Nature Boy
Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
- Messages
- 8,238
Nice, concise write up on leveling a scope @Walkalong
Been doing that, first time in a long time.Makes me want to sell off
Legionnaire said:Makes me want to sell off a half dozen or more to fund a really fine rifle ... maybe ...
I have had issues with the Seekins feeding from the AIAW mags, bolt over round jams, round popping sideways jams. The mags have an 1/8" vertical play when "locked" in and the bolt barely catches the top round on the inside edge.
It's not just the P-mags.
Open your bolt, insert the mag, and take a peak inside the ejection port at your bolt face and lugs. Even better if you have a DBM Rem 700 handy to compare side by side.
1) The Seekins lugs run 90degrees turned compared to standard 2 lug Rem 700 pattern rifles. This means the lugs are oriented up and down, rather than horizontally in the receiver. In other words, the lugs hang DOWN below the boltface. That's great for reliable pick up - it'll dig deep into a mag, especially stagger feed AIAW mags, to pick up the rounds, BUT it also means the mag feed lips must be wide enough to let the lug(s) pass through, else the bolt will crash on the mag. I would have to search to find it whether it was in our PM's (or those with another user), or in one of these threads, but I know I've mentioned that here a few times - the rotated lug design is a blessing and a curse, which requires some tweaking to the mags, regardless of brand or material.
2) The bolt body of the Seekins rifle is oversized and the bolt head diameter smaller than the body - so it has a step/shoulder at the front edge of the bolt body. Unfortunately, that also means the mag lips have to be low enough in the action to clear the bolt body - which wouldn't be a problem, except that it also means those 90degree lugs HAVE to reach farther down to pick up rounds. Even if we open the mag lips wide enough to clear the lugs (but not wide enough to lose grip on the rounds), we still have to worry about clearing the bolt body, else the shoulder will crash on the lips...
So tuning the mags for the Seekins design is a balancing act between having the lips trimmed down low enough and opened wide enough to clear the lugs and the bolt body, but keep them high enough and tight enough to retain the rounds in the mag.
"My Friend" screwed up on the first 10rnd Pmag HE tried to modify for the seekins will blast all 10 out of the top if you drop it - HE filed the inside edge of the lips to open them for the bolt lugs, before I, er, I mean... HE realized the next step would be crashing on the bolt body shoulder and then HE had to file them down to clear the bolt body too - so HE cut them OUT as well as DOWN... The result is that the lips have just the slightest tenuous grip on the top round, so if you bump it hard enough to let one slip, the next hits hard enough to overwhelm the lip and blast the whole thing empty. It was spectacular to watch when I, er, I mean MY FRIEND pulled that mag out of his back-up holster when another mag had failed. HE dropped it on the deck to get a different grip, it blasted all of my, er HIS backup rounds across the platform like a water-balloon, so in a fit of frustration, HE threw the mag into the bushes and left it there to die in Texas...
All of that sounds bad about the Seekins design, but really, I do love the rifle/action and it does work very well - I just wanted to spell out WHY they might take a little more thought than some other actions. AICS and Accurate mags took some bending AND filing, whereas 10min worth of bending on AIAW mags left me with perfectly reliable feeding - and AW mags are easier to load (and unload) and are shorter than standard centerfeed AICS mags. Comparatively, a standard Rem 700 without feed rails (cut for DBM) or Rem 700 clones often won't reliably feed from AW mags, because the curvature of the bolthead won't reliably reach the caseheads in the staggerfeed layout.
I have looked at the videos about 'tuning/tweaking" the mags over the last week or so, and finally figured that is what you meant by you had tweaked the AIAW mag(s). Although I could make one, I have the mag lip adjustment tool coming from MPA (Ordered their mount for the Impact/Bushnell). I also have the duct bending tool you pictured from my air conditioning days where I played duct man when he was out drunk. I haven't used it in decades, but I do oil it up from time to time when I go through the tool boxes.At any rate, open the feed lips of the AW mags slightly with wide smooth jaw flashing pliers and they’ll run like a top
In my defense, it's a long thread.From page 16 of this thread:
In my defense, it's a long thread.
I also have the duct bending tool you pictured from my air conditioning days where I played duct man when he was out drunk.