Hello all, I own a Rem 700P and just started reloading for it upon measuring the chamber with an O.A.L. Gauge from Stoney Point I find out that the chamber seems to be too long, measuring to the ogive of the bullet I got 2.340"; With factory ammunition (Federal) that is 2.101" long to 2.340" There is a jump of 0.239" to the rifling, it seems excessive. When I reload and try to make the cartridge be about 0.015" from the rifling the cartridge is too long to fit in the magazine, it doesn't seem right.
Is this normal guys? Or should I return the rifle to Remington for repair? I appreciate very much any advise, thank you in advance.

The factory chambers are cut to SAAMI specs. Which means that most are rather long throated. This is just a built in safety feature to try to keep the chamber pressure down.

Thank you so much for the answer Bear Claw. So in other words if I want to fit my loads in my magazine I have to get a new chamber? Thanks again.

Neo,

I recently picked up a Rem 700VS, and found pretty much the same thing: a 175gr SMK seated to 2.810", roughly magazine length, has a 0.155" jump to the lands. I can seat the bullet to the lands, but the bullet is just barely still in the case. The 155gr SMK so far does *not* like this setup!!!

I had had every intent of sending the gun back to Remington to get it fixed. After hearing horror stories of guns getting sent back w/ triggers readjusted to the 'factory' crappy specs, aftermarket triggers removed, etc., and invoices in the box for trigger work by the shop, even though it was *not* requested, I opted to not send my back!! Plus the general consensus I found was that Remington's lawyers had some influence on the chamber. Basically it's cut so that if some idiot would want to chamber a 220gr round nose bullet (w/ a much longer ogive) in the gun, it would still clear the rifling. IMHO, someone who does that w/ a varmint/target rifle deserves what they get. As a result, people wanting to chamber 125gr Nolser BTs or 155gr SMKs are somewhat hosed, at first glance.

I had some initial problems w/ my reloading dies; a change of dies to reduce runout has 'fixed' the situation. I was intending to try seating the 175gr SMKs out to the lands to try to increase accuracy, but w/ halfways straight brass, I'm getting sub half-minute accuracy (seated to magazine length) out to 300yds (haven't tested further yet) from a 175gr SMK over 45.0 gr of Varget. I think that for me, I'll hold out and shoot the snot out of this barrel before I go getting it rebarreled/rechambered

YMMV,

Monte

[ 06-13-2002, 17:09: Message edited by: milanuk ]

Good answer from Milanuk. When you've used it (the barrel) up, find a good 'smith and either rebarrel, or set the barrel back and recut the chamber with a shorter leade if you want to keep the barrel. - Dan

Thank you guys for the help, I just hate feeling that I am getting "hosed" hopefully I get over it.

Thank you so much Cold Bore, well after all maybe I send the rifle to Remington.

Remington and others engineer "free bore" into the chamber of their barrels. This is to prevent someone from loading bullets against the lands -- and/or getting brass a bit long and getting it pinched in the lands.

It's a lawyer thing to cover Remington against potential liability. Remington won't "fix" the problem because according to them it's not a "problem."

I have a Rem. 700 PSS . . . seems like a gun sold to the police (This is a State Police sniper rifle) would have a decent throat spec in it.

www.snipercountry.com grouses about the throat in the Rem. 700. Remington spends a lot of time and effort making an accurate gun, and then jerks around on the throat.

I rechambered my gun for .223 Ackley Improved. This rechambering requires that the barrel be "set back" -- and so we removed about 0.25" of the chamber and eliminated the free bore completely. That, a re-crown and Holland recoil lug cost me $130.00. Money well spent. My groups are in the low 3's now . . .

Yup, the Rems seem to be throated out to the front sling swivel. Oh well!

As others have reported, mine have shot the 168/175 class of bullet exceptionally well when seated to "standard" length, leade be damned!

One other happy consequence - it seems most of my moly loads prefer to be seated WAY back from the lands which is easy to do with a long throat.

Shoot the factory throat out and have the barrel set back and throated to shorter specs. Simple, easy. Wanna see something REALLY scary? Run your Stoney Point gauge into a chrome lined NATO 5.56 barrel! I've never been able to get even the 80gr Sierra into the leade before it falls out of the case!

Cheers!

Redial

I have a M700 ADL in 223 that shoots like a dream. Just purchased an M700 VLS in 223, and the difference in the chambers is quite dramatic:

OAL for 50 VMAXs 0.010" off the lands in the ADL is 2.285"
OAL for 50 VMAXs 0.010" off the lands in the VLS is 2.252"

Additionally, cases fired in the ADL will not come close to chambering in the VLS. Not that I would mix and match anyway, but the difference in chamber size is pretty dramatic.

At this point, the ADL will shoot circles around the VLS. Not too sure this will ever change, but am headed to the range tomorrow AM to try some new loads...

DEDA