Marlin X7 lug lapping, the hard way

Some of you in TV land may remember my post about my groups with this rifle at 1,000 yards. Well after a conversation with MZ5 about one of his predators I thought I should bring this pig back out. This 25-06 never did like rapid fire, but as this is my coyote gun it doesn't matter much.
After some cleaning and fooling around with firing pin protrusion, I looked at the locking lugs, Oye Vey! I had a narrow ridge on one side and zip on the other. Apparently the floating bolt head wasn't enough.
It was about that time I realized I was out of my 1200 grit polishing compound, so I had to scrounge the next best thing.
That turned out to be JB Bore Paste, which is only about as abrasive as toothpaste. Well as it turns out, that will work over a large period of time. I highly recommend some music and sipping whiskey. After working the bolt handle for longer than i wanted to; I ended up with 100% mirror polished contact on one side, and very good contact on about 75% of the other lug.
The nice thing about the X7's, since they are a nut gun; headspace is easily reset if needed.

Thank heavens this was a Marlin and not a Ruger! Although I can't prove it, my claim is that Ruger casts their receivers with a tungsten coating. Those babies are tough!

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