This one was rather interesting.
Tony H from MI sent me this Lawton action. He'd had it barreled up by another shop. They ran into problems with ejecting a fired case. It was originally built as a 308. The bolt face had been opened up to accommodate a WSM cartridge.
This created a problem because of the AR style extractor. With the plunger ejector at the 5 o clock position the ejection angle caused the bigger case to hang up in the port.
So, their solution was to plug the ejector hole on the bolt face and make a rather "unconventional" feature on the port itself. This brings us to the present condition shown in these photos supplied by the owner when he received the barreled action.
"Livid" doesn't even remotely express his response to what he got. We've got a build in the works for him so he contacted me about trying to work this over and find a more reasonable solution.
Sight unseen I was hesitant to commit to fixing it, but I encouraged him to send it in anyway.
So here's what we did and what I ultimately figured out with this piece.
The sole issue with this gun surrounds the type of extractor and the location of the ejector plunger. Remember, it was built as a 308 which uses a .471 diameter case. The WSM is .545" The extractor is M16 style so it's at the 1 o clock position. this works for the 308 due to the smaller case rim, but it created a port interference with the WSM. Enlarging the port certainly solved the problem, but also complicates the issue with turret clearance on scope.
-There's been numerous posts on this subject here in the G/S section over the years.
So, the simple solution is to relocate the ejector. Putting it at 3 o clock changes the ejector angle to a more horizontal arc and this kills all the birds.
Now onto "undoing" the damage done to the port. The port was only part of the problem. The "real" damage was done when the shop who did this invaded the bolt raceway. It caused the bolt to want to hang up when cycling. -Meaning the rear of the bolt lug was catching the cut and sticking intermittently as you moved it.
Not cool at all.
What I did to fix it was a fairly bold move. I have some silver solder here that's pretty dern stout. Its hard stuff when it sets. I sweated a bunch of it into the raceway area and then went about cleaning it up in the mill. Some piddled into the broached way so I had to get busy with a hand file and some emery to clean that up. To give a more conventional appearance to the port I opened it up slightly to blend the previous work.
Here's the final outcome. I think we came out pretty well on this one.
As for the shop that did it. Don't ask, I'm not saying anything more about it. Were just glad we got it sorted out and that he can still use the gun.
Fun stuff!
Enjoy your Monday germs.
C.
Tony H from MI sent me this Lawton action. He'd had it barreled up by another shop. They ran into problems with ejecting a fired case. It was originally built as a 308. The bolt face had been opened up to accommodate a WSM cartridge.
This created a problem because of the AR style extractor. With the plunger ejector at the 5 o clock position the ejection angle caused the bigger case to hang up in the port.
So, their solution was to plug the ejector hole on the bolt face and make a rather "unconventional" feature on the port itself. This brings us to the present condition shown in these photos supplied by the owner when he received the barreled action.
"Livid" doesn't even remotely express his response to what he got. We've got a build in the works for him so he contacted me about trying to work this over and find a more reasonable solution.
Sight unseen I was hesitant to commit to fixing it, but I encouraged him to send it in anyway.
So here's what we did and what I ultimately figured out with this piece.
The sole issue with this gun surrounds the type of extractor and the location of the ejector plunger. Remember, it was built as a 308 which uses a .471 diameter case. The WSM is .545" The extractor is M16 style so it's at the 1 o clock position. this works for the 308 due to the smaller case rim, but it created a port interference with the WSM. Enlarging the port certainly solved the problem, but also complicates the issue with turret clearance on scope.
-There's been numerous posts on this subject here in the G/S section over the years.
So, the simple solution is to relocate the ejector. Putting it at 3 o clock changes the ejector angle to a more horizontal arc and this kills all the birds.
Now onto "undoing" the damage done to the port. The port was only part of the problem. The "real" damage was done when the shop who did this invaded the bolt raceway. It caused the bolt to want to hang up when cycling. -Meaning the rear of the bolt lug was catching the cut and sticking intermittently as you moved it.
Not cool at all.
What I did to fix it was a fairly bold move. I have some silver solder here that's pretty dern stout. Its hard stuff when it sets. I sweated a bunch of it into the raceway area and then went about cleaning it up in the mill. Some piddled into the broached way so I had to get busy with a hand file and some emery to clean that up. To give a more conventional appearance to the port I opened it up slightly to blend the previous work.
Here's the final outcome. I think we came out pretty well on this one.
As for the shop that did it. Don't ask, I'm not saying anything more about it. Were just glad we got it sorted out and that he can still use the gun.
Fun stuff!
Enjoy your Monday germs.
C.
