Remington 700 giving me grief

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hawk-i

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Not sure if this is where I should post this but I'll try it here.
I acquired an older Remington 700 ADL a while back in 270 win (from the barrel stamps appears to be made Nov. of 1971). The rifle came with a 4x bushnell which I removed and I installed a new 30mm tube Burris Black Diamond 4-16x50 with posi-lock. I doubt the rifle had more than a box or two of shell put through it prior me getting it.
I bought several boxes of 130 gr winchester and 150 gr federal ammo as I didn't have 270 dies and attempted to sight the rifle in. It was shooting all over the place . When removing the stock and noticed the sling swivel stud was hitting the bottom on the barrel, so I filed it down and free floated the barrel. The next try at the range the groups where maybe in the 2+ inch range at 100 yards with flyer sometimes out to 4 inches. My next attempt at improving the groups was to glass bed the rifle and adjust the trigger to a reasonably crisp break with a 2.5 to 3 lbs pull, resulting in groups averaging 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches @ 100 yards.
Thinking the rifle should be doing better than this I picked up some reloading dies (RCBS FL.), and a box of130 gr. SST's. I had a new container of H 4350 on hand which should do fine with the 270 win and 130's, so I proceeded to work up a load ( the plan was to start at 52 grs and go up to 54.5 grs). I decided I'd try the first batch of handloads at .020 jump and go from there. Now when loading to touch the lands my OAL with these bulletshas to be at 3.458 in this rifle so minus .020 gives a COAL of 3.438. This is fine as there is enough length in the mag box to do this but when loaded to this length the cannelure on the 130 gr. SST's is about .200" forward of the 2.530 trimmed case.
If I seat the bullet to the cannelure for a slight crimp, my freebore is at a .218" or darn near a 1/4 of an inch. This seems very excessive! The groups where better with the bullets seated way out there averaging right about or slightly above 1 inch.
Has anyone else came across a rifle with this much freebore...... is it worth while to have the barrel set back and rechambered or should I just live with it?
 
IMO a rifle that will shoot consistantly around 1" is not bad. Just seat the bullets out further - don't worry about the cannelure. Just check to see how much of the neck is contacting the bullet. You could also try a slightly longer bullet like a 140 or 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. That might work better in your rifle. But like I said, 1" groups are plenty good enough for hunting.
 
I would just live with it if you can get 1MOA at 100 with it. lots of longe range shooter's only expect 1moa average out of there comp rifle
 
TacMed said:
I would just live with it if you can get 1MOA at 100 with it. lots of longe range shooter's only expect 1moa average out of there comp rifle
Click to expand...
Name one ;).

Op, if you need a crimp, crimp it where it is. You don't have to use the cannalure.

All three 700s that I load for have uber-long throats. My 5r .308 with 168gr VLD hybrid touching, leaves about 1/8" in the case. But that's how they shot best.
 
TacMed said:
I would just live with it if you can get 1MOA at 100 with it. lots of longe range shooter's only expect 1moa average out of there comp rifle
Click to expand...


Well, whichever ones only expect 1 MOA average I want to meet, I could finally take first in a LR shooting match!
 
First off you have a hunting rifle, not a match rifle. 1 MOA is plenty good enough with a hunting bullet. While your testing these bullets .020" off the lands, have you tried seating them to the cannelure? You never know until you try, if they shoot well seated that deep. Forget about the crimp.
 
Like its been said, don't worry about the cannelure and crimping. Seat them where you want them if that's where they shoot best. I never crimp in bolt action.
 
Well done hawk-i!
You've achieved the maximum out of your hunting rifle with hunting bullets in a factory gun.
The next step to tighten those groups is a new custom barrel with different throated chamber.
 
Remington rifles normally sport a fairly long throat.
Just seat the bullet out.

I have an uncommonly accurate Remington 700 in 30-06.
The 180 Accubond, seated .020" off the lands, measures 3.450"
Since the 700 LA has a very generous magazine length, this is no problem.

1" at 100 is very good, despite what all the armchair experts on here will tell you.
Just go check out the challenge on here...see how many factory sporters are entered, lol.

Enjoy your 270!! Eagleye.
 
There are a few very good gunsmiths in this forum who are very good at fixing Remington rifles, and also there are 5 millions of Remington users standing behind Remington Brand. So, you will get help from the "community".
 
Thanks to all for the feedback....I loaded some 54.5gr. rounds up last night at .010 off the lands and also some seated and slightly crimped to the cannelure. I will try these today to see how much difference the long jump makes with this load. After that my plan is to try 150 gr bullets and H 4831.
Initially I was thinking this much freebore is uncommon, looks to be a non issue so I will continue to play with it as is.
Thanks again.
 
I would not get too worried about the cannelure. Some makes of bullets do not have a cannelure. The ogive of the bullets vary with each bullet and your method is widely accepted. For myself, as a rule, I load to 0.30 from the lands and as a secondary check, I also like to ensure that the bullet is seated in the neck such that the full length of the neck is holding the bullet.

I trim to consistent case lengths and full size my cases. More often than not, the bullet is seated further away from both the lands and the cannelure - so I don't crimp.
 
The only ammo I crimp is that loaded for tube-magazine leverguns. [30-30, 38-55]
And pistol ammo for my revolvers.
Rifle ammo, whether for target or hunting does not get crimped.
Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
The only ammo I crimp is that loaded for tube-magazine leverguns. [30-30, 38-55]
And pistol ammo for my revolvers.
Rifle ammo, whether for target or hunting does not get crimped.
Eagleye.
Click to expand...

I normally don't crimp either for my rifles but with the large amount of freebore I was thinking it might help with keeping the pressures up and consistent as compaired to seating the bullets out further. Probably me over thinking things....but just to satisfy my curiousity, I've got 10 seated to the cannelure with a light crimp so I will see how they shoot once it stops snowing.
Thanks again for your input.
 
Went to the range today to try the SST 130's seated to the cannelure with a slight crimp. Range 100 yards
I shot 5, 3 shot groups and found as long as the barrel was cold the rilfe shot great. The colder the better...the five, three shot groups averaged 1.20 inches with the best being .583" (allowed the most cooling time between shots for the .583 group).
One thing I noticed is that it shot a repeatable pattern, between groups I let the barrel cool so it felt cold to the touch.
The 1st cold bore shot from each 5 groups (if over lapped on to one target) gave a 5 shot group of .524 inches....The second shot from each of the 5 groups (if overlapped) gave a 5 shot group of 1.103 inches with the POI shifting slightly high and to the right in each group...The 3rd shot from each of the 5 groups (again if overlapped) gave a 5 shot group of 1.59 inches with the POI moving down below the first shot of each group and again very slightly to the right.
The POI shift as the barrel warmed in each group repeated the same pattern!!!!
As a hunting rifle the first and second rounds are the ones that count and i'm happy with those results but still a bit puzzled as to why the pattern is so repeatable???
 
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