Rifle Services

Barrel screw cutting for moderators/muzzle brake

Moderator/muzzle brake fitting

Re-barrelling

Why Re-barrel?

If you favourite deer rifle or fox gun is getting a bit old and doesn't quite shoot like it used to, then it's time to consider getting a new custom barrel installed by CCF Or, if you're building up a special rifle and you want the best, or if you simply want to change calibres, then re-barrelling is the answer. We use the best materials and best of techniques to give you a completed job that we feel is clearly superior to what is commonly available from the gun factories. We use primarily use Lothar Walther barrels, however we will be happy to supply and fit different barrel manufacturer if required

Action blueprinting

Introduction into blueprinting

Blueprinting your rifle's action will not guarantee tiny groups, but if you are to build a super-accurate rifle, you must start with the action. Once you know you have a good, true action, you can build on it with barrel, stock, bedding, and sighting equipment. Of primary interest to any shooter is accuracy. A lot of factors go into getting a rifle to shoot accurately, including the load, the action, the bedding, the quality of the barrel, the precision of the scope, and the ability of the person behind the trigger. But perhaps nothing is more important than the very heart of the rifle, the action itself. The action houses the trigger, which must be crisp and relatively light. The action supplies the fast locktime, which is a major contributor to tight groups. What few shooters know, however, is the trueness of their action and the precision with which it was made. Important questions about the action should be asked when building up a super-accurate bolt rifle. For instance, are the barrel threads cut on the same centre-line as the bolt through-hole? Is the boltface concentric and at exactly a right angle with the centre-line of the bore? Are the locking lug recesses perfectly perpendicular to the centre-line? Do the locking lugs mate completely and squarely with their recesses? Is the face of the receiver square with the centre-line? Does the washer-type recoil lug have parallel sides so that when the action and barrel are tightened the centre-line of the bore is maintained with the centre-line of the action? When a rifle is fired, thousands of pounds of chamber pressure are generated, placing the entire barrel and action under tremendous stress. If any of the parts are not perfectly aligned and abutted, disproportionate stress creates adverse harmonics throughout the firearm, tending to throw shots out of the group. Most rifles are made on production machinery, and advances in CNC machines in recent years have increased the ability of machines to produce parts to close tolerances. Still, there are tolerances and the parts are produced very fast. It is not unusual to find critical receiver and bolt parts that have more manufacturing tolerance, or runout, than critical machinists and shooters would appreciate. For example, it is not unusual to find a receiver face that is .010 or .012 inch out of square. The threads can easily be out .010 inch. Add .002 for the boltface and another .002 for the locking lugs, and it all combines to do nothing good for accuracy.
While these tolerances are better than they have ever been, and do produce fine and sometimes exceptional hunting accuracy, the shooter pursuing the very best accuracy possible does everything he can to ensure that his equipment is the best that it can possibly be made to be. So if we want to shoot the very best to which our ammunition and abilities are capable, the place to start is with the action. A great many shooters replace factory barrels with a fine barrel from a custom maker, but there are no guarantees that the custom barrel will perform up to its full potential unless the action is true. Trueing and squaring an action and bolt is commonly called "blueprinting." We recommend that you replace your rifle's barrel when you blueprint your rifle's action. That way, the new barrel can be fitted to the trued action. Since the action threads are recut during blueprinting, the old barrel will no longer fit without cutting off the section with the old barrel threads and rethreading. The best time to blueprint an action is when the barrel is replaced. Action blueprinting does not guarantee tiny groups because it is only one of several factors that go into getting tight groups. But if you are to build a supremely accurate rifle, the place to start is with the action.

Pillar bedding

In order for you to achieve the best possible accuracy from your rifle, it must be bedded properly! There are many types of bedding methods: block bedding, two-point bedding and pillar bedding to name a few.
At CCF we recommend the pillar bedded system with a free-floated barrel as we have found that this is the best method for consistent accurate rifles.
The most important aspect of all bedding methods is that the action is stress free.
Bedding jobs that you have to pry out of the stock, and others that by tightening the action screws the stock flexes .030" - .050" in the fore-end are not correct and will introduce stress into the action causing inaccuracies with the rifle.
On a properly-bedded rifle you should be able to remove the barrelled action from the stock easily. If done correctly, they should fall free from the stock with the screws removed.
The fore-end flex can be checked with a dial test indicator using the following method:
With suitable soft jaws in the vice, grip the barrel of the rifle ensuring that the stock is on the top (upside-down).
Using a dial test indicator and stand, clamp this to the barrel and set the clock onto the fore-end of the stock.
Carefully and slowly loosen the front action screw whilst watching the dial test indicator.
A properly bedded rifle should not move the dial any more than 0.005" as this is likely to introduce stress into action.
All rifles bedded at CCF are checked in this way, if they fall outside this parameter the bedding is removed and the rifle
is re-bedded at no extra charge to the customer.

Stock modifications/upgrades

Trigger adjustments/upgrades

TRIGGER FUNCTION

While all trained and experienced shooters understand that the basic function of the trigger is to release the cocked firing pin to initiate the firing sequence, most do not understand the mechanism well enough to appreciate how the function impacts their ability to accurately and precisely fire their rifle.

The trigger mechanism typical of most factory bolt action rifles has four basic working parts:
1. Trigger – operating lever (includes the spur that your finger engages)
2. Sear – holds the firing pin cocked (engages the operating lever)
3. Sear reset spring – returns the sear to set position after bolt release
4. Trigger spring – returns trigger to set position after spur release and provides most of the resistance (“pull force”)

In the cocked (pre-firing) position there is a small surface on the operating lever that engages a mating surface on the sear. This “sear engagement” combined with the parts alignment and trigger spring hold the firing pin cocked.
The portion of the firing sequence of interest consists of the shooter squeezing the trigger with sufficient force to overcome the resistance of the trigger spring and sear engagement friction long enough (distance and time) for the trigger and sear to disengage so that the sear falls releasing the firing pin.
For safety, the mechanism has to be designed so that with the “safety off” there is sufficient sear engagement area (distance) and force to insure that any force and movement (such as dropping the rifle) does not disengage the sear.

TRIGGER FUNCTION IMPACT
Trigger mechanism basic quality impacts the shooters ability to accurately and precisely fire the rifle primarily by how consistently the function will repeat the same feel shot to shot. A new trigger may wear-in and get somewhat more repeatable but a poor quality trigger will need to be repaired or replaced (internal parts or complete assembly).
The trigger activation sequence impacts the shooters ability to accurately and precisely fire the rifle by creating effects on the shooter and a time period for the occurrence of these effects that might result in the rifle being moved away from the point of aim. These effects are reactions of the shooters muscles (tremor) to the feel of trigger squeeze that in turn tend to cause minute rifle movement. The three significant effects are:

1. PULL FORCE – most talked about and significant due to muscle reaction magnitude being proportional to the magnitude of the required force
2. CREEP – sear disengagement feel (distance, smoothness and time) which tends to cause variance in the other two and initiate muscle tremor
3. ENERGY – not discussed much but very significant in that the time to disengage the sear is directly proportional total required energy (force times distance) and the potential for muscle tremor being proportional to both energy and time

Obviously it is beneficial to minimize all three of the above effects. However, it is also possible to reduce the combination to a level were the shooter loses control. This can have negative consequences on both consistency and safety. The optimum set-up (minimum pull force and creep) that will yield best accuracy and precision but keep the shooter in control varies primarily with the shooting conditions but also with the shooters experience and ability.

The best accuracy and precision occur when the shooter knows when the gun will fire. This is obtained by using a good adjustable trigger with set-up optimized for the shooting conditions and many rounds of practice by the shooter to adapt to the set-up.

There are two primary trigger functional adjustments:
1. Sear Engagement (“creep”) – difficult to achieve a balance between best “feel” and “safe handling with the safety off” which is why manufactures usually warn against the user attempting this adjustment
2. Pull Force (“weight”) – factory triggers often set the minimum possible too high for the accuracy and precision needed for many shooting conditions
Some designs may also include one or both of these adjustments:
1. Pre Travel – trigger spur movement before sear disengagement starts
2. Over Travel – trigger spur movement after sear disengages

REPLACEMENT TRIGGER SUGGESTIONS
If you decide that you need or just want to replace a poor performing factory trigger, there are several companies that make assemblies or upgraded parts including Jewell, Rifle Basix, Sharp Shooter Supply, Shilen and Timney. Depending on your rifle model and brand the trigger may drop straight in or require more work to fit correctly. CCF will supply, fit and adjust the trigger as per the customers requirements
However, if accuracy and precision are your goal, nothing beats replacing a bad trigger for results and it should even precede getting a high end custom barrel.

THE BEST
If you have a Winchester Model 70, Remington 700, 40XB, XP100 or one of the many custom rifles/actions that are built to use a Remington compatible trigger assembly, then in our opinion the best on the market is a Jewell trigger. The Jewell is a complete functioning trigger assembly; three pull force springs are provided with heavier ones are available, this are among the easiest to install and adjust, all parts are hardened stainless steel, operates best unlubricated and can be cleaned whilst still fitted in the rifle.
The Jewell trigger uses a unique over center toggle link design so that almost no trigger pull spring force is required to hold the sear engaged. The trigger pull spring just resists pulling the trigger so changing the spring or adjusting the pull force has no other effect on trigger operation. Therefore, there is almost no minimum pull force required to keep the sear engaged. That allows pull force to be set to very low for “safe handling with the safety off”.

Repairs and maintenance

To ensure reliable and safe performance proper rifle maintenance includes more than just bore cleaning:

Check operation of the rifle paying particular attention to the trigger and the safety catch.
Rust in the chamber, even seemingly insignificant amounts, greatly increases the load on the extractor during primary extraction. Carefully clean the chamber (and the locking lug recesses), and remember to dry it before using the rifle again.
Clean the bolt face to remove bits of brass, burnt powder and corruption from beneath the extractor.
Check to ensure the ejector, whether plunger-type or fixed, is clean and functional.
If possible dismantle the bolt and clean the firing pin channel and re-grease (with appropriate lubricant).
Check action and scope mount screws are tightened to the correct torque.
Clean the magazine box, follower and follower spring, feed rails and feed ramp.
Clean and check the condition of the muzzle thread (if applicable)

Weather and environmental conditions cause fewer problems than most people think. Your rifle can take temperature extremes that humans can't. Most common problems are often caused by too little or too much lubrication. Rifles don't need a lot of lube, just a small amount of high quality lubricant in areas carrying the heavy loads.
In bolt action rifles this means the cocking cam (which the bolt handle rides up) and the rear surface of the bolt lugs.
Excessive lubrication does more harm than good. It can contaminate ammunition, get sticky in cold weather gathering dust and foreign objects which eventually wears the mating parts of the rifle.

Full custom rifles