Rem 700 switch barrel project

D

Dennis Sorensen

Guest
I have toyed with this idea for a while. My thought was to thread a 700 action slightly larger and make a bushing to fit with a smaller internal thread, sandwiching a Holland recoil lug between the shoulder of the bushing and the receiver.

I used the Holland lug not for increased thickness but more because it is very close to receiver diameter and it looks real good. I made the shoulder of the bushing the same diameter and .150" 'thick'. The length of the bushing from the front face of it is 1.100". That is .005" short of the front of the bolt lug and is very close to the go gauge measurement. The lug is pinned and fitted with a bit of coarse valve grinding compound between the action face and the lug and a jig is used to keep it lined up. The grinding compound compresses into the metal and keeps the lug from rotating and breaking the pin off when the threads are tightened.

The action was threaded to 1.100" x 16 tpi. The bushing was threaded to fit nicely by hand. The inside of the bushing is .945 x 20 tpi. I stamped the front of the recoil lug with 945 x 20.

The mating threads were cleaned well and Red Loctite was applied. Using a barrel stub to fit the bushings internal thread the bushing was torqued to 125 foot pounds.

Then with a freshly threaded barrel stub in the lathe and a ground shaft in the bolt race way, run out was checked at the rear of the action on the ground mandrel... it was just over 3 thou. Good enough for a varmint rifle and better than most.

The bushing
bushing-0.jpg


Installed
bushinginstalled-0.jpg


Next I will fit and install and headspace two barrels. They will be torqued to 60 ft/lbs. This should be extremely easy to switch barrels...
 
Very cool Dennis. Please post some pics when you are finished. I hope one day i can do some projects such as this. I think a water cooled tension gun would be trick!! Lee
 
Lee, hopefully I will be able to tell you how it ends up shooting as well.

Dennis did the rifle initially for me as a 6BR. It was the first rifle I had accurized and then went into full blown BR rigs. Dennis had wanted to do this project for a while so I said sure why not. He also wanted to buy that action from me. He mentioned that numerous times. I figured if he wants it there must be a reason. If that is the case I figured NO WAY. It is my first born . It is not up for adoption........ Dennis now you know the rest of the story........ LOL

Actually how it transpired was I did not have a small caliber for coyotes. I did not want to smash pelts up. I bought a REM 700 youth model in .243 and used it. Smashed pelts big time. Okay if you just wnat to lay the smackdown on the yoodle dog. The pelt prices have been coming up so I wanted something. I could have bought off the shelf but I would not have been happy. I decided on a .223. I contacted Dennis and asked him if he would do the project.

I was later talked into a 20 Tactical but I did not want to put more money than necessary into the project. That would mean ordering a reamer, brass harder to get, die, etc. etc. I could have gave it to the guys that talked me into it (they are both builders) but I promised Dennis the work. I also began to realize that I was going to get away from the simplicity of what I wanted. Thus off to Dennis the 6BR went.

He has the right reamer for what I want, light bullets. Plus he has been doing this for over 45 years and knows how to do quality work.

I lucked out that I found a slightly used Hart rifle barrel in 14 twist from one of the guys I shoot BR with out of Alberta. He had it bore scoped and the gunsmith who looked at it figured it had NEVER been fired at all. I decided I would take it. I found out from another fellow that Kiff had some unclaimed 223 boltface bolts for sale at a good price. Call was made and a bolt was in the mail.

Dennis is also going to setback and rechamber the existing 6BR barrel to fit the bushing.

When all said and done I have my summertime gopher rifle, winter coyote rifle, and if I want to shoot some longer distances I have my 6 BR to play with at the farm or even use on the whitetails if I chose to.

Really looking forward to the completed rifle.

Calvin
 
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Dennis

I use barrel tenon out-serts but have often thought about an insert (bushing) instead. Great looking job.

Questions - Did you cut the ID thread with the bushing in the action? Would that make for better alignment?

Ray
 
Nice insert Dennis. I haven't had the need yet but like the fact it holds the recoil lug. Awhile ago I drew up a large shank Savage insert that had internal threads timed so the external thread peaks were directly on top of the internal thread peaks. Thread the internal then use a stub to set up the external and move over half which is .025" for 20 tpi. The insert would be a consistant thickness of .030" which is thicker than the 20 tpi thread height and by my guess strong enough to reuse. Never did try it though. Thanks for the pics.
 
Cheechako said:
Dennis

I use barrel tenon out-serts but have often thought about an insert (bushing) instead. Great looking job.

Questions - Did you cut the ID thread with the bushing in the action? Would that make for better alignment?


Ray
Click to expand...

I machined the bushing (303 stainless) in one set up sticking out of the chuck and faced it off to length, after it was in the action I refaced the end of it with the action mandrel between centers.

I haven't measured any action with less than 2 thou run out at the end of the mandrel. I even measured one custom action with 5 thou. This measurement is done with a freshly threaded barrel stub in the lathe chuck and the action tightened on it by hand with the ground mandrel sticking out the back of the action.
 
Will you pre-torque the bushing to the barrel or just let it obtain its own torque in conjugation with screwing it all together.

J.Louis
 
skeetlee said:
Very cool Dennis. Please post some pics when you are finished. I hope one day i can do some projects such as this. I think a water cooled tension gun would be trick!! Lee
Click to expand...

I am away for a week back on the 30th. I'll post some more pictures the first part of December when it will be all finished.
 
I'm surprised there is enough cross section area in the insert to survive torqueing to 130 ft-lbs.

I would like to make a similar bushing but with .750" threads to allow my 40X rimfire to use the bbls off my Hall rimfire actions. The problem I am having is that the sleeve is going to be quite long with a deep counterbore at the front end because the Hall thread is less than 1" long. The largest dia bbl I would use would be about .900 dia plus about .010 to .020" extra diameter for clearance. This seems like it would be getting too close to the root diameter of the 1.063"x16 Remington thread.
 
Last year I needed a barrel quick for my 220 Swift AI. I found one that would fit my needs, however the diameter was just barely large enough to thread for a Remington 700 action. I threaded it much longer the normal.Then made a sleeve of larger diameter stainless - threaded it internally- screwed it on the barrel - green locktite - installed recoil lug and tightened. This reminds me of a Savage with a barrel nut design. I know some may not think this is a good shop practice, but it worked well and shoots really well.
I may be able to post a picture of the completed rifle later.
 
Since I have a lathe and the material I decided to re-invent the wheel. Actually the bushing makes the profile quite nice (or at least I think so). It may be because I dreamed it up and made it. I'll try to get my camera and post a picture soon.
I have a suppressor that I will install when all the paperwork clears. I'll have to pull the stock off and thread for the suppressor adapter. Surely I'll get a picture then.
 
Dennis,

My own solution (if I was to do something like that) would be to stick the barrel on tightly with the original recoil lug in place, then TIG weld that on the underside to the receiver face. No need to have 2 sets of threads, a weakened receiver ring, and thinner chamber walls.

For a guy who is so adamant about Sako extractors, this seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

jmho.
 
Pacnor nut on my 40x rimfire. You can see it's much longer than the Savage nut. On the rimfire I get to eliminate the torque shoulder which makes the bbl slug without a tight spot at the shoulder.
40xbblnut.jpg
 
4Mesh said:
For a guy who is so adamant about Sako extractors, this seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

jmho.
Click to expand...

Both bolts for this action are set up with factory Remington extractors...
 
Dennis Sorensen said:
Both bolts for this action are set up with factory Remington extractors...
Click to expand...

He's not talking about the extractor Dennis, but about the fact that not only have you introduced another area of rotation/misalignment, but you've materially weakened the tenon.

And, from my perspective, after all this work what have you actually accomplished over a pinned recoil lug?

al
 
alinwa said:
He's not talking about the extractor Dennis, but about the fact that not only have you introduced another area of rotation/misalignment, but you've materially weakened the tenon.

And, from my perspective, after all this work what have you actually accomplished over a pinned recoil lug?

al
Click to expand...
Correct Al. Substantially weakened the tenon. I would bet that if this became a common modification, it would prove more failure-prone than a sako extractor is. jmho.

And to answer, what has he accomplished... As long as the part he made is tighter than the barrel, or gets locktite'ed in, that will keep the recoil lug perfectly in place vs a pinned one that will invariably allow "some" movement. I only ever had one pinned one, had 2 pins. Sheared em both off. I guess most folks don't tighten barrels as tight as I do! This is why I'd advocate the tig weld solution. Much then like a Winchester with the recoil lug attached (correct me if I'm mistaken there). But, welding it in place would solve both issues of pinning and movement, but would do so without weakening the receiver ring.
 
Lots of theory - but misalignment is less in this trued action than a factory action... considerably less, and how much has the tenon been weakened? Browning A bolts use a similar diameter chambered in belted magnum cartridges and have no problems what ever.

I doubt that a severe overload or catastrophic case failure will react any differently in this alteration than in any factory 700. If someone wants to pay for it, I may be able to arrange to try and blow it up and see what fails.

This is easier to switch barrels.
 
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