Rem. bolt alteration

[R_Johnson]

How hard would it be to fit a Savage bolt head to a Rem. bolt? I don't have a Savage bolt to check the internal's. A switch barrel rifle is what come's to mind, as those Savage head's are only about $15. I know those Savage rifle's will shoot very well right out of the box. Is that floating bolt head one of the reason's? If someone has a Sav. & Rem. bolt to compare, let me know what you think. I'm sure a new striker would be part of the job if it would work.

[snapmit]

I think that would not be a grand idea. Sounds like it would be a bit of work . If your trying to make a switch barrel why dont you just get a aftermarket bolt . If you go over to Benchrest.com and ask for aftermaket bolts they will lead you to the right people . They are made . I have also picked up used bolts from gun shows .

[gunzilla]

My guess is that it is one of deals that by the time you converted the bolt, you would have been money and time ahead to just go with all savage?

If you have not seen the new savage trigger, it makes another check mark on the list of reasons to buy a savage. The savage bolt is basically a center tube with the bolt face and lockwork stuck on each end, very simple design... and of course the thing that makes the savage so nice for switch barrel design is the way the barrel is fitted.

My experience is that anyone that wants a switch barrel design that will require differnt bolt face sizes will want a full bolt for each -- swapping the bolt face is simple, but not really an easy "field change". The remington can be set up to use the same barrel mounting idea as the savage pretty easy, but in eaither case I would offer the customer a nice little pelican case that had the extra bolt(s) and head space gauge(s) quickly at hand... would make a real nice package.

[MikeB]

Why would you want to set up a Remington to use a Savage style barrel mounting system? Why not shoulder the barrel and set the headspace in the lathe and not have to worry about setting the headspace every time you change barrels? I build switch barrel rifles all the time and that is the only way that I would do it. A barrel that is set up correctly with a shoulder in a true action will have the same headspace every time you change barrels without the customer having to have a go gage to set the headspace.

The new Savage trigger may be better than the previous trigger, but I can't imagine that it would be as good as a Jewell that will fit a Remington. FWIW, the best Savage trigger I've seen was a prototype that Arnold Jewell had at the NBRSA nationals. Don't know whether he has made it to production with it yet or not.

Jerry Stiller built a couple of Viper actions that used a floating head similar to the Savage. They shot well, but he couldn't tell that they were any better than his standard bolts. The interchangalbe bolt heads intrigued me, too. And I thought about building a bolt with interchangable heads. Probably be about as simple though to build several complete bolts. I've built a few that used a separate bolt head that screwed in to the bolt body with the bolt head being loctited to the body with bearing and stud loctite. The action on my railgun (link to the photo is below) is built with a bolt like this and have never had any problem with it.

http://www.bryantcustom.com/images/Mike2002rail-1.jpg

[kurt]

Mike B, I see that you included the action in the barrel block, are you finding that its better that way? I ask because I tryed it too and had realy bad results.

[gunzilla]

Why would you want to set up a Remington to use a Savage style barrel mounting system? Why not shoulder the barrel and set the headspace in the lathe and not have to worry about setting the headspace every time you change barrels?

Exactly... because you can headspace the barrel each time, the original idea had a certain appeal to agencies that employed more than one of a certain weapons system -- there was no need to serialize parts and replacements do not require maintenance above the operator level.

But a more real world selling point is that John Doe Hunter can add or swap to his collection without a trip to the 'smith each time (and at a substantial savings). As to weather this idea has tested itself... I cant tell you. I do know that Midway is betting on a cottage industry of sorts here and hoping that the appeal of adding a new caliber everytime the whim catches is a selling factor, or that when John is talking to Joe about his new .403 Wondercat... Joe can just toss John the barrel and H/S gage and let him try it at his leasure -- surely increasing the orders of not only new .403 Wc barrels but reloading dies and brass as well? Not saying I agree with such an agenda, but...

I sort of like the idea of being able to set, change or check the H/S anytime I like.

The new Savage trigger may be better than the previous trigger, but I can't imagine that it would be as good as a Jewell that will fit a Remington.

It is a damn nice trigger, time will tell... but they did a nice job and again the owner/shooter can set it where he or she wants with no trouble, one adjustment and no fear of unintentional discharge.

[MikeB]

Kurt,
I dont' know whether its a better way or not. The way the rail is set up, it uses a 1.450" diameter action that is about 8" long. This is epoxied to an aluminum sleeve 2.65" in diameter x 13" long which is then epoxied into the two piece block which is epoxied and bolted to the top plate. It seems to shoot pretty well as I finished 16th at 100 and 21st in the grand at the NBRSA nationals last summer. Just couldn't get that extra one place to get a Top 20 patch. I've seem them shoot well no matter how the barrel is fitted to the block whether in a v-block, glued into the block or held with the action as mine is. The reason I went to this method was that it was the way Don Geraci had his set up and he said that he had tried every method that he could and thought it was best. Pretty hard to argue with the sucess that Don has had shooting his rail gun. It certainly is easier to change out barrels in it as well as do things like recrown. My barrel is crowned at 22". I think the next one will be crowned at 24" just so it will have a little more room to get a barrel vise on it to remove the barrel. I've always had some qualms about using a v-block to clamp the barrel as I've always thought that it would be too easy to change dimensions of the bore underneath the block by how tight the bolts are torqued that hold the v-block together.

How did you have your action set up when you tried it?

Mike Bryant

[MikeB]

I can see the appeal to the general public of being able to change barrels without the use of a lathe to set headspace or having to pay a gunsmith to do it. Can't see that it would be of much use to someone with a lathe that can fit their own barrels though. Also, on the Savage trigger, I'm glad to see Savage come out with a better trigger as it was sorely needed. I haven't done much work with the Savages, but the few that I have barreled have been some of the truest factory actions that I've used to build rifles.

[R_Johnson]

The reason I asked about using a Savage bolt head was because the Savage seem's to shoot so well for an out of the box rifle, and was wondering if the floating bolt head was one of the factors. My son's have several Remington actions, and Jewell triggers on hand, and were asking about having a .222 & 6 PPC.built on one action. Just having a switch barrel like a Savage was not my intent. Those Savage bolt heads are only about $15. A Remington after market is around $250, and a Remington factory bolt is a $100, or more if you can find one. I have a spare Rem. 722 bolt I could experiment with, but I need to see a Savage bolt apart to tell if this is possible. For me, this would be an exercise is machining that I have'nt done before.Even if Jewell makes a trigger for the Savage, and no dought! it will be a good one. You still have that Savage striker 90 degree's from the bottom which I don't like. For me, this would be just an interesting project, as they already have good quality bench rifles.

[MikeB]

I'd buy a Savage bolt head and see if it would work. You might have to do a little milling on the bolt head to be able to use it. For instance the anti bind groove on the bottom edge of the lug. I wouldn't use a Remington bolt to do it though. No sense ruining a Remington bolt to try it. The bolt body is the easy part to make. Make a tube to fit the bolt head. Drill and tap it 1/2-13 on the cocking cam side. The hardest part is milling the cocking cam. Other than that the rest is pretty easy and you can either silver braze a Holland bolt handle on it or use a Remington bolt handle. Both are available from Brownell's.

[kurt]

Mike I have done Two, one is more like a unlimited, and the other is like yours. The unlimited is the one that gives me fits, it uses the stock for the bottom haff of the block and the top haff goes to the bolt handle. The rail has only the barrel in the block.

[butchlambert1]

Mike, I'm sure glad to see you on the forum. For the rest of you guys who don't know Mike, He is one of the best most knowledgeable gunsmiths in the USA. He does a great many benchrest and hunting guns. He will be very helpful to all of you and his advice is something to listen to. Butch