Gunsmithing lapping=wear? true or false

[OFIS]

so i took delivery of a 700 action today, one small step towards a build.
and it made me realize how much smoother the action of my SPS has gotten over the past year of use.

so now what im wondering is if i should liquidate the new action and build off of the worn in action, or <span style="font-weight: bold">would getting the machine shop makeover give the fit and finish of being already broken in?</span>

i was hoping to juggle the two and sell off the old when the new is finally done, all those months without my go to rifle not being able to be gone to...

 

[Mike]

Re: lapping=wear? true or false

Yes and no.

A "tuning" if you will, will make the action much smoother, but will not give you the same feel as an action that has a few thousand rounds down the tube. Look at any custom action where the bolt has been painted and you will see.

Now the plus side is you don't need to "fire" the rifle to get the smoothness there. One you have your action tuned, sit there and watch TV and rack the bolt a few hundred times. What I've done is do it during all the commercials. Or if you have time, use this time to get your dry fire practice in.

If you do this consistently for about a week or so, you will find that action will settle right in.

 

[oneeyedmac]

Re: lapping=wear? true or false

If you have the bolt raceway bored when you have it trued that will change it. It would basically renew the bolt raceway, you'd also need either a new bolt or the current bolt sleeved. For a tactical style rifle it's not really neccassary to to the bolt raceway in my opinion. In fact a bit of room isn't awful as it give any dirt collected in the field a place to go.

You can also use a bit (and I mean a bit) of lube in the bolt raceway and see if that helps along with a bit (and Imean a bit) of lube on the back of the bolt lugs.

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: lapping=wear? true or false

For your original question "lapping=wear? true or false" Lapping is indeed a CONTROLLED removal or polishing of mating metal surfaces. That COULD be considered wear.