Long freebore on new Remington centerfires?

[Paul Donahue]

I heard somewhere on the web, can't remember where, that current production Remington centerfires have so much freebore in the barrels that you can't seat the bullets out near the rifling to improve accuracy.The suspected reseason was protection from lawsuits.Anybody else heard about this? I'm thinking about buying a Rem SPS varmint.223 from Dicks. It comes with a 4-12 scope mounted, and is$539 out the door.Anybody know anything about this gun/scope combo? Thanks for any help. Paul

 

[Brimic]

I don't know anything about the new ones, but I have a REM 700 in .308 made in the 1970s that has a very long leade.

 

[Horsemany]

I haven't bought one in about 14 months but all of mine have been OK. No longer leade than most other mfgs. Weatherby has always been famous for long leades with the Weatherby magnum pressures.

 

[USSR]

I heard somewhere on the web, can't remember where, that current production Remington centerfires have so much freebore in the barrels that you can't seat the bullets out near the rifling to improve accuracy.The suspected reseason was protection from lawsuits.Anybody else heard about this?

Been that way for a long time with Remington. The net effect of having a lot of freebore, is it lowers the pressure. Every large gun manufacturer has a team of lawyers, and I'm sure this is the advice they give.

Don

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Yep...Remington has always been that way, Weatherby too.

 

[JDGray]

My Rem 700 SPS Varmint .223, has a short leade. Well....loading 50gr VMax bullets, they touch the lands at 2.285", which is only a .025 jump loaded at max cartridge OAL of 2.260" I'm still develoving loads for it, and .5 moa 5 shots groups are pretty easy. My stock has been replaced with a B&C Medalist, with the V-Block bedding, the factory stocks are pretty flimsy

 

[Horsemany]

Yep...Remington has always been that way, Weatherby too.

There's a difference between the two IME. Remington's freebore seems to be the same as Ruger, Winchester, Sako, Kimber, etc. Weatherby is in a class all it's own. You practically have to duck tape the bullets to get .020" off the lands.

All of my 700's I can get a full bullet diameter inside the case and still be snuggled up to the lands. Yes they are longer than my custom PPC comp. gun but everything is. This is not anything unique among Remingtons.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

I have 18 Remington 700's...bought over the last 20 years or so (some old, some not so old...calibers from 17 Rem on up through 300 Win mag)

And at mag length...not a dog gone one of them will be within .125" (1/8th of an inch) of the lands.

 

[JDGray]

And at mag length...not a dog gone one of them will be within .125" (1/8th of an inch) of the lands.

Man....That sucks I must of got lucky

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Naaa...they all shoot like Remingtons should shoot. All are at least 1.5 MOA shooters (most are 1 MOA)

 

[gearheadpyro]

I know my Remmy 700 (.308) does. Mag length with Hornady SST 165 grains put me a full 0.18" off of the lands. Loading a 175 gr Matchking to touch the lands leaves about 0.100" inside the case. So little it doesn't really hold.

I load my SST's to mag length and still manage to get a .6" average 5 shot group. The Matchkings I load longer and it does shoot a tighter group, but I think that is a host of other things as well as the less jump.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

/\/\/\...sounds about right.

 

[Horsemany]

I have 18 Remington 700's...bought over the last 20 years or so (some old, some not so old...calibers from 17 Rem on up through 300 Win mag)

And at mag length...not a dog gone one of them will be within .125" (1/8th of an inch) of the lands.

I have one 700 in 7mmRM like that. I also have a Ruger like that. I can't speak for all of my 700's cause half of them are heavy barrel bench guns that always get single fed. I know for a fact 2 of mine will seat out to the lands and still fit the magazine.

 

[Airgunner7]

I know this is old but, my Sendero 7 Rum is .250 from the lands on three very long bullets. Very dissapointing. The Rem Ultra Mag need this much freebore?

COAL is 3.6, case 2.85

My lands 3.531, 3.433, 3.422
160 Accubond
150 Scirrocco
180 Berger VDL

 

[Airgunner7]

At 3.20, the 180 Bergers they were so far out it was blowing soot back at me.
I set em back to 3.165 and that works ok but, doing the math it's .257 off the lands

 

[Welding Rod]

What is condsidered an OK range for bullet jump, and at what point does it turn to unacceptable, and then to dangerous (if there is such a point) ???

I was loading some 150 grain bullets for my M1A the other day and in order to get to the crimp groove I was looking at .126" jump. I was wondering if that may create problems or prematurely wear out the leade over time?

 

[chrome_austex]

well, I have a .308 sps varmint with (what seems to me) to be a tad bit excessive freebore. I can seat the bullets out there (barely), but frankly, it doesn't seem to help accuracy any over seating them mag-length anyway.

That said, it may be apples to oranges cause mine's a 308.

 

[TonyAngel]

I wouldn't worry so much about it. I'm shooting a .308 barrel that was chambered specifically for 168gr Federal Gold Medal Match. I did a bit of measuring a few days ago and when seated to 2.8" the 168 SMK is .010 off the lands. With 155gr SMK Palmas (2156s) I have to seat to 2.97" to get to the lands, but have to seat around .065 off the lands to get to mag length. All of the loads with the above loads shot sub 1/2 MOA. I wouldn't worry about it.

Really, the only bullets I've seen that liked being on the lands or in them are the Bergers and a couple of other boutique brands. Sierra's and Hornadys not only don't mind a bit of jump, but often prefer it.

 

[joed]

I noticed this after having my 700 rebarreled. The old reloads won't chamber and I need to run them into the seating die to correct this.

I've always figured the .223 has a leade 1/2 way up the barrel to fire some of the heavy bullets they keep coming out with.