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Gunsmithing Melonite action to smooth sticking bolt?

earthquake

earthquake

Area Man
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Full Member
Minuteman
    • Jul 30, 2009
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    2,374
    USA
    Not sure if this post belongs here or in another section, but I am curious about Melonite to smooth out my bolt cycling. I thought I recalled reading that Melonite makes an action really smooth?

    Here's my problem: I have a Defiance Rebel action that was Cerakoted and I believe this is why cycling the bolt is pretty sticky. It is not smooth at all, and chatters/skips when sliding it back. Bolt lift is o.k. though. The bolt itself is NOT coated, but the receiver and bolt raceways (everything else) is. Will this eventually wear off with thousands of cyclings? Should I look into Melonite? Can you remove Cerakote?

    Thanks for any guidance you can provide!
     
    Run the bolt over and over and keep putting oil on it. It will smooth right out. Way easier than sending out to melonite
     
    I've run 600 or so rounds through it, and probably double that in dry-firings....guess I'll keep on working it. Thanks for the recommendations Ring, though were there supposed to be photos in that post you linked? I didn't see any.
     
    Yes... A ton of photos in that link... It showed me lapping a savage mark 2 bolt with JB into the receiver

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
     
    COfox said:
    Not sure if this post belongs here or in another section, but I am curious about Melonite to smooth out my bolt cycling. I thought I recalled reading that Melonite makes an action really smooth?

    Here's my problem: I have a Defiance Rebel action that was Cerakoted and I believe this is why cycling the bolt is pretty sticky. It is not smooth at all, and chatters/skips when sliding it back. Bolt lift is o.k. though. The bolt itself is NOT coated, but the receiver and bolt raceways (everything else) is. Will this eventually wear off with thousands of cyclings? Should I look into Melonite? Can you remove Cerakote?

    Thanks for any guidance you can provide!
    Click to expand...


    I now have a Melonited Deviant and it's very slick with an oiled bolt. Cerakote will slick up but it takes a fair amount of running the bolt to break it in. The slickest bolt I've ever ran was a Surgeon that had been Cerakoted but the gun had several thousand rounds through it and who knows how many bolt throw cycles from dry firing.

    I would find a good oil or light grease like TW25/TW2500 and try to cycle the bolt a lot before having stripped and Melonited.
     
    Last edited:
    Don't oil or lube your bolt or action. C Dixon told me how to remove cerakote, can't remember, call him. A lot of times, a oversized bolt knob will torque the bolt in the action, try lifting and placing your thumb on the bolt shroud when cycling, it'll be smoother.
    As for melonite, if the action wasn't silky smooth before all this, meloniting it wont remove imperfections.
     
    The two areas in this photo are showing signs of the cerakote being rubbed off or removed. This is an older photo soon after I got the rifle so the wear isn't showing in this photo. This is only affecting bolt lift.



    If I push the bolt home with just my finger tip, it rides smooth. Therefore it's got to be technique to some extent. Since it's a custom action, it may have tighter tolerance than I'm used to, or it is the cerakote or a combo of both? Most of the issue is in pulling the bolt back towards me. There's a very narrow window of sticky-free movement in it. I've never had an issue with another action before, though I've only ever cycled Rem700 and some Winchester actions. My bone stock 21 year old Rem700 on my 22-250 is smooth as silk, no problems with it. I'm just going to keep practicing with this Defiance and cycling the shit out of it.
     
    I nitrided my 700 action and bolt and notice a smoother cycle/bolt lift over the cerakote. One thing to keep in mind before you nitride anything is what type of steel said action is made of. If its CM you're good to go, but SS and nitride are not the best of friends. For most customs you're fine with just the bolt getting nitrided as they are CM but since most custom actions are SS you might just want steer clear having both done.
     
    Cerakote usually makes actions run smoother. Flip that bolt over and take me a picture of the cocking piece. If the rear edges of it are sharp they will catch and drag in the slot in the action. If this is the case all it needs is chamfered up a bit and she will run slick as can be. If the notch on the bolt is out of time it can cause this too.
     
    You need to change the title to cerakote.

    If pushing the bolt makes lift better, I would look at the lugs on bolt & action, also check screws in the area.
     
    COfox said:
    The two areas in this photo are showing signs of the cerakote being rubbed off or removed. This is an older photo soon after I got the rifle so the wear isn't showing in this photo. This is only affecting bolt lift.

    Click to expand...

    The circled areas in the picture are the camming surfaces which help pull the case out of the chamber. I think you will always see some wearing of the finish in these areas.
     
    I had this exact issue with two rifles built by the same smith at the same time, one was a stiller action and the other a defiance. Phoned both companies, told them about the binding and chattering, and got pretty much the same answer from both shops. First was using the right technique, straight push, with a custom action. Second, Make sure rear of lugs and cocking ramp are greased, leave the bolt dry and cycle it 400+times. Worked like a charm, both now cycle buttery smooth.
    .
     
    The slickest two actions/bolts I own are Pierce TGs in Eliseo tubeguns. Pierce CeraKotes their actions in house before shipping them, but leaves the bolt bodies un-coated. I've also got several M700s that I've CeraKoted myself, a couple with PTG custom bolts, plain & fluted. The PTG bolts are slightly oversized, and probably have .002" or less clearance - they don't run as slick as the two M700s with OEM bolts, which probably have .004"+ clearance. I got too heavy a coat of CeraKote on the fluted PTG bolt the first time I painted it, and wound up blasting it clean & re-painting with as light a coat as I could get and still cover. That turned out to be still too much paint, which to me means that I spec'd the bolt dia at least .001" too large when I ordered it. Instead of blasting it again, I applied 400grit aluminum oxide lapping compound and worked the bolt a bunch, then cleaned everything up with warm soapy water afterwards. The bolt probably looks like crap to some, with a lot of the CK worn off, but it cycles easy, and the rifle shoots like a house afire, so I'm not screwing with it again. It ain't for sale, and it suits me, so that's that.

    I'm pretty sure that if I'd reamed the bolt raceways on the two 700s with PTG bolts, and ordered bolts .0025"-.003" smaller than the reamed raceways, they'd run as smooth as the OEM bolts. A friend invested in GreTan's raceway reamer set, and that's been his experience when running PTG bolts. By the time you get the action trued & reamed, pay for a PTG bolt, extractor kit, striker kit, ejector kit, and put a B-O or similar knob on it.....if you're working only on your own rifles and have lots of time, and can sell the OEM bolt, it makes sense. Otherwise...just buy a Surgeon or Stiller and be done with it.
     
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