Old custom Remington 700 - accuracy improvement

[CLT65]

I have this old rifle that surprised me last weekend. It's a special rifle that I put together a couple decades ago, but it was never exceptionally accurate, which was always a bit of a disappointment.

It's an older Model 700 ADL. I bought it really cheap at a pawn shop in my wife's hometown on the weekend I proposed over 20 years ago. The bore was rusted badly, and the wood stock was ugly, painted over with a cheap pad poorly installed. I bought it for the action.

I had a barrel that came from a gunsmith I knew, a take-off Sendero in .308 Win, stainless, fluted, bull barrel. I also had a roughly inletted, unfinished stock (barely more than a blank) that I had bought years earlier from an old amateur gunsmith in my hometown. It's a beautiful piece of myrtle from the valley where I grew up. It was a project that took a couple years, but I had the barrel installed by a good gunsmith, and spent many, many hours on the stock. We hogged a channel on the inside of the forend and filled it with epoxy to prevent warping, then pillar bedded the action. I spent a lot of time really trying to do it right. I put a nice Burris scope on it that cost me almost nothing.

It turned out really nice, great looking rifle. I tried several loads in it, and the best it would shoot was around 1moa. That's not bad all in all, and I know a factory Sendero barrel isn't anything special, but I was hoping for better. I'm not a serious bench-rest shooter; I'm good for maybe .5moa on a good day. I've shot it occasionally over the years, but not a lot. A few months ago I decided to refinish the stock, took it apart and put it back together a couple times, careful to torque the screws as I had in the past.

Funny thing, I shot ten rounds through it the other day, to re-zero it after all the work. The first shot was high, getting settled in the sandbags. The next five went into a .44" group. I adjusted the scope, and shot the next four into .35". It was late so we packed up and headed home. I'm almost afraid to take it out again, in case it was just the luckiest string of shots I've ever fired.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share the story, in case anyone was interested.

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[po18guy]

Nice work. A 700 is a 700, so tons of potential. The torque wrench is a great idea.
Pics!!! Gun and targets, if available.

 

[CLT65]

My mistake, the second group measured .31" or close to it if I'm measuring correctly; I'm not a bench-rest shooter. Please excuse the airgun targets; someone gave me a pile of them so I use them.

I haven't decided if I'm done with the stock or not. I had originally used Tru-Oil 20 years ago, but it had yellowed with age and I didn't care for it. I used Tung oil this time for a bit of a minimalist look, but I'm not convinced that I really like that either.

I have a lot of guns, but only a very few that are special. This is one that I hope one of my kids will want to give to their kids someday.

 

[Koda]

Thats a beautiful rifle to be proud of. Nearly identical to one Im having a gunsmith build. Ive used tung oil on my stock and liked the results especially after rubbing it down with 0000 wool after it dried for a matt finish look. I like the look of your stock better though, beautiful wood.
Enjoy.

 

[DirectDrive]

Very nice rifle and great shooting !
I'm a yuge fan of the M700.
I just picked up a Defiance action (700 clone) and am waiting for my barrel to come in.

I recommend putting together at least one custom or semi-custom bolt gun before they pull the sheets up over your head.

 

[Alpine]

Love the stock on this! Great work and thanks for sharing!!

 

[po18guy]

Good eye on the buy-in, excellent work on the stock and enviable shooting. WHAT is not to love?

 

[drstrangelove]

Great wood figure. Nice rifle.

 

[monkeybutler]

I would love that rifle long time. Super classy and super functional too.

 

[rcnpthfndr]

That's a beautiful stock. Love my composite stocks, but figured wood stocks are in a class all their own.

 

[Bobbygun]

I can't decide whether it looks better than it shoots, or shoots better than it looks. Either way, it's a keeper.

 

[CLT65]

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. I liked this piece of wood the first time I saw it. The old guy had a gift shop with a tiny gun shop in the back room. I used to go in there as a teenager. His family had been in the Myrtle wood business for generations, sold clocks, gifts and such.

He eventually closed down the gun shop and moved a lot of his gun stuff to a little attic room. I got to know him and he seemed to like me, so I'd stop by and buy stuff from him every once in a while. I must have looked at that big Myrtle rough-cut stock hanging on the wall for a couple years before I bought it. Who knows how long he'd had it but I would guess it was from the 1980's or before. He sold it to me pretty cheap. It sat around a few more years before I finally found a use for it. Inletting, bedding, and finishing took many, many hours, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

[orygun]

I'd say the only problem with that rifle is that it's too pretty to use!
That is one of the most attractive stocks I've ever seen.