Remington 700 reloading issues

[kyonic]

Hello I have a Remington 700 SPS Varmit .308 and I am having a bit of difficulty with doing up some new reloads. I am using both the RCBS Pre. MIC and the Stoney point OAL lenght gauge. When I use these tools the OAL is a lot on the Stoney point gauge the bullet when it meets the lands I back the gauge and the bullet is almost hanging out of the 308 case. So it seems like the gun has alot of free bore? I am wondering if anyone else has had these problems

 

[dakotasin]

it is not uncommon for any factory 30 cal chambering to have a lot of freebore. may be due to lawyers, or hornady's 220 grain offering, or whatever. at any rate, don't worry about it, seat your bullets where you want and tune around that. you are going to want to have about .3" of the bullet in the case, should you decide to start long.

 

[birdbustr]

Measure your magazine length to see what it will allow. Back it down a few hundreds of an inch and start there. Usually this max AOL will give the best accuracy of any length in my experience. If the gun likes the powder and bullet you can tweak a little bit more by seating deeper in increments of .05 or so. Don't worry about trying to get the bullet to .10 off of the lands or any of that unless you are willing to shoot single shot and forget the magazine. In most cases, at least with both of my Rem 700 rifles and the Weatherby I used to have the magazine length was the limiting factor. Remington does have more freebore than Weatherby, but both Remingtons were still more accurate.

 

[Sunray]

"...bullet is almost hanging out..." What bullet weight? Heavier bullets are longer than light bullets. Set your OAL to the length given in your manual and don't worry about the distance to the lands.

 

[USSR]

When I use these tools the OAL is a lot on the Stoney point gauge the bullet when it meets the lands I back the gauge and the bullet is almost hanging out of the 308 case. So it seems like the gun has alot of free bore? I am wondering if anyone else has had these problems

Only everybody that has a factory barreled M700.

Don

 

[mrawesome22-250]

don't worry about the distance to the lands.

Then what is the point of hand loading?

 

[K3]

Then what is the point of hand loading?

Umm, there's more to accuracy than seating a bullet just off the lands.

Unless of course you were being sarcastic.

 

[dakotasin]

Then what is the point of hand loading?

so, you're saying the only variable you ever tune is seating depth?

seat the bullet at a depth where it will feed/function/etc and then tune around it. if there is a variable that is just absolutely out of your control, why get worked up over it?

varying the powder charge is usually a pretty good start.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Use the max allowable case length.
Use longer bullets (168 - 175 grains)
Minimum freebore is important for accurate loads.
I have never mic'd a Remington chamber myself...I use the M700 actions, but have Lilja barrels. (1 Shilen)

 

[redneck2]

AR's typically have very long chambers and are quite accurate. I've got a custom 25-06 that has a super long throat. Took me a while to figure out that a manufacturer has to make a chamber for the longest (heaviest) bullet available so the throat may be long for anything else.

Now, if you want to get that last .005 like bench rest guys, get a chamber machined to a particular bullet weight range. Not worth it for the average guy.

 

[alsaqr]

One of my Remington 700s in .308 has an original Remington barrel. The other has a premium Douglas barrel. The .308 with the Remington barrel shoots better than the one with the Douglas barrel when I load specifically for that rifle.

My gun with the Remington barrel likes the bullet about .015-.020 off the lands. Yes, a lot of the bullet is outside the case, but I don't care because that gun makes 5 shot groups at 100 yards that can be covered by a penny.