A good friend wants to turn an action into a custom rifle. He bought an action, pre-64 model 70 and took it to have it barrelled up. The smith checked the action out and found that the action lug bearing surfaces had been set back quite a bit. What are his options short of scrapping the project. Can the action lug face be machined and rehardeded? Could the action be welded up and refaced to get rid of the setback?? I don't know what to do to help him. Any suggestions?

Build up the lugs with weld? Never. Depending on the amount of set back, it is possible to re-machine the lug seats. You would probably want the action examined by a metallurgist familiar with actions before making any decisions. Blanchards in Salt Lake City is one such outfit.

Westpac is right on.
I've never heard of a Pre 64 action having the lugs set back, but stuff happens. The metallurgy does need to be checked. If it is OK, then someone who owned the rifle before did some serious work (HEAVY loads) to have the lugs set back.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:
Westpac is right on.
I've never heard of a Pre 64 action having the lugs set back, but stuff happens. The metallurgy does need to be checked. If it is OK, then someone who owned the rifle before did some serious work (HEAVY loads) to have the lugs set back.

Don

I never heard of it either Don, But you can create some hefty breech pressures by leaving the chamber oily or leaving case lube on the handloads in some calibers. High pressures also could add to it. Probably any action that is "soft" enough, not to be brittle (as it should be) can be set back under the right conditions. Concur with the fix recommended here, as well.

Thanks all, do you have contact information?

Hey SS, Just as a quick reminder of what can happen with an Over-Stressed rifle.

I just don't buy "used" anymore unless I know a lot about how the rifle was treated. The last one I got used had 6-factory shots through it, and I'd shot 3 of those myself.

Best of luck to you.