The best $50 I ever spent

[Heck]

I have a Remington 7400 .270 Win that I got for my 14th birthday. Over the last 18 years I have had to be content with 2.5 inch groups at best regardless of the load I shot from it. About two years ago it opened up to about 4-5 inches at 100 yards. New scope, new rings, and bases nothing. I had other rifles but this gun just feels like an old friend and hunting without it just didn't feel right.
A couple of months ago I got the gun out again and was looking it over and noticed a nick just inside the barrel in the rifling. I made a few calls and found a recommended gunsmith and took it to him. A week later I got my recrowned rifle back. In addition to the nicked rifling he advised that the factory crown was off by .0004. He also recommended I change to a one piece leupold base that I had actually already bought for $3 when the local Sprotsmans Warehouse was going out of business. He said this would stiffen the receiver and enhance accuracy.
I took it out that weekend with several different loads and with 140gr Hornady's the gun is shooting right at an inch and a quarter. It was like having a new rifle.
I hunted this weekend with my .270 and even though I didn't see anything I wanted to shoot, everything just felt right while I was in the stand.

 

[Maverick223]

Glad to see you got your old friend back and in good shape. Crown damage can cause some real problems. It is always good to check the crown, throat, and bore (for pitting, damage, fouling, and rounded rifling) before giving up on a barrel or entire rifle. Specifically the crown on an old hunting rifle (as it is unlikely to have been fired to the point of needing a re-barrel). Often times they will exhibit damage or lack of maintenance and be a simple and fairly inexpensive repair.

 

[Heck]

Honestly you will not find a gun that has been taken better care of than this one. It looks brand new inside and out, I did get a bore guide though.

 

[Maverick223]

Honestly you will not find a gun that has been taken better care of than this one.

I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise, just stating a few things that you might want to look for in the future, prior to trashing a barrel or entire rifle...especially WRT buying used.

 

[Wilson2]

You did well to hang in there and look it over. Your rifle should feel loved and cherished.

I can relate sort of. I had a Sako rifle in .270 Win for many years that I had scraped and saved up to buy when I was young (early 80s) and poor. In my case though, I was burglarized later on and lost it. It really felt like I had lost a friend.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yep - excellent news!

 

[tractorshaft]

Thats awesome! But...Having a limited machinist background, don't let him BS you about the crown being off by 4-tenths. I sincerely doubt he would make a dime if he properly setup and ACCURATELY measured all of his work to the 4th decimal place. Its simply not necessary nor relevant to work to these tolerances in everyday gunsmithing. The setup takes too long unless its a repetitive task that you have jigged up for.

The nick in the crown causing you problems? Certainly! Concentrically, parallelism off by four ten thousandth's causing accuracy problems, I very much doubt it? My somewhat educated guess is he is selling "Smoke" at this point...

 

[Maverick223]

Concentrically, parallelism off by four ten thousandth's causing accuracy problems, I very much doubt it?

It certainly can cause problems, but this is not a precision rifle...so I agree that it had little if anything to do with the problem. Whether he was BSing or not, he evidently did a good job, and did so at a fair price IMO.

 

[tractorshaft]

Hi Maverick,

Sorry if my post sounded a little "Smart A&*ed", I certainly did not mean for it to. Upon reading my own comment I would have probably thought it was a wisecrack too. Here are some photos of how I crown barrels, like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Jerry

A PVC sleeve is fitted to the barrel


Regular old bondo secures the sleeve temporarily

Turned to bearing ID size


Bearing centered in steadyrest

Side view of setup

Facing crown with freshly sharpened tool steel bit

Finished crown

The finished product


Every serious shooter needs a small metal lathe on their reloading bench with a Palmgren milling vise you can do just about anything yourself!

Sorry and glad your gun is shooting well! Like the Colonel said "Only Accurate rifles are interesting!"

Jerry

 

[Maverick223]

Hi Maverick...Sorry if my post sounded a little "Smart A&*ed", I certainly did not mean for it to. Upon reading my own comment I would have probably thought it was a wisecrack too.

No worries, I didn't think you were, and I believe you knew what you are talking about. I was just trying to clear up a couple of things for others that might be tuning in and not be quite as knowledgeable. You have a nice setup there, I would love to have something similar in my shop. I do most of my own smithing, but not having a lathe or milling machine (though I do have a drill press with a cross slide vice that allows a little flexibility) I am unable to perform the more technical and interesting work. I really need to invest in some better equipment, particularly a nice milling machine.

 

[tractorshaft]

Hi Maverick!

Thanks for the note! Check out the Craigslist in your area for old iron. I recently found two nice benchtop lathes for friends , both of them were less than $500.00! A nice 9" Logan 210 with gearbox and a 12" Atlas benchtop that I am keeping for a 2nd. With one of these little gems set in your cross slide you can do everything but heavy machining or something that really requires a heavy cut and rigidity that a real mill offers.







I often use mine just for the convenience of it. I can set it up in 2 minutes and be cutting! A nice one can be had for less than $200.00. Avoid the Mill/Drill or Lathe/Mill combos. I would rather have a decent Chinese lathe only than either of the above "Do it all" machines. Preferably some old American iron like this $450.00 Craigslist Logan 9" benchtop!



Or this 12" Atlas I found for $375.00, it has hardly been used!



Best wishes!

Have a great day!

Jerry

 

[Maverick223]

Thanks, I will have to check that out. I am willing to get a cheaper lathe (still a decent cast iron unit though), but really want a nice Bridgeport milling machine...even if I don't really need it. I don't know that I would ever leave the shop with a nice milling machine...I would find something to tear up.

I am actually getting ready to head down to the shop now and work on my newest project, a bbl shroud (a la M1919 MG) for the Saiga 12. I have a lot of holes to drill. I am also working on a cannon (to shoot golf balls), but that is on hold till I find a nice heavy barrel (smoothbore pipe).