R700 accuracy issues

[Lincoln7]

BTW, did you bed the scope base? The Remington receiver is notorious for uneven finishing on the top/rear resulting in stress if you just sock the mount screws down. Google "bed Remington scope base" for plenty of reading on the topic.

Finally, I would shoot with the barrel fully naked and see if that makes any difference. The 1:10 twist may prefer the 175s.

Yes, I have bedded the scope base. I will try naked barrel(along with other muzzle devices) next trip and report back. I've put some nice groups together with 168's multiple times but I'm pretty sure I have some 175's around and will try them and some others.

Did bedding the bottom metal improve the accuracy/consistency for you?

Robb, I've verified the ring's caps screws are tight but I'll still check with a torque wrench.

[Canonshooter]

Did bedding the bottom metal improve the accuracy/consistency for you?

The rifle shot at least .7 MOA every group, with about half of the groups .5 MOA or better before I bedded the TG. Since that time, along with bedding the TG, I reduced the trigger pull (Timney 510) from 3.4 lbs. to 2.1 lbs., added a sunshade to the scope, added a cheek riser for better eye-to-scope alignment and finally have the eyepiece dialed in to render the reticle razor sharp. It's actually amazing how sharp the reticle is in the SWFA scope now that I have it adjusted properly, probably sharper than any other scope I have ever owned.

I haven't fired it again since all of that has been done, but will be within the next few weeks.

[Lincoln7]

Alright, I made it back to the range yesterday armed with the advice from you fine fellas. I couldn't find all the other .308 ammo I have in my house so I only shot 2 loads. A failure on my part but will remedy this next range trip. All groups are Federal Gold Medal Match 168 gr except the last is Hornady Match 168 gr. I obviously lacked diversity here.

Rig:


First two groups were shot with no muzzle device installed:


The next group I installed the DPMS Miculek brake that I've had success with in the past:


Not happy where that was going I installed the AAC 51T brake:


Looking better, I decided to affix my 762 SDN-6 suppressor:


Last, I tried the Hornady Match 168's to find there were only 5 rounds left in the box. Said box is obviously now empty:


At least it appears to be less erratic and I will be bedding the receiver to the stock (and possibly the bottom metal) as soon as my Devcon arrives in the mail. Any additional suggestions are very much welcome.

[Avtech850]

Looks like your doing better now, But I have never liked action bedding blocks. Something about them just gives me the heebie jeebies and I have never seen identical rifles save bedding methods were the v-block has out performed and good bedding job done with marine - tec or any other comparable material.
Something too look at would be the torque of your action bolts, I'm sure you know this but once I find the load that my rifles like I start looking for the preferred torque. You would be stunned at just how much more accuracy you can ring out of a rifle that way. Although I'm a really big fan of glued in actions as well.
Barrel harmonics are as close to black magic as I have ever encountered in my life though. I've run barrel tuners and action blocks on my bench rest and f-class rifles for a long time and it is absolutely scary how just a grain of weight on the muzzle or just the order the action block was torqued will affect zero and poi, much less group size.
If I can ask though, what is your cleaning regime. I've found that most of my Remingtons' really didn't shoot that well until they were pretty warm and had about 15-20 rounds to foul the barrel.
Sorry for any grammatical errors, this was typed on my phone.

[Lincoln7]

Looks like your doing better now, But I have never liked action bedding blocks. Something about them just gives me the heebie jeebies and I have never seen identical rifles save bedding methods were the v-block has out performed and good bedding job done with marine - tec or any other comparable material.

Sorry for any grammatical errors, this was typed on my phone.

What?


If you would clarify this, I will forgive the grammatic errors

[Pappabear]

Looks like you are getting there. Your probably responsible for .25 moa and your gun is doing another .5 inch. Therefore, your gun is doing fine. How fine is your reticle? Some of my scopes have thicker lines and are more difficult to shoot very tiny groups.

Don't clean your gun but every 200 rounds or so. Some people believe when you change rounds, therefore changing powders, sometimes the barrel needs to be "seasoned" with new powder. If your first group after changing rounds is large, just keep that possibility in mind.

It's interesting you only took two kinds of ammo and got your best groups. Just run either of those last two choices, maybe buy 50 rounds of that last choice- Hornady match- and stick with it a full day.
Best of luck.

PB

[Avtech850]

Sorry about that. Feel free to question anything I say if it isn't clear enough, I have a very hard time making my point come across when it comes to any form of communication, especially when technology and typing is thrown into the mix.
I dont like bedding blocks for the simple reason that you only have two very narrow points of contact with the bottom of the action. Production actions aren't very consistent in the inside or outside diameter so unless the outside of diameter of the action has been trued, there is little to no chance that the block and action have one hundred percent surface to surface contact.
Because of this, every time the rifle is fired the recoil pushes the action back and forth on the action in no predictable fashion and will never return to the same place twice in a row.
Bedding the action and pillars with material like devcon basically molds the action to the bedding and creates one hundred percent contact with the recoil lug, pillars and the bottom of the action. The "springiness" of the bedding material also prevents the barrel whip and harmonics from reverberating up and down the length of the rifle as well, whereas the bedding block acts just like hitting a hammer on a anvil.
I know a lot of people love bedding blocks and swear by them, but the only truly accurate rifles I have seen with them were palma rifles that were built custom actions and the blocks were milled to fit them.

[Lincoln7]

PappaBear, I'll try to stick with a good ammo when I find it. My cleaning frequency is pretty slack: I clean rarely. I am open to recommendations here. I just like to keep moving parts wet in most cases. My reticle seems to be average but I will make another attempt at focusing it.

Avtech, thanks for the clarification. Your description is now very clear. I will practice bedding on a cheaper rifle I have and then bed my 700 with Devcon.

[ROTAM]

Alright, I made it back to the range yesterday armed with the advice from you fine fellas. I couldn't find all the other .308 ammo I have in my house so I only shot 2 loads. A failure on my part but will remedy this next range trip. All groups are Federal Gold Medal Match 168 gr except the last is Hornady Match 168 gr. I obviously lacked diversity here.

Rig:


First two groups were shot with no muzzle device installed:


The next group I installed the DPMS Miculek brake that I've had success with in the past:


Not happy where that was going I installed the AAC 51T brake:


Looking better, I decided to affix my 762 SDN-6 suppressor:


Last, I tried the Hornady Match 168's to find there were only 5 rounds left in the box. Said box is obviously now empty:


At least it appears to be less erratic and I will be bedding the receiver to the stock (and possibly the bottom metal) as soon as my Devcon arrives in the mail. Any additional suggestions are very much welcome.

I havent seen a difference in group size or zero between the Federal SBTHP 168 and Hornady TAP 168.

As another poster suggested, you need a good cheek rest. You also need to have the stock bedded. The 1:10 twist is fine for what youre shooting.

[Warg]

I havent seen a difference in group size or zero between the Federal SBTHP 168 and Hornady TAP 168.

As another poster suggested, you need a good cheek rest. You also need to have the stock bedded. The 1:10 twist is fine for what youre shooting.

Agreed and you may even find similar or even better results with lighter bullets, e.g., 155's at 100 yds due to quicker stabilization. Typically should be a wash with factory ammo, however.

I haven't seen enough data to conclusively evaluate the variables you're looking at. Are the groups you posted the entire lot or a just the better ones? If the former they're not that bad, but obviously not meeting your expectations. More data points would be helpful to determine if its the rifle, muzzle device, shooter. or combination thereof.

What kind of experience do you have behind the trigger? Not an attack, just gathering info. Do you have, or have you had, a rifle that consistently shoots 5+ round groups at < .75 MOA?