I have a 243 stainless remington 700 installed in a Mcmillan (not glass bedded). After a series of particularly muddy stalks I seperated the barreled action from the stock for a quick clean.

The recoil lug has a crack where the radius that follows the barrel contour (convex) moves into the tongue of the recoil lug (ie where it is for a short section concave)The crack looks as if it continues into beyond what is visible.

The rifle is accurate and shoots 3 loads to the same POI. Advice I have had from 3 smiths is:-

Keep on shooting it - no safety issue, if it shoots fine it's OK.

Pull barrel, replace with standard lug which should headspace correctly - it won't happen again there must have been a fault with the lug.

Pull barrel, replace with custom lug, machine shoulder to attain identical headspace and glass bed.

Advice please.

That is what preventive maintenance is all about. If you see something that is out of whack, take it out of service and repair it. I would recommend replacing the lug before using it again.

If a crack has started it’s just going to get worse over time so why not replace it so you won’t be constantly worrying about when its gonna go.

The factory ones are just stamped out of 3/16†plate are not not ground flat or square. If it were me I would get an after market lug and have it surface ground down to 3/16†thickness. Then you will have a nice flat and square lug and you won’t have to alter the headspace or set the shoulder back. Just bed the new lug and be done with it.

Take it to the smith that suggested that you replace it with a new lug.

The lug needs to be ground to what the old one was incrementally down, to ensure that the headspace is maintained. If this isn't done, you'll need to either rechamber the original barrel, which wouldn't be my first choice, or you'll have to get a new barrel and have it started over from scratch.

Surface grinding down the lug is easy business, providing that you have enough material to work with in the first place.

quote:

The recoil lug has a crack

Are you sure it is a crack and not just the material break line when it was stamped.
Some of the Remington lugs are really rough from the stamping process and could look like a crack when it isn't.

If there is a crack in a Remington 700 lug it's going to be at about 5 or 7 o'clock in the thin sections directly above the bearing section. Are you sure it's a crack?

It's at 5 o'clock, you can see air through it.

Has anyone ever heard of it happening before? I would be happy with a standard lug if it's not going to happen again.

I have never seen this before but there is a first time for everything i guess. As others have already advised replace the lug.

PS: Send the cracked lug to Big Green!

That would be one of the easier things to fix. Bedding is the key.

I have a few extra lugs laying around that have already been surface ground. If I were to put one on, it would make a difference in headspace, with a deeper chambering required, or if the barrel has sights, it would need to be re-timed.


Jim

You could put on a thicker aftermarket lug and turn the shoulder back the right amount. Whatever you do make sure you check with headspace gages after installing a different lug. BEFORE YOU SHOOT IT!!!

Hey, look on the bright side. If a steel part of your rifle is going to break, a separate recoil lug that is easily replaced is probably not a bad choice.

I would bet that this was nothing more than a small imperfection in the lug that got overstressed or misaligned when it got pinched between the receiver and barrel shoulder when the barrel was torqued down, and recoil just beat it to death. Recoil forces are just like water and most people in that they will always head for the path of least resistance.

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