Bolt lug galling - new rifle

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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by Husky243 » 21 Aug 2021, 8:26 am

Ok, thanks. At this stage I’m not too concerned. Gunsmith recommended similar but I can’t justify spending money fixing a brand new rifle. I gave the action and barrel a thorough clean before oiling and cycling action so unlikely grit loose inside. Can only imagine a machining tag still attached to action lug. Hopefully it’s cleared and have since given action another flush
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by Oldbloke » 21 Aug 2021, 1:09 pm

Yeh, as long as the locking lug abutment, is clean of grit, rubbish I think thats OK. About 60% of 1 lug is taking load. Is the other lug indicating its taking some load?

In my limited experience its not unusual for the bearing surfaces to be uneven. They wear in after some use. The more even the better.

Ive heard of some shooters using polishing paste to speed up the process but I have no experience in that. Would need to be very careful IMO. My rifles all improved a fair bit after 200 or 300 rounds.
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by Husky243 » 21 Aug 2021, 7:49 pm

Ok, thanks. No the other lug looks untouched. But it hasn’t been shot and only cycled a few times. I did read elsewhere that when cycling a 2 lug bolt with no ammo the top lug takes most of the load. Not sure if true.

Off to the range tomorrow :D
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by Husky243 » 23 Aug 2021, 12:30 pm

Put 20 rounds through and all good. Seems to be grouping well (for my skill set anyway).

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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by mikehill85 » 27 Aug 2022, 3:08 am

Husky243 wrote:Recently purchased a Howa 1500. Took it to the range for the first time and on the 8th reload felt a bit of resistance closing bolt. Removed bolt and inspected and noted galling on one of the lugs. Using factory ammo. Bolt lugs had been greased prior. What do you think? Is it a warranty job?


Interesting post. I also recently got a HOWA Oryx in 6.5 CM (a replacement for an HOWA HS Precision in 308 which just wouldn't shoot but that's a whole story in and of itself). I have a few hundred rounds through the rifle. From the start I lubed it like I do my B14 HMR but I noticed the bolt was hard to close/open (compared to my Bergara B14 HMR anyway). I didn't think much of it because the Bergara is known for its smooth action.

Recently I noticed the same type of gouge on the back of my left bolt lug (the top bolt lug with the bolt locked) and that it appears to have very minimal contact (maybe about 10%) with the recess the other lug seems to be getting nearly 100% contact. The thing shoots good (I even shot a 0.2 MOA 5-shot group at 100 yards with it and last weekend I shot 6 5-shot groups with an average group size under 0.75 MOA...The largest group was under an MOA) but I suspect there's a burr on that bolt lug recess.

Anyway, I sent it in to Legacy Sports yesterday to have it looked at. I hate to do it with a rifle that shoots so well but it's under warranty and they might as well sort this out. Also, increasing the contact between the upper lug can only help accuracy. Since this was a replacement for the other rifle (which took them about 5 months to even look at...They said it was too windy to test the rifle's accuracy...for 5 months...Lol...) they said they would try have to gunsmith expedite the work on it. Anyway, I'll update with what the gunsmith says whenever they get around to looking at it (which if history is any indicator won't be anytime soon). It's a bit telling when the only similar problem I was able to find online was with another HOWA 1500 action.
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by mikehill85 » 30 Sep 2022, 5:12 am

Update: I sent my rifle into Legacy Sports due to the bolt lug galling issue and lack of contact with one of the lugs. They sent me an e-mail yesterday telling me they are replacing the rifle and asking me for my FFL information.
It's pretty surprising to me that they would replace the whole rifle over this issue but it could be because this rifle is a replacement for a rifle that didn't meet their sub-MOA guarantee, when they sent the original replacement they sent me the wrong rifle, now I have an issue with the rifle they just replaced. They may be just trying to get it sorted out quickly given this is a replacement rifle already. Last time I waited nearly 6 months.
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by mikehill85 » 13 Oct 2022, 2:41 am

Final Update: A couple weeks ago Legacy Sports e-mailed me asking for my FFL information so they could send me a replacement gun. I assumed that meant they'd be sending it out in the near future. Well yesterday I reached out to them and they told me they needed to wait to get a barreled action in to replace mine and those barreled actions are back-ordered until March. Lol.

I actually had a really bad history with HOWA rifles. The first gun I bought didn't meet their sub-MOA guarantee, so I sent it in. 6 months later they test it, realize I was right, and say they want to send me a new rifle but my model of rifle is no longer in production and can't be directly replaced. So they agree to send me a HOWA HS Precision in 6.5 CM with a 24" heavy barrel. The rifle they sent wasn't the model we agreed on. They sent me a HOWA HS Precision with a 22" sporter barrel (a very different rifle, Lol). In fact the model they told me they were sending me didn't even exist so I refused to accept it at my FFL.

I go back and forth with them and they tell me they will send me a HOWA Oryx (which has a 24" heavy barrel) but I need to pay the difference in price between my rifle (which is no longer in production and can't be directly replaced) and the one they are proposing to send (about $210). I should have probably pushed back on that but I decided to just bite the bullet and pay the difference. That HOWA Oryx is the rifle had the issue with the bolt galling and basically no contact between the upper bolt lug and bolt lug recess.

Fast forward to yesterday, they are telling me they want me to wait until March to get a replacement, for a replacement rifle. I just told them I wanted my money back and was no longer interested in any products from HOWA even if they were free. Thankfully, the agreed to refund my money. I'm probably going to buy a Tikka T3x Lite or some similar rifle that isn't garbage.
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by Gamerancher » 13 Oct 2022, 2:38 pm

At the risk of offending all of the Howa fanboys out there, you have a rifle that is built to a price, not a standard. Machining is done to a pre-set tolerance not precision.
The bolt lugs and receiver are not mated up perfectly, like I said, tolerance. It is what it is and you get what you pay for. It 'aint a Stolle...
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Re: Bolt lug galling - new rifle

Post by mikehill85 » 14 Oct 2022, 5:18 am

Gamerancher wrote:At the risk of offending all of the Howa fanboys out there, you have a rifle that is built to a price, not a standard. Machining is done to a pre-set tolerance not precision.
The bolt lugs and receiver are not mated up perfectly, like I said, tolerance. It is what it is and you get what you pay for. It 'aint a Stolle...


Agreed it ain't a Stolle but at the same time they have a sub-MOA guarantee which their first rifle didn't meet and the replacement had a huge gouge in the bolt and was hard to open. No bolts and bolt lugs are mated up perfectly but obviously what was going on with my rifle wasn't "normal" even for budget rifles.

I think HOWA rifles made a lot more sense back when you could get the lower end models for about $400 on sale. The original HS Precision rifle I bought, that didn't shoot to their sub-MOA guarantee, cost about $640 but it had an HS Precision stock which has an MSRP of about $400-$500 so it seemed like a really good deal. That said, it obviously turned out not to be, at least in my case. The action design is actually really robust and they have a very good trigger.

The HOWA Oryx (which replaced my original gun) sells for about 1,000 USD. At that price point you would almost certainly be better off getting a Bergara B-14 or a Tikka of some sort. $1,000 isn't a "budget" rifle, even in today's market. As such, you'd expect at least mid-tier level quality. Regardless, I am glad they decided to make it right and refund my money.
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