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Gunsmithing LRI bolt fluting job. Opinions wanted.

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Mxracer532

Mxracer532

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Mar 6, 2013
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Id like to get some opinions on this, I just got it back and IMO it's not done correctly. Not from what I have seen from other flute jobs they have done. Here is one that looks correct, and mine. It appears to me that the flutes stop (or start) in the wrong spot.

I emailed LRI with these pics and this is the response I got.


I just checked my programing, both left and right hand start at the same position. From your pictures it looks as though your ejection port is longer in the front by the width of the scope base screw. The top picture the front of the port looks to stop behind the screw, where yours ends at the front.

Unfortunately I can not move the flutes any farther ahead on the bolts without running into the locking lugs.

Is your tikka a T3 or T3X?

Opinions???
 

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If it works Id leave it and call it a unique feature it looks neat anyway its a one of a kind and its your ...
it almost looks like that metal with a patern in it , damasks or something like that . oh the scratch did not see that you could get the company that made it to repair that part . good luck which ever way you go yo get that fixed .
 
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The work looks pretty dang good to me. Your only gripe is you wanted the flutes to go 1/8" farther forward? If he says he can't go farther forward then I guess you'll have to live with it.

There is no way I'd go trashing a gunsmith because of such a silly thing.
 
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Looks good to me. Sounds like a logical answer from LRI. I would say it's not screwed up, but if you are unhappy I will dispose of it for you.
 
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The radius of the cutting tool is the limiting factor. If you want flutes cut in the face of your locking lugs, I'm sure that could be accomodated.......

All kidding aside, LRI has an impeccable reputation and I'm willing to bet they cut the flutes as close to the lugs as they could, without actually cutting into the lugs (A. Bad. Thing.). Functionally, the way the flutes are now, there are no negative side effects.

Shoot it, be happy. :)
 
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Mordamer said:
The work looks pretty dang good to me. Your only gripe is you wanted the flutes to go 1/8" farther forward? If he says he can't go farther forward then I guess you'll have to live with it.

There is no way I'd go trashing a gunsmith because of such a silly thing.
Click to expand...

First off I am by no means trashing LRI especially Chad. (He didn't do the job)

I just noticed mine is unlike all the others I have seen. I just don't care for how the flutes disappear out the back and don't out the front. It also has tooling marks but it is what it is.
Again not bashing in the slightest.
 
Those ejection ports look exactly the same length.
 
As I understand it, the forward flutes can't be made longer without cutting into the lugs.
 
Looking at the size of the radius of the ballmill used, there’s lots of room.
 
It looks like the "ideal" image is a Tikka T3 and yours is a T3X which has a larger ejection port. Arguably the fluting could be exactly the same, you're just seeing more of it.
 
Each port takes up 9 spaces on the pic rail...
 
squishee said:
Opinion is Chad is right. You have an off center ejection port.
Click to expand...
Each port starts 6 spaces back on the pic rail from the front of the action and both take up 9 spaces from there. The ports on the actions are the same.
 
Look at the bottom picture, see the front screw hole over the ejection port? Look at the top picture, see the screw hole over the ejection port?
 
Jscb1b said:
Look at the bottom picture, see the front screw hole over the ejection port? Look at the top picture, see the screw hole over the ejection port?
Click to expand...
Not enough detail to tell. But you can quite easily count pic rail spacings. They’re a standard.
Here’s Tikka LRI bolt.
76B6BBBB-E579-4068-9827-44D652F07405.jpeg
 
Mxracer532 said:
First off I am by no means trashing LRI especially Chad. (He didn't do the job)

I just noticed mine is unlike all the others I have seen. I just don't care for how the flutes disappear out the back and don't out the front. It also has tooling marks but it is what it is.
Again not bashing in the slightest.
Click to expand...

Wait what?

LRI didn't do the job?

Your thread title and everything in the body of your post makes it sound like LRI did the job. Why in the world would you use that thread title if LRI didn't do the job? You just like click bait titles?
 
They look like two different brands of rails. The spacing is standard. The mounting screw location is not. The picture of your bolt does show a lot of room foward.
 
The bolts in the pictures are apple and orange comparisons to me. The flutes in the first picture are either deeper or cut with a larger diameter tool than the first bolt. Look at the flats between the flutes. Little to none in the first picture. Chad is a smart guy but he still has to turn a profit. Maybe he is using a short shank ball tool to run it harder (Faster) and the holder is keeping him from getting closer to the lugs.
 
GH41 said:
The bolts in the pictures are apple and orange comparisons to me. The flutes in the first picture are either deeper or cut with a larger diameter tool than the first bolt. Look at the flats between the flutes. Little to none in the first picture. Chad is a smart guy but he still has to turn a profit. Maybe he is using a short shank ball tool to run it harder (Faster) and the holder is keeping him from getting closer to the lugs.
Click to expand...
So Chad is saying that he can not move the bolt in the mounting fixture with out hitting the lugs? Not hitting the lugs as in cutting into them?
 
Jscb1b said:
Look at the bottom picture, see the front screw hole over the ejection port? Look at the top picture, see the screw hole over the ejection port?
Click to expand...
One over hangs the front of action by one third of an extended stanchion. The other truncates the first stanchion flush with the action.
They both start the first space in the same location.
 
Op, post more pictures. And actually upload them. Not just as attachments.
 
I'm done speculating. LRI does great work, all empoyees included.

Are bolt flutes going to make a rifle shoot worse ? I'm hoping not, I have a number of Bighorns and I "hope" all the bolt flutes are in the right place. I have given up worrying on where the flutes are on my barrels. It used to matter to me where they were in relation to the outer circumference of the barrel vs the stock. It really just does not matter. This is a n exercise in cosmetics and has nothing to do with performance.

Shoot it.
 
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You need a pic of your bolt and a "properly fluted bolt" side by side unless you can hold them side by side and measure to be certain.
With cnc the machine doesn't just decide not to flute the entire length one day, unless the zero coordinate somehow got offset, it does the exact same ops to every bolt using the same program.
Are those pics both lri fluted bolts?
 
The first pic appears to have been done with a totally different tool, a bigger endmill, makes me wonder if that's a totally different company.
 
In the first pic if you zoom in I think you can see the end of the ball endmill cut, it's just hidden by the shadow, so it'd be very similar to yours with proper lighting if that's the case I think?
 
I've heard claims that in the desert/dirty environment the bolt will operate better with fluting, flutes giving the dirt a place to go that's not on the bearing surface.
But realistically no.
 
Again, I'm not trashing LRI or anyone, just questioning why it looks different than all the other Tikka bolts I have seen done by LRI.
Chad was NOT the machinist that did the fluting. Kalyb is the guys name who did the fluting and emailed me back.

Also, yes I know it won't effect how it shoots what so ever.
 
Could it possibly be because the flutes on the other Tikka are larger? If you compare the two you can see yours are smaller and have more surface area in between flutes. I think if they were larger a lot of that untouched space on the end would be taken up. But cant say if that would make them look identical.

but I’m with the OP here. Cosmetic or not. See a pic, send it in to have that done, and it comes back different. Not bashing on anyone, but I would be a little bugged also.
 
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The flutes do seem to terminate in the same location relative to the locking lugs as the image I posted.
 
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Are the lugs just outside the ejection port ? Looking at the distance from the lugs to the start of the flutes the lug must pass just in front of the opening ?
 
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