Action Life
- Thread starter mvphilly
- Start date
I haven’t ever seen a defined time line, but things will wear. Like firing pin springs, extractors, and ejectors. Possibly breaking firing pins if dry fired a lot. The action itself probably won’t go bad unless it rusts or you blow it up. I knew a guy in missouri that had like 48k+ on a defiance.
Actions will last a good long time. My Remington 700VS that I got in 1993 has had 9 .308 barrels on it with the fewest rounds a barrels was pulled was around 5500 so that action is easily over 60,000 rounds. I know Jacob at Rifles Only has an AI that has well over 100,000 rounds on it. I wouldn't worry about an action life.
Older receivers that were case-hardened instead of through-hardened (such as Mausers) can experience rapid setback of the abutments if the case hardening is worn through making them unsafe.
Through-hardened receivers would need to have had their design loads exceeded to potentially render them unsafe.
Through-hardened receivers would need to have had their design loads exceeded to potentially render them unsafe.
Rob,
Bill Hicks Distribution sold some Remington 700VS's in blue fluted .223, .308 and 7MM Rem Mag in the 1993-94 era. The serial numbers started with D and E on the ones that I saw. Did those actions need to be trued when you replaced the factory barrel? Remington quality seemed to be good at that time. That was a long time ago and I did not know anything about trueing an action in the 1990's. Thank you.
Bill Hicks Distribution sold some Remington 700VS's in blue fluted .223, .308 and 7MM Rem Mag in the 1993-94 era. The serial numbers started with D and E on the ones that I saw. Did those actions need to be trued when you replaced the factory barrel? Remington quality seemed to be good at that time. That was a long time ago and I did not know anything about trueing an action in the 1990's. Thank you.
I don’t know about bolt gun actions, but a fellow told me today that he has a HK91 with 2 million rounds on it with 300,000 of them full auto. I said you must have went through some barrels and bolts. He told me it’s all original but he isn’t hitting quarters at 200 any longer, just coke cans.
While no where near Robs round count on His action ... I have a C prefix 700 short that is on barrel number 5 and it just keeps getting slicker with age. The lug abutments and lugs look great & all I do is a tiny dab of high pressure grease on the lug faces , cocking ramp & extraction cam surface then small dab of lucas oil stabilizer ( yes the automotive product ) on the bolt shroud threads bout every couple hundred rounds unless I forget ( and that happens some )
I did put a new extractor & ejector/spring in it when I put last barrel on just out of caution -- was still functioning fine
I did put a new extractor & ejector/spring in it when I put last barrel on just out of caution -- was still functioning fine
had a machinist's discussion at GA with Torch ( Anthony ) . They keep dimensions of everyone's headspace on file should some one want a re barrel on there action from them . He said comparing old measurements with a fresh action to a used one with many thousands of rounds on it the bolt face compresses around .002 . So even custom actions will vary a little bit based on load and how much you shoot . It just goes to show what kind of forces we are dealing with in guns , the extreme conditions that exists for a split second
My Swedish Mauser was issued in 1903. It was decommissioned & surplused in about 1932 (when it got german civilian proofing) with barrel wear beyond acceptable for continued army use. According to the plaque. It's still got it's original firing pin, ejector, extractor etc. and the bolt doesn't fall out by itself. The barrel however has more erosion than the Grand Canyon. And the firing pin hole looks like, well, an asshole. Since 2020, when I got it, it put 800 rounds through it. On a day with good light I can hold the black on a ISSF 100m target. The rifle is still capable. It's far from a sub-MOA rifle. But it's still good. The limiting factor are my eyes & the tiny sights. And the only thing worth replacing - would be the barrel. Everything else, probably good for another couple of 10.000s of rounds. Man, I'd love to know the count on it!!
If modern rifles use even better material - well, that's just awesome! In that case I'd assume a modern action will never ever wear out. Unless you go full Kentucky Ballistic on it.
If modern rifles use even better material - well, that's just awesome! In that case I'd assume a modern action will never ever wear out. Unless you go full Kentucky Ballistic on it.
Everything wears out. Even if all the springs are replaced and it is maintained perfectly, cleaned just right and lubricated perfectly, a rifle acton will eventually wear out. I would speculate 100,000s of thousands or rounds.
If anyone would know it would be Frank Green from Bartlein. Maybe some 2112 somewhere whose rebuilt m40s for the 20th time or something.
If anyone would know it would be Frank Green from Bartlein. Maybe some 2112 somewhere whose rebuilt m40s for the 20th time or something.
While not a complete analogy, in the handgun world, the frame is good generally for 100k rounds or more. Considering those frames are probably not hardened (take with grain of salt, but they use aluminum as well), that's a very conservative estimate.
Cracks that did happen were around the thinnest portion, and could be repaired and welded (aka it was the 'hammering' of the slide on the frame, not the pressure of the round).
Cracks that did happen were around the thinnest portion, and could be repaired and welded (aka it was the 'hammering' of the slide on the frame, not the pressure of the round).
If you are asking this question, you will never shoot one out.
This
If guys like Jacob at Rifles Only and Rob01 aren't seeing it, its not an issue. Not that this is "proof" but I have no data of people "wearing out" a rifle receiver. There is data of people wearing out handgun frames, meaning the volume of fire is such that people are not wearing out the receiver on a rifle (or shotgun).
consider also the tacticool crowd--none of those high speed guys talk about wearing out receivers. Bolts, barrels, springs...yes. Receivers...nope.
Its a stupid question to ask in the first place. The cost of an action or frame amortized over 50 or 100K rounds means you are spending 10-100 times the cost of the action in ammo alone.
And yet you contribute in your normal, holier than thou manner.......
Generally (as most do) it is just yup, him again, but for fucks sake how about you let the occasional thread go by and resist the temptation of being you
Cheers
Pete
For the record, I don't think its a bad question--most hunting rifles are lucky to see 200 rounds in their life. Now we start talking about multiple barrels and its reasonable to ask "what about the receiver"
But the (limited) data suggests its a non-issue.
But the (limited) data suggests its a non-issue.
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