Rem 700p 338 lapua barrels?

[spencerhenry]

A friend had to have a 338lm, I tried to get him into a 300wm, be he insisted. I picked him up a Remington 700p in 338lm with detachable box mag, 8.5-25 leupold MK4 in MK4 rings on a 20 minute base. I also got 6 different kinds of ammo, he doesn't reload.
I test fired it to get it zeroed, the Lapua ammo shot the worst, the Hornady and Remington shot the best. I got sub moa with the remington and hornady at 300 yards, but barely. The others were like 2.5 minutes or worse. He tells me "My class 3 buddy says those rifles don't shoot". I looked it up and apparently there were some issues with SOME of the 700p 338's.
Without developing a load for it, how do I know if this is one that will not do better than .75moa?

If it is a bad one, who should I have put a GOOD barrel in it?

 

[JBT47]

There is no way to answer that question without load development. Proof is in the shooting and cannot be found on the internet.

 

[people]

You will have to shoot it with reloads to know. That is the easy way to go. The other option is smith work.

 

[tclaunch]

1st thing I`d do is inspect the crown with quality magnifier in the 5x to 7x range in good light. Remington 700`s are notorious for needing the crown recut.

 

[B23]

Sub MOA with a factory gun and off the shelf store bought ammo doesn't really sound that bad, especially, considering most factory built guns only guarantee 1 MOA accuracy.

You could have the stock bed and maybe that'd help tighten up the groups a little. Also, what's the trigger like in it? A trigger job or replacement could also help you shoot it a little better especially if it has your typical heavy and creepy trigger pull.

 

[spencerhenry]

Remington produced some of these rifles that were know to have barrel issues. I was asking if anyone knew how to determine which serial numbers were suspect. It makes no sense for me to develop a load for it if the owner is not going to reload himself. The "good ammo" shot very poorly, as in 2.5 to 3 minutes.
I appreciate the suggestions, but the trigger is not crappy, and the rifle has an aluminum bedding block. I have experience with 5 other remington 700 police rifles that all shoot well under 1 minute, my first one with basic handloads shoots under 1/2 minute, but those are all 308's.

 

[4xforfun]

Sub MOA with a factory gun and off the shelf store bought ammo doesn't really sound that bad, especially, considering most factory built guns only guarantee 1 MOA accuracy.

You forgot that it is a hard kicking beast...tough to shoot! MOA at 300 with factory gun/ammo. It sounds good to me.

As far as the 1 MOA guarantee, I'm trying to figure out who actually has that guarantee. WBY has a 1 1/2 moa unless you buy one of the "MOA" rifles. I don't think the Rem has a 1 MOA guarantee. Don't know about Savage, but I am doubtful.

Don't want to hyjac, but curious about a 1 MOA factory Guarantee.

Tod

 

[B23]

You forgot that it is a hard kicking beast...tough to shoot! MOA at 300 with factory gun/ammo. It sounds good to me.

As far as the 1 MOA guarantee, I'm trying to figure out who actually has that guarantee. WBY has a 1 1/2 moa unless you buy one of the "MOA" rifles. I don't think the Rem has a 1 MOA guarantee. Don't know about Savage, but I am doubtful.

Don't want to hyjac, but curious about a 1 MOA factory Guarantee.

Tod

It was just kind of an assumption and I thought the industry standard was MOA guarantee so if 1.5 MOA is what the industry standard actually is, sounds like it is well within factory guaranteed accuracy.

 

[4xforfun]

It was just kind of an assumption and I thought the industry standard was MOA guarantee so if 1.5 MOA is what the industry standard actually is, sounds like it is well within factory guaranteed accuracy.

Yep...I get that...I was just wondering if anyone actually does have a guarantee?

 

[spencerhenry]

Recoil makes it harder.

I heard that from kimber when the 300wsm I had wouldn't do better than 1.5 moa. Except that the cz model 3 I replaced it with shot all the loads into a better group than the kimber would do with one load.

I have shot under 12 inches at a mile with my 50, it recoils a bit too.

 

[people]

Remington produced some of these rifles that were know to have barrel issues. I was asking if anyone knew how to determine which serial numbers were suspect. It makes no sense for me to develop a load for it if the owner is not going to reload himself. The "good ammo" shot very poorly, as in 2.5 to 3 minutes.
I appreciate the suggestions, but the trigger is not crappy, and the rifle has an aluminum bedding block. I have experience with 5 other remington 700 police rifles that all shoot well under 1 minute, my first one with basic handloads shoots under 1/2 minute, but those are all 308's.

You know the saying. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The fact is it is a factory rifle using factory ammo. It is a kind of luck of the draw. We all have some 700's that shoot very well. Some of us like me have had some that would just not shoot until the tube was set back and re-crowned and in a few instances a new tube was needed.

As we know some tubes do not like certain bullets, powder, or primers. "Good ammo" does not guarantee good results. I know you have seen many ask I have X rifle what ammo should I get? The result is always you will not know until you shoot the ammo.

In this case it is what it is. Just have him shoot the stuff that shoots the best in his rifle.