HELP: Remington 7400 POI problems

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Double_D

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I picked up a NIB Remington 7400 30-06 at Wallyworld for $200. I thought I had stumbled across the deal of the century. I mounted a new Burris FFII 3x9 and took it to the range. I sighted in the rifle, and was quite pleased with how well it shot.

The next week at the range, I shoot it, and it is barely on the paper at 100 yds, shooting high. Humm, must have banged the scope or something. I checked the mounts, good and tight, and re-sight in the scope. Shoots more good groups.

One more time at the range, and the same thing shooting high, barely on paper at 100 yds.

I get some new mounts, and the same thing happens again.

Must be the scope, so I put a Burris FFII 4.5x14 on and resight in. Actually go hunting with the gun later that afternoon, and kill a yote with it.

Take the gun out this week, and the same problem, gun shooting high, not even on the paper this time. I had to bring the target in to 30 yds before I finally get it to hit paper.

I am at a total loss, this was to be my main deer gun this fall, and now I don't know if I could ever trust this gun in a hunting situation.

Anyone with any idea whatsoever?

The gun functions fine, and all this has been done with the same ammo (Remington core-lokt 165gr).

Sorry for the long read, and thanks in advance.
 
The first thing I would check is to see if the scope is sliding/shifting in the rings. Also, check and see if the forearm screw is tight. Forearm pressure changes can lead to POI changes, and the only way for the pressure to change is if the screw is somehow loosening or backing out.
 
J280,
Forearm screw stays tight. Scope stays tight. I am going to put the open sights back on, and see if I have the same problem.
 
It's the nature of the beast

These guns are notorious for shifting of the POI, although to not be on the paper is unusual. I would check with a local smith and see if the forearm has something adding pressure to the barrel which is a common occurance with the gun. Doing a bedding job is recommended on the rear stock as well as the forearm and I would make sure to relieve the stock so that it doesn't bear on the barrel as much. These rifles have never been the best at shooting accurately from shot to shot, but 2 1/2 MOA should be very easy to maintain. I would check to make sure the scope bases are tight and the rings are as well and then do the bedding job. If you aren't familiar with the gun, I would let someone handle the job for you.
 
Here's something to consider. In the summer heat, I can only shoot my 06 7400 about 8 times per 20 minutes, or the POI will shift dramatically. Mine tends to drift down as it heats. If I adjust my scope up, trying to play catchup, then when it cools, I am shooting high. You could be seeing the same problem.

I'd say you have a few possibilities:

Overheating causing shift (most likely in my opinion)

Bad scope/loose scope/loose mounts

loose barrel?

Maybe fore end screw adjusted wrong, but it would have to be really wrong to get off the paper
 
Randy,
how much will your POI move?
I am talking measurments in feet, not inches on mine.
I have the forearm screw as tight as I can get it.
Things that make you go HUMMM.
thanks
 
I don't know what size target you are firing on, but f you had to move back to 30 yards to get on paper, it must have been at least 5" high at 30 yards? If your scope rings are 5" apart, that's the equivalent of the scope moving more than .02" up and down; rattle looseness. If it isn't that loose, you don't have that problem.

If, as Randy suggests, it is heat related, the next time out, don't adjust the scope. Just shoot another round every 10 or 15 seconds and watch to see whether the group walks down? I suspect it will and that your original scope setting might well work if you keep firing long enough. Otherwise, at each shooting session, the gun is shooting higher by an ever increasing amount. At some point that adds up to a lot of bending somewhere.

I have been trying to imagine what might cause that big temperature shift every time out? Unfortunately I can think of a lot of possibilities from binding gas system parts to a loose barrel to an out-of-square receiver face to a loose gas system accumulating new carbon to interaction of any or all of these things with the forend stock, as Countryboy said.

I think all these possibilities add up to returning the gun to the factory for repair. They will undoubtedly have encountered the issue before and will have the parts available to correct it. If you have a bad receiver, they can destroy the original and re-issue the serial number on a good one. They can receive the gun from you and return it to you without going through an FFL holder. They will do the work free, since it came this way NIB. I think this is better than exchanging the gun, since you might get another with a problem.

My experience with returning guns to their factory with accuracy complaints has always been that an above-average gun returns. If they know you care enough to appreciate accuracy, they make sure you have one that shoots. The only downside is it can take awhile.

Nick
 
Nick,
I am using a large real estate sign to staple my targets. At the moment I have some 100 yd targets that are fairly large, probably 12"x16".
The problem with 'walking the shots down' is that they are not even on the paper to walk down. I will probably end up sending the gun back, but it still is perplexing. Thanks for the reply.
 
point of impact

Dear Sir:
When I was young, and stupid, I glass bedded a Mauser with the military bbl. full contact all the way out! Yea! it climbed! Every shot about 3"!
I think Nick has it - send it back but I'll bet it's heat/stock bearing related!
But, the other things Nick mentions are importand and may be a problem too - I'd send it back.
Harry B.
 
Gun is on it's way back to Remington Arms

The gun is on the UPS truck as I type. Hopefully they will find something, and not just send it back saying that everything is OK. On a side note, don't waste your time trying to use USPS to send a rifle. Very frustrating, and after 1 hour of my time, and a $18.80 refund, it was off to UPS. UPS only took 5 mins, and was $7 cheaper. I may never ship through the USPS again.
 
There is a bbl nut that tightens the bbl to the reciever it may be loose or if there is a high spot on the front of the reciever the bbl will rock around on the high spot and shoot all over the place :barf:
 
I'm glad you're sending the rifle back to the factory.
I'm a little late with this suggestion but if the rifle was mine, I would've loosened the forearm screw just a hair when my shots started going away just to see if they came back or got worse.
 
poi shift

Dear shooters:
A tip on scope base screw tightening.
After tightening tight properly take screw driver bit from a driver that uses bits and insert it in the slot and (not very hard) rap it with a hammer - this will seat the countersink slope of the screw to the countersink in the base perfectly and you'll be able to set the screw another 1/8th turn - don't rap too hard, you'll shear off the head!
And, I do not like the stainless steel screws!
Harry B.
 
Gun Back Home

Well the 7400 is back home. I have a repair document with trouble codes:
M124 (sights off center)
M170 (scope mount threads upset in .....)
the remarks for the M170 trouble code go off the page, and I would like to know
what the tech had continued to write.

They put a new barrel assembly, and a new receiver assembly (the new receiver has a different serial #)

Technician's comments -- fit new receiver assm send for gallery test and target to p.o.i. with slave scope and leupold one peice base

Remington received gun on 7/7 and reshipped on 7/26

I am glad that they found something wrong, and seems like the problem should be taken care of.

I will test fire this week, the only downside is that I had found a load the gun loved, will have to find a new pet load :D

Overall, I am very pleased with Remington's customer service.
 
Gun shoots fine, and the pet load is working just fine also. I will test fire several more times before I will be satisfied, but so far so good.
 
Congratulations.

I am surprised they changed serial numbers on you. The one time I had a frame replaced by the factory (Charter Bulldog) they actually destroyed the original frame and re-issued the serial number on the new frame. I thought maybe the law required them to do that, but I guess not. Also, that was back in the 80's, so the rules may have changed. From a safety standpoint it would make sense to let them change anything they felt necessary.

Nick
 
Wow. I somehow missed this thread in my searches the other day. I have the same gun in .243 and am having identical problems. I have a thread in the rifle forum concerning the same matter. I purchased mine used and was curious if the barrel may be shot out. This is exactly what mine does. My POI changed and the forearm nut was indeed loose. However, upon tightening it, I am still lucky to get 3 MOA @ 100 yards. I am going to contact Remington and see what they have to say. Thanks for the great updates and responses to his problem. It makes it nice for people experiencing similar problems.

Curt
 
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