Bolt locking lug contact or lack there of.

[moorepower]

I have a 700 that’s good possibly 70% on one lug and around 5-10% on the other. I asked a smith friend if he could lap, and he asked how it shot. After telling him 1/2” with handloads and 5/8” with Fiocchi 40 grain Vmax he handed the gun back and chuckled. I was convinced it would make it a 3/8” gun and he didn’t concur. Knowledge is not always a good thing I guess. He would never touch a factory 700 with out truing and bushing but if you got lucky like I did after bedding, trigger job and barrel lapping there was no guarantee that you would make it better

[Bayou City Boy]

Originally Posted by moorepower

I have a 700 that’s good possibly 70% on one lug and around 5-10% on the other. I asked a smith friend if he could lap, and he asked how it shot. After telling him 1/2” with handloads and 5/8” with Fiocchi 40 grain Vmax he handed the gun back and chuckled. I was convinced it would make it a 3/8” gun and he didn’t concur. Knowledge is not always a good thing I guess. He would never touch a factory 700 with out truing and bushing but if you got lucky like I did after bedding, trigger job and barrel lapping there was no guarantee that you would make it better

Prezactly..............

-BCB

[Screaminweasil]

Don't know. But I do know I've not had a factory 700 nor a factory CZ 527 that didn't shoot 1/2" or better 3 shot groups at 100 yards. I have no idea what the locking lug contact was/wasn't/is on any of them.

I've had several different "Walmart Special" remington 700 ADL rifles, both pre "freedom group" and new production chambered in .223 that no joke shot consistent 3/8" or better 3 shot groups at 100 yards with 26.0gr H335, LC Brass, Fed 205 match primers, and Speer 52gr HP flat base varmint bullets.

These were $300 and $379 dollar rifles (gotta love inflation)...........in factory tupperware stocks, only "modification" was trigger adjustment to 2.25lbs on both rifles.

Anyway, a factory rifle shoots 1/2" for me (which they all have), I don't go looking for problems

P.S.
The most accurate factory rifle i've ever owned was a Remington 700 ADL 243 "vintage 1998" in factory plastic stock. Only "mod" was trigger adjustment to 2.25lbs. I used this rifle for high power sporting rifle when I was in high school. Guys on the 200 yard line got tired of replacing the spotter peg in the X ring. Rifle shot many 1/8" groups and consistently shot under 1/2" for 6 consecutive groups in "informal" benchrest comps at my local range.

70gr Sierra Matchkings, 36.0gr Varget, Remington Brass, Fed 210Match primers. Sold it to my best friend, he still has the rifle.

Sometimes I wonder why I own anything but Rem 700 ADL's. I'm down to only one now, 7mm Rem mag stainless.

Anyway, I don't know how I got onto this rant.

Sorry Doug!

I'm excited to hear how your sweet .222 is shooting after this accuracy work, I'm sure your chomping at the bit for warmer weather and some range time.

Keep us posted.

[moorepower]

5 shot group. Unless it’s a hunting rifle I never use 3 shots as a stardard for a group. That’s just me.

[Screaminweasil]

Originally Posted by moorepower

5 shot group. Unless it’s a hunting rifle I never use 3 shots as a stardard for a group. That’s just me.

I'd rather just shoot 2 different consecutive 3 shot groups with a 3 minute cool down between groups during final load development (and I do). But, hey, all my rifles are "hunting rifles", so I guess i'm good.

[Screaminweasil]

Originally Posted by moorepower

5 shot group. Unless it’s a hunting rifle I never use 3 shots as a stardard for a group. That’s just me.

Why stop at 5

[montdoug]

I'll tell ya why ya stop at 5 .
I ordered and received the first Remington VSF in .17 Fireball I could the year they released em. It shot well but as is typical with sub caliber factory rifles it had a giraffe like throat and by the time I got the best accuracy outta the 20 grain V-Max's they barely had case neck purchase on the bullet and wouldn't fit into the magazine cause they were seated out to long.
I sent it to Greg Tannel back before he got discovered and the wait was so long and had him single point the action, double sleeve and bush the bolt etc etc. Then he set the barrel back and re-chambered it with a minimum spec, zero free-bore chamber.
On it's return I was shooting factory ammo at the range to test it out and get some impossible to find brass. I started to shoot this group here and was gonna make it a 10 shot group. The first 3 were the one round hole in the middle. 4 and 5 were the two on the bottom. The 6th shot is the one I yanked to the right and decided, "I think I'll shoot a 6 shot group, nobody ever shoots a 6 shot group", possibly a little ego involvement? . So there it is, ya stop at 3 or 5 cause the groups just keep getting bigger from there.



Greg did all that work on it with on the factory barrel, I figured if I wasn't happy with the rifle all I had to do was slap a new barrel on it and make it whatever I wanted and already fully built up. So that group was shot with a factory barrel and factory ammo. They are sure making some dandy factory ammo anymore.



Never found any reason to change the barrel on that critter either.

[Screaminweasil]

Originally Posted by montdoug

I'll tell ya why ya stop at 5 .
I ordered and received the first Remington VSF in .17 Fireball I could the year they released em. It shot well but as is typical with sub caliber factory rifles it had a giraffe like throat and by the time I got the best accuracy outta the 20 grain V-Max's they barely had case neck purchase on the bullet and wouldn't fit into the magazine cause they were seated out to long.
I sent it to Greg Tannel back before he got discovered and the wait was so long and had him single point the action, double sleeve and bush the bolt etc etc. Then he set the barrel back and re-chambered it with a minimum spec, zero free-bore chamber.
On it's return I was shooting factory ammo at the range to test it out and get some impossible to find brass. I started to shoot this group here and was gonna make it a 10 shot group. The first 3 were the one round hole in the middle. 4 and 5 were the two on the bottom. The 6th shot is the one I yanked to the right and decided, "I think I'll shoot a 6 shot group, nobody ever shoots a 6 shot group", possibly a little ego involvement? . So there it is, ya stop at 3 or 5 cause the groups just keep getting bigger from there.



Greg did all that work on it with on the factory barrel, I figured if I wasn't happy with the rifle all I had to do was slap a new barrel on it and make it whatever I wanted and already fully built up. So that group was shot with a factory barrel and factory ammo. They are sure making some dandy factory ammo anymore.



Never found any reason to change the barrel on that critter either.

Sweet rifle Doug!

Heck of a 6 shot group as well

[Bayou City Boy]

We’re taking a mid-day break and I saw this, so I’ll add this to the mix about the very early Remington 700 17 FB rifles.

I bought one of the first Rem 700 rifle in 17 FB that I ran across too. Brass and ammo had actually showed up about a week before the rifles did in gun shops near me, so I bought them before I bought the rifle. Not too far later on the brass was tough to come by for awhile anywhere. The rifle that I bought is a sporter weight Rem 700 in the Remington Tupperware stock as I wanted a “walk-about” rifle. So……. I passed on the HB model already in an H-S Precision stock.

All I ever did to it was to scope it and to put the barreled action into an H-S Precision sporter weight stock and fire away. It is one of the most accurate small caliber rifles - both factory and custom - that I've ever owned. Those early Rem 700 FB rifles all had good barrels on them. The rifle shot so well initially NIB with the factory stock still on it that I didn't bother worrying about where the lands were.................

I'd post a target pic from the time frame but I'm miles from my desktop computer and I don't have good access or time right now to find it on the Cloud as I’m on a dial up connection where I’m located. IIRC, I had one 100 yard target that had 15 shots fired one minute apart and they in total looked like a ragged ~50 caliber hole.

I bought enough brass at the git-go a bit at a time when it became available to keep me in brass likely forever since from experience I didn’t trust Remington to keep a path open if the guns didn’t sell well. And last year I stumbled across a deal where I bought a bunch of loaded Remington 17 FB ammo for just over $4 a box so I’ll probably have 17 FB brass and ammo in my will………………

As looking back now shows, the 17 FB rifles tended to sit on dealer shelves and collect dust in large numbers, so Remington, probably like most businesses would do, moved on. Not a good thing for us shooters wanting small caliber rifles, but it is reality in that we are definitely a small niche market whether we like to admit it or not.

The end result is that I'll be in the 17 FB business for years with a box stock factory rifle minus the Remington Tupperware stock that also worked well with the rifle in terms of accuracy.

Edit:

I did run across this picture which shows the 17 FB rifle on the left. I have a son who likes to do art work with an airless sprayer so he re-did the H-s stock from black/grey web to this.......... The middle rifle is a Rem 700/20 Tac with a PacNor barrel on it in an H-S Precision varmint weight stock, and the rifle on the right is a Rem 700 BDL in 17 Remington in an H-S Precision stock in Black Hills Camo, IIR the pattern name correctly.



Time to bundle up a bit and go forth once again...............

-BCB

[Gary in Illinois]

Truer words were never spoken, and it doesn't matter about the number of shots already fired...

"the groups just keep getting bigger from there" or at least they don't get any smaller