really need help with rifle build off my remington 700

[Velvet]

Ive tried 4 different bullets ranging from 150 to 180s with 3 different powders and 3 different primers. Ive sent probably a few hundred rounds down the tube. The odd thing is it shoots factory ammo about the same and I never got wildly bad groups either. Never anything over 2inch groups but also never anything under 1inch groups at 100 yards. Ive loaded for 4 other rifles (3 of which have after market barrels) and I was able to get sub 1 MOA easy on them 2 of which are consistent sub .5MOA (out to 400 yards at least).

What torque are you using with the action screws?
Are the action and the recoil lug skim bedded?
How often do you clean the bore?
Did you try several CBTO lenghts?, sometimes moving the bullet back or forward, magic is done.

 

[Bigeclipse]

What torque are you using with the action screws?
Are the action and the recoil lug skim bedded?
How often do you clean the bore?
Did you try several CBTO lenghts?, sometimes moving the bullet back or forward, magic is done.

The action screws are torque to I believe 50in pounds (it is aluminum bedding block). I have not messed with testing that too much. The Action/recoil lug is skim bedded with devcon. My procedure has been to really clean the barrel with bore tech. Once cleaned well, I will foul the barrel with 3-5 shots depending on my mood. Then ill shoot until groups get worse which is like 25 more shots. I have messed with bullet seating lengths but not a ton there. My load development is similar to berger method.

 

[vancewalker007]

I was thinking about remage, just not sure on what work it takes to make it fit in the stock I already own. I have changed savage barrels.

The thing I hear about remingtons though is the factory barrels are near impossible to remove which is causing me hesitation.

I believe McGowen will contour to your liking. They offer their contours plus Douglas and Shilen. So you could come very close to your stock inlet. A quick call to them they can likely tell you some good choices based on the stock you already have. You can even get a custom chamber like I said before b

 

[Bigeclipse]

I believe McGowen will contour to your liking. They offer their contours plus Douglas and Shilen. So you could come very close to your stock inlet. A quick call to them they can likely tell you some good choices based on the stock you already have. You can even get a custom chamber like I said before b

Thanks for the info! I have used criterion, Apache gunwerks (not sure what blanks he uses) and Excalibur. All of them shoot very nice and are easy to clean. Never used McGowen but have heard mostly good things about them.

 

[Lee Goodwin]

EABCO, EA Brown, accuracy barrel, $259, u pick caliber. They install to your action for $30 and inlet the barrel to your stock for $65 or 70..?. Saves you from buying a head space gauge too.
6.5 might be the way to go, but, eabrown.com has a 26 inch 243 varmint barrel with a 1:8 twist that would potentially take a 115 grain 243 bullet to 800 plus yards, F class style. That could be a fun easy to reload for , cheap ammo shooting, set up. Accurize it. You obviously love the rifle. Pillar bed it? And glass bed it? Yourself?
So, barrel 259, head space it 30, inlet barrel 70, s&h ? 15? = $375 total

Or buy a new factory rifle for $400?

 

[Bigeclipse]

EABCO, EA Brown, accuracy barrel, $259, u pick caliber. They install to your action for $30 and inlet the barrel to your stock for $65 or 70..?. Saves you from buying a head space gauge too.
6.5 might be the way to go, but, eabrown.com has a 26 inch 243 varmint barrel with a 1:8 twist that would potentially take a 115 grain 243 bullet to 800 plus yards, F class style. That could be a fun easy to reload for , cheap ammo shooting, set up. Accurize it. You obviously love the rifle. Pillar bed it? And glass bed it? Yourself?
So, barrel 259, head space it 30, inlet barrel 70, s&h ? 15? = $375 total

Or buy a new factory rifle for $400?

The stock on the rifle is bell and Carlson with an aluminum bedding block and already has also been skim bedded. It will not be able to hold any barrel contour larger than a sporter contour plus I want to keep it "lightish" weight. Buying a factory rifle is a gamble and can lead to another mediocre shooting rifle. This rifle already has a good stock and a nice timney trigger. I don't mind spending a bit on an aftermarket nice barrel to ensure it is a good shooter.

 

[vancewalker007]

The stock on the rifle is bell and Carlson with an aluminum bedding block and already has also been skim bedded. It will not be able to hold any barrel contour larger than a sporter contour plus I want to keep it "lightish" weight. Buying a factory rifle is a gamble and can lead to another mediocre shooting rifle. This rifle already has a good stock and a nice timney trigger. I don't mind spending a bit on an aftermarket nice barrel to ensure it is a good shooter.

So now you have 2 affordable solutions to fit your stock. There are likely other makers out there that will do similar jobs.

A custom fit barrel is going to run somewhere in the 300-400 range for chamber and fit then the cost of the raw barrel, usually 350-400. So worst case on a custom barrel is around 800. I guess you could buy a Tikka for around that price but it seems like you like the stock you already have.

Any aftermarket barrel, even a Douglas, is going to be way better than any mass produced one.

 

[Rifleslut]

I have posted over the past several months on possibly rebarreling my Remington 700 and im just lost and need help and suggestions. For those that don't know, here is the deal: I have a Remington 700 mountain SS with a pencil thin barrel in 3006. it shoots 1.5MOA which is fine for the hunting I do BUT it bugs me and it recoils a bit more than I would like. The recoil is no problem at all for when I hunt but when I sight it in every year or just shoot it for fun, it does tend to start hurting and cause me to flinch after about 15 rounds. I always like to get below 1 MOA with my reloads and have been able to do so with all my other rifles. Why the change you may ask? well I have built my wife two rifles in 7mm08 and 6.5CM. I absolutely LOVE shooting her rifles. Low to no recoil and they shoot .5MOA if I do my part. This has led me to want to rebarrel my Remington. I want to try and keep costs lower on this one so id prefer to re-use the stock and not have to buy a new bolt (if possible). The stock is a B&C stock (with aluminum bedding block) on the Remington mountain SS with a drop plate (no magazine). it has some meat which can be removed for inletting of a slightly thicker barrel but not too much. It should hold a sporter contour ok but maybe not much thicker. When I checked new bolts out, they would be 200$ which just doesn't fit my budget so that means I need to pick a caliber which fits the 3006 bolt that I have. I hunt primarily whitetails, definitely no Elk or anything big. Maybe the very rare black bear but doubtful. I do not hunt prone with this rifle nor do I want a brake on it. It is primarily tree-stand hunting and shooting house hunting with absolute max ranges being 400 yards but the norm would be under 200 yards. I am pretty sure I no longer want 3006 (partly because of recoil and partly because im just bored).

Number 1 thing is a sub 1 MOA rifle. It just bugs me when a rifle wont shoot under 1 MOA.

Number 2 is trying to make the current stock work which means not a thick contour. Again, my guess is not too much thicker than a sporter contour barrel would work ok. if I MUST, then I could buy a new B&C stock in regular sporter contour but now the build itself is getting into the territory of just buying a new rifle such as a Tikka or Sako A7 etc.

Number 3 is lower recoil than a 3006 in a ultralight barrel. I used to shoot 300 winmags but as ive been using my wife's rifles, ive been loving lower recoil.

What I know I dont want is another 3006 or a 270win. So here is what ive been contemplating but truly not sure what to do. I could go with 280ai and load it with 140 grain bullets to help tame recoil a bit and keep the gun shooting pretty flat. This way, should I ever want a power setup (elk), I could load it with 160s at full tilt and be ok but I think 140 grain bullets with a mid range powder charge should keep recoil lower than my current 3006 shooting 165 grain bullets. 280ai also allows for some factory ammo in a pinch.

Last question is, should I go remage? Ive done switch barrels with my savage rifles so I have a action vise and barrel nut wrench so that isn't a worry...inletting the new barrel is definitely the worry on this one. I have zero experience and I think id rather have a gunsmith do that so ive thought about just sending it to a smith and having them square the action and throw the new barrel on. What kind of costs should I expect for this?

Other than this im not sure what else is possible.

I've had the same dilemma. 280AI is what I did. Can load lighter if need be. 6.5x284 was the other one I did. The 6.5x284 is even less recoil, stupid accurate, can even be used on elk.

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

So I have both .260 Remington and 7mm-08 for my medium rigs....and come to think of it, its been awhile since the big iron came out. If you reload you can really push the .260 bigger than a lot of the current 6.5s but a 6.5 PRC or 6.5/284 is pretty smart. My favorite of them all is the 7mm-08 now...low muzzle blast and recoil, very accurate and a real DRT cartridge with 145 Gr Barnes LRX.

 

[freddiej]

I am not sure you are willing to do this experiment, but I will ask a few questions prior to giving you a few suggestions for what to rebarrel it to.
first question is how big is the diameter of the muzzle? is it over 0.500"?
if so, have you thought about putting a muzzle brake on your gun? if not, why not? let me explain myself as a person that has owned and still owns some light packable hunting rifles. I once had a mod 70 featherweight carbine in 30-06 and 300 win mag. as you can imagine these rifles were a bit stiff on the shoulder to shoot to sight in and to get comfortable with. they both shot about 1.375" to 1.750" depending on the ammo. I did not have the means to cut threads, and still don't but a friend, another gunsmith, was a true master at muzzlebrakes. I ask him to set me up with a couple of brakes and I went out to the range and something very nice happened. they were comfortable to shoot, all day long. a second even more surprising thing happened. I kept under 1" with each of them. the muzzle brake quieted down the "buggy whip barrel" harmonics and gave me a very nice 0.75" group. once I stopped flinching every time I pulled the trigger the groups shrank a bit more. if you like the gun and the caliber I would first muzzle brake the gun and see if you can gain accuracy and comfort.

 

[Bigeclipse]

So now you have 2 affordable solutions to fit your stock. There are likely other makers out there that will do similar jobs.

A custom fit barrel is going to run somewhere in the 300-400 range for chamber and fit then the cost of the raw barrel, usually 350-400. So worst case on a custom barrel is around 800. I guess you could buy a Tikka for around that price but it seems like you like the stock you already have.

Any aftermarket barrel, even a Douglas, is going to be way better than any mass produced one.

As far as custom fit...That is why I was thinking just whatever sporter contour barrel they offer and then I will sand out the channel myself (I don't think I will have to sand it to much as I don't think there is a huge difference between mount and sporter contour.) but maybe im wrong on that front.

 

[IllinoisBurt]

I don't not like the 270 but it is boring to me to be honest. Same with the 3006. Im looking at something new to try apart from my other reasons.

Should have just said so from the start. Assuming by interesting you mean requires extensive tinkering due to no easy access to good factory ammo. Since the parameters are 30-06 bolt face and reduced recoil (long action does not require long cartridges, it only allows their use) then their is a lot of possibilities. If 6mm is your base lowest caliber, what is the minimum start velocity you wanted?

 

[Orange Dust]

The stock on a Remington Mountain Rifle has a very slender fore end and barrel, at least the wood stock one I had did. I had a 7-08 and an '06. I would assume the B&C stock is similar. I had accuracy problems with the wood ones due to flex in the fore ends. Not sure how stiff the B&C stock is, but it is not as stiff as the premium brands. I am also assuming the OP wants to keep this stock for sentimental reasons. That being said even opening it up for a #2 sporter might be an issue. I'm pretty sure the factory contour has a muzzle dia small enough that most smiths won't put a brake on it. This or the crown may be at the heart of the accuracy issues posted earlier. I full length bedded mine in '06 and it shot great as long as I kept my hand between the fore end and whatever I was using for a rest. I'm just going to throw this out there: The gun is sentimental, '06 is a good caliber. Ever thought of adding a Mercury Bar to the stock and a limbsaver pad. Just might be a good option that will get recoil down and work on the bedding some more. Both the Mountain Rifles I had shot well after some fussing with them. This just may get you what you really want for less than a hundred bucks.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I am not sure you are willing to do this experiment, but I will ask a few questions prior to giving you a few suggestions for what to rebarrel it to.
first question is how big is the diameter of the muzzle? is it over 0.500"?
if so, have you thought about putting a muzzle brake on your gun? if not, why not? let me explain myself as a person that has owned and still owns some light packable hunting rifles. I once had a mod 70 featherweight carbine in 30-06 and 300 win mag. as you can imagine these rifles were a bit stiff on the shoulder to shoot to sight in and to get comfortable with. they both shot about 1.375" to 1.750" depending on the ammo. I did not have the means to cut threads, and still don't but a friend, another gunsmith, was a true master at muzzlebrakes. I ask him to set me up with a couple of brakes and I went out to the range and something very nice happened. they were comfortable to shoot, all day long. a second even more surprising thing happened. I kept under 1" with each of them. the muzzle brake quieted down the "buggy whip barrel" harmonics and gave me a very nice 0.75" group. once I stopped flinching every time I pulled the trigger the groups shrank a bit more. if you like the gun and the caliber I would first muzzle brake the gun and see if you can gain accuracy and comfort.

biggest reason I don't use brakes is I hunt with just a knitted hat on. Yes I know...I should wear hearing protection but I only shoot once a year with a rifle with out hearing protection and only in open woods. Never prone on the ground. Never in a tight space. The decibels back at the shooter, while not great...are also not too bad. With a brake on, it would be bad.