What this means in simple terms is the receiver is machined from 7075T6 with a steel insert at the front which enables the rifle bolt to engage with the barrel. As I said, simple terms.
Today was a special day for us here at the SHED as we have just had the bolts for the next batch of actions returned from heat treatment. I am always slightly wary of HT as until it is out of the oven and has been checked and test certificates issued to show hardness you never quite know what to expect. OK well actually I know exactly what to expect hardness wise as the HT process is very precise, carried out in a vacuum and with computer controlled process stages so really the final product is a given. One of the things about process control is get the process right and the end product should be as expected.
The bolts, firing pin sears, shrouds and bolting inserts that came back today from HT were no exception, perfect in every single way.
Here they are in all their splendour. Well OK here they are in plastic bags, yes if you look very closely you will notice the bolting inserts are not shown, I am not going to publish pictures of these parts as they are of a design that is unique and we will not share such information.
So what does this mean? Well I am going to be busy for one thing…
Actually the really good news is we have expanded the range of bolt faces and accordingly the cartridge families that can be supported are as follows:
.308 bolt face family with inertia ejector
.308 bolt face family without ejector
PPC bolt face family without ejector
.223 bolt face family with inertia ejector
So with the exception of magnum bolt faces we can support the vast majority of factory and wildcat cartridges. The interesting one for me is the PPC Non ejector as this family of cartridges is something I have never worked with and I do like the idea of a super polished aluminium action and barrel and one thing I can certainly do is make 7075T6 shine.
