700 Action.”

YouTube Preview Image
Permalink - Videos, Gunsmithing No Comments »
September 12th, 2008

Bill Hawk's Custom Bolt Knobs — Hand-Crafted

Looking for a cool extended bolt knob to provide extra leverage and more secure grip while working the action of your rifle? Bolt Knobs by Bill offers a wide array of styles and colors, all hand-crafted with great precision. Bill Hawk’s products range in price from $20 to $30. The O-Ring style provides excellent comfort and grip. The Tactical style knob is slightly longer and has no o-rings. It is available with or without knurling. Bill also offers a conventional oversized ball in plastic or metal. Click images below to see LARGE PHOTOS.

Custom bolt knobs are made from aluminum stock that has been machined, media blasted, and powder coated for a durable and uniform finish. Choose from dozens of powder-coat colors. Knobs are drilled and tapped to fit 5/16 x 24 threaded bolt handles. A round ball style is available in aluminum, steel, or phenolic (hard plastic with threaded brass insert). This configuration still provides plenty of gripping surface but keeps the overall length of the bolt handle shorter compared to the tactical model.

Bill Hawks tells us that all his products can be customized: “I started selling bolt knobs a few years ago when I began to combine my passion for metal working and my passion for shooting. Of course, there were other manufacturers who already made bolt knobs, but I wanted to offer something a little different by allowing the shooter to tell me what they wanted and do my best to produce it. Hence the ‘custom’ part. Most people are happy with the tactical and o-ring knobs that are featured on my website, but I also make them to customer spec. Length, profile, thread size, and material can all be adjusted at no extra charge in most cases. My emphasis is primarily on offering a service to my fellow shooters.” There is a secure shoping cart on Bill’s Website, so it’s easy to order. Direct questions to info [at] boltknobsbybill [dot] com, or call (319) 321-0827.

Permalink Gunsmithing 4 Comments »