Follow along on the #KeeganStrong Build

Joined
May 29, 2012
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3,474
Location
Lewiston ID
Early last fall, one of the members of my Idaho/Colorado hunting group was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma (Cancer). His name is Keegan and he's 12 years old. His dad Jeremie is a good friend and I hunted with him and his two boys Keegan and Kaden in 2016 in Idaho and Colorado, and again with Jeremie this fall in Idaho. Keegan is a tough kid... I first met him 6 miles in the Idaho back country late october in snow/cold on a deer hunt and he handled it better than most adults I've hunted with. Anyways, here's a link to the Gofundme page that gives a little back ground. Karl Blanchard (another hunting partner of mine) got a few of us together and we've managed to raise quite a bit of money along with donations/auctions from Phelps game calls and too many others. Quite a few members from the NW Precision Rifle Shooters FB page donated nearly everything for a custom rifle build as well. I thought I would start a thread for Keegans rifle build so ya'll can follow along. A huge shoutout also goes to Mcmillan for a rush ordered GameWarden stock 100% donated. They didn't hesitate to donate at all, love working with companies like that.
GoFundme Link:
Fundraiser for Danielle Wilder by LISA HILBERG : Keegan's Kick Cancer to the Curb

So here's the list of parts we've gathered. Nearly everything was donated by fellow shooters and complete strangers! Good stuff...

Remington 700 SA (previously was a 6.5 Creedmore)
Timney 510 Trigger
Seekins Precision 20MOA scope base.
Vortex Viper HS 4-16
ARC 10 scope rings
HS Precision DBM
Mcmillan Gamewarden
HCA Carbon killer barrel, 9" twist, 6.5 cal. Heavy hunter contour.


Here's a pic with the basic ingredients...
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First step is to blueprint the action. Couple initial measurements.
Action face to bottom action lug: 1.1445"
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Action face to top action lug: 1.146"
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Pretty typical for a remington 700. You can clearly see the bottom lug has been taking the brunt of the recoil. This is due to a few things. One being the trigger sear pressure on the back of the bolt puts an upward pressure on the bolt, forcing the front of the bolt nose to cant and put more pressure on the bottom lug. This is an inherent issue with the Remington platform but it is what it is. They still tend to shoot great :) Various builders have come up with their own designs and "fixes" over the years for this "issue". Results have varied.
EEJqxcm.jpg


Checking bolt handle clearance. This one is at .008" which is one of the tightest I've ever had on a factory action. Should yield very good primary extraction and I may not even re-work the bolt lugs/handle in this action. You'll see why below:
LOjuyN4.jpg


Mike
 
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HellsCanyon
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Messages
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Location
Lewiston ID
After getting the action dialed in to less than .0002" TIR (total indicated runout) it's time to clean up the surfaces.

Action face after .002" taken off. It's close but not quite cleaned up.
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.003" taken off. Closer still
oxTyJiy.jpg


.0045" taken off and she's clean.
RblhJ8w.jpg



Next it's the threads. I bore them out to a specific minor ID to recut them for a .010" oversized barrel tennon. Then I single point recut them. This is MUCH better than using the truing setups sold by PTG and others that use a tap and mandrel setup. Taps always follow existing threads, single point cutting is the only way to correct any misalignment in existing threads.
Bored and recut threads
oxTyJiy.jpg


Action lugs recut as well:
pXbzunE.jpg


All cleaned up
laSsVRP.jpg
 
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HellsCanyon
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Next step for this evening is to recheck action measurements. Remember we were out a few thousandths in post #1?

Both measurements from action face to action lug are now less than .0002" as opposed to .002" before.
Bottom lug measurement
L55Wn3f.jpg

Top lug measurement
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With bolt in the action I also measure to the bolt lugs. This measurement isn't indicative of too much, as their front mating surface don't come into contact with anything and typically have .005" space between them and the rear of the barrel but if there's an extreme difference here I'll recut them.

They're within .0005" of each other. I'll remeasure them after the existing cerakote is blasted off the bolt but I think I"m going to leave the bolt alone on this one. I'll check bolt lug/action lug surface contact with some layout die and see if I need to cut or lap the lugs in on the bolt.

rrPU8tn.jpg

jMzo1Wn.jpg


One more thing to take care of tonight....
I quickly blasted the lug that came with the action, chucked it up and recut the center hole .015" oversized (1.062 to 1.077"). I like a little slop here as any binding with throw the barrel/action alignment out. I also have special jig I threaded up to keep the lug centered on the action while I drill the action to pin the lug to it's face. This ensures a no-bind lug setup and allows the parallel mating surfaces to lock up smooth.

5zo8aqO.jpg

hjmIycD.jpg


That's it for tonight. I"ll be bedding it and a few others tomorrow and will be working on it throughout the next few weeks. For those of you that currently have work waiting with me, don't worry this build isn't interfering with them! Mainly being done on the weekends and after hours.

I also forgot to mention that we had 100 pieces of 260 Lapua brass donated and have dies en route as well! This will be a 260 Ackley shooting 143 ELD-X bullets (also donated).

Mike
 
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HellsCanyon
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Thanks guys it’s quite nearly the least I can do for him. Just a bit of time and materials donated. I’ll update as it progresses.


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UtahJimmy

WKR
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SLC, UT
Awesome! So amazing that all these companies are pitching in. Thanks for sharing, can't wait to see his reaction!

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HellsCanyon
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Gonna get this thing dropped into bedding this evening. Had some bottom metal inletting to clean up. I would say 8/10 stocks I get need a few areas relieved. Had to mill out the front of the magwell on this one.

Before
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After
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Next you can see the bottom metal is sitting a little proud below the stock line. Took out .050” of composite on front and .020” on rear. Then I faced the aluminum pillars on the lathe to set approximate bottom metal height. Once the pillars and action are bedded into the stock I’ll mill the pillars to set final height, but it’s always easier to rough them in before bedding.

96dba8d6065ceffd362ba868a8f889f5.jpg


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After with pillars cut/action torqued in.
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f120d6218f56ca40b52a74ddfbddb3be.jpg



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HellsCanyon
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Just got off the phone with Jeremie. Keegan is going into surgery on Thursday to remove the mass behind his lungs, all pre-op stuff looks good, but prayers are always appreciated! Thanks guys

Mike


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HellsCanyon
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Got this and another one in bedding. I’m headed home to eat dinner :)

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Tomorrow I’ll pop it out of the stock and clean up the bedding before prepping it for hydrodip.

Mike


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HellsCanyon
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Messages
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Popped action out of the stock this morning and let it finish cure the rest of the day. I like to let the bedding have 24hrs before I mill it.
Just got done cleaning up the inlet from bedding.

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Mike
 
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