Good job. Keep us posted. All the best...
Gil

good job, keep at it you will find a sweet one sooner or later.

It certainly didn't shoot factory ammo that well. All that work brought it from 3+MOA down to 2 MOA. Hand-loads made a difference but make me wonder if he should trade if for a new model or a manufacture with a better reputation for accuracy.

200y? Better than I can hold. Dead deer on any account.

I sure wouldn't get rid of a Remington 700 without looking at other factors first !!!

Scope, mounts, crown, bore condition, locking lugs, firing pin and spring, etc etc.

If I decided it was the barrel I'd have it re-barreled rather than buy a new gun.

My experience has shown that most guns will reduce group size by about 25-50% with a tuned handload. With that knowledge I'll usually do my assessment work using factory ammo. This will give you a solid base line to work from. Work on one thing at a time.

chambered221 wrote:

My experience has shown that most guns will reduce group size by about 25-50% with a tuned handload. With that knowledge I'll usually do my assessment work using factory ammo. This will give you a solid base line to work from. Work on one thing at a time.

I'm getting more than 50% reduction with my first handload. Factory ammo, one box low end and one box high-end, shot 2+ MOA even after the doing the pillar bedding. I do not have the tools to make an assessment on bore condition or crown. I've loaded up 20 rounds with 59.4 grains of H414 and going to learn more about the rifle and how it performs before I change any more.

I had significant trouble with my Rem 700 so I may be a bit pre-disposed. I know Remington can made some accurate rifles and their actions can be machined to be very accurate but I do not think Remington has a reputation for accuracy out of the box. Not just their products today but with their past product. I'd rather puy a hunting rifle that doesn't need all the work to make it accurate to begin with. There are several on the market today that have a reputation for accuracy that are not more expensive than a Remington 700.

I can see the firestorm I just started.

Not only the firestorm... be happy your friend seems to have an older Remington, what I've seen here with friends didn't deserve to carry the name Remington anymore... groupings like a shotgun, predilled mounts not lined up properly, ... he got his new Remmy 700 rebarreled before he could hit the bullseye.

slimjim wrote:

It gets easier the more you do it. Where do you live in NY?

Hey Slimjim,
I've been out of town the last week.
I am going to take a shot at bedding the two rifles I mentioned before. I read through the proceedure and with your pictures as a reference, I'm more comfortable it will work out well. The first one I want to do is a Savage in .308 win. The factory synthetic stock already has the pillars installed, so it should be fairly easy. I figure if it doesn't turn out great, I wouldn't mind changing that stock. I'm not crazy about the synthetic, but it's the gun I grab in any weather during deer season. The other is a Winchester model 70 in .300 WSM, and it has a nice laminated wood stock, and I want that one to turn out well, so i'll practice on the synthetic stock first.
I live on Long Island, a little town on the south shore, but I do most of my hunting upstate in Middleburgh, Schoharie county. It's a beautiful area, I'm going up this weekend to look at a piece of property that butts up to my In-laws, I'll take some pictures.

No doubt Remington has created some self deserving criticism over the years !!!
That vintage (I'm guessing 70's) should be one of the better ones.

My point was that by having a proper re-barreling and having the action trued in the process by a premium barrel marker you'll end up with a rifle that's going to be hard to beat.

I'm going to assume one of the first things you did was clean the barrel........making sure there's no copper fouling !!!

chambered221 wrote:

I'm going to assume one of the first things you did was clean the barrel........making sure there's no copper fouling !!!

That I did. I use Bore Tech Eliminator Bore Cleaning Solvent which doesn't damage the bore like Sweets, etc. I filled the barrel and let it set overnight. It came out deep blue. So used some fresh and did it for 24 hours more. At least it was translucent blue so I figured I got it all. Shoot 20 round through it so will clean again before the next range time to see how much copper it collected. My Tikka wouldn't show any noticable copper fouling after 20 rounds. I usually have light fouling after about 60 rounds.

cbsweeney wrote:

The first one I want to (bed) is a Savage in .308 win. The factory synthetic stock already has the pillars installed, so it should be fairly easy.

I have no experience doing synthetic stock that are plastic based. I've done fiberglass but no plastic. I've heard there are some unique procedures to get the bedding to stick to the stock. If you already have pillars, I'm not sure you will gain much by bedding the plastic stock. Is it shooting ok? If so, may be best to leave well enough alone. My Tikka has a very hard plastic stock with no pillars but it doesn't flex or compress noticable. It shoots great so I've left it alone. Pillars and glass be on the laminate would be easier to do and would most likely benefit from pillars.

cbsweeney wrote:

I live on Long Island, a little town on the south shore, but I do most of my hunting upstate in Middleburgh, Schoharie county. It's a beautiful area, I'm going up this weekend to look at a piece of property that butts up to my In-laws, I'll take some pictures.

I love the Catskills. I grew up in Schenectady and my grandfather had a farm in Walton. Looking forward to your pictures.

slimjim wrote:

cbsweeney wrote: The first one I want to (bed) is a Savage in .308 win. The factory synthetic stock already has the pillars installed, so it should be fairly easy. I have no experience doing synthetic stock that are plastic based. I've done fiberglass but no plastic. I've heard there are some unique procedures to get the bedding to stick to the stock. If you already have pillars, I'm not sure you will gain much by bedding the plastic stock. Is it shooting ok? If so, may be best to leave well enough alone. My Tikka has a very hard plastic stock with no pillars but it doesn't flex or compress noticable. It shoots great so I've left it alone. Pillars and glass be on the laminate would be easier to do and would most likely benefit from pillars.

Thanks for the heads-up.
The Savage shoots fine, I figured it would be a good gun to start with. I may just leave it alone for now. The whole bedding process doesn't seem to be too complicated, just not something to be rushed.

chambered221 wrote:

No doubt Remington has created some self deserving criticism over the years !!! That vintage (I'm guessing 70's) should be one of the better ones. My point was that by having a proper re-barreling and having the action trued in the process by a premium barrel marker you'll end up with a rifle that's going to be hard to beat.

I had a Rem700 in .308 from that time period - saftey on locked the bolt. I usually shot 2+ moa. I bedded it a couple of different ways, tried hand loads, pressure pads mid-way down the barrel. It just wouldn't shoot any better than 1.5 MOA. Then one day, I pulled the trigger and just decided, that was it, I wasn't goning to fire that gun every again and sold it at the next gun show. Today, I wish I still had it as I'd do exactly what you suggest and rebarrel it in .260 and be shooting at 1000 yards.

have you tried another scope???