Remington 700 5R -- Barrel Contacts End of Stock

[Brydawg512]

Hello all,

Just picked up my Rem 700 5R the other day, and am starting to work on it a bit. I realized that my barrel is floated the whole way down but there is a tighter, pinch point on the right side at the end of the barrel. I am able to pass a receipt through, but does take a little force. How should I go about fixing this? Will this greatly affect accuracy? Thanks in advance.

 

[Frog4aday]

Hey Brydawg512,
That's good of you to catch that 'tight' spot. Yeah, you need to get some sandpaper on a dowl and sand it out a bit. There should be 'equal' clearance all around (ideally) but failing that, you want at least a "business" card thickness (or more) of clearance from barrel to stock.

 

[AZShooter]

Easy to make the scope bell clear and it will be hard to see. File and sand a curve in the picatinny rail that matches the curve of the front objective. Only needs a little material removed from center of the end. Take some off and check frequently till you have the clearance you desire. Have done that on several occasions.

 

[Frog4aday]

Easy to make the scope bell clear and it will be hard to see. File and sand a curve in the picatinny rail that matches the curve of the front objective. Only needs a little material removed from center of the end. Take some off and check frequently till you have the clearance you desire. Have done that on several occasions.

I think you meant to respond to the OP's other thread regarding his scope to mount clearance.
https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/scope-clearance-w-picatinny-rail.223210/page-2#post-1673783
Here he is talking about his barrel touching the stock. Maybe you can cut and paste to that other thread?

 

[Brydawg512]

Hey Brydawg512,
That's good of you to catch that 'tight' spot. Yeah, you need to get some sandpaper on a dowl and sand it out a bit. There should be 'equal' clearance all around (ideally) but failing that, you want at least a "business" card thickness (or more) of clearance from barrel to stock.

Great, will be sure to give that a go. Now, there is torque specs for the action screws, correct? I need to pic up an inch-pound torque screwdriver -- any recommendations?

 

[Frog4aday]

The 'torque' wrench I've been using on my guns for the last couple of years is the Wheeler Engineering "Fat Wrench":
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...es/general-wrenches/fat-wrench-prod56976.aspx
With adaptors, I can use allen wrench sockets for rifles that use allen-headed screws.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000225P5/?tag=lrhmag19-20

Action screw torque specs are here:
https://goneoutdoors.com/action-torque-specifications-remington-700-7501697.html
For wood stocks: 15 in/lbs
This is enough torque to hold the action in place but not so much that the wood is cracked or otherwise damaged over time from too much torque.

For synthetic stocks: 45 in/lbs
Forty-five inch per pound is recommended by Remington as the maximum torque for action screws on Model 700 rifles with synthetic stocks.

For composite stocks: 65 in/lbs

 

[Idaho5r]

Brydawg512, I totally agree with Frog4aday!!! With a fairly heavy barreled rifle like the 5R's, normally you want to "Free Float" that barrel in the stock. Sanding the channel with a dowel, or even the appropriate sized socket inside the sandpaper works great! And, I also agree that you should have about the thickness of a business card's worth of clearance! I have several of the Remington 700 5R's, & I love them! Good Luck with your rifle!!!! Also, you can use an Inch Pound torque wrench with the correct size allen head socket.. Idaho-5R

 

[MudRunner2005]

Hello all,

Just picked up my Rem 700 5R the other day, and am starting to work on it a bit. I realized that my barrel is floated the whole way down but there is a tighter, pinch point on the right side at the end of the barrel. I am able to pass a receipt through, but does take a little force. How should I go about fixing this? Will this greatly affect accuracy? Thanks in advance.

Take some painter's tape (blue stuff that leaves no residue), tape up the barrel from the lug to the crown. Put the action back in the stock leaving a couple turns on the action screws. Insert a single cut strip of 600 grit sandpaper (about 8"-12" long, 3" width), between the stock and barrel, with the 2 sides coming out of each side of the barrel channel in the stock. Not that I have to mention this common-sense part, but be sure the sandpaper's rough-side is towards the stock, and NOT towards the barrel.

Tighten the action screws until you get some slight contact with the sandpaper as it's being pushed into the stock's barrel channel, being pushed on by the barrel. Then hold the sandpaper straight up and down on each side of the barrel while the center of it is under the barrel. Run it up and down fast, while also running the sandpaper up and down the full-length of the barrel channel to ensure that you get equal material removal from the stock, and you get a good even channel. Then slightly tighten the screws some more and repeat. Keep doing this until you've gotten the action screws torqued down to 65 inch-pounds, and you're sandpaper will run the full barrel channel freely from lug to the open end with no resistance, and no longer removing material.

Then your barrel is free-floated.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it can be done rather quickly and inexpensively...Especially the more you do it, the faster and better you'll get at it. Pro's use pro stock making tools and rasps, but this is sort of the redneck version of that, and it works. I've done it quite a few times, with never a bad result.

 

[Brydawg512]

Take some painter's tape (blue stuff that leaves no residue), tape up the barrel from the lug to the crown. Put the action back in the stock leaving a couple turns on the action screws. Insert a single cut strip of 600 grit sandpaper (about 8"-12" long, 3" width), between the stock and barrel, with the 2 sides coming out of each side of the barrel channel in the stock. Not that I have to mention this common-sense part, but be sure the sandpaper's rough-side is towards the stock, and NOT towards the barrel.

Tighten the action screws until you get some slight contact with the sandpaper as it's being pushed into the stock's barrel channel, being pushed on by the barrel. Then hold the sandpaper straight up and down on each side of the barrel while the center of it is under the barrel. Run it up and down fast, while also running the sandpaper up and down the full-length of the barrel channel to ensure that you get equal material removal from the stock, and you get a good even channel. Then slightly tighten the screws some more and repeat. Keep doing this until you've gotten the action screws torqued down to 65 inch-pounds, and you're sandpaper will run the full barrel channel freely from lug to the open end with no resistance, and no longer removing material.

Then your barrel is free-floated.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it can be done rather quickly and inexpensively...Especially the more you do it, the faster and better you'll get at it. Pro's use pro stock making tools and rasps, but this is sort of the redneck version of that, and it works. I've done it quite a few times, with never a bad result.

That doesn't sound bad at all -- I will give that a go! Now, question...

I am taking my rifle in to a local shop this upcoming week to have my scope mounted. If I mount the scope now, before removing the action and fully floating it and reinstalling the action screws with proper torque specs, will the scope no longer be accurately sighted?

This may not make any sense, but I am wanting to make sure. The action/stock relationship should have no impact on the scope accuracy, should it? Say my action screws are slightly under 65 inch pounds and I remove the action and float it and reinstall the action screws to 65 inch pounds, will the scope alignment be off?

 

[MudRunner2005]

That doesn't sound bad at all -- I will give that a go! Now, question...

I am taking my rifle in to a local shop this upcoming week to have my scope mounted. If I mount the scope now, before removing the action and fully floating it and reinstalling the action screws with proper torque specs, will the scope no longer be accurately sighted?

This may not make any sense, but I am wanting to make sure. The action/stock relationship should have no impact on the scope accuracy, should it? Say my action screws are slightly under 65 inch pounds and I remove the action and float it and reinstall the action screws to 65 inch pounds, will the scope alignment be off?

Please don't let a shop install your scope, unless it's a small local shop, and you KNOW the person installing it is knowledgeable. Don't trust a Cabelas, Bass Pro, Dicks, Academy, or any of those Big Box stores like that to touch your rifle at all...They hire anyone off the street.

On to your next question... Let me see if I'm following. You want to know that if you mount the scope now, then float the barrel, will that throw the scope off? Yes and no... I would float the barrel before mounting the scope. Then mount the scope and boresight, and then zero.

By "scope accuracy" are you referring to POI shift? If so, action screw torque will impact your POI, and so will the barrel being floated, and just about anything else interacting with the rifle or barrel. The scope doesn't move...It stays adjusted exactly where you adjusted it. It's everything else that throws off, and affects your point of impact. Adjusting the action screws affects the harmonics of the action/barrel relationship with the stock, and WILL throw off your POI. Even mounting and zero'ing the scope, and then removing it, and then remounting it exactly the same place, using the same amount of torque, can still throw the POI enough to where you will need to re-zero your scope.

 

[Frog4aday]

The place that mounts and bore sights your scope is just aligning your scope with the bore of the rifle. It won't matter if it is free-floated or not before or after. It's just going to get you "on paper" at 50 yards anyway. You still have to sight the gun in after that. So no worries whether you free-float before or after.

From what you've said, there is barely any contact so it isn't like the stock is 'pushing' the barrel in any particular direction at this point. But because the barrel is touching the stock, it will affect the harmonics of the barrel, so before you do the final sight-in at the bench, you want to make sure everything you wanted to do to the gun (like free-floating or glass-bedding) has been done so once it is sighted in, it stays sighted in.

 

[Susquatch]

Great, will be sure to give that a go. Now, there is torque specs for the action screws, correct? I need to pic up an inch-pound torque screwdriver -- any recommendations?

Look up WiHa torque drivers. They are much better quality than the typical torque driver. Unfortunately, they will cost you an arm and a leg. But you do get what you pay for.

 

[Brydawg512]

Please don't let a shop install your scope, unless it's a small local shop, and you KNOW the person installing it is knowledgeable. Don't trust a Cabelas, Bass Pro, Dicks, Academy, or any of those Big Box stores like that to touch your rifle at all...They hire anyone off the street.

On to your next question... Let me see if I'm following. You want to know that if you mount the scope now, then float the barrel, will that throw the scope off? Yes and no... I would float the barrel before mounting the scope. Then mount the scope and boresight, and then zero.

By "scope accuracy" are you referring to POI shift? If so, action screw torque will impact your POI, and so will the barrel being floated, and just about anything else interacting with the rifle or barrel. The scope doesn't move...It stays adjusted exactly where you adjusted it. It's everything else that throws off, and affects your point of impact. Adjusting the action screws affects the harmonics of the action/barrel relationship with the stock, and WILL throw off your POI. Even mounting and zero'ing the scope, and then removing it, and then remounting it exactly the same place, using the same amount of torque, can still throw the POI enough to where you will need to re-zero your scope.

Ok, that answers my question. I may consider purchasing the FAT wrench here to install the scope myself. What other items do I need for scope install? Those tiny levels and the wrench?

 

[MudRunner2005]

Well, I stopped using the tiny levels a long time ago. Years ago I bought a Badger Ordnance Dead Level, but unless you have lots of guns, it's a bit on the expensive side. You level the device, then level the scope in the rings on the device, and NOT on the gun itself. Because on the gun itself leaves room for human error. This way, the scope is 100% level in the rings (if you follow protocol).