I have two, they are cheap because they were molded rather than machined from a block of steel.You need to know that they have not been hardened at all.

bobby,

An investment cast action that was not heat treated would be a great liability to a manufacturer.



What evidence do you base your statements on? I do not recall this being an issue with the BBK-02 action that I started from scratch with in 1991.



My BBK-02 has fired considerable quantities of hot 460 Weatherby factory loads and handloads without blowing up or setting back. After rebarrel to 470 Mbogo, it has fired some loads of 500 grainers at up to 2685 fps.



Mitch Carter had a 577 Tyrannosaur based on a BBK-02, and he fired hot loads by the hundreds with no problems. He never mentioned any extra heat treatment requirement to me, and we did discuss the travails of construdtion of his rifle.



Could the BBK-02 be a polished and heat treated BBK-01. The mysterious numbering system goes unexplained. Sumbuddy who know???



I beleive it is very well established that a properly hardened investment cast action is just as strong as any other.



I cannot conceive of anyone marketing an investment cast action without proper heat treatment. Now that would really be an unfinished action, big time!!!

The two action were bought in France. I used them for a .500 Jeffery and a .416 Rigby set of rifles, which give me total satisfaction. The french gunsmiths I worked with told me of various mishaps they experienced with these actions. I took no chance and gave them a heat treatment which I found in Hatcher's Notebook.

I initially had the actions tested in the area behind the recoil lug on all three of my actions. They tested 46c to a depth of between .015 and .018. Within specs for Mausers. After I remove metal from any action or bolt, from lapping, polishing, etc., I send them out for re-heat treating. It costs me about $45/per action and is worth every penny. These actions (all three of mine are 01's) were hardened 17-4 investment cast and according to the metallurgist I use, they were factory hardened well, but the bolts needed a bit more, as the bolt face was only about 50c.
In essence, whether you use the Dakota or the BBK, If you open the bolt face, lap the lugs or whatever, re-heat treat it!