Rem 700 Firing Pin Assembly

H

hammie

New member
I have two short action rem 700's with the ISS (integrated security system: the J-lock thing). I hate how the bulbous ISS system spoils the classic lines of the original remington bolt shroud and cringe every time I look at it. Plus the firing pin spring is so kinked that it rubs against the inside of the bolt cylinder, and bolt dis-assembly is a virtual tug-of-war.

I've been considering replacing it with either a factory, remington non-ISS firing pin assembly or with a non-remington, aftermarket version (Tubb or PTG). Some of the aftermarket ones, also offer an optional lighter composite firing pin with heavier spring for a supposedly faster lock time. Is that worth it?

The after market ones also have an aluminum bolt shroud, instead of the remington steel shroud. Would that be better or worse? Any and all thoughts and comments will be appreciated.
 
I prefer all bolt parts to be steel with one exception. A speedlock firing pin will shorten lock time. That helps most when shooting from least stable positions; standing up on your hind legs without any artificial support. But only the top ranked competitive shooters really benefit from it. Buy a 10% stronger firing pin spring from Wolf for ten bucks and that's almost as good.

A rough surface inside the bolt where the firing pin rubs can often be smoothed up with fine abrasive paper on something that can be pushed in and out smoothing it up. Be sure to clean out the bolt then lightly oil it. Polishing the firing pin helps too.
 
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@BartB: I think the problem is not the internal roughness, but instead, it's a smaller diameter ISS firing pin, which allows the spring to really kink out. I may be wrong, though.

@mr rope: Thanks for the heads up about gre-tan. I keep an excel spread sheet with web addresses for shooting sources with their specialty, and I have added gre-tan to my list. The only reservation I have is that they have an aluminum bolt shroud. I'm like BartB, in that I prefer steel on a bolt body, but maybe I'm over thinking things and aluminum is not an issue. I assume the aluminum shroud works and looks fine on your remingtons?

Right now I'm leaning towards just replacing the firing pin assembly with a non-ISS remington one, and increasing the factory 24 pound spring to a wolff 28 pound spring. Though, I'll give it some more thought.
 
Gentry Custom out in Montana, makes a shroud that utilizes the model 70 style 3 position safety. It takes some minor machine work o install it though. Looks very nice
 
@oldrope: You're absolutely right. However, I think I can get the remington firing pin and shroud as a complete assembly. Then just swap out the spring. The midway catalog number is #744448.

I see by your tagline that you're a marine. My brother was a marine and served in korea at the chosin reservoir. He made it back and is still with us and doing fine. So semper fidelis to you.
 
The after market ones also have an aluminum bolt shroud, instead of the remington steel shroud. Would that be better or worse?
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I've never heard anyone complaining about their use of aluminum shrouds.
As far as being better or worse than OEM. You would think the manufacturing tolerances for the aftermarket shroud would be identical to the OEM's. Frankly. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a replacement aluminum shroud for a bolt rifle today.

FYI: I had a ISS firing pin assembly on my 25-06 MTN rifle. I hated its appearance. Like you. I too I was a little apprehensive at the time about buying a aluminum shroud. {but times change and so has my opinion of them} So instead. I bought a lightly used OEM blued non-J-lock shroud off Ebay for it's replacement part. After installing the shroud. My rifles appearance sure looked better. {No doubt about it!!} Recently I installed a Timney trigger set to 3-1/2 lb so its perfect now. Just the way I want it and it looks even better now in form & function.
 
@SSMcGee: Thanks for the data point and for sharing your experience. Replacing the remington 700 trigger with a timney is also on my priority list. The problem is that every time I check midway or brownell's the timney's seem to be out of stock. Probably just need to back order a trigger and wait.
 
Consider ordering right from Timney itself. I have never encountered a back-order from Timney. And they have supplied my needs more than just once. What little difference in selling price between Timney and their store front dealers is offset by (you) not having to purchase a trigger pull gauge. Timney will ship your trigger preset to the poundage you request at the time of purchase. Brownell's nor anyone else that I know of will do a free pre-set on a Timney for their customers benefit. Just a nice perk to remember.
 
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