Sad rem 700,FIXED)

[mason]

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Need a little help getting my rem 700 shooting better.I bought a rem pss in 223 it has shot some pretty sad groups in calm conditions around 2"-3" at 100 yards,tried just about all bullets and powders in it and still nothing.Got the barrel re-crowned and bedded helped a little are there any other accuracy part i can put on it myself.I dont want to rebarrel it yet thought there might be a way around it.
Thanks.....

 

[jr600yd]

Clean the barrel real well then soak the bore with your favorite bore solvent. Let it soak in for 10-20 minutes then use some JB Bore Cleaner,follow directions on the can). Some factory Remmy barrels can be pretty rough.

 

[280man]

Are you using the right bullet weight for the given twist?

 

[shadowdrak]

Are you shooting off-hand, off a bipod, or a steady rest and bags? Alot of the SPS stocks are junk, most people usually sell them and get a better stock. A good trigger will help out a lot, sometimes factory triggers are just too heavy for accurate shooting and are set up for hunting standards. As mentioned, check the scope mount. Lapping the rings, checking tracking, etc. Some Remy barrels are pretty good, the one on my Remy 700 PSS 308 shot in the .2 and .3 with good loads and conditions, but some of them aren't so great and need to be rebarreled. Check to make sure you have an accurate twist rate of what you think you have,i.e. 1:12 is really a 1:12 twist). If not, you'll have to use a different bullet weight for the twist you actually have. Shooter factor can also be an issue,using proper techniques and so forth).

 

[mason]

I thought maybe a new firing pin or and spring might make some difference or i might just need to send it off to get cleaned up..

 

[fdshuster]

mason: If it were mine, I'd clean the barrel, to the extreme, then borescope the entire length, chamber to muzzle. if you go to the barrels site, and watch Dan Liljas' borescope video of what he found in a new,unfired Rem 7mm Magnum barrel, you will get my meaning. If the barrel is in this condition, and I'm not inferring it is), you could be spinning your wheels with every other "fix" that you try. Kind of like the auto mechanic swapping parts, hoping to find the bad one. Just my opinion, based on some experience, and my "Hawkeye"): I'm sure others will dis-agree.

 

[JRinCo]

A friend of mine and I bought new Remington varmint rifles chambered in .223 Rem. Neither one of them would shoot better than 1 inch at 100yds. with hand loaded ammo, factory ammo was even worse. In the case of my friends rifle, he bought some re manufactured ammo from the top ammunition maker. The factory manufactured ammo actually separated at the head.
Here's the problem, when a major rifle manufacturer has to decide how to chamber a barrel, they have to look at the whole spectrum of ammo that is on the market, in order for the chamber to accommodate all of it. In the case of the .223 Rem., it being a military cartridge that literally millions of rifles are chambered for, the range of ammo is huge.
In my case, I scoped the length of the barrel and determined that it might be good enough to be given a chance. I decided that with this rifle I wanted to shoot P-dogs and such. I decided that 40 grain bullets would give the range and velocity that I wanted. I made up a couple of dummy rounds with 40 grain Berger bullets and I took the rifle and dummy rounds into my gunsmith and had him re chamber the rifle for that combo.
Now the rifle shoot 1/4 minute of prairie dog clear out to 500 yds. and all is well.

 

[vonb]

Check all the basics first that will cost you very little.

1) Have you checked action screws to verify they are tight? 45 in.-lbs.
2) Have you checked to make sure barrel is free floating?
3) Have you tried shooting with a known good scope?

If those don't fix the issue, look into re-chambering. If that still doesn't work, I'd go all out and replace barrel with a custom and while at it, have action trued.

 

[MarkS]

Mason,

One thing that has not been asked. What bullet weight are you shooting? The Rem normally are 12 tw, The pss could be 8tw os something other than a 12. If so it may not shoot the lighter bullets. Or the 12 would not shoot the heavy bullets.

Check twist with a tight patch on the cleaning rod. Mark the rod and see how many inches it takes to make a full turn, that will get you close.

If you can, change to scope, and see if that is the problem.

Mark Schronce

 

[squirrelduster]

Mason -
You have been given some great information here but it might be something as simple as removing your scope then clean all of the threads and holes and reinstall with locktite.

I have had problems in the past with work that other people have done on my gear. I had a scope installed on my 300 win mag and I took the scope of and the screws on the bases were not even finger tight. Same problem on a 22-250 I couldn't get it to shoot and it turned out the base screws were loose. Went from 2 inch groups at 100 yards to under 3/4" with no other work.

Look at all of the easy stuff very carefully.

1) Scope and mounts are the first thing to check.

2) Such as making sure that you can run a piece of paper under the barrel all the way from the end of the forearm to the recoil lug.

3) Check to bolt like Lynn said, it is a common problem.

4) Check the twist to make sure you have the correct bullet weight.

5) If all of this fails to improve your shooting it sounds like the barrel or chamber is your issue.

Let us know what you find.

 

[eww1350]

Mason, take your rifle/scope to a qualified gunsmith and let him check it out for all of the obvious things that can go wrong..it is difficult to determine what is causing the problem without seeing your rig..I had a Remington PSS in .223 that was a very accurate rifle with hand loads..I think you have something very wrong with the optics or mounts..not the rifle or loads...

Good luck..!

 

[mason]

thanks for all the help with this project it shoots little holes now...

 

[kitsap]

Mason, All right, I will bite. What did you do to make it shoot little holes?

 

[mrbill2]

Manson,please don't let us hanging here like this. Now it shoots little holes. How little? What did you do to make it shoot those little holes? We need to know !!!
Till next time.
Mr. Bill

 

[mason]

First we found that the barrel was a 1/12 twist not a 1/9,next i
found the bolt handle was touching the stock and last the barrel was not free floated it was touching the left side of the stock from the chamber back to the lug looks to be a bedding error..

Oh ya we also changed the firing pin and spring with a Pacific after market setup that was real easy to install and is a very slick setup as well..

Once again Thanks to all for your input.
Mason

 

[kitsap]

Mason,

Thanks for the rest of the story. We all gain knowledge from the exchange of information here. Glad you were able to make progress in the right direction.