Rem 700 bolt replacement questions

[SupressYourself]

First off, I admit to knowing pretty much dick on this particular subject. I've done some research, but some things are not entirely clear.
I have done quite a bit of "bubba-smithing", including assembling ARs, glass bedding, and replacing Savage barrels, so I'm not completely inept.

Scenario:
I have a left-hand, long action, magnum bolt face Rem 700. It's currently still got the factory 7mm Rem Mag barrel on it. I'd like to swap out the barrel for one chambered in a cartridge that uses the standard (308) size bolt face, in which case, I also need a new bolt. I'd like to do any work myself, because if I have to send it out to get blueprinted, timed, etc, I might as well just buy a new custom action. While it needs to function correctly and shoot well, I have other custom rifles, so I don't need this one to be "the best."

Questions:
1. Is it reasonable to believe that I can just buy a used 700 bolt from somewhere and slap it in the action, assuming I headspace the new barrel properly? Or will I likely have bolt timing issues -- which I admittedly don't fully understand just yet?

Option 2 would be to buy a new bolt from PTG (or similar).
2. PTG has 4 different extractor cuts (Remington, Sako, M16 and Mini M16). It seems that the M16 ones are preferred over Remington, but that's about all I know. Is the mini "better" than the standard M16 or vice versa?
3. Is there potential for the same kind of timing and fitting issues going this route?

 

[Supersubes]

Yes you can slap another remington bolt in it. Most remingtons have shit handle timing anyway, so not a big hazard. You can also just have the bolt face altered. This used to be a common practice. The PTG bolts work fine, and they can be had a couple of ways. One piece, or two piece. The two piece requires timing/attaching the handle. I prefer the remington extractor in all cases. Its simpler and doesn’t dick with angle of ejection.

 

[Average guy]

1-stay away from PTG, if they haven’t fucked you they will
2- seems like the bolt swap would work if you were to use a Remage style barrel, where you set headspace on barrel installation.or have a gunsmith fit a shouldered barrel.
3-timing issues will depend on what era the bolt and action are from. This can be determined by serial number.

 

[SupressYourself]

- Yes, I'm aware of PTGs reputation. Some bolts are available on Midway and other places, but not in left-hand that I can see.
- I do plan on going the Remage route. Having re-barreled a Savage, I'm a fan of the barrel nut system. Other than the "look" of the nut, I'm not sure why they're not all done that way.
- The action is from 2016 or thereabouts. I found one potential bolt on ebay, and it doesn't say, but looks much older.

 

[Wannashootit]

LH is going to be the problem for ya.
I don't know if Mack makes them, but it worth checking.

As for your option 2, rather than a one-piece I'd go with a two-piece.
Get the bolt body, blue it/slide it into the receiver and scribe it- then send it to Dan at Accu-Tig to weld on a bolt handle.
Cost will be similar to a one-piece, and the handle will be correctly located/ timed to maximize primary extraction.

 

[Mrpike71]

I wonder if a place like LRI would make you a bolt for you? Might be worth a phone call.

 

[JMGlasgow]

The Zermatt barrel nut doesn't look like a Savage nut, if that matters. It can also use a standard 12 point wrench instead of a special tool.

 

[powdahound76]

Honestly, by the time you get a bolt and make sure it is fitted well, you will darn near be to an Origin…..

Just something to think about.

 

[SupressYourself]

I was kind of afraid of that. The thing is, I don't really need another rifle, I just want to do something useful with this one.

 

[LRI]

1-stay away from PTG, if they haven’t fucked you they will
2- seems like the bolt swap would work if you were to use a Remage style barrel, where you set headspace on barrel installation.or have a gunsmith fit a shouldered barrel.
3-timing issues will depend on what era the bolt and action are from. This can be determined by serial number.

1-stay away from PTG, if they haven’t fucked you they will


This should be added to the 10 Commandments. No truer words spoken ever by anyone.

 

[LRI]

First off, I admit to knowing pretty much dick on this particular subject. I've done some research, but some things are not entirely clear.
I have done quite a bit of "bubba-smithing", including assembling ARs, glass bedding, and replacing Savage barrels, so I'm not completely inept.

Scenario:
I have a left-hand, long action, magnum bolt face Rem 700. It's currently still got the factory 7mm Rem Mag barrel on it. I'd like to swap out the barrel for one chambered in a cartridge that uses the standard (308) size bolt face, in which case, I also need a new bolt. I'd like to do any work myself, because if I have to send it out to get blueprinted, timed, etc, I might as well just buy a new custom action. While it needs to function correctly and shoot well, I have other custom rifles, so I don't need this one to be "the best."

Questions:
1. Is it reasonable to believe that I can just buy a used 700 bolt from somewhere and slap it in the action, assuming I headspace the new barrel properly? Or will I likely have bolt timing issues -- which I admittedly don't fully understand just yet?

Option 2 would be to buy a new bolt from PTG (or similar).
2. PTG has 4 different extractor cuts (Remington, Sako, M16 and Mini M16). It seems that the M16 ones are preferred over Remington, but that's about all I know. Is the mini "better" than the standard M16 or vice versa?
3. Is there potential for the same kind of timing and fitting issues going this route?

How many left-handed bolts would you like sir? When Remington went "SuperNova" and imploded a couple years back I was given access to the Custom Shop to purchase as much inventory as they were willing to sell to me.

Just to be clear:

The fact these came out of the RCS doesn't mean that there's something "special" about these bolts. They are rack-grade, New Old Stock (NOS) inventory items. At the time I purchased a mess of receivers as well and we had a little deal last year where I flogged a bunch of them. These are just the leftovers. Most of these bolt bodies have run through our tune-up process. A lot of them have been refaced, set up with our M16 xtr, and fitted with dual ejectors. There are also a bunch that are untouched.

Note, I do NOT have any fire control assemblies. You'd have to source that on your own.

Happy to help.

C.

 

[LRI]

Because I'm a total whore...

I also have LH, LA receivers. They've been Blueprinted in our 5x.

$450 for the receiver, a bolt, and a lug.

Lugs will be a little bit. I have a few ### through 1st op. Still have to run em through 2nd op and they have to be ground.