Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats PT&G M700 one piece or rework factory bolt?

Just planning my blueprint of two M700 actions I have. I'd really like to TI flute the bolts and skeletonize the bolt handles. One has the J-lock so I'll be replacing the firing pin and shroud as well. I'll probably have the bolt handles tig welded on as well if I stick with the factory bolts. So I'm wondering if I just shouldn't get a couple of new one piece bolts from PT&G and sell off my old to recoup some of the cost if I'm going to do all the other work anyway?

Cost and fitting the new bolt + headspacing could get expensive, tig welding and TI fluting would more than likely be cheaper and would be a nice edition to your new rifle!

I'd go the ptg bolts. You can pick whatever extractor you want. M16 is a good choice. Sell your old bolts and recoup some $.

Agreed, headspacing is a bitch on actions.

This is a good question, I need to run the numbers myself as I have a couple to do.

In my case, I would include the cost of spiral fluting and skeletonizing.

What do stainless 700 bolts sell for used?

Send it to Dan at Accu-tig. He does great work.

I'm actually in the debate mode myself. I want to have a bolt face opened up. By the time you pay for that and have a new extractor installed you are on your way to a PTG I believe.

Another option I personally would lean towards would be just to start with a quality custom clone action. There are many good ones out there at all different price ranges and options. You can find one with pretty much all of the options above you are looking for. Good luck.

Custom actions certainly make sense. By the time you trick out an M700, you are there anyway.

Problem is I have the actions already, and I can do them a piece at a time. Money is slow right now and I don't want to pay that much up front for a custom action. I realize I might pay more on the back end but right now that's how I have to work it.

If all you want is to mod the factory then I would vote for that. If your opening or installing a tube then PTG makes sense. Your gun wont be more accurate with new bolt. So unless your building, the one trick at a time approach... JMO

W

Both actions will be getting new tubes, as neither are what I want them to be.

I would go PTG. You will get fluted bolt with solid bolt handle and threaded for use of many different bolt knobs. Also order the bolt body diameter to fit your specific actions size.

If your going to rebarrel than PTG would be a good option, but if you are going with TI fluting and skeletonized handle than you will need to send it to Karl!

For a hunting rifle I would definitely have Dan tig weld it on after the flute. He understands bolt timing and yours will cycle easier. I did the PT&G bolt with flutes, 060 firing pin , and ended up with an additional $325 invested. I had to cut the rear of the lugs to get the headspace in specs. This was on my Grandson's deer rifle.





It wasn't worth the extra money. Should have stayed with the factory bolt.

One might consider that since there is really no issue with the original extractor, and it's a $10 part if it does break, and since there is no issue with many millions of handles already in service, and since fluting serves no real purpose...

And since it's your money, you guys can finish the thought...

Top Cat, I didn't want mine to look like yours. It probably won't kill a deer any better, but Grandson loves it.

I'm not changing the extractor and "if" I go with PT&G I'm using the Remington extractor as well. As far as fluting the bolt because I like the way it looks same with the skeletonized handle. I'm going to change the bolt release as well eventually to a side mounted one. I'm kind of done buying rifles for awhile and I just want to progress on a couple of builds I've been planning for awhile.

Butch...just a quick reply advocating for the Devil in general, and not in response to your post.

You do have a nice combo action there, and it's definitely a different animal. Hard to call it a Remy still. It's a M70/Remy meets Howa best-of-all-worlds. Those aren't pointless mods, and if it's all squared up it's even better.

If it's only 3 bills and a little change to get it there, I'd say that's a pretty good deal!

I wish it was 3 bills only. That was for the bolt assembly less the 3 POS safety. The receiver had the raceway reamed and the rest of the receiver squared to the raceways. The rear tang screw was enlarged to 1/4"X28 and an external bolt release was added. This is a 600 receiver. I had a cut made on the LH side of the receiver, both for aesthetics and a little lighter.


You can see where the front of the loading port has a notch to allow a long seated cartridge to be ejected. It is in 6X47L set uo for 85 grain bullets.

Butch, who did the 3 pos safety for you ? How do you like it. Is it worth the added cost in your opinion ? I like that along with the side bolt release. Doesn't look as if you can see the top of the pin that holds the bolt release either like some of the guys who do that option. Looks better w/o seeing the top of the pin showing.

I did not break through drilling and tapping. I did it from the bottom. Kerry Stottlemyer did the PT&G safety for me.

RDFinn, I had a side release done on an M700. It was worth it in my opinion, I hate that little tin button you have to finger on the factory guns.

There are a few versions...the one Kampfeld installs and Short Action Customs use are drilled from underneath. I sent mine to SAC just because Karl was booked up.

What you need to be real careful with on a side bolt release is to make sure it is far enough back. If not a loaded round will not eject.

Yeah, and they told me to mark my stock line on the action so that I wouldn't have to modify my stock. SAC got mine right though.

I like the looks of the one on Butches gun over the one Kampfeld uses as the one that SAC uses appears to be the PT&G unit and has those serrations on the back of the bolt release lever and Karl's doesn't. I think it adds to a more "custom" look. Karl told me he could file in serrations on the back, but I figure why bother. So I guess the trick is to advise SAC that you wanted the bolt release "tilted up" slightly so you don't have to deal with stock alterations. That's the term that Defiance used when I asked him about side bolt releases. I'd assume from the looks of the bolt releases on SAC website that they've done quite a few so I'm not real concerned about them setting back the release far enough for proper feeding and ejecting rounds. From the pics, it looks like they do a very clean install for a reasonable price too. I guess you just mark your action/stock melding so they know how high to mount the bolt stop. I'll probably start off with an install on my custom 700 stainless Hart built 280 Ackley and see how it turns out. I'm assuming the SAC installed bolt release is made from SS.

My bolt release is an Anschutz.

RD, the one I got from SAC was stainless. What I didn't like is that it was polished stainless. I had my buddy bead blast it for me though to knock the shine off.

if you're building a PTG is a lot for a little. They are snug and don't run as easy as a factory bolt.

Several folks here who have gone the custom action route with their much tighter bolt clearances have reported "sticky bolts" after finishing them in Cerakote. Something to think about, Personally if I were going the Cerakote option for the exterior surfaces, I'd do what Nosler did and have the bolts done with Micro-Slick which apparently can be applied thinner and is slicker to boot. Two custom rifles I handled at my range were built by Gradous, ho has a fantastic reputation for building super accurate rifles had two actions that were CeraKoted and both bolts were sticky. Both rifles were built on Surgeon 591 actions. For me, when I get another custom rifle action, they will be finished in Black-T by Birdsong,

Black T is great as is Birdsong. The one on my Grandson's doesn't stick as I didn't make it too tight and I lapped the bolt to the receiver before finishing it.



I am not a camo lover, but if your 9yr. old says, "Papaw, I want Camo", it will be camo.

I had a PT&G bolt fitted to my Remington SA and then had it cerakoted. My bolt now is also sticky. How do I fix this issue?

Tony

Clearancing needs to be done before any coating is applied, because coatings are a few thousandths thick...even hard chrome.

At this point you should be able to see where it's rubbing.

Start with some #0000 steel wool and smooth it up a little on the mating surfaces. Don't take it all off, just a little surface smoothing to knock off the rough stuff and see where you are at. You made need to use 1200# paper, but try the #0000 first...you can do it wet. Then lube it.

If there is sufficient clearance, it may smooth up with use.

Just use the gun. Cerakote wears just like any other coating. I've had cerakote, teflon, and KG, all of them wore on the contact points.

That is why I use Black-T from Birdsong. It makes the action slicker than it was to begin with. Black-T from Birdsong is a self lubricating finish so no oil of any kind is needed whatsoever. The Birdsong finish can be applied to all internal small parts (springs, small screws, pins, internal trigger parts) whereas a lot of the other finishes cannot due to the flexibility of, say CeraKote. When you talk to some of the guys who do CeraKoting, ask them if they will completely disassemble the trigger mechanism and coat everything inside the trigger housing such as the parts mentioned above. If the Birdsong finish does wear off down the road, they will refinish it you for free. I know, because I've had them redo a bolt and I got it back quickly, free of charge. When Birdsong does a refinish job, they do your scope mounts too, free of extra charges.

Thanks for all the info guys, got a lot more than I asked for. Sure gave me some ideas that'll cost me money down the road.