Action Screws:

D

Doug

Guest
Action Screws?
I put my barreled action on my work bench and check action screws that have been Pillar Bedded.
I check the Front, Mid-action & Rear!
The mid & rear should easily screw up in to the bolt chamber since the are usually not blind holes. (This has not always been the case - UGH)

For most of my test I use my fingers and not a screw driver or wrench of any kind so I can feel any resistance!!

The front action screw in a lot of actions is a blind hole is usually a problem.
For this I use a screw driver with a flag only so I can count the turns until it bottoms out.
When it bottoms out I put a mark on the screw (Think magic marker dot)
Next I put my action in a cradle upside down & grab my stock.

All my action screws should fall in place. (At this point I have alimented all align issues!)
The Mid or Tang screws should not be even close to the bolt channel

Count the turns on your front action screws & if you get to 1/4 turn then you might have a problem.
Since you should be using Inch Pounds torque then 3 or 4 threads should not be a problem.

Disclaimer I am not a gunsmith - just someone who has been around a few years!
I hope some of the above makes sense?
 
If you have a barrel vise,

take the barrel off the action, Install the action in the stock, Torque the action screws ( I use 35 Inch Pounds) and see if the front screw is close to the threads and /or if it secures the action to the bedding? pillar (s). Then one knows for sure, what they have. Barrels aren't usually tightened up a lot on RF rifles.

It's hard to tell sometimes if the action screws are bottoming out, either on the barrel or in a blind hole but if one watches the screw as it is being torqued and can see that the screw was still moving when the wrench clicked then most likely the screw is not bottoming.

Pete
 
It is not at all hard to tell if action or scope base screws are bottomed out. This is how it is done.

For blind action screw holes, with the action out of the stock, start the screw a half turn or so, and with pressure against the screw head, pushing it toward the action, slowly reverse the screw until a slight click is heard. This will be the sound of the start the thread dropping at the exact point where it disengages. Note the position of the Allen wrench or driver handle at which this occurs, then tighten the screw by half turns counting as you go, half, one, half, two, etc, until the screw bottoms. Write the number of turns and partial turns down, then assemble the action to the stock, and do the same thing. If the screw is bottomed the number of turns will be the same. I like to have at least a half turn clearance on action screws, but a quarter turn is OK. If you have a solid bedding job with pillars the latter number is sufficient.

For scope bases it is basically the same. Count the turns with and without the base in place. There should be a difference. Because all the parts involved are metal, it does not have to be as much. A quarter turn is plenty.

I always do these tests on any rifle that I am working with because I have found so many instances where screws are bottomed.

Another situation comes up with the old 788 Remingtons where there is a shoulder at the end of the rear action screws threads that can bottom on the end of the extension into which it screws. In order to correct this, I purchased a die to extend the threads.

Harbor Freight sells an inexpensive vise ,that has a vacuum base, that has grooved jaws that I find handy for holding action screws when I need to shorten them, I clamp them with their ends pointing up and a few strokes with a file gets the job done.
 
Sounds like a good method Boyd

I tend to think more brute strengthish I guess. I was trained to be a mechanic for upper end mechanical things which tend to have been more precisely made in the first place than rifles, although some of them tended to have screws bottom out on occasion. It's fairly easy to detect an oil leak or air leak is a screw bottoms out, eh?

I worked on Jet Fighters and Machinetools after that . I don't know if that means anything really but that's where I am coming from. Of course, all of it was a life time ago. ( 50 years or so)

Pete
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top