Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats DIY ways to "slicken" up a 700 action

After being spoiled by custom actions, its hard not to notice some of my trued 700s aren't nearly as smooth. I understand that comes with the price of admission, yet a couple of my 700s are just as smooth as some of my customs. Is there a DIY way to slick up the bolt travel fore and aft? Can anything be done about ease of bolt lift?

Thanks in advance, I tried searching but little came up.

Goop it up and stroke it until you can’t stand it no mo’.

Use fine lapping compound and jack it off a couple thousand times while watching the tube.

Fine compound works

Tetra gun grease

Bolt life is a function of truing and timing. Take a trued 700 that has had the bolt timed with lugs/abutments trued and compared bolt lift to a factory 700. World of difference here.

To make it smoother feed and extracting, wear our out a factory barrel and then have a custom tube put on it while having it trued. It'll be smooth.

Fine compound? 1 micron diamond lap, 6 micron diamond lap, flitz, JB, auto shop valve grinding grease of what grit, toothpaste????? anything specific

Rem 798 in 458 Win mag....

sell it for a Tikka/Sako action?

Lap the lugs with fine valve grinding compound. Not sure but feels like about 220 grit. Just do the lugs and up and down on the bolt only. Stop when mostly shiny on both lugs. Clean and then I use Flitz, JB or white rouge for stainless steel, coat the entire front of the bolt and bolt handle contact surface and do as many full cycles as you can stand. If it turns black or feels too smooth then wipe off and add more compound and cycle a couple hundred more times.

Lap the lugs with fine valve grinding compound. Not sure but feels like about 220 grit. Just do the lugs and up and down on the bolt only. Stop when mostly shiny on both lugs. Clean and then I use Flitz, JB or white rouge for stainless steel, coat the entire front of the bolt and bolt handle contact surface and do as many full cycles as you can stand. If it turns black or feels too smooth then wipe off and add more compound and cycle a couple hundred more times. Tetra or Moly engine assembly lube on the back of the lugs after a thorough cleaning with carb cleaner, lighter fluid or whatever you have on hand. Some polish the inside of the bolt body too. Can't hurt but hard to say if it gives any smoother or more uniform trigger releases and firing pin strike. A manual polish on the bolt cocking sears does help. Just keep all surfaces flat.

Can someone who has had success doing this recommend a specific product? Or will any "fine valve grinding compound" work?

I just shoot mine a lot!!!

Assuming everything is mechanically correct,timming is right, lugs are lapped, tool marks are minimized.
The best thing I have found is a product called TSI-301.
http://www.tsi301.com/main.htm
Years ago PS magazine did a test to see which lube reduced the force required to cock a bolt.
They used pound meters and tried several products on the same action.
The most effective product was some kind of moly paste chhit.
I refuse to use that black crap on a gun im going to handle.
Number two was TSI-301.
I have used in on many M700s and other rifle actions for years.
You have to see it to believe it.
dave

Tejano,
Get a CLUE !!
There are more Remington's BASTARDIZED by this method than so called truing/molesting.

ANY Remington & most Custom Clones are NOT TIMED correctly...no matter the cost or availability of the Clone!

I've got a SS Rem700 that I built into a Highpower XTC rifle. It was decent to begin with but the rapid fire stages place a premium on "effortless" bolt manipulation. I polished the feed ramp with cratex and then a felt bob. The action rails were stoned with a quality med stone to just knock the high spots down. You don't want a glass smooth surface on a glass smooth surface because you can't keep lube between them and you will start sticking and potentially galling. A little surface texture is a good thing for holding lubricant. Same thing as sliding machine ways. I left the lugs alone, they bore well enough and I'd heard to many horror stories about mucking them up, altering headspace, etc. The cocking piece and the cam in the rear of the bolt were stoned as well. I sat in front of the TV for several evenings and just ran the bolt through its cycle with it well slathered. I run NECO Moly Slide grease on the all the pressure bearing surfaces and in my experience this moly bearing grease is the best I've tried to reduce felt resistance. Typically will drop trigger pull weight 1/2 lb when applied to the sear surfaces. The result is an action that has near full bearing on the lugs (with no abrasive lapping), cocks with minimal effort, and has no binding or resistance on the bolt cycling back and forth. I'd put it up against any custom action for "slickness".

gzig5,
Thats the product i was talking about from PS.
I just dont like the black..
NECO also sells TSI-301.
dave

May never get a clue but I did not mention timing at all. I agree you can certainly ruin an action this way if overdone but I have done numerous ones with no problems. I start with the flitz or finer polish and only use the other if warranted. I usually have any serious lapping done by a gunsmith and prior to head spacing.

I thought you were probably referring to the NECO product. I'm not crazy about the black either. I usually end up getting it on my fingers and later my face during a match and I end up looking like a linebacker with the face paint. But, I haven't seen anything that works as well. Once you've broken in the action with the stuff, I "think" it gets burnished into the metal and you don't need much on the sliding surfaces. I still keep a sufficient amount on the lugs and cocking piece but wipe off the excess so it's not so bad. The carbon from my AR15s is worse as far as getting me dirty.

Cycle it, cycle it, and cycle it some more; the easiest way to make sure you don’t screw it up.