Gunsmithing Savage Gunsmithing

[arbogb06]

I have a Savage 110 LA and have a few questions;

What exactly can be done to true this action and barrel?

My current gunsmith told me when I bought the gun since it has a floating bolt it cannot be trued yet I see some places like SSS stating they can "Accurize" this action. What is the difference between truing, blue printing, accruizing, etc? Also, another smith told me they could just square the action.

The gun shoots decent but I just want to know it is producing its full potential. Just trying to find out what exactly can be done to this action and stock barrel but it seems as though I am getting different answers from different gunsmiths. Not sure if it is out of their comfort zone or it just can't be done and I will paying for a "Accurizing" package that in essence didn't do anything.

Thanks.

 

[230grRN]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: arbogb06</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What exactly can be done to true this action and barrel?

What is the difference between truing, blue printing, accruizing, etc?
</div></div>

First to answer your question about what the differences are in the the 3. There are none, they mean the same thing for the most part.

As far as what can be done to your action will all depend on if you plan to retain the original barrel nut set up.

If you plan on reusing the factory barrel, the action face, lugs, and barrel nut can be squared to the original threads, with the hopes the barrel will be in better alignment.

The second way is to replace the barrel and do away with the barrel nut and blueprint/accurize it like a Remmy. Which IMHO will most likely produce the best results. Although I've trued alot of them the first way I mentioned and the guns all performed well from the feedback I have received back.

 

[arbogb06]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Thanks for the insight. I figured they were all different since I've seen Remington 700 actions that always state trued and websites like SSS state they "Accurize" Savage actions.

Quick question about the barrel nut design:

Are there any after market heavier duty barrel nuts for Savage 110 actions?

I know there are heavier duty recoil lugs and I am thinking about taking the barrel off and truing/accurizing my Savage action myself but am not 100% sure I feel confident in doing so.

My pops is a machinist with 25-30 years of experience as a manual and CNC and he has a Mill and a Lathe in his own shop but has no experience in truing/accurizing an action. I'm sure he has the capability to do this as I've had him make all kinds of parts for my motorcycle, truck, etc.

What tooling is required for the set up and I am assuming you use the action as the basis for what everything else is squared up to???? If this is correct once the action face is squared then I would assume the barrel must be squared to the action then the barrel nut must be made square as well so the entire barrel nut is in full contact with the action? Quick question if this is the correct way. How true is a Savage chamber. I guess I am asking this because if the action is faced true, barrel is faced true and barrel nut true if the chamber is not true to the barrel contour and perpendicular to the new square barrel face then all the squaring wouldnt matter anyway?


Thanks.

 

[arbogb06]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Also forgot to ask how would one square the lugs?

Thanks.

 

[arbogb06]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Final question (for now) what does headspacing a barrel entail?

 

[Mattm0812]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

It's a savage, you don't need to true/time anything. If it's not shooting like you think it should, then it's either the ammo or you.

Headspacing is what you do when changing barrels. You can't just screw a barrel onto the action and tighten it down. People use go/no go gauges for the specific caliber. I just use a live round and some scotch tape.

 

[Mattm0812]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Just go on youtube and watch videos on changing barrels on savages.

 

[arbogb06]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Thanks.

 

[bohem]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

If your dad is an experience machinist it's pretty easy to do this:

1) Put the fully stripped receiver body in the lathe and indicate it 1 of 2 ways
- Throw it in a 3 jaw and recut the entire tenon's mating surfaces in the same setup. Receiver face, bore the threads about 0.005" until the hole is round again, using the boring bar cut the lug faces until you just barely get a full cut across the faces and then chase the threads with a single point ID tool until they're cutting a uniform pass all the way around the receiver.

2) You make all the same cuts as #1 but you indicate the receiver in off the raceway and use an 8 pin spider or potentially a 4 jaw chuck.



For a Savage, since they have a floating bolt head which will align to seat in the lugs properly as well as lots of space in the bolt OD to raceway ID clearance I have done both #1 and #2 and found that the extra work and tooling for #2 makes absolutely no difference in the Savage actions.

If you're going to use a barrel nut then you need to true up the barrel nut as well (face, threads and bore slightly like #1) or you can drop the barrel nut and set it up like a Remington action.

The barrel nut approach allows you to swap the recoil lug and make no other changes to the receiver since it is effectively an "adjustable shoulder distance" but the clean look of the no-nut approach is pretty nice.

Hit me up via PM if you have more questions, I'll be happy to try and answer them.

 

[230grRN]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

I have some specialized tooling I built to true the lugs, and face of Savage actions very close to the original thread center line, its not perfect, but the floating bolt head will take care of the difference.

I for the most part don't do any work to the factory barrels, its to much work and no guarantee of an accuracy gain to try to fix a barrel.

I also forgot to mention to just toss the factory recoil lug in the scrap bin! They are nowhere close to flat.

 

[arbogb06]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

bohem sent you a pm. Thanks again.

 

[tomme boy]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Ok, do not get the time and true from SSS. He does NOTHING to true up the action. Here is what he does. 1) He polishes up some surfaces on the bolt. 2) This is what he calls truing. He bends the action to make it straight. Some of the actions warp in the heat treat. 3) Re-cuts the lead in on the lugs on the action. Makes it easier to close bolt. 4) Turns the face of the action and barrel nut.

None of this is going to make it shoot any better than when it left the factory. Some will say that the free floating bolt head that the other stuff is not needed. So, let me ask this. If the lugs on the action are not true to the bore of the barrel, the bolt head will cock at an angle. When this happens, the face of the bolt head is also canted. So how is that going to help how the gun shoots?

 

[arbogb06]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

Thanks for the isight tomme boy. I have heard some horror stories with scheudling at SSS and was not going to use them.

As far as your question goes you are right so the lugs must be trued as well. Either the entire thing must be trued or nothing is how I see it, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[JJones75]

Re: Savage Gunsmithing

I have built on a few Savages two total blueprint like a Rem 700 and one just lapped the lugs and screwed on a good barrel.

All three shot fantastic , one of the full blueprint actions shot better that the other two but it was a 15 pound 6mmBR.

I set the action up indicating off bolt race , cut lug recesses , reciever face to 100% , opened action threads from 1.055 to 1.125 , cut the bolt face and both front and back of lugs to 100% (they were extremely close , maybe .003")
Drilled and tapped the scope base holes to be inline with bore.

A lot of extra work that didn't yield a noticeable increase in accuracy and damn near zero return on resale.