Remington floor plate opens

Elbert P . Suggins · Sep 23, 2012

I have a Remington Model 700 VTR in 308. This is the second time I have taken it to the range and shot it from the table on a bipod and also on sand bags. The floor plate drops open upon firing about every 3rd shot. It doesn't matter if the receiver is empty or full. I thought at first my finger was hitting the release button during recoil but that is not the case. It this a fix I can do with some tweeking or is it a job for a gunsmith?

rcmodel · Sep 23, 2012

Did you buy the rifle new?/

If used, someone may have dinked with the floor-plate latch spring to make it iopen easier.

Part #24 here:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=0/sid=125/schematicsdetail/Model-700-BDL

rc

Reloadron · Sep 23, 2012

I agree with rcmodel in that I have a Remington 700 BDL type Trigger Guard Assembly sitting here. Unless the spring is very weak or the latch itself defective or broken I can't see the floor plate snapping open. There isn't much in there. You may want to inspect the tang on the floor plate and where it engages the Floor Plate Latch closely making sure the tip of the tang isn't broken off or missing.

Ron

Elbert P . Suggins · Sep 23, 2012

"Did you buy the rifle new?/"

Yes, it was new. And the ledge on the latch seems to be sharp and unbroken. When you do a search on 700 floor plates they seem to be in question. Why do they replace the aluminum plate with a steel plate and this one is aluminum? Thanks

Fleet · Sep 24, 2012

Because people think that every single part of a "real" gun should be made of steel, machined from bar stock, forget the fact that they wouldn't want to pay for them if they were.

Reloadron · Sep 24, 2012

The floor plates on the two I have lying here are what is affectionately known as pot metal which is easily cast thus cheap to manufacture. This type was painted or dipped. The aluminum offers the ability to anodize leaving options for colors as well as the brushed aluminum look for stainless rifles.

A new rifle should not exhibit this problem you are having. I would think about giving Remington a call. If the parts look good as you describe it could just be a defective weak spring as rcmodel originally suggested.

Ron

Elbert P . Suggins · Sep 26, 2012

Thanks for all your answers. I took the VTR model 700 to my gunsmith and he added an extra spring and did some tweeking and it fixed the floor plate problem.

Remington floor plate opens

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