Bolt bind

[Southern Custom]

So this is a something I've never experienced before. I've never owned a precision rifle before now. But my Savage bolt guns and my sons Mossberg and the Tikkas I've used have all had super slick bolts. Not the tightest tolerances, but slicker than owl $h!# as my dad used to say.
Now I'm shooting a new Bergara HMR Pro and while the action is nice, and runs well when aligned, any torque and it's a sticky situation. It's a grippy, binding feeling. I saw someone else reference this phenomenon in a recent bolt thread.
My question is this. Could it have anything to do with the fact that the entire action is Cerakoted? If the raceways of the action were free of cerakote would this still be the case? I will say that when running the bolts on a B14 HMR and the Pro side by side, on those sample the B14 was smoother. Of course these were shop samples and no telling how many cycles each one had seen.
This really hasn't posed a problem yet. I can run the bolt fast. It's just a matter of being aware to run straight back and straight forward with no lateral force. But I'm nagged by the thought that if I shoot under pressure this might rear it's head and cost me.
Anyone have experience with this. Does the Cerakote play a role? Is there a remedy? Or is it simply live with and learn to run it as is? It's a small nit on an otherwise outstanding rifle.

 

[Kickin45]

Running it should smooth it out over time.
If that’s not good enough, polishing will do wonders

 

[loveha]

I recently had my Savage cerakoted and it was stickier than when I sent it in. I lubed it fairly well with heavy duty Lucas gun oil and have just been messing with it a bit each day and also dry firing. I wiped the lube off the bolt yesterday, haven't cleaned the action, but it moves a fair amount more freely. Cerakote has worn in the more major contact areas. It still binds if I torque it in odd ways, but no worse than it did before now I think. Just need to learn the ways in which you can cycle it without binding. The more you use it, the better it gets, but lubing it will help till it breaks in.

 

[Steel head]

Clean it really well and spray the bolt and inside of action with Hornandy spray lube.

rougher than a savage?

 

[Southern Custom]

Tried the One Shot as an action lubricant and that stuff works like a charm. Shooters choice grease on the lugs and One Shot for the rest and no more bind.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Cerakoting the action and bolt is a nightmare. That was done to my Big Horn and the action ran like shit. I had the bolt sent back to BH to be refinished as original spec. It improved things but wasn't great.

Slickness of action comes from hardness of surfaces. One way of doing that is to make the surfaces of the action and bolt very hard - hence the new finishes of DLC and Nitride. They raise the rockwell of the surfaces to where the surfaces don't 'mush' into eachother. Think of ice skating on new, cold, hard ice as opposed to wet, and mushy.

If it were me, and you could do it easily, get the action and bolt sand blasted and finished in something that hardens to the surfaces of the action/bolt.

 

[Ksracer]

Rub two soft erasers together and you get an idea of how a fully cerakoted action runs. The newer elite seems better and some of the metallic colors seem alright. I think most applicators spray it too thick and it turns into a gummy mess.

 

[MikeRTacOps]

Here I am going to help you johnny call Birdsong and send your rifle to them 601-939-7448 ask for Wally he's the Man in Charge. Tell him Dago Mike from
Tac Ops from Beverly Hills Cali sent you and you wanted to get your rifle birdsong. The lubricity factor is .08 I believe its The Money I do all my rifles in the birdsong finish and when they apply the finish it flashes when it goes and very thin unlike the other finishes. I'll be honest if you don't like it ? I'll give you your money back whatever they charge on the one 1 rifle...

But what would I know...

Mike R.

 

[MikeRTacOps]

By the way you do beautiful engraving I had the honor and privilege of World Famous Gino Cargnel to be part of the Tac Ops family. He worked along side with me in my shop for many years until he passed away, Gino he was a dear friend and it was a heavy loss. Also, Ron Collins was with Tac Ops for over 25 years until he recently retired he was a master as well...


Mike R.

 

[BadAccountant]

Yea, I don't cerakote the raceway of anything. It's gritty and runs like ass. The best thing I've found is to take the bolt, chuck it up in the lathe, and then use JB bore paste on a terrycloth towel to polish the crap out of the bolt body. Alternatively, you can use ultra high grit jeweler's polishing compound mixed with motor oil to polish it. When you can see your reflection, you're good.

 

[SuperSneakySniper]

I've tried HMR and HMR Pros in various gunshops, and some were UN-BINDABLY SMOOTH, and some bound up a decent amount. I never knew why. To the contrary, every Tikka I've ever felt was very smooth. So I couldn't grasp the inconsistency with the Bergaras. With that observation in mind, I'd probably just guess that it will get slicker with use.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

I've tried HMR and HMR Pros in various gunshops, and some were UN-BINDABLY SMOOTH, and some bound up a decent amount. I never knew why. To the contrary, every Tikka I've ever felt was very smooth. So I couldn't grasp the inconsistency with the Bergaras. With that observation in mind, I'd probably just guess that it will get slicker with use.

Slowly.... veeerrryyy slowly....