Posted: 9/11/2016 10:39:53 PM EDT
| I am curious what tools are required to build a bolt action rifle. For those of you that have built your own did you outsource some of the work to a gunsmith and if so why didn't you do it your self? Would I be getting in over my head trying to accomplish a bolt action build? I have only built AR's but would like to have a bolt action rifle and I think it would be fun to build. |
| Well, I haven't built one of my own, but am somewhat familiar with some of the processes. The fact that you are even asking this question lends me to believe you would be substantially "in over your head," but I was wrong once. When you say build, do you mean taking X already on the market action and chambering a barrel for it? I think the most prolific tool for this job is a lathe and an excellent knowledge base of how to use it. I'm thinking a micrometer or sixteen, might be a good idea too. |
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As mentioned, taking a factory action, removing the barrel and putting on a blank is a ton of work and a lot of knowledge. You'll need to know a lot of stuff and have a big lathe.
If you buy a really decent action (A Remington 700 pattern in my example) that doesn't require truing and a good prefit barrel (RemAge barrel), then building your own is possible, but not really any more of a challenge than putting on an AR15 barrel onto an upper. You just screw the barrel on, check headspace and lock down the barrel nut. All you would need would be a good barrel vise, action wrench and go/no-go gauges. Tons of Savage rifle shooters have swapped barrels in this fashion. "RemAge" uses the same type of barrel nut as a Savage, but with the Remington thread pattern for those rifles. If you want to get the most out of that expensive action, most people will send it off to a good gunsmith. Why pay the coin without getting the most out of the gun? I'm a cheap bastard though, I like prefit barrels and have the vise and gauges. I have no issues dropping on a new barrel if needed. A good option for your would be to buy a Savage, shoot it a while and rebarrel it. I picked up a Savage AXIS for really cheap (almost free) with a pencil barrel and replaced it with a better, heavier profile barrel. |