Post by elkman1310 on Mar 14, 2016 9:38:16 GMT -5
Hi Hunter your bolt nose is a nice design but it seems a lot of people have had problems with sticking primers. To be honest I have only seen one hunter bolt nose conversion and that was on Richards M/L so I can't say that they all have the same problem his had. The primer slot on Richards was only 1/32 wide I tried that in the beginning and then went to 3/64 which is about .040 wide. His firing pin was .085 in diameter and the hole coming through the bolt nose was .100 and the firing pin had been ground flat. Richard said he tried that step to see if it would help solve the problem of sticking primers.
Win 209 primers are milder and they rarely stick but 209 Mag primers will. If your slot in your bolt nose was opened up to 3/64 and your firing hole in your bolt nose was only a few thousands bigger you would eliminate a lot of problems. Richards firing pin being flat caused the primer to crater even when dry fired. When the primer cratered there was not enough clearance to get the primer out of the 1/32 slot. That is why I make all mine 3/64 if you go bigger than that size then the primer wants to lay over to one side to much and you will have problems getting the primer into the breech plug unless you hold the gun pointed up that would be a real pain.
There seems to been some real confusion how deep to make the primer pocket and what size the hole should be reamed to. Since I work off a flat surface I mill my slot to a depth of .070 using a carbide 1/4 end mill then I come back in a cut the slot with a 3/64 cutter. You need to go slow and flood the piece in oil. It cuts easy until you need to make the full cut at the bottom that's when the little teeth can brake. I know my primer will stick out in front of the bolt nose .226 so the primer pocket hole will only be no deeper than .224. I make a little head space plug out of aluminum to act as the primer. I make the plug .298 long and .235 in diameter. When you do your final assembly make sure you have a good bolt cam stop screw I make mine so they only have about .002 clearance if the screw is undersize and a lot of them are it will throw off your final head space. Some people think if the bolt nose touches the breech plug that would be the correct head space it really is not.
So when I have the barrel threaded on the action and the breech plug in installed (.010 or .020 short of the final depth remove the firing pin from the bolt and install the little head space plug in the breech plug (Remove) the firing pin from the bolt so you don't get a false reading. Then install the bolt and close it on the head space plug screw the action on till the handle just closes on the head space plug. Then measure your gap between the recoil lug and the action with feeler gauges this well tell you how much deeper you need to go ( You Deepen the hole and threads for the breech plug) You do not deep the hole in the primer pocket! I have a digital setup on my tail stock so I can usually do this in one pass. I use a .705 counter bore with a pilot you can buy these from PTG they work great for this operation. I make my primer pocket hole size .2405 it gives you a snug fit on the primer CCI 209 Mags never seem to seal perfectly Federals do and Winchesters come out clean.
In a nut shell The little plug is the head space gauge and the procedure is the same as if your chambering a center fire cartridge. I have had zero problems with primers sticking. The Cam screw is the weak link if you make the primer pocket to tight or short the cam screw will wear quickly. I made a little holder to cut these cam screw pretty simple little tool. Since the screw is to small to chuck up and hold in the standard 3 jaw setup. True to Remington the slots in the bolts are all different some are .075 deep some are .090 deep and some are .201 wide and some are .206 wide if you install a cam screw that is .190 you quickly have changed your head space by .010 It's an important part that can't be over looked on this type of action.
Win 209 primers are milder and they rarely stick but 209 Mag primers will. If your slot in your bolt nose was opened up to 3/64 and your firing hole in your bolt nose was only a few thousands bigger you would eliminate a lot of problems. Richards firing pin being flat caused the primer to crater even when dry fired. When the primer cratered there was not enough clearance to get the primer out of the 1/32 slot. That is why I make all mine 3/64 if you go bigger than that size then the primer wants to lay over to one side to much and you will have problems getting the primer into the breech plug unless you hold the gun pointed up that would be a real pain.
There seems to been some real confusion how deep to make the primer pocket and what size the hole should be reamed to. Since I work off a flat surface I mill my slot to a depth of .070 using a carbide 1/4 end mill then I come back in a cut the slot with a 3/64 cutter. You need to go slow and flood the piece in oil. It cuts easy until you need to make the full cut at the bottom that's when the little teeth can brake. I know my primer will stick out in front of the bolt nose .226 so the primer pocket hole will only be no deeper than .224. I make a little head space plug out of aluminum to act as the primer. I make the plug .298 long and .235 in diameter. When you do your final assembly make sure you have a good bolt cam stop screw I make mine so they only have about .002 clearance if the screw is undersize and a lot of them are it will throw off your final head space. Some people think if the bolt nose touches the breech plug that would be the correct head space it really is not.
So when I have the barrel threaded on the action and the breech plug in installed (.010 or .020 short of the final depth remove the firing pin from the bolt and install the little head space plug in the breech plug (Remove) the firing pin from the bolt so you don't get a false reading. Then install the bolt and close it on the head space plug screw the action on till the handle just closes on the head space plug. Then measure your gap between the recoil lug and the action with feeler gauges this well tell you how much deeper you need to go ( You Deepen the hole and threads for the breech plug) You do not deep the hole in the primer pocket! I have a digital setup on my tail stock so I can usually do this in one pass. I use a .705 counter bore with a pilot you can buy these from PTG they work great for this operation. I make my primer pocket hole size .2405 it gives you a snug fit on the primer CCI 209 Mags never seem to seal perfectly Federals do and Winchesters come out clean.
In a nut shell The little plug is the head space gauge and the procedure is the same as if your chambering a center fire cartridge. I have had zero problems with primers sticking. The Cam screw is the weak link if you make the primer pocket to tight or short the cam screw will wear quickly. I made a little holder to cut these cam screw pretty simple little tool. Since the screw is to small to chuck up and hold in the standard 3 jaw setup. True to Remington the slots in the bolts are all different some are .075 deep some are .090 deep and some are .201 wide and some are .206 wide if you install a cam screw that is .190 you quickly have changed your head space by .010 It's an important part that can't be over looked on this type of action.