I've managed to get a little too much CeraKote in a few of the actions I've coated - even with the lightest coating on the bolt that will still give good coverage, I've wound up with just too much CK in the action to allow smooth function. What I've done in these instances was to apply 400 or 600 grit aluminum oxide lapping compound to the stripped bolt, then work it back & forth inside the action until the tight spots are lapped in. When finished, I wash the bolt off with hot soapy water to remove the lapping compound, then do the same to the inside of the action with an old toothbrush. Compressed air will generally get the water & compound out of the action, so following up with a light coating of CLP gets things running pretty smooth afterwards.
This seldom happens with a M700 if I'm sticking with the OEM bolt - the cases where I've had issues were when using PTG custom bolts that are a little larger than the OEM bolt would be. Recently, I've bought some bare M700 actions - RR prefix s/n, no bolt, no trigger, no trigger pins, etc. With a PTG bolt of .695" dia, I've had to do a little lapping to smooth things out after CeraKoting. In the three most recent cases, where I've used these bare actions/PTG bolts on rifles of my own, the fit before CeraKoting was pretty good, with just some slight tightness. It might be smart to lap before applying CK, then you wouldn't need to worry about wearing through the coating while lapping afterwards. But then there's still the chance that you'll wind up with some spots where the coating is a bit thicker, and you'd have to lap again.... It's really not that much trouble to lap before the bbl is torqued into the action - clean-up is simple & easy to do. Obviously, I'm not the smoothest hand with a paint gun - have seen videos of a few real pros applying coatings to parts, and these guys are far more talented than me.
