The last bolt-action factory rifle I bought - a Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle in .270 Win, about a year ago -- has an awful lot of freebore as it came from the factory. It's not really feasible to seat bullets close to the lands when handloading for that rifle. 0.2" is about as close as I can get, with handloads (partly because of the magazine length, and partly because of the practical limits when seating the bullet in the case). I guess if I want to get closer I will have to get the barrel set back and rechambered. Is this fairly typical of the current crop of Remington Model 700s? Does Winchester do the same thing with its current crop of Model 70s? Are there factory rifles we can buy that do not typically come with that much freebore?

You guessed it, that's exactly the state of affairs today. I just bought a Remmy 700 CDL in .270 and it has a rather long throat. I also have a Winchester Featherweight in 7mm-08 and it has a short, reasonable throat. I can't imagine what Remington is thinking with this approach, as it hasn't been proven to be any good. But, on the other hand, my .270 appears to shoot well, based on the very limited range time I have with it.
For what it's worth, and this is a general rule, but not without exceptions.
Winchester, Ruger, CZ, Savage and Browning normally have rather short, reasonable throats, a good thing.
Remington, Howa, Weatherby, FN, and others have pretty long throats, which in a lot of cases is not as accurate, all things being equal.

I prefer a long throat, but if it bothers you a gunsmith can turn the barrel back for you tightening up that throat more to your liking

i usually am taking my down to a gunsmith to open up the throat
cheers and good shooting
seafire

Thanks for your comments, guys.

Seafire: If you don't mind my asking, why do you prefer longer throats? Doesn't it detract from accuracy, by making it difficult to seat the bullets close to the lands? And if it does, is there a compensating advantage to making the throat longer?

Essentially, it is the same as having a larger case volume. So, it reduces the pressure with a standard load. Weatherby used the longer throat to allow them to load their ammo hotter. That's why a lot of load manuals caution that the loads are for factory rifles only.

For what it's worth, I would rather have a shorter throat. I have had better luck getting my rifles to shoot better with the bullets loaded closer to the lands, as well.

The last three remingtons, a .300ultra, a 270WSM and a .223VS all had "normal" freebore. Most bullets I've tried will kiss the lands and the cartridge fits the magazine. The Winchester Stealth I just bought a few months back (.308) also has a normal freebore.

I read this long ago, and it works for me.

Longer throats do let you seat the bullet out farther. In being close to the lands, I find that accuracy does increase. Of course when one is short throated the same thing occurs.

However when it is long throated, then you can put more powder in the case and have less pressures, or as I do, leave the same amount of powder in there, but with the bullet seated further out BUT not touching the lands, then you have less pressure than you do if it is short throated.

Playing with military bolt actions, the long throated bullets that were used and were seated out farther, kept pressures low. Remember they are getting ammo on "governmental low bid.".

Look at the 7 x 57, 8 x 57, 6.5 x 55, 6.5 x 54, 30/06 Springfield and Enfield, 30/40 Krag, they are long throated to take long heavy military bullets. Yet if you ever see how little the bullet was seated in the case, it would surprise you.

MY 260 Rem, VLS was short throated when I got it and I had to seat 120 grain match bullets so deep it drove me nuts. It would not take 140 grain bullets at all. So I throated it to take 120 grain match bullets to magazine length. Now it takes anything reasonable except 160 grain bullets, and it shoots them very accurately. I can now get more velocity, but like with a 107 Match bullet, I can get it to 3350 fps, but 2800 fps is where it is happy at. In the original factory throat, I had pressure problems at 2900 fps with this bullet.

My Ruger 260s, I throated out the chamber to magazine length for 160 grain Hornady Round Noses. Accuracy stayed the same, which is very good, and yet I can now take the bigger bullets. My 100 grain loads also now can go to 3350 fps without pressure problems of any type, before they made 3100 and had pressure problems.

So it has worked for me. ( your mileage may vary, LoL)

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

seafire:

I agree with you completely.

The problem lies with either short magazine boxes or throats cut so deep that the lands can't be reached even with the bullet seated as far out of the case as possible.