Buying a Rem 700 action, rfle build question

madman25

madman25

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Ok, I had originally a rem 700 vls.
Over the years it has mutated, and now is a my precision rig.
however it is way to big and heavy to use in bush now.

But I have leftover bits, have the original stock and barrel and recoil lug.

Can I "just" (in big quotes) get a new action and if head space is not correct adjust the thickness of the recoil lug,
I have access to a machine shop and am competent enough to make a new lug and machine to any given thickness.

I have the action screws and only would need bottom metal and mag internals on top of action

Seems this would be cheaper than buying another 700.

Any advice and or thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt
 
madman25 said:
only I have seen is Wolverine at 565, that's with trigger
Click to expand...

That's a good price. Wolverine is great to deal with as well.

CanadaAmmo has both stainless and blued actions in the same price range.

Picking up a donor rifle isn't always the best advice unless you can eyeball what you're getting. Today's late model actions are turned out on CNC equipment and are about as true and they can get. Earlier actions can often use some TLC. Now, Remington 700 actions are likely the easiest to play with although the Savage actions with their bbl nuts make things so much simpler.

If I may suggest that if you are as competent as you say, extend the threads on your take off barrel and either purchase a nut from a supplier to fit, such as any of the advertisers on the display panel or make your own. These bbl nuts really take any fine tuning out of fitting an already chambered barrel to an appropriately threaded action.
 
Wouldn't it be a whole lot simpler to set back the shoulder of the barrel the appropriate amount to get it to headspace properly?
 
Call Gary and Bighorn sales I bought a new SA with trigger from him couple weeks ago when he had them on sale $490.
 
Markus said:
Wouldn't it be a whole lot simpler to set back the shoulder of the barrel the appropriate amount to get it to headspace properly?
Click to expand...

easy if chamber needs to come back.
I guess if chamber needs to go out, I can cut a new lug on the water jet out of stock a bit thicker than needed and then do same setback of shoulder.

seems the easiest to do.
 
bearhunter said:
That's a good price. Wolverine is great to deal with as well.

CanadaAmmo has both stainless and blued actions in the same price range.

Picking up a donor rifle isn't always the best advice unless you can eyeball what you're getting. Today's late model actions are turned out on CNC equipment and are about as true and they can get. Earlier actions can often use some TLC. Now, Remington 700 actions are likely the easiest to play with although the Savage actions with their bbl nuts make things so much simpler.

If I may suggest that if you are as competent as you say, extend the threads on your take off barrel and either purchase a nut from a supplier to fit, such as any of the advertisers on the display panel or make your own. These bbl nuts really take any fine tuning out of fitting an already chambered barrel to an appropriately threaded action.
Click to expand...

although that way has some pro's I would rather just set back shoulder as Markus said. I can do those operations fine. I can thread on lathe fine, but never gone over existing threads, rather not push my skills on a good barrel.
I am very comfortable touching up shoulder and making lug if needed.
 
Extending the threads and make it a barrel nut rifle is a good way to go. Chasing threads is easy, a bit of practice on any piece of threaded parts and you an easily do it. Check Youtube there is a few tutorials.

I have Rem Style Barrel nut in stock.

GST
 
Barrel nuts - Yuuuch!

Commonly when one uses a 700 rifle for a build they sell off the unwanted parts, not go searching for an action to put them back on...
 
I agree with Dennis on the barrel nut. If headspace is short or long it can be corrected easily enough by other methods.
 
ok, got my action yesterday. also got myself a go gauge.
If I add 0.004 shim to the go gauge it still chambers.
Add another 0.004 It does not go.
these test were done with cleaned action and parts, no oils, and with a hand tightened assembly.
What I read is many people test at 20 ft-lbs and that headspace does not change appreciably in reasonable torque ranges.

does headspace change appreciably from very hand tight to 20 or so ft-lbs?

If the headspace did not change/ or was what I have measured when at 20 ft-lbs
the go gauge is 1.630 and a no go is typically 1.634
from my measurements I seem to need to move chamber back 0.004, which I can do by moving shoulder on barrel back 0.004 on a lathe.

as a bonus the barrel stamps will end up in a reasonable spot.
 
madman25 said:
I have heard many differing torques, 60 to 75 most often
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Well it depends in my opinion.
With say Savage 10/110 and Rem 788 with thread at 20 tpi the torque at 50 f/p will be plenty.
Ruger 77, Rem 700, Win 70 and such with thread at 16 tpi the torque as you mentioned 60-75 f/p is right on the money.
Mausers with 12 tpi need 100 f/p torque at least.
The coarser the thread the more torque is needed to keep the tennon tight in place.
....and yes, the head space needs to be measured when the barrel is fully tightened.
GR8's 2c worth....
 
Last edited:
Thanks Gunrunner8, I torqued it to 75 Ft-Lbs, got same result, go + 0.004 shim still goes, +0.008 does not. I will be trimming 0.004 off the barrel shoulder
 
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