Here is a how to on smoothing out the bolt lift of a Remington, many rifles have similar cocking systems so the concept will carry over. This process does little to lighten the bolt lift, but it will greatly improve the feel and smoothness giving the impression of a lighter bolt lift. First, here is a pic of the bolt where the cocking piece "cams", this is one of the main areas you need to focus on, and as you can see, the machine work is pretty rough, and there is galling from the rough surfaces.
here is a pic of the firing pin assembly, you also want to polish the marked area that makes contact with the bolt, these two surfaces make contact under heavy spring tension to reset the firing pin.
To polish these surfaces, it will require bolt disassembly. first, I use 1000-1200 wet/dry sandpaper with some light oil to clean up the machined surfaces, you can even move up to emery cloth or a finer grit. Here is a pic after a few minutes of 1000 grit and oil, doesn't take much.
If you don't have the tools to disassemble the bolt, you can also get similar results using a very fine lapping compound, this will also "cut" the surfaces in relation to each other since it is assembled and under tension. With the lapping process, you need to thoroughly clean the surfaces and lube to ensure all the grit is removed.
If you want to take it a step further, you can smooth out the threaded surfaces in the bolt and on the bolt shroud. I do this by using a fine lapping compound and reassembling the two. Remember, when the bolt is assembled, the threads are rotating and making contact under a great deal of tension from the firing pin spring, the smoother these surfaces are the better the feel of the bolt.
A look at the threading
This is a process that is fairly easy, and can greatly improve the feel of the bolt, good luck!
