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Bought a Model 700 from a guy here on AR. Don't remember who, been too long ago. 700 Mountain Rifle, 7mm 08. Synthetic stock. First thing I did, as I usually do with most my guns, was to bed it. This wasn't my first bedding job, and I have pretty much worked out all the kinks on doing it properly. Bed the gun and I can not get it to shoot under 4". Grow disgusted with feeding it different kinds of ammo and throw it in the back of the safe for 3-4 years. Pull it out and I am determined to make it shoot. First time I noticed that the barrel is pushing on the left side of the barrel channel at the end of the stock. Crap, I bedded it crooked. Buy a new stock. Install it. Hmm, barrel pushing on left side of barrel channel on new stock too. Barrel appears straight, but this is a used gun and I can not remember shooting it before I bedded it so do not know if it ever shot straight. Now what would you do next? | ||
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Some barrels come from the factory with a slight curve in them, and will shoot well (until you try to straighten them). If it doesn't shoot, re-barrel it. George  | |||
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How much would re barrel cost? Can I re barrel as a .308? | |||
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One of Us |
You can throw that stock away and try again with another new stock, or, remove material from the left side of the barrel channel. I don't know how many times I've seen that work. _______________________________________________________________________________ This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend, it is my life. | |||
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Barrel is the .550 mountain rifle barrel. Pretty small barrel. Even in a normal BDL stock, made with larger barrel channel it pushes the left side. I took a bunch out of the original stock, and it still touches left. But, I guess I have nothing to loose, I will just take more out of the original stock. I have wanted to re barrel as a 308 anyway. Can a normal feller with some of the right tools re barrel it? Or am I getting in over my head? Won't be the first time ... | |||
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Having the right tools is half the game. The other half is knowing what to do, and doing it well. Spinning the receiver on it's axis and taking a squaring cut across the receivers face is standard procedure on re-barreling work, which, with a squared recoil lug, goes a long way in assuring the barrel and receiver are straight with one another. Externally speaking of course. _______________________________________________________________________________ This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend, it is my life. | |||
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If it were me I would take it to a qualfied gunsmith and make sure that the threads aren't crooked to the centerline of the receiver before I put anymore money into it. | |||
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Makes sense. Maybe that is the problem! I think I may take all the money I was going to use to try to polish this terd and buy a new Kimber 308. I believe that might fix the problem for good! In the meantime I will take off more material from the left side of the channel and see if that makes it shoot straight. | |||
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It would make a fine .308. I happen to have the same gun(7mm-08) and mine shoots MOA or better. If you like the rifle style I'm sure it can be made to shoot. I don't know what smiths in your area charge, but I get $100 + the barrel cost for re-barrelling. That includes squaring the action, which might solve your problem. Have you checked the barrelled action for straightness? The "pencil barrel" is most likely not the cause if it hasn't been bent. That is easy to do in the mountains where this rifle was meant "to due it's thing". Horses bend rifles without the hunter knowing it. Most of the time I'm changing .308's to 7mm-08's not the other way around.....Tom SCI lifer NRA Patron DRSS DSC | |||
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Thanks Tapper, If I can get this action/barrel to shoot, I would like to drop it in a HS precision stock. I am very fond of the 700's I have 3 and this one is the only one that gives me any trouble. My '06 Mountain Rifle shoots MOA with factory ammo, my 375 H&H is capable of sub .5" groups, if I do my job, but this gun is not cooperating! Ok, I am going to work on this stock, see if I can get this thing to shoot. Thanks for the advice. | |||
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Wendell, See if you can pick up a Rem 700 take off bbl in 308...they are often only about $75. A local smith should be able to re-install it for a nominal charge and maybe true up the receiver. Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Wendell, There is a smith not too far from north Texas, by the name Garland Gailbreth. He specializes in Remy actions especially the 40x and the 700s. I believe he is in Stephenville. His number is 254-965-6464. He does fantastic work. His company is Triple G gunsmithing. Can't go wrong with Garland. Andy We Band of Bubbas N.R.A Life Member TDR Cummins Power All The Way Certified member of the Whompers Club | |||
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Pull the barrel off and square the action's face. Remember, forgivness is easier to get than permission. | |||
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I sanded out the barrel channel enough that it is free-floated from about 6" from the action. Took it to the range and shot 4 groups that were from 1" to 1.5" I think I will clean it and put it in my gun case to go to Colorado next week. Was going to take the '06, but ... For some reason my '06, that has been reliable as any gun, has decided now to shoot 6" groups. Jeez, it never ends. | |||
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It is probably a rare happenstance, but I had a Sako varmint in 6mmPPC present similarly. In the end it was the action threads that were cut pointing toward right field. That rifle certainly deserved the full-meal-deal "blue-printing". The new owner (after I had the threads chased and a new Krieger put on) reports that it points straight at center field and makes little bitty groups with 55-grain and 70-grain ballistic tips(i.e. minute of prairie dog nose whisker). Once it is "squared away" to your satisfaction, the 7mm-08 is a great hunting cartridge, just like its slightly longer ancestor, the 7 x 57mm.  | |||
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Sounds like you are doing pretty well with the progress on this rig, I do agree with others it is worth having the action squared up, but 1"-1.5" groups are certainly good to go.... It would grate on me that the barrel was aligned/bent that way.....I prefer the 308 chambering myself also, those that recommended a take off barrel in 308 and square things up with a rebarrel make a lot of sense to me. I had a rifle with a similar barrel (thin one) and interestingly, it took about 300 rounds through it before it really started shooting well...I had been shooting the same factory ammo forever in it, and it did about an 1.5" at 100 and without changing anything, one preseason I ended up putting about 150 rounds through it, just shooting at the club, and it just kept shooting better and better--only cleaned it about every 50 rounds, and not real 'agressively' at that...thing shoots 1/2" often nowdays if I am shooting well, and always a little better than an inch. Good luck in Colorado! | |||
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Thanks guys. Actually, I just estimated the group size yesterday. I measured it just now and found the 4 groups were from .875" to 1.25" May be worth noting that I have never cleaned this gun. Ever. Yeah I know ... I should take better care of my toys. People been telling me that since I was 3. Cleaned the crap out of it last night, will shoot again just to convince myself that it is "good to go". At the range yesterday it was breezy and I was shooting with a 3-9 x 40 Leupold so getting sub MOA out of a dirty gun on a breezy day is pretty good. I think I may go with the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" approach now. Pretty happy with it. Thanks to everyone for your advice, and to those who emailed me info. I can not believe this gun has been resurected. I had completely written it off as a POS. | |||
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FWIW, some guns perform worse on a clean barrel than when fouled, depending on how yours does, you might want to leave your barrel fouled until after the hunt. _______________________________________________________________________________ This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend, it is my life. | |||
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True, I am going to shoot it a few times this weekend, I am not going to clean it afterwards. Will shoot in camp once or twice to make sure it is "on" then go hunt! | |||
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