Locking Lugs Falling Off Of Farley Actions!!

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jackie schmidt

jackie schmidt

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I only have second hand knowledge of this occurance, but it seems that there has been some more recent incidents of Locking Lugs failing on the bolts of Farley Actions.
Since all three of my Competition Rifles are built on Farleys, this is a big concern to me.
Does any body have any first hand info on this phenomina?? As many might know, we went throgh this a few years back. Gene Bukys, Pat Byrne, and I all gathered up about ten Farley Bolts, took them over to a local heat treating facility, and had the RC Hardness checked. They were all over the scale, from 44 all the way up past 53.
Jim addressed this, I sent one bolt back, (it was 53), but did not send the one on my favorite Rifle back, as it was about 49-50, which is borderline for S-7 Tool Steel.
Since we shoot thousands of rounds through our Rifles, this is beginning to worry me.
Any thoughts out there on this??.........jackie
 
Jackie, I know about three such actions, although all second hand. One in particular, had both lugs sheer clean off the bolt. The action in question was used very sparingly, I believe only in 2 Super Shoots. The Serial # is either 303 or 304, can't remember which.
 
are the failures on the fireflys or the new black widows?
 
Farleys failing

Jackie,
I have first hand knowledge of a Farley that the jugs failed on.In this case the bolt was replaced and a new action in addition to the bolt was sent to the owner.
Because it was a friend of mine and not me I will not list the person involved other than to say that the day this occured I was supposed to meet him at he range,but I got held up and work and when I was talking to the person and was told what had happened he realized how close he came to injury and called Jim and this is when the bolt was replaced and a new action given.
I would be careful if I had one of these actions.
Nick Loy
 
There was one at the SS

Jackie, there was at least one occurance at this year's SS. I won't name the person, but I looked at the bolt and both lugs were broken. This is something to be concerned about. James
 
george in KY said:
smart thing would be to call farley and ASK.
Click to expand...

While calling Farley would help the person who made the call, it wouldn't help those that don't know there is a problem. I don't like to see a vendor/manufacturer take it on the chin on a forum like this, but this is a safety issue. Everyone that owns one of these actions has the right to know that something may be wrong.
 
So, how does this happen without the bolt ending up sticking out the back of someone's neck?
 
It'd still put the sh..ts up ya to open the bolt and leave the lugs behind !! :eek:

Bryce
 
Ok

Here is the point. There have been MILLIONS of bolt action Rifles produced since the 1890's. Everything from substandard military offerings produced by Nations in the throws of defeat, to the finest in Customs made to the finest standards.
How many "lug failures" have occured in these years under anything that could be considered normal use. Probably not many.
I, for one, have to make a serious decision. All three of my Competition Rifles are built on Farley Actions. I am in the middle of another shooting season. The Texas State is two weeks off.
As a Machinist, I have the facilities at my disposal to have my actions checked. When Gene Bukys informed me of another incidence of lug failure a month ago, I had my Sporter checked, and they found no indications. But I would be lying if I did not feel a little queezy every time I think about this.
If a damned action had a lug failure at, of all places, the Super Shoot, why in the HELL hasn't someone said something about it. Good Grief, if we can not get reliable information out about something as serious as locking lug failure in a custom action, then what can we be guarded against.
And don't give me that old "liability and lawsuite" crap. This is NOT supposed to happen.......jackie
 
At least the lugs weren’t flying out the side of an exposed bolt head micro-port ejection system.
Why they are allowed I have no idea?
 
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Bryce

From the info out there, the first indication that the lugs had "fell off' was when the shooter could not open the bolt. After removing the barrel, it was found that the failed lugs had indeed produced enough of a wedge to keep the bolt from going out the back.
It would help if somone who actually witnessed this occurance would inform the rest of us just what is going on.......jackie
 
Jackie,

I was kinda overstating it for the sake of a little light hearted humour. I figured the lugs probably just fractured to start with rather than fall off, I guess it makes sense that once they feild they probably bind up the works somewhat !

I feel for you Jackie. I know your main rifles all use the action in question and to not be made aware of something as serious as this when it has happened more than just once or twice is damn near inexcuseable !!

Hope you get it figured out without the need to resort to anything that'd mess up your gear preparation unduly.

Bryce
 
BR Pressures

While lug failures should not occur, it is a common practice to shoot BR guns at substantially elevated pressures. Some have been shot in excess of 70,000 PSI repeatedly (3450 fps or more). Considering that a BR shooter may shoot 1000's of rounds a year an occasional failure might show up. When you exceed published load standards to these pressure levels you are taking a risk. The more you push it, the more likely a severe pressure spike may occur at such elevated operating pressures. These can get out of hand in a hurry up there. I suppose that proper periodic inspection might forsee an impending failure, but I would'nt bet on it. I have seen commercial actions destroyed with standard loads but an undetermined cause of failure. I suspect that several custom actions of any manufacture are wrecked every year but the word doesn't go very far.
 
Jackie if it was me I would find a FAA repair shop with a Magnaflux machine and a certified operator to have those bolts checked before I used them again.
 
I would

hardness test them and if they are more than about Rc 44 have them magnafluxed. If they are more than 44 they are a potential problem. S7 is a great steel, its what we use on the benchrest actions and soon to be on the predators also. It is better then the 4140's etc at about 3 points higher hardness. ANY bolt that has had substantial shots through it at above Rc 44 and then tempered back is still suspect without magnafluxing and maybe zygloing it too. ANY small crack will soon propogate. You are much better off too soft than a little too hard.
 
Jackie

I agree that the bolts should be magnafluxed to see if there are any cracks. While S-7 is a shock resisting tool steel with a high saftey factor in heat treat do to the air quench process, I still agree that 53 RC is definetly up there. While I personally use S-7 for my bolt lugs at a high hardness level to decrease galling, I still limit the hardness of mine to 45 RC. If your bolts do not show any signs of cracking, I would do a double redraw on them for 2 hours each time. I would also wrap them in stainless tool steel wrap to prevent oxidation since the draw temperatures would be around 1100 degrees. This temperature should be checked since it's been a few years since I've heat treated a bolt. After the redraw, I'd never look back.

Michael
 
It's a big deal

But I'm gonna close this thread and talk to the manufacturer. I'll probably reopen it. Gimme a day please..
 
I spoke with Farley Mfg

They are in the process of addressing the bolt issue and will respond soon.
 
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