Rem 700 PSS question...

M

MOLEXEY

New member
I just bought a used 700 PSS. It's in great condition but I have a few questions. The guy was in the process of tuning the rifle and has marked an area that needs to be bedded by shimming it with a business card. He said that this alone tightened up the groups to sub MOA. I have read on these forums that there are certain specs that the stock bolts should be torqued to. I asked the guy about it and he wasn't familiar with it. Is there a chance that this rifle doesn't need to be bedded just torqued. If it needs bedding will it be just the area where the cards are shimmed under the barrel. I'd also be interested in any recomendations on outfitting this rifle( scope, bipod etc...). It already has the 40X trigger and the pull is real clean. Any help will be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Martin
 
The barrel is free-floated. Shouldn't be shimmed anywhere. Shouldn't even be touched while firing.

The action screws should be torqued to 65 in./lbs.
 
WalterGAII: Do you have any idea if the 65 in-lb is a generalized torque-spec, or is it specific to the Remington? The original manuals with various guns I've owned never gave a spec.

MOLEXEY: The forearm of the riflestock is mostly just a place to mount a sling swivel, and hang onto while shooting off-hand. It also keeps the barrel from touching any rest when shooting in that manner.

Free-floating the barrel keeps the wood from pressing on the barrel if it warps slightly from a change in mosture content.

Last, it has been found that a free-floated barrel is generally more uniform in its vibrations, from shot to shot--thus giving tighter groups.

I have invariably found that a small shim up at the forearm tip seems to act as does the shock absorber on a car, damping the vibrations somewhat and giving me better groups. I use regular old kitchen wax paper, cutting a 1/2" or 3/4" strip and folding it back and forth until it is the "right" thickness. This "right" thickness requires about a five-pound pull of separation of barrel and forearm to insert it. Trim with razor blade and you're in business. A half-dozen quick shots melts the wax so it sticks. I would not use any material which could absorb moisture.

It has worked for me on maybe 20 rifles over the last 50 years...

FWIW, Art
 
Would be unusual that you would have to do anything to this stock to obtain very good accuracy. The Rem. 700PSS rifle has normally turned in .5MOA accuracy on average and up to no more than .75MOA which is very good for a factory rifle. Biggest problem I have had with them is that the barrel really coppers up for the first few hundred rounds and you have to keep after it, but sooner or later, it will start to "polish out" for you.
The stock has a full alloy/alum.bedding block from end of forearm down through the pistol grip area and is indeed rigid. Presume the twist is 1/12 and barrel length is 26". I as well as others have shot in the mid 190's at 1000yds using reloads with the Sierra 175 MK bullet. I have built long range match guns that will not shoot much better, but cost a great deal more. Good rifle for the investment.
 
So do you think I should remove the cards and check the tourque? Would too much or too little torque affect accuracy?

[This message has been edited by MOLEXEY (edited January 11, 2000).]
 
I coated the bottom of the receiver of my PSS with prussian blue and torqued it into the stock. I didn't like the looks of the contact areas so I ground out some of the aluminum block and rebedded with Marinetex. I also thought the forend was a little flimsey so I bedded an Anschutz style rail to the bottom of the fore end. The rifle consistently shot 5/8" at 100 for about 700 rounds. Then the extractor started acting up as usual. So I installed a Sako style extractor, set the barrel back, cut a match chamber, lapped the lugs and squared the receiver. The gun now shoots 3/8" groups. Not bad for a factory barrel with now at least 1500 round through it.
 
What's involved in installing a Sako style extractor? Does it require gunsmithing or is it a drop in part? I hope all these questions aren't to annoying. I been shooting, collecting guns of all kinds for years. Up 'till now I've been mostly into handguns & semi-auto rifles. This is my first time to get into tuning a precision rifle.

Thanks for all the response so far,

Martin
 
I've been considering this rifle (PS) and the Remington 700 varmint sythetic (VS).
I've noticed that the two have different stocks. Is one superior? Are there any other differences that would have an affect on accuracy or durability?
Thanks!
 
The Sendaro, PSS, and VS family of rifles all use HS Precision stocks with aluminum bedding blocks. The 65 inch/lbs. of torque is common to all those stocks, as specified by HS Precision.

The difference in the VS stock and the PSS stock is the width of the forend and the size of the palm swells.

[This message has been edited by WalterGAII (edited January 12, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by WalterGAII (edited January 13, 2000).]
 
You inquired about the Sako style extractor and no it is not a drop in proposition. Bolt face required machining and fitting of extractor. Cost will vary, but believe you will have over 100.00 w/ such an installation. I have yet to have a problem w/ the Remington exractor, but do know some who have. Your rifle has the snap in type instead of the older rivet type which makes it a great deal easier to change out if needed. Those extractors will cost you about 3.00 per and I do have a couple in my range kit just in case, but guess I have been lucky so far. Interesting to note the earlier post that some work was performed to produce better results from his 700. There is no question that these 700PSS rifles do not even approach the level of sophistication of some of the long range match rifles you will see, but I say again, for the money they are indeed accurate, dependable weapons when you compare the cost versus a truly "built" match rifle. As in most factory rifles, the Rem 700PSS will have a fairly long throat which is the factory method of possible legal "boiler plate" or in short, provides an "escape valve" for any excessive pressures. Problem with the long throat will jump up when you attempt to seat the bullet close the rifling as is common with match shooters. As the number of rounds increase and throat erosion occurs(and it will) you run out of case neck to seat the bullet and you either go to a longer bullet-190's- or as mentioned earlier, set the barrel back. Would not worry about all of that now, just shoot the thing until it quits holding any accuracy and then have it built to whatever you want.
 
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