Would it be possible to remove to much material when hand lapping rem 700 bolt lugs? Using 600 grit compound. Or what is an estimated material removal rate for something such as that?
Gunsmithing Lug Lapping?
- Thread starter STI_1911_Guy
- Start date
Did your elbow fall off on your trip to the carpal tunnel surgeon?
Unless your doing Big Gulps full of Meth, you'll die of extreme boredom long before you grind an action to bits this way.
Unless your doing Big Gulps full of Meth, you'll die of extreme boredom long before you grind an action to bits this way.
I did mine from 600 to 1000 then 1500 prob not nessecary for than fine but I I like the peace of mind of over doing it and bolt slides nice and smooth now used to slightly give a snag/drag when lug would meet raceway behind ejector port but nothing now but still very stiff lock/unlocking bolt. Would like to remedy that if I knew what to do
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Arms still good so must still be fine.... Thanks for the answer sir.
Unless your problem is the front stock bolt being too long and dragging on the lug, you can usually reduce the height of the hump between the cocking piece notch and cam cut. A little goes a long way.
Cool RBJ thanks I'll give it a little workin when I get home from beautiful Permian basin lol. But on a side note from little by little and testing slide my arms were tired and I was fighting boredom and arm fatigue haha gotta get it slick tho!
A file, dremel or mill will make your life much easier. Not to mention save you from tennis elbow ;-)
I thought about trying to lap mine but, was concerned with causing head space problems?
Not gonna happen unless you use a very aggressive grit.
Did your elbow fall off on your trip to the carpal tunnel surgeon?
Unless your doing Big Gulps full of Meth, you'll die of extreme boredom long before you grind an action to bits this way.
Holy crap I about spit out my drink on this one, didn't want to waste the Jameson........
What he said...........
I have a couple tubes of valve grinding compound I got from an auto parts store a while back one just says fine, and I believe the other says coarse but not for sure. They are both grease based. Thanks!
Would something like Gun Scrubber in a spray can be good to use to flush the compound/grit out of the action and barrel? or would I be just as well and cheaper, to use Carb Cleaner in spray cans as long as there is no plastics/synthetics involved? Also, would I be better off using the silicone carbide type compound instead of the valve lapping compound I have now to speed up the process? Thanks!
It's a bitch to get it out with anything short of pulling the bbl and wiping it out with Q tips or a brush and a vat. Carb/brake cleaner is fine as well as heads from the still. I vote for sc aka clover compound but abrasive is just that. Main thing is once you have it clean, lap it with a good grease. ;-)
Thanks very much for the tips!
did your elbow fall off on your trip to the carpal tunnel surgeon?
Unless your doing big gulps full of meth, you'll die of extreme boredom long before you grind an action to bits this way.
I did a little working on this and although my hand got tired I did manage to knock off about half of stiffness I don't care for in the morning I'll finish and go fire some rounds off hope see a coyote. Thanks for the advice just doing little and working it to see the pressure points to smooth out
Glad to help. Good luck with the 'yote.
Filing or dremeling works better and faster. Lapping can allow the cocking piece to move over and drag on it's slot. Nothing that can't be corrected but why waste time. ;-)
I haven't messed with valve grinding compound since high school shop class in the '90s but from what I remember, even the fine compound is way way courser than 600 grit. I am thinking it is probably way too course for lug lapping. It's been a minute so I could be wrong.
did your elbow fall off on your trip to the carpal tunnel surgeon?
Unless your doing big gulps full of meth, you'll die of extreme boredom long before you grind an action to bits this way.
this is the correct skinny..............
Darrel Holland used valve grinding compound in his AGI videos. But those are from forever ago. Never tried it myself. I have the 3 pack of lapping compounds from Midway I got years ago. Still have a ton left. Start with a file on the back of the bolt lugs if they are way off. Then I work my way up to 600 grit. I ultrasonic the action when I'm done wiping most of the junk out. Get the rest pretty easily.
If you have dental picks you can cut the head off a Q-tip and stick on a 90 degree pick and reach in and clean the lug seats fairly thoroughly.
so what is the correct grit and compound for lapping in bolt lugs ? is there a dif. in compound between SS & CM ? thinking about giving this a try.
I use Brownells silicon carbide 240 & 400 grit. Start with the 240 and finish up with the 400.
thank you cca70.
Perhaps it's just me, but that makes me flat cringe just thinking about it. If its off by that much, and they can be from the factory (only one lug is touching), fork out the money and have it done right. It is possible to correct this problem without having to replace the factory barrel. Careful machine work can rectify this. If one doubles down on a full blueprint and barrel then its done right.
Its been my experience that lightly lapping the lugs doesn't change the headspace. Something to think about, aggressively lapping the lugs cuts them at a taper. This is because the lead surface is exposed to more surface travel then the rear edge. And while their is a taper to cam the lug at the start of the lug, clean square lug contact is the goal for accuracy and consistency. So personally if I lap its very limited and with very fine compounds. The last two R700's I have trued required no lapping after machining.
Most cartridges carry about .004" difference between GO and NO GO. Factory chambers are often a little more generous within that .004". The point I am trying to illustrate is, if you get carried away with a file, aggressively lapping, polishing, ETC its not out of the realm of reality to remove enough to put you at or over max headspace.
I am a home gunsmith and just work on my own crap. I don't have the experience many on here do, either way use some caution!
+1
I may have jumped the gun a little there. I was blueprinting an action yesterday so I wasn't really thinking about just doing the lugs without doing a full blueprinting and barrel job but Rprecision is correct. Don't get carried away with things and only take a little at a time. Mark them with a Sharpie first to see what kind of contact you are getting before you start and during the process. You obviously don't want to take too much off but lightly lapping with a fine compound should go slow enough to prevent that from happening. If you are only getting one lug making contact then it would be beneficial to spend the money and do a full blueprint.
Rprecision and jonesturf are correct about this. Before I lap the bolt lugs I true the action face and lugs to ensure a square starting point. Mark the lugs in the action with a sharpie or dykem and dry lap a few times to identify what percent contact you are making and if there are any significant high/low spots. If contact is good and even beging lapping with 400 grit and work your way up to 800 or a thousand. The end goal is about 90% contact on both lugs top to bottom, full 100% contact is not desired because you need to leave a camming surface. Now if you dry lapped originally and found bad contact with a high spot or un even contact then you will need to true your bolt before you begin lapping. If you try to even your bolt lugs with a file you run the risk of doing irreversable damage by removing material that you cannot replace if you take off to much. However, if it is just a high corner or a small burr that can be removed with a medium to fine stone then feel free but perioditical check your progress by dry lapping ever so often. As for excessive lapping, an indicator would be if the bolt handle makes contact with the rear of the action in the bolt handle notch which would take a very very very long time.
