Free Floating a Rem 700 7mm mag

[Yoder]

I have a 7 mag that has never really been that accurate. Maybe 2in groups at 100 yrds with various types of ammo. I tried running a piece of paper between the stock and the barrel and I couldn't make it 1 inch. I started sanding the stock and I got it so I can pass a piece of paper half way down the stock. After doing this I read that Remington intentionally has the stock contact the barrel for support. Did I just screw up? I guess I should shoot it before doing anymore sanding. Anyone have experience trying to free float a Rem 700?

[ReconLdr]

I have a 7 mag that has never really been that accurate. Maybe 2in groups at 100 yrds with various types of ammo. I tried running a piece of paper between the stock and the barrel and I couldn't make it 1 inch. I started sanding the stock and I got it so I can pass a piece of paper half way down the stock. After doing this I read that Remington intentionally has the stock contact the barrel for support. Did I just screw up? I guess I should shoot it before doing anymore sanding. Anyone have experience trying to free float a Rem 700?

My Remington 700 was free floated from the factory. (at least attempted to be free floated in the SPS stock) There are a lot of articles out there about the SPS stocks being soft and flexing under load to contact the barrel. I corrected this by replacing the factory stock with an H&S stock.

There was a thread some time ago where a member inserted a thin washer between his action and stock to get the clearance needed to free float his barrel. I would caution against this if you are not completely sure what you are doing. You wouldn't want to strip the threads in your action.

[kleiss1]

I have 2 Rem. 700's, a 270 and a 350 Rem. Mag. both free floated and both shoot under 1" at 100 yards with my reloads. I'm an advocate of free floating.

[Tim Ault]

I have had numerous 700's over the years older and newer ones all with wood stocks.None were ever floated all were pressure pointed near the stock tip and all will /would hold under 1.5 moa for 5 rds most would do better than that. Free loating is not the cure all to accuracy issues,Can it help sometimes,Yep! But there maybe other issues that are causing your substandad accuracy. Maybe the barrel actually needed more upward pressure?You can easily play around with pressure pointing just take a small piece(1/4"x1/2" of rubber like a bike inner tube loosen the front action screw some and slide it under the tip of the stock in the barrel channel about 1" back from the end. tighten action screw back up the same amount ,shoot and see. You can move the pressure point forward and back and make it thicker by adding more matl. If the free floaing dont help try more tip pressure.

Tim

[Tomcat088]

I have had numerous 700's over the years older and newer ones all with wood stocks.None were ever floated all were pressure pointed near the stock tip and all will /would hold under 1.5 moa for 5 rds most would do better than that. Free loating is not the cure all to accuracy issues,Can it help sometimes,Yep! But there maybe other issues that are causing your substandad accuracy. Maybe the barrel actually needed more upward pressure?You can easily play around with pressure pointing just take a small piece(1/4"x1/2" of rubber like a bike inner tube loosen the front action screw some and slide it under the tip of the stock in the barrel channel about 1" back from the end. tighten action screw back up the same amount ,shoot and see. You can move the pressure point forward and back and make it thicker by adding more matl. If the free floaing dont help try more tip pressure.

Tim

I've had quite a few Remington 700's over the years, lots of old ones and not really any new ones. Either way, even most of my old ones if you got the action in the stock right, WERE free floated, or very close to free floated. I've handled TONS of new Remington 700's while helping friends purchase rifles and just fondling, and TONS of them are free floated or close to it.

I agree that free floating isn't the end all cure all, but for lots of rifles is DOES help them to be more consistent. If you think it doesn't make a difference, look at varmint hunters, tactical rifle shooters, even BR guys; MOST of them free float their barrels, there are a few that are experimenting with free floating the action. Almost all modern custom built rifles (including hunting rifles) by some of the top smiths in the country are free floated, they will hesitantly pressure bed a barrel if it's what someone insists on.

The method that you're talking about really isn't even "pressure bedding", it's a type of "barrel stress tuning". You can do it much easier with rubber bands put tightly around the barrel and moving them up or down the barrel. When you're constantly tightening and loosening the action screws, you are putting even different stresses on the entire system. Since it's a factory rifle and probably not skim bedded, you'll also be shifting it in the stock, which will also change the contact points and stress on the barrel. Even when pressure bedding is done properly with a block, stock screw, etc; they tend to like only one load and are PICKY. They do not like to shoot the same kinds of groups with different loads, and that's why they're done the way that they are, because it's easy and repeatable to change. Tuning the barrel in the way that you're talking about will take time, and it'll only work for that one load; changing loads will mean you'll have to change all your points, etc.

[Tomcat088]

I have a 7 mag that has never really been that accurate. Maybe 2in groups at 100 yrds with various types of ammo. I tried running a piece of paper between the stock and the barrel and I couldn't make it 1 inch. I started sanding the stock and I got it so I can pass a piece of paper half way down the stock. After doing this I read that Remington intentionally has the stock contact the barrel for support. Did I just screw up? I guess I should shoot it before doing anymore sanding. Anyone have experience trying to free float a Rem 700?

I'd recommend that you free float the barrel and try that first. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be extreme, and that adjusting the position of your action in the stock may get rid of most of the sanding that you'll have to do. You just need a gap under the entire length of the barrel, it doesn't have to be much at all. I would then attempt to tune the barrel and pressure bed the rifle later, IF free floating it doesn't work.

I do have some questions. Where did you read that Remington purposefully has the stock touching the barrel for support? Pressure bedding was an "old school" technique, and quite popular. The new fad (not necessarily better in some people's opinion) is to free float a barrel. Each group has their reasons for doing one or the other, I personally prefer free floating though. There is a question that I want to ask the OP. How much experience do you have with magnum rifles? How often do you practice dry firing your rifles? Do you usually shoot better groups with some other rifles you have, and if so, what calibers?

I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but most people flinch with magnums. It's natural for the body to have a reaction to the pressure, noise, and recoil; it's something that has to be trained out and a person has to be conscious of. I've known a lot of people that had magnums that "wouldn't shoot better than 2" groups," that later had an experienced magnum shooter shoot them, and they were printing like 1" groups or better. I don't want to question your shooting, but I just want to make sure that it's not the factor. There's no sense in spending time and money working over a rifle that will shoot fine, if it's something that can easily be fixed with a little dry firing practice and good follow through. If you are an experienced magnum rifle shooter, I'd say fire a round, then dry fire two times and see if you're flinching, then fire another round for the group, etc. Go through this process and see what kind of groups you're shooting, maybe it's just been a while and you're not as used to the trigger as you thought. If you're not an experienced magnum shooter but shoot great groups with other rifles, I would say that it might come down to how you're holding the rifle. Most magnum shooters MUST shoot "hard hold style", but lots of other calibers can get away with "free recoil", and various pressure on the rifle. Because of how fast and hard magnums recoil, slight changes in how you position or hold the rifle can make quite a bit of difference in the shots on paper.

Please don't take this as an insult to your shooting, I'm just trying not to assume something and trying to help in any way that I can. It very well could be the rifle, but I would also try to eliminate shooter error with the magnums. If you tell me that you have several other magnums that do NOT print like this, then I'll know it's the rifle. I look forward to your answers.

[Yoder]

Tomcat, you might be right. I shoot a lot better with my 30-06 or my .270. I could be flinching and not be aware of it. I really try to relax and forget what gun I'm shooting. The gun has a trigger job I'm guessing around 2.5-3lbs so I doubt I'm jerking the trigger. I really try to let the gun surprise me.

I did a search online for free floating Remington 700. I read a lot of posts about how they intentionally put a pressure point right around where your sling attaches to the front of the stock. About 2in back right when it switches from the black plastic to wood. My barrel blueing was actually worn off right at this spot and a piece of paper would stop right there. I sanded it so now I can pass a piece of paper about 75% of the way up the barrel toward the action between the stock and the barrel. If accuracy got worse I'll just slowly install makeshift shims at the front of the stock until I hit a sweet spot then put in something more permanent. 90% of all my shots are under 100 yrds so it's not the end of the world if I can't get under 2 in groups but I know the gun is capable of a lot better. This is the only magnum rifle I own so I really can't compare it to anything else. I should let my dad borrow it for a while and see what he can do with it. He shoots a 300 Win mag quite a bit and gets great groups. Thanks for the advice.

[kleiss1]

Both of my 700's are glass bedded in fiberglass stocks. Another trick I learned from a gunsmith in Denver is to tighten both guard screws and then back off the rear screw about 1/2 turn. This reduces the stress on the action and has worked well for me.

[NoQtr]

Is the stock wood or synthetic? You may want to check the recoil lug and as a previous poster suggested the action screws.