baldie

Thats an excellent wrench. I have one. It was the recommended one I bought when AI set me on as the service centre, and there are hundreds in the factory in use. A great wrench at a reasonable price.

Never use a torque wrench to remove a bolt with. It breaks them.

Hopefully going to test the 90 grain SMK this week. Other news is that I have some 6.8SPC bolt heads for the Bighorn actions on their way. Those, coupled with my BR converted mags will make a top end bolt gun possible. I was having this conversation the other day, when a friend asked ...Why ? Why not use a 22br etc ? Recoil. There is a fair bit less, giving faster target re acquisition . The valkyrie reamer will handle the 90 grain bullets without throating too. Having done all this testing on an AR, i'm fairly certain a bit more could be wrung out of a bolt gun.

I've been building/shooting this calibre, for close on 8 years. Always used the 123 scenar and vhit 150. It gives a super accurate load with good speeds, and it doesn't cost the earth.

Any factory barrel carries a serial number. It doesn't match the gun's number, it's it's own serial number, used to identify the make, and period of manufacture. If the barrel has no number, its not a factory barrel.

The factory have never made a 6.5 x 47 Dave. Any sold have been fitted with an aftermarket barrel from the vendor.

I suppose it depends on what its intended use is Mark. Its also a simple job to fit a new one, in conjunction with a breech ring, and the gun will go on to do many more years of service. I'm re fitting some fairly old AW's these days, the rifle can have literally any part serviced/updated, meaning it never need go out of service. A customer accidentally overloaded a .338 AW with the wrong powder. The bolt welded itself to the breech ring. The factory [ on the load data ] worked out that the round produced over 130, 000 pSI.....over twice the safe working pressure. The action was x rayed, and found to be sound. The bolt body was sound. The bolt head and breech ring were replaced and the gun was fine. As the engineer said " a rifle from anyone else, would have blown their head off" I think he was quite correct. most bolts are actually 2 or 3 piece, including remingtons. The bolt head is brazed into the bolt shaft, and machined. i saw a Lawton a while back, where the bolt head had actually gone on that joint, which was a first for me.

An update on the Valkyrie. A long and tortuous path. ? After several range visits, I concluded the 6.8 SPC brass was simply not good enough, and shelved the gun. Then good old Gavin at Brownells, let me know some Starline brass was inbound, so I had 500 cases. This made a big difference, and we experimented with various powders, most of which were just not quite right. I beat the cfe223 to death [probarbly because I have 10 tubs of it ] ? The yanks keep on about it, but no matter what i did with it, the ES spreads [and groups ] were not great. Tried a variety of bullets, mainly nosler RDF's in 70 grain and 85 flavour, and got good speeds and accuracy with the 77SMK. Then Adam at Sassen, asked if I would test them a new cut rifled blank in .224. So on went a 1 in 6.5" twist at 24" this time, so I could see what an extra 4" difference made. Surprisingly...not a lot in speed terms. The new sassen cut rifled blanks are something else. The bore is like a mirror. These patches show what came out, after 100 rds. The last patch had sweets on, and was left to soak . No copper whatsoever. The cartridge is a pernickety little swine, and only likes certain powders, but it seems to handle various bullet weights well. I found the RDF's definately have a sweet spot, at 0.040" back, and I suspect , 0.050" will be even better. Despite my crap bench technique, I have had some satisfactory results now, with two loads shooting around 0.4" . I think to wring the last out of it, it would need to be bench rested. AR's , off a bipod on a concrete bench , are like a roller skating pig. Speeds ? 2850 with an 85 grain, and 3050 with a 77. Couple that with perfect extraction, and you have a very marked improvement over a .223. The BC's of the 85 RDF's are huge, compared to a SMK, and that translates into less drop, and a lot less wind drift. I have a fat box of sierra 90 grain matchings come today, so will give these a whirl too. Many thanks to Adam and James at Sassen, for their help on this project. A beautiful barrel that just works. I will now see how it fares in next years Practical class at Diggle.

I keep the 595 bottom metals in stock. However, its not as simple as just fitting that to the stock. The action has to be opened up to accommodate the mag feed lips, as its not as wide as the T3 mag feed port. Thus, the gun has to be reproofed. The conversion works perfectly though.

The problem with the bolts Andy, was that although the bushes had been made quite nicely, the firing pin hole was not central, on either bolt. This rapidly bent the [ Weakened] firing pin tip, which looked like it had been ground down on a bench grinder. As you say, its an age old fix in the states, and I know, done correctly...works, and is safe. Yours looks a lovely job. Personally, I would silver solder the bush. That would then mean re hardening the bolt head, but a remmy, or other factory head, are not that hard anyway. I suppose this is the bit that worries me a little. Just playing devils advocate, I see it as introducing a possibly non type of steel, into an unknown type/hardness. Probably no problem at all on a remmy etc. The AI bolt head though, is a different kettle of fish. I watched them being EDM'd at the factory. Cant remember the steel grade, but it wasn't run of the mill. They are then heat treated. Known to be as hard as woodpecker lips. Current models have the small pin/hole. The factory did this to help with the cratering problems on small primered cases, even though, they don't produce calibres using them. The problem never arose until people started putting 6.5 x 47 etc onto the guns. It isn't a problem on all. It can usually be alleviated by altering the protrusion [within factory tolerances ] even on the old AW. The problem on all doesn't just stem from the pin/hole. Many factors can compound this. Case wall grip, plus or minus. Bore dimensions, etc. I've built a lot of 6.5 x 47's on remmy's with no such problems, and a couple that did crater. Personally, i've never worried about cratering. If the primer doesn't pierce at the velocity you require, the job is good. A cratered primer isn't going to be re used....it just looks ugly...like an ugly wife/car/dag.? A good tip is to use a BR/mag primer. That helps a lot. If that isn't quite it, try the remmy 7.5 s/r primer...they are like bell metal, and seem to work just the same as a br4. Dave, the bolt head can be replaced. Its a factory re fit, and the gun is required, and will be re proofed. If you are interested, I can enquire of the costs.

Without wanting to party poop. The mention of AI's will always provoke the factory response. Having just had to sort out an AXMC , That had both its bolts badly bushed, and ruined, its a very expensive mistake to rectify. The factory will NOT guarantee any rifle, that has had its bolt head, messed with in such a way. The engineers there where absolutely aghast at what had been done. There is no need now, the small firing pin bolt head in .308 BF and .338 is available.

I have Steve, give me a buzz during the week.

Your reply should be pinned Laurie. More sense talked in that post than has been posted on here in years. The utter marketing bullshit published by the bullet makers beggars belief sometimes. They forget that that 99% of the market just want good results out of a magazine system. My go to .260 bullet, is still the sierra SMK 140/142 grainers. They work. Bergers ? I think I've only ever bought one box . Yes, they are good. I only tend to function properly with two kidney's unfortunately.

Funny you should mention that mr C. I get a lot of squaddie customers. The british army is made up of 50% snipers, the other 50% are in 22 Reg. ? Fitted a 9mm mod to a ruger 77 .357 last week. The guy was a guinea pig for a local club who have noise issues. They simply want to carry on shooting. The club has been there for over 50 years. The local, ever encroaching housing estates...haven't.

Both.?