Joe DeChristopher

[techkya]

I stopped by Joe's table today at the Oak's show...I was l looking for 03 parts....I came upon a NOS R marked blue bolt that had a 8 stamped on topside at the root...I commented that I had one identical to it....Joe said, back in the day, when he opened a spare box of 24 bolts there was always two each 3 marked stamped bolts, and two each 8 stamped bolts....He stated they for rifles with head space problems....# 3 being the smaller headspace problem rifle....Do the 03 experts concur?

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[Jim Tarleton]

Sounds reasonable, and I wouldn't argue with Joe.

jt

[Chuckindenver]

no, i think thats a stretch.

[Col. Colt]

Simple to prove - find someone with the full set of .30-06 match headspace gauges, strip some bolts of all removable parts, and start comparing the differently marked new bolts in the same rifle..... CC
PS - This assumes someone has a couple of known, brand new bolts to compare. A Match gunsmith should have a full set of gauges, and perhaps might be willing to do the test?

[techkya]

I just completed my 03A4 build....I had to finish ream my NOS chamber...My gunsmith bent A4 bolt closes on a Clymer GO gauge...It will not close on a Clymer No Go gauge...I tried 2 NOS R marked bolts, with a Go gauge in the chamber...When I turned the bolt handle, I felt a fair amount of resistance within 30ish degrees....I then installed a NOS, 8 within a circle Remington bolt, the Clymer GO gauge was still in the chamber...The weight of the bolt handle cause's the bolt to fully close....The circle 8 bolt stops at 30ish degrees on a NO GO gauge....Joe also mentioned that with every couple of box's of bolt's, an A4 bolt would be thrown in....

[Chuckindenver]

Attachment 29052Attachment 29053Attachment 29054
new Remington A3 bolt, New Remington #3 new Remington #8..all on the same gage...like i said, sounds like a stretch.
strangly enough, the one that closed farthest, was the plain Remington Bolt..for giggles, i tried 10 bolts new and used..all were about the same, the only one that amost closed was a used SC x marked bolt, but was fine in the rifle i pulled it from.

[firstflabn]

Weren't ID stampings done before final heat treatment? If so, a question for a metallurgist would be: do asymetrical steel parts of this configuration made from alloys of this sort always retain their dimensions after heat treat - absolutely zero shrink, stretch, deflection, or twist. Anyone have the drawings showing manufacturing steps? Are critical bolt dimension final checks done before or after heat treat? If the answer is after, then the asserted scenario is implausible.