Remington 700 barrel pointing left - Remington says there's nothing wrong, what to do now?

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Sounds like my episode with Kimber. "We found no problem", the gun was damaged when they looked, they looked again and still found no issue, the dealer actually took it back and eventually Kimber refunded him his money. I usually buy used guns, now.
 
dh1633pm said:
I talked to my friend.
He said to carefully check the threads for your scope mount. He strong suspects that they are out of alignment.
Click to expand...

Thank you for checking with your friend at Remington. I agree that the receiver mounting holes may be out of alignment with the bore axis, but I can't convince Remington of this. I tried with THREE different mounts, all resulted in the barrel pointing waaaay left of where the scope is looking. As far as the stock's barrel channel not being straight, that's a possibility, but the gun still would shoot where the scope is looking. The telephone rep at Remington suggested that I have them glass bed the barrel to the stock... This is a Remington - supplied "M40" stock from another 700 and I believe they're made for Remington by B&C. Of course, I have the same results in the original flimsy plastic stock that Remington used for this rifle.

Pictures in the next post.
 
Here is a picture from the rear, looking down the scope base mounting screws. The imaginary line formed by the screws and the barrel axis diverge. Screw line points to the right, barrel to the left. It could be that the receiver was drilled for the scope mount in a right-pointing line and the barrel was installed pointing to the left. I can't really tell if the rifle has both problems or just one, but the divergence is clear to me an everyone who looked at the rifle over here. But Remington repeatedly and infuriatingly repeats "we did not observe that", "we did not observe that"...

MrQN9st.jpg



Next, is a top view of one of the scopes that I test-mounted. It seems to "hang" to the right of the bore axis.

3UHiyzy.jpg



Now we see how the barrel deviates from the center line of the Remington "M40" stock barrel channel, which leads me to suspect a leftward pointing barrel.

CeXB3Lg.jpg



And finally, here we see how Remington fixed the gouged barrel end which I discovered after it's first trip to the Remington factory. This is what they consider a "refinished barrel", as marked on the work order.

4pSjFI8.jpg
 
OK, it does appear that the rear screw holes for the receiver are offset. Have the guys at the screw plug it, redrill and tap fresh.

As for the barrel, get a washer and tie it to a string. Tie it to the receiver lug screw and hold the rifle upside down. Check barrel alignment against the home made plumb bob.
 
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Gary, which one is the receiver lug screw? Also, how do I hold the rifle perfectly vertical?
 
If the screw holes do turn out to be off centerline I would go up to 8-40 screws whether the original holes get plugged or not. I do that on mine anyway just for the stronger screws.
 
When you take the stock off, there is a screw that goes into the forward portion of the receiver near the recoil lug. Put the screw back in and tie the string to that. Now, put the receiver in a padded bench vise with the barrel hanging over the side. Place a bubble level along side the receiver to ensure it is straight. Then when the receiver is straight (ignore the barrel), look at the string with the washer and compare it to the barrel.

If you confirm that the barrel is offset, then some of the threads should be removed and the receiver rethreaded. Then a new barrel with a thicker shank should be installed. The guys at CSOT should be able to do that.
 
BTW, what BBBBill suggests is exactly how I would handle all four of those screw holes. Plug all four and drill and tap afresh.

I recut the receiver threads and make a mandrel for that customized receiver first. Then using that mandrel and mounting the receiver in a mill, touch off with the edge finder to find the centerline on the receiver. I'd drill and tap it on the milling machine.

This should be an easy job for CSOT and if they can't, the guys at my school, TSJC, certainly can.
 
jmr40 said:
Return the rifle and demand a replacement. I had to make a fuss several years ago with S&W, but they did eventually send me a new pistol. It took 5 months and 4 return trips all told. But then I traded it unfired for a Glock and never looked back.
Click to expand...

Some guns are garbage. Your receiver is a mess. The fact that it shoots good groups tells me there is nothing wrong with the barrel. If remington won't replace it buy a new receiver and have your smith match it up. Sometimes those colleges are looking for donor rifles to work on. See if he wants it as a project for a class. It really isn't that big of a job.

Next time buy something made in another country, like a Tikka or a Browning or a Howa. Lots of garbage coming from Remington these days.

https://www.brownells.com/rifle-par...-stainless-steel-receiver-only-prod94651.aspx
 
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Gary, thank you for the great advice. I'll perform that test and post a photo. It is clear to the naked eye that both the barrel is pointing left and the scope holes are lining up to the right, but it will be good to confirm with the test you described.

After the test, I'll drop the rifle off with the instructor at CSOT to get another opinion from him. It is unlikely that I'll perform so many repairs on this rifle, and will most likely crush & scrap it or sell it to someone who really-really wants to fix a lemon. Re-drilling the receiver for scope mounts, re-drilling it for for the barrel mount, buying a new barrel to replace this almost-new barrel, then always having to use custom-threaded barrels is not my idea of building up a custom long distance rig one step at at time.

After this, I'll probably just go with a known high quality 700-clone manufacturer like Defiance and still be able to take advantage of the huge aftermarket of Remington compatible accessories.

The part that baffles me the most is not that Remington made a lemon - these things happen and I'm certainly not upset at them for it. What steams me is that Remington factory rep categorically denied that ANY problem exists with this rifle. They had it twice, they did not see something so obvious and they even gouged the muzzle in the process.

Remington's robotic response of "we did not observe that - we did not observe that - we did not observe that - we did not observe that" is a an obvious and effective way to simply get me to go away and never return to Remington for products or service. Well, it worked.
 
I know you're rightfully upset with Remington at the moment and good money often follows bad (especially where firearms are concerned) but a rifle shooting .4xx (I feel) is worth salvaging. If it costs no more than the price to plug and re-drill the receiver ($40 in my neck of the woods) and a few hours to sand the stock's barrel channel and skim bed it, then it might not turn out so horrifically. Spend the savings of having to start over on a Manson muzzle crown refacing kit. You'll not only rid it of that nasty ding but have a better crown than was cut by Remington.

All predicated on the rifle otherwise having a reasonably true receiver, as verified by your testing.
 
Skyler, the biggest problem is that the receiver is cut and threaded badly for the barrel. It's pointing left. It appears this hole has to be recut and rethreaded and after that, I won't be able to install standard Remington threaded barrel in the receiver.
 
ImtheNRA - that is why I suggested recutting the threads.

If the guys at COST won't fix it, maybe someone at TSJC will. You must pay for the parts though (new barrel). .
 
Is it optical illusion or verified; that's what I'm getting at. Our eyes can easily be deceived. You'd probably have to search quite a pile of 700s to find one that is truly perfect meaning yours may not be any worse off than the guy who doesn't notice a thing.

If you've checked it as 4v50 Gary mentioned and confirmed a crooked install then yes, send it back and demand a refund period.
 
IMtheNRA said:
....the biggest problem is that the receiver is cut and threaded badly for the barrel. It's pointing left. It appears this hole has to be recut and rethreaded and after that, I won't be able to install standard Remington threaded barrel in the receiver.
Click to expand...

Anyone that builds a real tack driver on a factory Remington will most likely rethread the receiver .010" oversize anyway. That is pretty much the industry standard. Many do it without even checking the existing threads for correctness. Receiver truing is an integral part of building tack drivers.
 
If it bothered me and I didn’t want to fix it myself I would find a better way of illustrating it. The barrel channel in the stock won’t cut it because the stock isn’t the precision part. Something like a straight edge up against the screws, the length of the barrel. Then get in contact with the highest rung on the ladder there (someone like the boss of the boss of the last guy that looked at it) as I could and email as many illustrations and examples as I could until we were on the same page seeing eye to eye. Then is is returned a final time with ATTN: her/his name under the address.

Either that or put a set of Leupold mount and rings, they are windage adjustable, on the rifle and zero it. Then sell as a package and look better at the next one before I trade my money for it.

4CF5CF01-0575-44AB-BC4B-9ABE36BBE59C.jpeg
 
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Hold the rifle vertically by the muzzle, or have someone else hold it. Hold a plumb line (plumb bob) against the rifle. If the center of the muzzle and the center of the rear of the receiver aren't in alignment then the barrel is canted.

This isn't rocket science folks.
 
BBBBill said:
Anyone that builds a real tack driver on a factory Remington will most likely rethread the receiver .010" oversize anyway. That is pretty much the industry standard. Many do it without even checking the existing threads for correctness. Receiver truing is an integral part of building tack drivers.
Click to expand...

This is what we were taught in blueprinting. We faced the receiver on a lathe and then surface ground the lug.

J. Morris gave me another idea about the holes for the scope base. Leupold use to sell custom gunmaker scope base. If they are undrilled and so long as the base conforms or is close proxmity to the contour of the receiver, in which case it can be fitted by smoking and filing, the holes can be drilled to mate with those in the receiver.
 
IMtheNRA, could you give us a bit of info on the rifle (specific model) and what the short and long-term plan was? I'm not arguing that the most accurate rifles will be a product of refining a basic action, but when someone buys a complete rifle I tend to think the plan was to shoot the barrel smooth while saving for upgrades as seems evident by the hesitancy to machine the receiver for non-factory barrel fitment.

Obviously the cheapest escape is to insist on a refund and return to the drawing board. Second would be to align the optic with the barrel and continue to shoot sub-MOA. Third would be a full rebuild now on an action that will still need re-tapped. Fourth of course is the crush it and start over. Somewhere in there is buying a new action, but I don't know if you've got $650 or $2650 invested at present.

It would seem you have a great resource locally willing to provide guidance, any chance he might take some measurements to verify all of the speculation and whether your expectations, long and short term, can be met with this rifle?
 
"I would take a large hammer and wack it until its straight." ... "Sarcastic"

Why sarcastic? That is a perfectly good answer to the problem, except use a soft lead mallet rather than a big hammer or better a barrel straightening machine which will apply gradual pressure rather than a blow. How do you think barrel straightening was done for years before barrel making improved to the point that few barrels need to be straightened any more.

Jim
 
Without input from the OP all we have are assumptions. I'm still assuming that because I have read multiple threads in the past about scope mounting holes being drilled off-center and never one about a bent barrel that did not involve a cow or tree, that the barrel is still within the same factory tolerances (loose as they may be compared to a semi-custom) as my own 700.

Now we have: scope mount mis-drilled, receiver mis-cut, and barrel physically bent.
 
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