Hello,

Is there any way to change out a firing pin, mainspring, cocking piece, and shroud on a Rem700SA bolt w/o a dedicated tool for compressing the mainspring?

TIA,

Monte

Other than using a loop of wire clamped in a vise to hook the sear with, you mean?

What I'm trying to do is disassemble the firing pin assembly so I can convert this new-production J-lock bolt to a non-J-lock shroud and cocking piece, and change over to a SpeedLock firing ping and CS spring. I have one of the Kleindorst tools from Sinclair for removing the whole assembly from the bolt body; what I want to do now is take the firing pin assembly apart. As I understand it, this requires compressing the mainspring on the firing ping to relieve the tension and allow things to come apart. There is another dedicated tool to do this w/, but since this will hopefully be a *one* time affair, I was rather hoping to avoid having to fork over the $$$ and wait for the brown Santa truck

Thanks,

Monte

Monte, I have a way for you but you have to build a small item. Take a one inch piece of 3/8" round bar stock and drill a #17 hole down the center line of it. You can tap it to for a 12X24 thread and it may save you some problems later. Take the firing pin and bolt shroud out of the bolt. Drop the 1" thingy down into the bolt. Then thread the pin back in as it goes into the 1" thingy, it will depress the cocking piece so you can drive out the pin, then unscrew it and you can put the other bolt shroud on it and reverse the process. Once you unscrew the bolt if the 1" thingy won't just slide out and they can get lodged, you will need a long 12X24 bolt or a small piece of bar stock threaded to 12X24 so you can pull it out. Ray Price taught me that, bless his soul.

The easiest way to change from the "J" lock is to just order one from Brownell's. They sell the Holland's assembly for around $60. I don't think it is possible to modify the existing "J" lock assembly. All of the parts internal and necessary to it are different. I have changed every one that I have done a gun on.

Jim

Milanuk,

Unless you have already bought the speedlock componets:

Sinclair, Brownells, and (I believe) Midway offer firing pin assemblies with the bolt shroud. I recently purchased the Precision assembly from Sinclair, and am very pleased with it. It is simply a screw out the old assembly and screw in the new operation. Precision claims a fairly significant improvement in lock time. I think there was a fairly good discussion of the merits of various brands on firing pin assemblies for M700's on BenchRest Central a couple months ago.

Casey

Well... I have in my hot little hands a replacement bolt shroud and cocking piece, both from Gre-Tan, and a Speedlock firing pin and spring. It was my understanding that it was entirely possible to ditch the factory J-Lock parts, and reassemble w/ the parts I have on hand. The biggest gotcha seemed to be making sure that I had the right SpeedLock pin, as the correct one for the new j-lock bolts is supposedly just a tad longer/different, even when changing out to the 'old-style' cocking piece and shroud, going by what Brownell's has on their site as a note for ordering the right pieces.

Once I get access to or manufacture a tool to do it w/, I guess we'll find out.

Thanks,

Monte

Monte,

I can't find mine but I will build you one and leave it at One Shot Firearms. You can keep it or give it to Dave when you are done.

Thanks, but I think by the time I get this thing rolling (not as soon as planned, dang sinus cold kicking my butt) I can just pester Elzie and borrow his mainspring changing tool. I was largely inquiring about a 'tool-less' method, assuming a person had a big enough vise and enough spare hands to catch the assorted parts anyways.

Thanks again,

Monte

Too late Monte, I just got it done. It is pretty seedy looking, Elzies would look a lot better.

Thanks! I'll give it a go then. 'Seedy looking' isn't even a consideration, especially after the way the bedding on this rifle looks. Shoots ok so far, so I'm gonna work w/ it a while.

You live over here above Malaga, right?

Thanks,

Monte