Lawton 7000's
By Allen Precision Shooting
Well, I got a package from Lawton Machine today from the nice man in
brown!! I was chambering a barrel when they came in and had to shut
things down just to get a look at these new toys!!
In the package were two M7000 receivers and a barrel I ordered for myself
which was a 270, 1-9 6 groove with 8 of Barneys heavy flutes.
First off, here is a pic of the two receivers, both M7000 which is the
option for a drop in fit for the REM 700 receiver. They are not a
direct clone though!!
You can see one receiver has the standard bolt and the other has the optional fluted
bolt. Also, the one receiver has a 20 MOA steel rail fitted to it
already. All I can say about the rail is that it is VERY stout!!
It is also very nicely finished and is attached by four attachment
bolts. I think they are 8-40s but I would have to check again to
make sure.
These receivers use all the same accessory items as the Rem 700 such as
triggers, floorplates and stocks but there are differences for sure.
You will notice that the ejection window is much narrower then the Rem
700 which results in a MUCH stiffer receiver design. The Lawton
receivers also has a full diameter for both the scope rail base
attachment locations. Unlike the Rem 700 which has a thinned rear
support area. Again, much stiffer and dramatically improved
consistency. How many rails fit perfectly on the Rem 700
receivers?? NONE!!
There are also some other slight differences that most would never
really notice. The bolts measure 0.702" in diameter roughly.
This is compared to a Rem factory bolt that is on average around 0.695"
in diameter. This is not much and does not effect strength but it
does effect bolt fit to receiver and the Lawtons are MUCH tighter then
the Rem 700 bolt to receiver fits.
Also, the bolt lugs on the Lawton are roughly 25 to 30 thou longer then
a factory Rem 700 which does add to the strength of the receiver over
that of a factory Rem 700.
The Lawton receivers also use a Sako style bolt stop which is very
nicely machined into the off bolt side of the receiver. This may
require some minor inletting for some Rem 700 stocks but this is not a
problem at all, easy to do.
Another feature I like is the extractor which is positioned on the
forward portion of the right bolt lug. It is similar in design to
the standard Sako extractor but not as large. It actually looks
like the Superior Shooting systems 2000 extractor but I am not sure.
What I really like about it is that it is positioned to eject the cases
straight out level with the axis of the receiver. Unlike a
traditional Sako extractor which is positioned above the lug that throws
the cases up as they are ejected.
Anyone that has used a Sako extractor with a scope that has large target
turrets have seen the brass smears on your windage turret and at times
this can cause ejection issues.
There will never be a problem with these receivers and this extractor
design.
Here is a pic of the left side engraving and it is done very nicely.
Its funny, in talking with Barney, he told me his receivers were sort of
a working mans custom action and as such not to expect the finish of say
a BAT or Nesika. While the finish may be a bit heavier matte, I
see no real difference. Very impressed with the fit and finish.
BUT, now it was time to see how they stacked up as far as receiver
sqaureness goes. Keep in mind, these are standard receivers, not
the BR spec receivers from Lawton. TO check for receiver
squareness, I like to clean a receiver totally, getting rid of any oils,
grease or chips from machining. Then I set the receiver with its
bolt in locked position, up so it is pointing vertical, position the
recoil lug (included by the way) on the receiver face. I then take
my 0.0001" depth micrometer and take four measurements across the bolt
face. One a 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00. To do this properly
I pull the striker assembly and the plunger ejector. Just want a
stripped bolt body in the receiver.
For comparison sake, I took three out of the box factory Rem 700
receivers, one Sako TRG-S receiver, two Win M70s (one CPF, one push
feed), one BAT 2"x10" match receiver and two Nesika Bay model M
receivers.
Set them all up the same way using match grade recoil lugs on all that
needed them (all except the Win and BAT receivers). Took the same
four measurements on all of the receivers. TO figure how square
the receiver is you simply take the total variation from the four
measurements.
Taking this measurement tells you the relationship between the following
surfaces and their squareness to the axis of the receiver. Forward
recoil lug surface, rear recoil lug surface, receiver face, receiver
bolt lug locking recess, bolt lug locking surface and the bolt face.
All of these surfaces have to contact each other to come up with the
total squareness of the receiver system. It does not take much
variation to add up quickly!!
I will be totally honest here. What I found with the custom
receivers and the factory receivers really surprised me!!
Especially from the very expensive custom receivers.
I will list the receivers as most variation to least amount and their
variation beside each receiver.
Win M70 CRF ..... 0.0028"
Rem 700 ..... 0.0019"
Win M70 PF ..... 0.0018"
Rem 700 - 0.0014"
Sako TRG-S ..... 0.0010"
Rem 700 ..... 0.0008"
Nesika Bay ..... 0.0006"
Lawton M7000 ..... 0.0005"
Nesika Bay ..... 0.0004"
Lawton M7000 ..... 0.0004"
BAT 10" ..... 0.0003"
Now if you notice the first five factory receivers are all between one
and three thou in variation across the bolt face. Only on factory
receiver, one of the Rem 700s got under the 1 thou variation range, not
very impressive.
All of the custom receivers were right at or under half of a thou in
variation across the bolt face. To my surprise, the most expensive
receivers, by far, the Nesikas were on the top of the pile. Even
more impressive was that the "econo" model of the Lawton, the M7000 was
as good or better then the Nesika Bay in receiver squareness and only 1
and 2 "ten-thousandths" of an inch behind the huge BAT receiver.
Now, I have used a lot of Nesika receivers and I have yet to have one
that did not shoot EXTREMELY well at any range. What I see from
this test is that the Lawtons should offer just as true of a platform to
fire off from out of the box as a Nesika Bay receiver. Only for
1/2 the price!!
The big BAT was not a surprise to me being the best of the test
receivers as it is a full blown BR receiver. That said, it is not
much better then the Lawtons and remember I have yet to get the Lawton
M7500 BR receiver in to put the mic to. I suspect I will again,
not be unhappy with the findings.
Now the test for these receivers is to get barrels on them and get some
bullets in the air. That's really the only test that counts!!
That will be coming soon. The barrel I ordered is my personal test
barrel that I will fit to the M7500 BR receiver I have coming from
Lawton. Barney tells me its pretty much ready to ship so that
should not be long.
Here is a pic of the unique round flutes that Barney mills into the
barrel. There are eight of them on this barrel which is a 1-9 6
groove to test the 195 gr ULD RBBT Wildcat bullets.
More testing to come but so far, it appears that the Lawton M7000
repeating receiver will measure up to the BATs and Nesika Bay receivers.
So far very impressed!!
Kirby Allen(50)
Allen Precision Shooting
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