Operation: Rifle Accuracy

[cohunter14]

My father has a Remington 700 in 7mm Ultra Mag that has been driving him nuts. It has lacked consistency and has been terribly inaccurate. He had me do some shooting with it back in November to see if it was the \'indian or the arrow\'. I did tests on the scope as well as the gun and everything checked out fine, but I could not for the life of me get this gun to group better than 2-2.5 inches. The trigger pull on the gun was beyond horrible and it still had a plastic factory stock on it.

He started heavily considering just selling the gun and starting over, but I bought him a Timney trigger for Christmas and convinced him to give this gun a shot. I figured if he installed the trigger and got a good stock for it, the worst thing that could happen was that the gun still didn\'t shoot which would prove the barrel was shot out. If that was the case, he would be a new barrel and an action true-up away from a custom rifle guaranteed of shooting.

So, along with the trigger, a couple other parts were ordered. Here\'s the parts list:
Timney 510 trigger for a Remington 700 ($110 eBay)
Bell & Carlson Alaskan II stock ($270 Red Hawk Rifles)
Score-High Pro-Bed 2000 Bedding Kit, 4oz ($24 Midway USA)

 

[cohunter14]

Once everything was received, step one was sanding down the knob on the front of the stock. For some reason, Bell and Carlson puts that knob in there to match what Remington does from the factory, but to have a barrel that is free floated, that knob would have to come out. We also had to sand down the sling screw a little bit as that stuck out just a touch. A cheap sanding drill bit made this job go a lot quicker than doing it by hand.

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Once the knob and screw were sanded down, we installed the action again and slid a folded up piece of paper between the barrel and the stock to confirm that the barrel was free floated all the way down to the action.

 

[cohunter14]

Before I go any farther, one thing that might come up is \"why change stocks and what\'s the difference?\" Well, here are some pictures of the factory stock:

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You can see how it is hollowed out in the fore end which doesn\'t give the stock much stability at all. It\'s also all plastic where the action bolts to the gun compared to the Bell & Carlson, which comes with an aluminum bedding block. Some of the other pictures I will post will show you the full length of the Bell & Carlson to compare.

 

[cohunter14]

Next up was trigger replacement. This is very simple to do and there are videos all over youtube that can show you how. Basically all you have to do is place the trigger on safe and pop out the two pins that hold the current trigger in place. One of the pins holds the bolt extractor spring in place as well, so you don\'t want to pop the pin completely out but it\'s not the end of the world if you do, you just then have to put the spring back in. If your like me, you will still pop the spring out even though you know you aren\'t supposed to :lol:

Slide the Timney trigger into place, pop the pins back in, and voila the trigger is installed. The Timney has a screw on the back of it which allows for trigger pull adjustment. After adjusting this one down to a crisp 2.5lbs, we again bolted the gun back up to test the trigger and make sure it was safe. To do so, we tried pulling the trigger while the gun was in the safety position and we also slammed the butt end of the gun on the ground pretty hard just to make sure the firing pin wouldn\'t ever accidentally go off. After a few different checks, we knew the trigger was good to go.

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[cohunter14]

The final step was bedding the rifle. To any of you out there who have never done this or any of the other steps above, I used to be just like you. My first time trying any of this was to do all of these exact same steps on my rifle. If you take your time and watch a few videos, you will learn that it really is not too difficult to do.

When it comes to bedding the rifle, the biggest thing is the prep. As I mentioned, this rifle already came with an aluminum bedding block, so all we were going to be bedding was the recoil lug. I started by placing a piece of masking tape on the bottom and sides of the recoil lug. I also added masking tape forward of the recoil lug because from that point forward, we want the barrel free floated, not sitting in bedding compound. In addition to those areas, I taped the outsides of the stock (where you would actually grab the gun with your hand) around the recoil lug area in case the compound spilled over. I had that happen on my gun and cleaning it off the stock was no fun, so a little tape there guaranteed I wouldn\'t need to do that again!

After that, you simply apply the release agent onto the rest of the recoil lug, the bottom of the action and barrel, and on the aluminum block as well. I also put some on the front action screw as well to make sure that it didn\'t get stuck in there. Once you have this on any portion that could get the bedding compound on it, it\'s time to mix the bedding compound.

This kit is very easy to use. There are two parts that you simply mix together in equal amounts with the provided popsicle sticks. Once the compound is mixed, we used the sticks to fill up the hole in the stock where the recoil lug sits. Once that is done, you place the barreled action back into the stock and bolt the gun back together. If you have a torque wrench, it\'s helpful to torque the gun down to the desired specs. I torqued this one down to 50 inch pounds. Mop up any of the compound that oozed up out of the stock and then let it sit for 16+ hours.

After letting this one sit for over 24 hours, we removed the action screws and pulled the barreled action out of the stock. Beware that this is a heck of a lot tougher to do now as that action is in there tight! Remove the tape, wipe off the release agent, and clean up any additional compound.

Here is the final result of the bedding job. This also shows how solid the stock is compared to the factory one.

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[cohunter14]

Bolt the gun back together and it\'s time to take it shooting and see if we got any results! Here is a picture of the finished product:

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[cohunter14]

So, out to do some shooting with it today. My goal was to simply re-sight it in for my dad and see if it was any more accurate. Shot one was a little high and right. A few clicks down and left and shot 2 was sent down range. Again, just a little high (I like to sight in 2\" high at 100 yards), and still a little right. A couple more clicks and shot 3 was right on the money. Time to send two more and see how it shoots! Meanwhile, I couldn\'t believe how much better the trigger was. This thing felt great to shoot! Maybe because it\'s a clone of my rifle now, just a different caliber, stock color, and action finish

Shot 4 was sent and all I could do is grin. Same hole!

Alright, moment of truth...is this gun really THAT much more accurate? I squeezed off shot 5 and couldn\'t believe it...it was touching the first two!

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The group measured just over 1/4 inch.

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[cohunter14]

This is with no load development at all, so to say I am pleased would be an understatement. I was truthfully hoping to get a 1\" group so we would have something that showed a little promise. But to have this thing go from shooting 2\"+ groups to shooting a 1/4\" group is awesome! It just shows you what a simple trigger swap and a new, bedded stock can do for a rifle.

Hope this was helpful and informational to anyone who has ever considered doing this. I wish I would have taken more pics, but I kind of got caught up in doing everything and forgot.

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[cohunter14]

Here is a great video that I found very helpful when I first went to do this:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBhnRms3PM[/youtube]

 

[WW]

Excellent post. I\'m a Ruger man and every Ruger I have owned had the forearm knob that had to be sanded out in order to float the barrel. Also, I had one heck of a time inletting the factory stock to accept the Timney trigger.

 

[bowhunter]

Wow! Big difference. I am glad you made this post Derek. I am looking at playing with some long range shooting this summer. I will have to start with the stock and maybe the trigger. The gun will be a Browning A Bolt in a 300 Win Mag.

The trigger is smooth feeling to me but a bit long. I will try to explain. I can squeeze it and feel it slide back. Stop. Breath. Squeeze some more and feel it slide back. Stop. Breath. Squeeze some more and BOOM. I have no idea when it goes off. I might not be moving it even less than 1/4 inch but the slide of the trigger holding the hammer is smooth not scratchy. I like the feel but would like it a bit shorter. I have not torn into the gun yet but I could probably shorten that with some machining. Or get a new target trigger.

 

[cnelk]

Great post Derek

When you had the rifle apart, did you copper clean the barrel too?

 

[cohunter14]

Great post Derek

When you had the rifle apart, did you copper clean the barrel too?

I did not. Everything that was done to the barrel was written about above. In the past I have scrubbed it up pretty good when tinkering with it, but that didn\'t accomplish any better accuracy at the time.

 

[cohunter14]

Wow! Big difference. I am glad you made this post Derek. I am looking at playing with some long range shooting this summer. I will have to start with the stock and maybe the trigger. The gun will be a Browning A Bolt in a 300 Win Mag.

The trigger is smooth feeling to me but a bit long. I will try to explain. I can squeeze it and feel it slide back. Stop. Breath. Squeeze some more and feel it slide back. Stop. Breath. Squeeze some more and BOOM. I have no idea when it goes off. I might not be moving it even less than 1/4 inch but the slide of the trigger holding the hammer is smooth not scratchy. I like the feel but would like it a bit shorter. I have not torn into the gun yet but I could probably shorten that with some machining. Or get a new target trigger.

Terry, that is exactly how this one was. I felt like I would squeeze forever and finally it would shoot. After shooting a lightweight trigger in my gun, it was an awful feeling. My dad didn\'t know any better since he was used to it, but it made a huge difference in the accuracy in my opinion.

If you are going to tinker, I would highly recommend getting a trigger pull gauge. You can find them for under $20 and they are very simple to use. I have an RCBS one similar to this:

https://www.coleparmer.com/i/ohaus-...JP1T9gQOfIY335HC6J2myMH7KdrfGVy8KkRoCv6zw_wcB

The only warning I have is that once you get a good trigger in your rifle, you will want them in all of your guns :lol: That $110 Timney has cost me a lot more over the years as I cannot stand a bad trigger anymore after shooting something that crisp.

 

[bowhunter]

The only warning I have is that once you get a good trigger in your rifle, you will want them in all of your guns :lol: That $110 Timney has cost me a lot more over the years as I cannot stand a bad trigger anymore after shooting something that crisp.

I know! I took a Rugger 10/22 apart many years ago and used a fine hone on the trigger and hammer where they match. I changed the angle a little and smoothed it up. WOW! I liked that. I have picked up my other guns and squeezed then stop to check if the safety is on. :lol: I have looked and Timney makes different trigger springs for an A Bolt in different weights. :idea:

 

[elky McElkerson]

that is a giant improvement!! wow.

 

[elky McElkerson]

The only warning I have is that once you get a good trigger in your rifle, you will want them in all of your guns :lol: That $110 Timney has cost me a lot more over the years as I cannot stand a bad trigger anymore after shooting something that crisp.

I know! I took a Rugger 10/22 apart many years ago and used a fine hone on the trigger and hammer where they match. I changed the angle a little and smoothed it up. WOW! I liked that. I have picked up my other guns and squeezed then stop to check if the safety is on. :lol: I have looked and Timney makes different trigger springs for an A Bolt in different weights. :idea:

my good friend took a 10/22 apart and worked on the trigger. i kid you not. the thing goes full auto now. super unsafe. he just bought new parts and is taking another swing at it. he has something like 10 of those rifles. he has issues.

 

[Zpd307]

you got me thinking........
so I checked, and $240 for a timney trigger for my browning a bolt :shock:
they do make a spring kit for the stock trigger, which is $28......
I also watched a couple of vids on bedding, which seems simple enough

dang, I didn\'t read terrys post well enough

 

[bnsafe]

i read all of that makes a huge diff, but never knew anyone who actually did it. very cool.

 

[elky McElkerson]

my 257 wtby mag is bone stock. i should do it to it..new trigger and bedding, but the barrel is floating now.

my 30-06, i sent out and had accurized. been years since i did it. they reworked the existing trigger on that M70 and it is crispy and light. i cant even remember how much i paid for the work. couldnt be much, since i was a broke college student.