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Precision Rifle Rebarreling on a Home-Shop Lathe

Table of Contents                                  plus Load Development and Long Range Shooting Book

Draft Shield for the RCBS Electronic Balance

Simplex Load Development Explained

Brownells Action Wrench Modification for use with a Torque Wrench

Rifle Bolt Face Squaring Tool & Dremel Mount for the Lathe

      I decided to make a bolt face squaring tool. See the photo above. Similar tools are available from both Midway and Brownells in brass. I decided to make mine to insure that I would have a close tolerance tool. I started with 1.25 inch diameter brass rod for the tool body and ½ inch diameter tool steel drill rod for the tool’s shaft. I mounted my Dremel tool on the tool post to make the last cuts on the tool’s alloy steel shaft with a fine grinding stone (See the section and the photos below). This would insure a good surface finish on the steel part as well as a true surface. Normally a lap is made from a soft material. I chose to use ½ inch drill rod for the lap as it is already surface ground smooth and uniform in diameter. This would reduce the time it takes to make the rotating shaft and also increase the durability of the greased bearing surfaces. If brass is desired, a pressed in (or red Loctited) brass tip can be used I marked the bolt face with Sharpie marker. Then I installed the tool with the receiver and bolt completely assembled. This puts the bolt in the condition that it is in when the rifle fires. The tools shaft can then be spun against the bolt face. Upon removal the high spots will have the Sharpie marker removed and be shiny. These high spots can then be removed with a scraper and a stone. When you get close to finished, a light lapping can be done with the tool by applying lapping compound between the tool and the bolt face.

       Inspection of the bolt lug wear pattern on several Remington rifles indicates to me that the rear of the bolt is up while cocked and during firing. The bolt probably does not have enough time to drop down after trigger release before the pressure builds and holds the bolt in this position. Normally this causes the bottom lug to bear all or most of the firing load. After lapping in the Receiver bolt lugs in the cocked condition, the bolt front face can then be made true to the bolt bore in the receiver. This will produce fired brass with the heads more perpendicular to the case body and may also improve accuracy by providing identical bolt thrust for each fired round.. The books CD contains a 20 photo series detailing the construction of this tool.

Dremel Mount for the Lathe

The bolt shaft in the bolt face squaring tool will need a square and smooth surface on the end. I mounted a Dremel tool onto the tool post using a 3/4 inch by 10 thread per inch nut mounted to the end of a ½ inch shaft cutting bit. I used a 3/8 inch x 24 thread per inch stud cut from a bolt and red Loctite to connect the nut to the ½ inch shaft. The hole in the nut is offset to bring the Dremel axis up to Center height. See the photos above and below. The Books CD contains a six photo sequence of the construction of this tool.

Page last modified 4/20/2004