The gunsmith who does work on my rifles recommended to me that I have a larger and thicker recoil lug installed on my long range rifle when he installs a new barrel. I believe it is the Tubb lug that is listed in the Sinclair catalog. The rifle is a Remington 700 ADL short action in 22-250 Ack. Imp. caliber which will be getting a 1-8 twist barrel 28" lg. and 1" dia. at the muzzle. He said that the bigger lug is only $20 and he seemed pretty definite about the rifle needing it.

Can anybody tell me what result would be expected from one of these items?

It's not the "bigger" part that is most important with the aftermarket lugs. Make certain that your gunsmith uses one that is precision ground on both sides & is parallel. This is one of the elements that helps to elminate uneven torque when fitting a barrel.

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NRA Life member

i use the ones made by Jake Blues [no kidding that's his name] .400 thick and surface ground to .0001 run-out and made from tool steel. they are the best to be had
i've got them on 16 rifles

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Death Before Dishonor

You will need the Tubb or Holland recoil lug which a surface ground and I believe .250 thick. I've used a number of them and they work great. They are needed to increase the ridgity of the barrel/action. I am wondering why you went with the 22-250 Ackley with a 1:8 barrel.What velocities will you expect with a 80 gr VLD? If your smith still has the gun you might consider a 22/6mm or better yet a 22/6mm ackley so that you can toss those 80 gr Berger VLD's at 3500-3800 fps. I have one and its a true .5MOA rifle out to 800 yrds.-Rob

I used the Holland lug on my 6.5-284 and checked it with a micrometer down to exactly .2500 on every side, and thats all that matters. It has hardly anything to do with absorbing more recoil than it has with placing totally equal pressure around the whole base of the barrel. I have shot plenty of .458Win out of a remington with a standard lug, and it hasn't broken yet.

I've used the the Holland lugs on a couple 700s and believe they are a waste of money! The rifles shot great but I believe it was due to other factors and components. I've never heard of a factory lug bending or causing problems. I have seen plenty of big magnums with factory recoil lugs shoot extremely well(.1s,a 7STW) Truman Wilson(benchrest shooter and 'smith) reconditions the factory lugs as part of rebarreling process and holds the same views as I do FWIW. Save your money boys! sure-shot

About the only time I use an aftermarket lug,is when using very heavy barrels,that are of receiver diameter(1.350"). I like the fluid look of the receiver/lug/barrel shank juncture.

A surface ground factory 700 lug,is as precise as anything else and equally functional.

Though the 700's lug serves a very real purpose,it doesn't take 12lbs of steel,to complete that task in a superb manner. It is simply a washer,that extends into the stock,to catch recoil. No science there................

Rob,
My original idea was to get the rifle chambered to the standard 22-250, but the gunsmith recommended going to the Ack. Imp. to better control case stretch. I aleady have one rifle in this caliber and shoot it in long range Commonwealth local matches. With a mild load of 38 grains of RL22 it chronographs at 3150 FPS from my present 24" barrel. Using Berger 80 grain VLD's the present rifle shot four 3 shot test groups at 600 yards with an aggregate average of 1.31" on a calm evening a while back. I do not care to go faster due to barrel life worries. The Commonwealth matches shoot 17 shots in 17 minutes at three different yardages which really heats up the barrel. The problem is that I need a backup so he is building a second rifle.
The new rifle will have a 28" barrel and a tactical style laminated stock and will be a switch barrel system. The first barrel is as mentioned in my original post, and the second is going to be in either 6mm BR or 260 Remington. I made another thread trying to decide on caliber.
The reason for this thread is that I was curious as to what advantage the bigger lug might offer, and several people seem to have answered my question excellently.
Thanks.