Remington 700 Rebarrel questions

[Buck300]

I would use this one, Brad is my 1st, 2nd, and third choice. He also has one of the FASTEST turnaround times, (work ethic).

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[Buck300]

The UPS store is separate from UPS and has a company policy that says they won't ship anything to do with firearms. If you want to ship UPS you have to go to one of their service counters, they'll ship it. It's perfectly legal to ship a gun to a gunsmith for repair and for him to ship it straight back to you, Fedex, UPS, and the post office will all do it. Occasionally you'll run into an anti-gun employee working the counter that will try and refuse to take it, some people just get hysterical when you mention "gun". It helps to have a printout of the section of the company's manual detailing their policy to keep them honest, that usually takes care of it. I once had a UPS counter employee refuse to ship one in Meridian MS, getting the manager involved didn't help until I called the gunsmith and had him talk to the manager. He quoted the exact reference in their shipping manual and had the UPS guys look it up, they finally admitted they had to take it. This happened in Mississippi so you can imagine it could be a problem in more left leaning areas of the country. That's the only time I've had a problem out of many that I've shipped. I don't make a habit of telling them it's a firearm, you're not required to and it's really none of their business. If they ask I tell them I'm shipping it to a gunsmith for repair. If they know their rules they'll realize it's OK.

I dont know about the state you live in, but in Arizona you must take the firearm to the central UPS HUB, (main shipping depot)the small local stores will not ship a firearm. I have shipped two rifles without any trouble, you can look this up on web, how to ship firearms.

 

[AZShooter]

I thought I'd ask why you want to rebarrel when money is a concern.

What is the current barrel not doing ? It is rare to wear out a barrel in this chambering. There might be some things you can do to make the current barrel perform to your satisfaction instead of rebarreling.

There is a very inexpensive way to rebarrel. Buy a Remington takeoff with the same profile in the chambering of your choice. In many instances the headspace will be fine. If not a competent gunsmith can easily adjust it. My friend and I are exchanging Rem barrels often and many are headspaced perfectly.

Another common way to utilize a Rem takeoff is to have it chambered with an improved version or a chambering that is slightly larger which will clean up the existing chamber. This will get it headspaced as well. My local gunsmith used to install, setback and chamber including indexing for under $200 including the cost of the takeoff barrel.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I thought I'd ask why you want to rebarrel when money is a concern.

What is the current barrel not doing ? It is rare to wear out a barrel in this chambering. There might be some things you can do to make the current barrel perform to your satisfaction instead of rebarreling.

There is a very inexpensive way to rebarrel. Buy a Remington takeoff with the same profile in the chambering of your choice. In many instances the headspace will be fine. If not a competent gunsmith can easily adjust it. My friend and I are exchanging Rem barrels often and many are headspaced perfectly.

Another common way to utilize a Rem takeoff is to have it chambered with an improved version or a chambering that is slightly larger which will clean up the existing chamber. This will get it headspaced as well. My local gunsmith used to install, setback and chamber including indexing for under $200 including the cost of the takeoff barrel.

Honestly the rifle is fine for what it is BUT I do wish it shot better. It is a remington 700 mountain SS model in 3006. It cost $1100 new and in my opinion does not shoot like an 1100$ rifle should shoot. With my hand loads, the best group I have achieved is ~1MOA. This was tested with 3 different bullets and 3 different powders. This is my carry hunting rifle and most often I am under 200 yards from what I will be shooting so 1MOA is perfectly fine, BUT we do have 1 field that is 500 yards. If I purposely sit on this field, I bring my 7mm rem mag savage that is shooting amazingly. If I am doing more stalking style hunting I will bring my remington. This year I was stalking and made my way towards that field. At the end of the field there was a doe. Had it been a nice buck I would have set up and taken a shot. Knowing my rifle is only shooting 1MOA that would mean a 5 inch group (at best) at 500 yards. That is a scary thought knowing I could wound the animal or miss an opportunity on a trophy buck with some added buck fever or wind miscalculation. This got me thinking maybe I should have a more accurate rifle for stalking, yes 99% of my shots do not nheed it but what if that once in a life time buck had been on the 500 yard field...I hate the idea of selling the rifle as I really do like it, I also installed a timney trigger on it which is so crisp and set at 2.5pounds. I figured id start saving up for a rebarrel job. Am I certain it is the barrel causing the issue...no I am not. I have checked action screw torque and that the barrel is free floating. The action is not bedded but it is in an aluminum bedding block. yes I know this is not as good as actual bedding withg epoxy but I do think it is the very thin barrel causing a barrel whipping affect on the shots. I would hate to pay 150+ dollars to bed the rifle only to not have it be anymore accurate, and then decide I need to rebarrel it AND have it REBEDDED with the new barrel.

 

[mrbofus]

Just my take here,
I am assuming that you have been shooting for a while and are familiar with you Rifle.
1 moa for a stock off the shelf rifle is acceptable in many peoples view.

Take a piece of paper and draw a 5" circle on it, hold that up to a deer body,

Will that kill the deer if it is in that circle?

....just some advise that was given to me one time that I was grumbling that ! couldnt get a rifle to shoot under 1"..

Yes there are improve accuracy and all cost money.

Good luck.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Just my take here,
I am assuming that you have been shooting for a while and are familiar with you Rifle.
1 moa for a stock off the shelf rifle is acceptable in many peoples view.

Take a piece of paper and draw a 5" circle on it, hold that up to a deer body,

Will that kill the deer if it is in that circle?

....just some advise that was given to me one time that I was grumbling that ! couldnt get a rifle to shoot under 1"..

Yes there are improve accuracy and all cost money.

Good luck.

That advice only applies to 500 yards and under for your average hunter who is only capable of shooting rifles with factory ammo at MOP (Minute Of Pie plate). I am NOT one of those guys. I have bad OCD and am a perfectionist when it comes to how my rifles shoot. I have certain standards that all my rifles must live up to, or else they get rebarreled. My standards vary depending on my intended use for each rifle, each particular rifle's barrel contour and thickness, caliber, and the way it's configured.

IMO, that advice has no place in the long range hunting game, unless you only apply it to 1000 yard shooting. 1/2 MOA at 1000 yards is roughly 5".

If a heavy barreled rifle won't shoot under ¾ MOA at 100 yards with load development, then I will rebarrel it. Because that means it's not capable of hitting a deer at 1,000 yards. I only use heavy barreled rifles for 500+ yard shots. All of my shots inside of 500 are done by sporter barreled magnums that shoot around ½-¾ MOA at 100 with handloads.

 

[Bigeclipse]

That advice only applies to 500 yards and under for your average hunter who is only capable of shooting rifles with factory ammo at MOP (Minute Of Pie plate). I am NOT one of those guys. I have bad OCD and am a perfectionist when it comes to how my rifles shoot. I have certain standards that all my rifles must live up to, or else they get rebarreled. My standards vary depending on my intended use for each rifle, each particular rifle's barrel contour and thickness, caliber, and the way it's configured.

IMO, that advice has no place in the long range hunting game, unless you only apply it to 1000 yard shooting. 1/2 MOA at 1000 yards is roughly 5".

If a heavy barreled rifle won't shoot under ¾ MOA at 100 yards with load development, then I will rebarrel it. Because that means it's not capable of hitting a deer at 1,000 yards. I only use heavy barreled rifles for 500+ yard shots. All of my shots inside of 500 are done by sporter barreled magnums that shoot around ½-¾ MOA at 100 with handloads.

My mountain SS in it's current stock form is a consistant 1MOA shooter right now with one of my worked up loads. Maybe a bit better but I have not done enough testing. This rifle has a VERY thin barrel which I think is the accuracy culprit. I could be wrong as it is sitting on an aluminum bedding chassis and is not further bedded so it could be the bedding block that is the issue. I was contemplating trying to bed it myself but I am honestly a bit scared about doing it on my 1000$ remington for my first try at bedding. This brought me to going to a smith to have it bedded. The local smith charges 175 and I am not sure on his quality. I would hate to have it bedded only to find out it is still not a shooter then have to get it rebarreled and bedded again. If I was getting .75MOA more often than not then I would be happy. Again, I will shoot it a bit more before deciding this but it is looking like it is a 1 MOA rifle at best right now.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Just my take here,
I am assuming that you have been shooting for a while and are familiar with you Rifle.
1 moa for a stock off the shelf rifle is acceptable in many peoples view.

Take a piece of paper and draw a 5" circle on it, hold that up to a deer body,

Will that kill the deer if it is in that circle?

....just some advise that was given to me one time that I was grumbling that ! couldnt get a rifle to shoot under 1"..

Yes there are improve accuracy and all cost money.

Good luck.

Yes the 5inch circle is well within the deer's vitals but this is assuming I make a perfect shot. I have been shooting lots lately and I am gaining confidence BUT what if it is a buck of a life time and I get crazy buck fever and pull the shot just a tad OR I read the wind wrong just a bit. I want to know I missed because of me and not my rifle. Yes I know 1 MOA for a factory rifle is good and typically acceptable BUT I would feel much better with under 1 MOA...closer to .5 MOA as possible. The savage I just built for almost half the cost of my remington will shoot .5MOA on it's WORST day with my handloads but it is a heavy rifle and stinks to lug around when stalking. This was never a problem until this past weekend when I went for a stalk with my remington. I exited my stalk through the woods into the field I entered which is a 500 yard long field. I didnt expect to see anything in the field but was surprised when I saw a doe at 500 yards. If it were a buck, I would have wanted to shoot but probably wouldnt have knowing my rifle is at best a 1moa shooter right now with me being SUPER focused behind the trigger.

 

[MudRunner2005]

My mountain SS in it's current stock form is a consistant 1MOA shooter right now with one of my worked up loads. Maybe a bit better but I have not done enough testing. This rifle has a VERY thin barrel which I think is the accuracy culprit. I could be wrong as it is sitting on an aluminum bedding chassis and is not further bedded so it could be the bedding block that is the issue. I was contemplating trying to bed it myself but I am honestly a bit scared about doing it on my 1000$ remington for my first try at bedding. This brought me to going to a smith to have it bedded. The local smith charges 175 and I am not sure on his quality. I would hate to have it bedded only to find out it is still not a shooter then have to get it rebarreled and bedded again. If I was getting .75MOA more often than not then I would be happy. Again, I will shoot it a bit more before deciding this but it is looking like it is a 1 MOA rifle at best right now.

No no no.... once you bed that action to that stock, you can remove it from the stock and put it back in (after the bedding dries for 24 hours). The bedding stays in place in the stock. You will only have to bed it once, unless you buy a different stock. Then you will have to bed the new stock.

So, if you like that stock, and plan on keeping that stock, even if you rebarrel it, your bedding job will still be just fine from when you had the smith do it the first time.

 

[Bigeclipse]

No no no.... once you bed that action to that stock, you can remove it from the stock and put it back in (after the bedding dries for 24 hours). The bedding stays in place in the stock. You will only have to bed it once, unless you buy a different stock. Then you will have to bed the new stock.

So, if you like that stock, and plan on keeping that stock, even if you rebarrel it, your bedding job will still be just fine from when you had the smith do it the first time.

haha, I know you can remove the action from the stock...I did not mean to make it sound like I thought once the action is bedded it is permanently in that stock haha, but I heard a lot of times gunsmiths might bed an inch in front of the recoil lug. If that is the case, then the new barrel would have to have the same contour/Width as the old barrel.

 

[MudRunner2005]

haha, I know you can remove the action from the stock...I did not mean to make it sound like I thought once the action is bedded it is permanently in that stock haha, but I heard a lot of times gunsmiths might bed an inch in front of the recoil lug. If that is the case, then the new barrel would have to have the same contour/Width as the old barrel.

Not necessarily...If the new barrel has a longer shank, then they will smooth it down when they re-float the new barrel into your old stock.

 

[AZShooter]

Thanks for explaining in more detail on why you want to rebarrel the rifle.

As long as only the action is bedded you can float any barrel added to it. I am not convinced that bedding the first inch or two of the barrel's shank is necessary. All my bench rest shooting friends have totally floated barrels, if bedding the shank would improve accuracy you can bet they would have it done. My sporter weight rifles have fully floated barrels too.

I have no intentions of being obnoxious but more questions come to mind. How many shots in a row to you make to say it is a 1 MOA shooter? Perhaps the thin barrel is heating up and walking. Some guys will shoot one shot then cool to ambient then repeat rather than shoot a string to see how it shoots.

I have an accuracy check list I refer to when I put together a rifle. See how your rifle checks out against the list:

Over torqueing the action screws. IMO torque over 55 in/lb may be excessive. Have you tried different torque settings?

Front base screw touching threads of barrel. This is a sneaky one. Only way to tell is remove the other screw on front base and see if base is loose when front screw is tightened.

imperfection in crown

holes in wood stock too small so that shank of action screws touches stock

Bolt handle touching stock

Mag box must not bind

Recoil lug making early contact in bottom of slot in stock causing the action to sit off bedding or in your case off the aluminum bedding block

trigger group must not touch stock

Trigger guard must not touch trigger

Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Thanks for explaining in

imperfection in crown

holes in wood stock too small so that shank of action screws touches stock

Bolt handle touching stock

Mag box must not bind

Recoil lug making early contact in bottom of slot in stock causing the action to sit off bedding or in your case off the aluminum bedding block

trigger group must not touch stock

Trigger guard must not touch trigger

Hope this gives you some ideas.

That is a long check list. I have tried different action screw torques. 50inch pounds seems to be best so far. For this rifle...I only shoot 3-4 shot groups because yes it heats up fast. I also give 3 minutes between shots to try and help with that. The groups tighten a little more if I wait 10 min between shots. Once I find a load I like I will actually shoot 2 rounds within 20 seconds of each other to further test accuracy to mimic If I needed a follow up shot out in the field. I had no idea trigger group touching stock or bolt handle touching can affect accuracy. In fact, I think every rifle I own...the bolt handle rests on the stock!?!? When you say base screws are you talking about scope bases? I honestly can say I don't know what a bad crown would look like. Yes I could identify if a crown had damage but I wouldn't know a slight imperfection that affects accuracy.

 

[AZShooter]

The bolt resting on the bottom of the stock or rubbing on the sides MIGHT affect accuracy. If it is binding in any way I figure it will cause an issue.

Sorry for the confusion. Yes the forward most scope base screw. It is quite common to have the the screw hit the barrel threads and not tighten the base in front. Only way I know to be certain is to remove rear screw of front base, tighten front base screw to see.

Crowns are hard to see without a borescope. One test that could show a burr would be to run a Q-tip around the crown to see if any fibers are caught on a burr. I used to use the rear ocular of a cheap rifle scope inverted to magnify the crown. The borescope is vastly better. If in doubt recrown.

I think it would be interesting to check everything AND shoot no more than two shots allowing for total cooling to ambient before shooting two more. One test I like to perform on a hunting rifle is to shoot one shot at the target several days apart. After several sessions place all targets together to see the true accuracy. I have a few very trusted rifles that will place that first shot every time into almost the same place making a very tight group and inspiring confidence.

Didn't mention it as it is obvious, don't want to insult, a clean bore is important. What products do you use? Again a bore scope can tell you if it is truly clean. Had a friend at the range come to me and said his accuracy fell off. Discovered he only used hoppes #9 solvent found copper speed bumps in the bore. No kidding the borescope showed lumps here and there. After he used an aggressive copper solvent accuracy returned.

Check out the listed tips, clean up the barrel and retest. Would love to hear what you discover.