remington 700 accuracy issues, help please!!!

As others have already stated, my first thought is to really clean the bore with JB's. After that deep a cleaning, you'll have to re-foul the bore again before really appraising the accuracy.

Next, reduce your load some & seat the bullet to touch or slightly enter the rifling. If the accuracy stabilizes, then work on your OAL .

If that doesn't work, concentrate on the scope. It's a bit drastic, but change the scope out, even if just temporarily. Someone you know may lend you his spare, preferably high-power scope. Luckily, I usually have a spare scope handy. You may even take the scope/mounts completely off & re-mount everything being careful in detail.

FWIW...

...bug
 
Another vote for the scope.
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I still fail to see how it is the scope. The groups went DOWN after cleaning then back up again. If it were the scope, the cleaning wouldn't have affected the groups.
 
According to what he said, the cleaning only effected the accuracy for five shots, then it fell back off again. On what he says is a well seasoned barrel, it doesn't seem likely that five shots would foul the barrel sufficiently enough to cause the accuracy to be effected that drastically.

If the mechanism in the scope is bad, I could see it staying in the same place for five shots. I have in fact had the very same thing happen. He has a quality rifle and mounts, a good stock which he has changed, and an economy scope.

Based on what he says he has, and has done, I would first check the scope, then the receiver screws since he has changed the stock, and it is possible that they have shot loose.

Since it has, and can still shoot less than an inch, the rifle would be the last thing I would suspect.

It sounds like he has cleaned it properly using a coated rod and a bore guide, so I doubt he has hurt it by cleaning it, other than cleaning too often. Thirty to fifty rounds in my experience is too often.

Others may disagree, and that's fine, each to his own.

I clean my 308 about every 200-300 rounds, which is when accuracy begins to fall off. If it is shooting good, I leave it alone. It is a Savage, which are often foul-o-matics due to the machine marks left in the bore.

After several thousand rounds, it is just getting shot in. It is very rough.

Again, based upon what he says he has, and what he has done, I would start with the scope. Easy enough to switch it out and eliminate that possibility. I wouldn't even consider a trip to the shop before I did that.
 
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Any number of things may have changed. Sometimes it takes another person checking out everything to uncover the culprit. Then most anyone could fix it.
 
Didn't actually get much green on my patches... went out back for a little range time, first five fouling shots grouped about 1 moa great!! Next group 1.5 moa, next 2 moa, next 4 moa!!!
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This isn't the scope---IMO. Why would the scope continue to make the groups get bigger? I still believe it is the bore. Trying to simplify this down to the scope or the load is ignoring the fact that this accuracy deterioration is typical of bore erosion. The OP said that groups started to open up a while back, and the situation has become worse over time.

For sure, it is worth trying a different scope, but the load? Eh---not very likely that the gun would suddenly decide to develop a dislike for the load that it liked earlier, to the extent that it would shoot 5 rounds into MOA, then over the next 20 rounds it deteriorates to 4 MOA.
 
He says he has 500-800 rounds down the pipe. It's a 308, I wouldn't think a 308 would get shot out that quick, especially if he has cleaned it as often as he said which was every 30-50 rounds with nothing more than Hoppes #9.

Hopefully he will let us know when he has corrected the issue.
 
I've seen scopes do some really funny things suddenly, especially the old Weavers. When we suspect the scope we also suspect the mount. A scope under stress, caused by the mount, can act up as the temperature changes.

FWIW...

...bug
 
Dealing with issues like this daily for customers on a day to day basis, for the past 5ish years, I can say that a good 90% of the time... it is not so much the gun, its generally scopes, scope mounts / rings, or action screws and stocks.

Most of the time.. people buy bases, rings, and a scope, and slap them on a gun, torque em down with a craftsman screw driver, and go shooting. Which CAN work... until it doesn't.

Things walk out.. things are under stress even if they don't seem it. Most guys these days don't hand lap rings, or even make sure they are properly alligned at all, which can stress a scope. Scope turrets sometimes wear and break ect.

I hope it is one of these mostly cheaply and easily fixed problems... vs something wrong with your barrel.
 
His round count is way to low for it to be a true bore issue . I went 400+ rounds with out cleaning a rifle just to see how it would effect accuracy . It didn't really , when doing my part it shot sub MOA at round 20 and round 400 . What it did do was cause a lot of fouling build up in the throat and I had to seat the bullets deeper and deeper as the round count went up .

When I tested the OAL by running dummy rounds up close to the lands I could see only one side of the bullet was making contact with what I believe was the fouling build up .
8nyh.jpg


Max seating depth before cleaning bore and throat out
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Max seating depth after cleaning bore and throat out . You can see a much cleaner line that went all the way around the bullet indicating to me that all the fouling had been removed . I'd have to go back and look but I believe I gained an extra .025 of max oal
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What does that mean to the OP ? not sure just thought I'd point out that fouling can build up quite a bit . My rifle was a savage with a normal throat . The 700s are known for having long throats . Maybe extra fouling shortened the jump enough to effect accuracy or extra fouling on one side caused the bullet to shift when entering the bore . That would seem to give inconsistent results .
 
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Metalgod, is that the same case in both of the photographs? I have had the same experience with only one side of the projectile making contact with the lands in my Savage as well. It was case neck run out that was the issue, as it would occur on different sides of the projectile depending upon how the cartridge was oriented when chambered.
 
is that the same case in both of the photographs?
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I don't remember but it is very unlikely they are the same case . At the time I was doing quite a bit of testing trying to figure out what was going on . All I do know is once I cleaned the rifle the issue was gone and I gained at least .025 in Max OAL after doing so .

I believe I was using a standard Redding FL die with ex ball at the time . I now use there bushing dies with out the ex ball . I would not discount the fact that pulling the ex ball through the necks back then had some effect on run out but do believe my issue had more to do with the fouling do to the fact I had to keep seating the bullets deeper . At one point I was seating a 178gr A-Max to 1.745 . Any longer and I could feel the bullet engaging something when closing the bolt .
 
That's interesting, I use the Redding FL die also, and the 168 Amax in a Savage. I also go about 300 or more before cleaning, but I haven't experienced the throat buildup yet. Will have to watch out for that.
 
Another tale of a Rem 700 barrel shooting out early

Went to a shooting range today and the guy next to me and I started talking about my Hawkeye 204 Ruger. I told him about my Rem 700 SPS Varmint in 204 Ruger that went haywire on me after 1500 or so rounds through the tube. He listened and when I finished he said "You know what? I had the same thing happen with a Rem SPS Varmint in 223. The throat was 1/2 inch longer after 1200 rounds and it shot terrible!"

So this might well be the bore. Not here to do a Remington Bashing thing. Just relating my experience and this other shooter's comments.
 
I don't have a 204 Ruger, but I would think that it would be somewhat more of a barrel burner than the 308. 204 with 1500 rounds down the pipe may well have some significant throat erosion, a 308 with 500-800 should not be shot out. Hopefully he will change the scope before doing anything else, and update us on the results.
 
I didn't read the threads. So, this may have been said already. It is fouling or a throat issue in my opinion. Likely an erosion in the throat area. God Bless
 
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