Are you timing the bolts also? Thanks Dave
Yes, we are. However my process is a little different than most.
If one is take a sample of bolt handles over the entire legacy of M700's, you immediately see the evolution. However, I don't view as the Darwin theory. It's quite the opposite.
Big companies are often directed by lawyers and accountants. In the case of the handles the foundries doing the work changed over the years. Better price, better price, blah, blah. Problem is the actual part model changed each time as well. Some of this was for style purposes. A lot of it actually. That as it may, fundamental things were glazed over. The Primary Extraction flank surface being the most important.
With the "RR" series receivers it came to a head. That surface for all purposes is pretty much useless. To fix it you have to both alter the flank surface geo and advance it in relation to the rotation engagement point. All this stuff is really little more than a thread that begins at the cocking ramps of the lug abutments. If you were to imagine those two features continuing down the length of the receiver, they should be coincident with the PE features. You build a little slop into the mix so that they don't fight one another, but that is the ghist of it.
So, that's what I try to do. We lump up a bit of tig weld on the bolt and with a couple of fixtures I made we alter both the angle and advance the engagement. Done right, no one is the wiser with conventional finishing. Guns that are "parked" or blued are a little tougher as the steel chemistry changes and it effects the finish a bit. SS handles are the same way when you glass bead finish them. The weld always work hardens a bit so the tone is off slightly. Most never notice it.
As for the bolt work, we have that wired pretty tight. -To the point of maybe being a little absurd. We get the nose, the face, the top of the lugs, and the back side in one hit. We can control all of it within a thousandths and we manage any tolerance stacking by consolidating the tool package. Combined with the receiver work, it becomes very, very possible to start offering prefit barrels. I'm not ready to commit to that yet as its just too soon to know if this is truly vetted to that level, but the initial input is very promising. The last batch of 30 receivers had almost half in one cartridge. The threading was not altered in the program and they all H/S'd within .001" of each other. Promising, but 12 or so actions is hardly conclusive.
We'll see how this goes...
Thank you again for all the kind words. We really appreciate the support.
C.
