ronsatspokane
Gold $$ Contributor
That's the trouble with discussing these topics on a web site. Everyone has a different set of standards and expectations. Time was when this web site was more oriented toward competition level standards and expectations but it seems that a lot of hunters and casual shooters have found their way here. Many are unfamiliar with the issues or the problems they cause when seeking extreme precision. As far as sending it back, I have a story for ya:
Remington 700 action in varmint trim with a heavy barrel. Was planing on using it for F Class competition. After 6 months of trying to get it to shoot which included a new stock, bedding, bolt work, trigger replacement, barrel lapping, a couple of different higher end scopes and hours and hours of load development I finally got it to shoot 3/4 MOA (it was 2.5 MOA when I got it). Not good enough for F Class. I tried it in a few matches just to prove it to myself. Got my ass handed to me. Sent a nasty email to Remington about all the work I'd put into the rifle and how pissed I was. I asked them what kind of varmints they expected people to hunt with this rifle, horses within 200 yards? They replied and wanted me to send it to them with a sample target. I did that. They sent it back to me with a test target saying that they'd lapped the barrel and the rifle was within spec. Their test target? 1.5 MOA. Inch and a half at 100 yards. Twice as bad as what I'd had it shooting. That Rifle went down the road the next day.
Couple of months later a friend of mine was working part time to help out as a range master at a local range. Someone showed up with that very rifle (easy to spot as the stock was quite unique). He'd thrown a cheap Simmons scope on it and was raving about how accurate it was. My friend looked at what kind of groups he was getting. 2 MOA. Different standards and different expectations.
The Remington saga continues. Bought a single shot 700 action from a reputable midwest supplier. The action only and figured that Remington would not screw them by sending them shite. I would use it to build an F Class gun and play with a new caliber. I was wrong. That action only had 5% contact on one of the lugs. Just a scratch across it. The bolt timing was also the same as the last one with no primary extraction. I threw the action in the lathe, trued the face and the lug abutments, lapped the bolt so it had about 80% contact on both lugs, screwed a Remage barrel on it, threw a Timney trigger on it, tossed it into a cheap thumbhole stock for testing and bedded that. With factory ammo it was half MOA. With minimal load development it was (is) a 1/4 to 1/2 MOA gun on any given day. Have since upgraded the stock to a real F Class stock and I shoot it fairly regularly in competition. In competition the loads are usually hotter. Was having occasional problems with extraction. Finally had to send the action out and get the timing corrected. No problem since. Even though the gun now shoots, the time and money I put into that action would have come close to buying a custom action which would have eliminated all the work and the headaches. So that is what I did with the last action I bought. Picked up a BAT action. Even with all the work I put into the Remington there is no comparison, the BAT is so smooth and the tolerances are so much tighter than the Remington that it is laughable. Why Remington cannot do this with modern CNC machines like BAT uses is beyond me. I wonder if they have not updated the machine shop since the 60's and cut costs by firing the people who did the manual fitting or if they use their tooling until it breaks or it wouldn't cut cheese let alone metal. One thing is for sure, the New York private equity firm (Cerberus Capital Management) that owns them has no pride in the product they produce. They appear to be using it as a cash cow relying on its past reputation and some marketing to keep the cash flowing.
