Recoil Lug

M

max.burgess

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Did any one read the article in Persion Shooting about recoil lug ? And what do you think?
Thanks Max
 
They got a bunch of recoil lugs and miked them out, to see how flat they are. They never fired a shot to compare one agents an other. Max
 
Interesting article, well thought out and researched, but seems to be over analyzed with no real world application of the findings. I also wonder how much difference the custom lug truing would have made in accuracy but can think of no practical way to test it.
 
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A friend of mine has a Savage single shot varmint rifle in .223. It had been somewhat of an indifferent performer. We had a competent gunsmith square up the front of the action, and install an aftermarket lug, which I believe was from SSS. The accuracy was improved quite a bit. I realize that for this to be a proper test, the rifle should have been tested after the action was squared, with the old lug, and again with the new one, but his purpose was to make the rifle shoot better, not do research, and it only took a little more effort to square the action, while it was apart.
 
1st off, measuring lugs with a micrometer does not show flatness. It shows parallelism. There is a difference. A lug could be concave or convex or bent in some manner and still be parallel. Lugs that aren't flat and/or parallel screws up how true & straight the barrel seats. In my opinion, if your lug isn't correct you have the same defect as having an untrue action face.
 
I new to all this, so I dint know very much. The comment about the recoil lug touching the stock on all sides through me . I thought the bottom ,sides & front aren't soupiest to touch the stock. I thought when you started measuring to the 4 & 5 disable you kneaded to be in a controlled environment?
 
You're correct.....the rear surface is the only surface that should make contact. I'm very suspicious when people talk about measuring anything less then .0001 or .0002.
When you start talking 50 millionths everything is much more critical. At work, some parts have characterisitcs that are measured in light bands. But that's another whole story.
 
I believe that all of the custom lugs that I have seen looked like they had had their front and back surfaces ground on a surface grinder. As far as needing to have a controlled environment to measure to ten thousandths goes, I believe that that applies if and absolute dimension is what is being sought, but if you are measuring on two or more place on the same piece to see if the measurements are the same, then all you are looking for is any difference, not the absolute measurement. For instance if a part measured .2504 at one point and .2500 at another, if the temperature at which it was measured was not standard, then the absolute value of both might be off, but the fact that they were different, and the relative magnitude would still be useful information. As far as technique becoming more of an issue, when working to ten thousandths, I agree completely. A friend, who was a long time bullet maker, told me that he would not look at the micrometer's reading until after he had the mic. set, so that his technique would not be influenced by the measurement that he wanted. Also, I have found that dragging a piece through the mic. sometimes give me a better feel, particularly when measuring things that are easily deformed.
 
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You are correct Ian! Has anybody documented a recoil lug that was bent from recoil. The customs make a rifle shoot better, just like custom wheels make your vehicle faster. I surface grind the factory ones.
 
I haven't seen the article yet but have checked many custom lugs. Most aren't parallel. I'd guess to the tune of .0003-.0005" out. Makes no sense to true everything up as close as possible, and then stack another known few tenths in, that may make things pretty "unsquare" cumulatively.
 
I relies the part that surround the barrel kneads to be uniform. How long does it knead to be on a standard cartridge ? max
 
Butch Lambert said:
You are correct Ian! Has anybody documented a recoil lug that was bent from recoil. The customs make a rifle shoot better, just like custom wheels make your vehicle faster. I surface grind the factory ones.
Click to expand...

Hi Butch, I don't know about bent, but i have found a couple Rem factory lugs that had cracked through. I might even still have one here as a souvenier?
For actions where i have re-cut the receiver threads i have to fit a modified/oversized (bore) lug anyway, so it just makes sense to fit an aftermarket one, as it is cheaper and easier than re-working the factory ones, as well as stronger. I have found the PTG lugs to be good value, and a pretty good selection too.

Dean.
 
Aren't benchrest shooters and gunsmiths overly critical of everything??

I feel it somewhat important the recoil lug needs to be flat and parallel. It is more important for the recoil lug be perpendicular to the bore. If the bore of the lug is canted then the barrel won’t have an even concentric torque. It would be like the front ring not being true.
 
I personally wouldnt even use an action that required a seperate recoil lug, for a rifle build that needed to be dead nutz accurate, like a Point Blank Bench Rifle. Now for a hunting rifle, i see no reason not to use one, and in this case who really cares in there is a couple tenths difference from side to side.
I would simply buy the best lug i could, and call it good. If i had a surface grinder, i would of course do as Butch does and grind the lug to be sure, but i dont have one, nor will i probably ever have one?? just my thoughts anyway. Lee
 
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