Gunsmithing Weatherby bolt binding.

[Boatninja]

Hopefully some one with MkV experience can a help. A friend brought over a rifle he bought at a Pawn shop with a bolt binding in the last 1.5" opening and closing. A casual inspection shows some scuffs on the left inside of the receiver, the gun is very dry. It sort of feels like when pushing the bolt forward it is out of alignment with the forward part of receiver. I have a couple of initial thoughts but not a Smith and know there is lots of knowledge here. Any suggestions?

Edit: False alarm, an absolute nightmare of a home bedding job and over tightened rear action screw.
My apologies for asking before I looked at it. I'm just not a Weatherby fan and know nothing about them..

 

[iceng]

Half way through reading i was about to say "front action screw ?" And bingo.

history lesson. (Any old timer wanna jump in and give info id LOVE to hear your input).

In the 60s and early 70s when bench rest was taking off, everyone had a wood stock. Nothing really fibre glass or polymer existed (main stream).
When people travelled with guns, the smart people would realise that wood would swell and contract in the weather, so if they did up action screws in humid weather, and then when the wood got dryer in a hot dry climate, their accuracy suffered. When not using their firearms, they would undo action screws to finger tight, maybe 10in/lbs (for storage). Once they wanted to shoot, they had done accuracy test to learn where their gun shot. So they would torque up action screws at the range, and compete.

This is where the "you need exactly 42in/lbs on front and 48 on the rear" came from. Or whatever numbers you have heard.

Yes people did bedding, but over the years, or repeated tightening and loosening of screws, the wood eventually crushed, and to achieve their torque values, the action screw would poke in too far, causing bolt lock on close.

Some bright shining spark developed pillars. Bedding work and pillars became a staple diet for accuracy there after.
I have NOT found and difference on torque values on a correctly bedded rifle. 25 up to 60ft/lbs gave no disernable difference in group size over multiple shooter on the same gun.

I generally suggest 40 to 45inlbs now. Any higher and you risk stripping receiver threads. Ask me how i know.

 

[Boatninja]

Half way through reading i was about to say "front action screw ?" And bingo.

history lesson. (Any old timer wanna jump in and give info id LOVE to hear your input).

In the 60s and early 70s when bench rest was taking off, everyone had a wood stock. Nothing really fibre glass or polymer existed (main stream).
When people travelled with guns, the smart people would realise that wood would swell and contract in the weather, so if they did up action screws in humid weather, and then when the wood got dryer in a hot dry climate, their accuracy suffered. When not using their firearms, they would undo action screws to finger tight, maybe 10in/lbs (for storage). Once they wanted to shoot, they had done accuracy test to learn where their gun shot. So they would torque up action screws at the range, and compete.

This is where the "you need exactly 42in/lbs on front and 48 on the rear" came from. Or whatever numbers you have heard.

Yes people did bedding, but over the years, or repeated tightening and loosening of screws, the wood eventually crushed, and to achieve their torque values, the action screw would poke in too far, causing bolt lock on close.

Some bright shining spark developed pillars. Bedding work and pillars became a staple diet for accuracy there after.
I have NOT found and difference on torque values on a correctly bedded rifle. 25 up to 60ft/lbs gave no disernable difference in group size over multiple shooter on the same gun.

I generally suggest 40 to 45inlbs now. Any higher and you risk stripping receiver threads. Ask me how i know.

Like my grandfather said, "If God meant gunstocks to be made out of fibre-glass he would have given us fibre-glass trees!".

 

[Boatninja]

may have been caused by someones poor excuse for a bedding job.

 

[308pirate]

may have been caused by someones poor excuse for a bedding job.View attachment 8239921

Wow what a shit show.................

 

[FuhQ]

You don’t want my MK-V experience… That whole shitshow story ends with me dumping that boat anchor dumpster fire, and getting another 700, like I should have done from the get-go. Weatherby sucks. They were never good rifles, just better than average from the 40’s through 60’s, so they got a great reputation, because until the 700 showed up in the 60’s, there was no competition that held a candle. And they rode that horse into the ground, and still continue to do so.