Remy 700 BDL

A

ammo.crafter

New member
All that follows refers to a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06.

The rifle is approx 35 years old and I am the original owner.

Several months ago the rifle began to lose its usual pinpoint accuracy.
I put a new scope on but to no avail.
All rings, mounts and screws are tight.

Could the barrel be "shot out"? If so, how can I tell and who sells a decent replacement barrel?

THX
 
What I think I would do first is get a good copper remover and thoroughly clean until all traces of blue on the patched are gone. I've done this for a couple of people who had 220 Swift varmint rifles who wanted to sell them because they felt the barrels were shot out. At that time I used Sweet's 7.62 copper remover but these days I prefer Barnes CR10. Anther thing you might try is beg or borrow another scope and mount it on the gun. Scopes do turn toes up you know. I've had to send two major brand name scopes back to the factory for repair. I can't speak for other brands but Leupold did treat me right. Good people. You might also check the crown at the muzzle. Even the slightest nick can mess up accuracy. Wish I could add more but without the rifle in hand, it's a bit hard to diagnose. Anyway, try the serious cleaning job and if possible the scope switch.
Paul B.
 
Well you've already eliminated the scope as a possibility. Give it a thorough cleaning and check the muzzle crown as has already been said, check the action screws to make sure they haven't come loose. Also check in the barrel channel to be sure nothing has fell down in between the barrel and stock.

If you reload and it's been awhile since you've determined the distance your bullet is seated from the rifling, make a dummy round (no powder or primer) with the bullet seated out way too far, be sure not to crimp it. Then slide it in the chamber and close the bolt on it a couple times. This will give you your approximate max overall cartridge length. If it's quite a bit longer than it should be, you've probably got some chamber throat erosion. If this is the case, seating the bullet out farther may help the accuracy for awhile.

Also check firing pin protrusion. An older rifle that's fired a lot of rounds can have a worn or chipped firing pin, the firing pin spring could be getting weak, or rust inside the bolt body could be slowing the firing pin down. Any of that can cause uneven/light primer strikes and affect accuracy.

The good thing about a Remington 700 is no matter what issue your having with it, there's a readily available part to fix it.
 
You could shoot out a 30-06 barrel but it would take thousands of rounds to do it. If you have not shot that much I would have the bore inspected by a gunsmith to check its condition if you believe that is the problem. Also, are there any nicks or dents on the crown of the barrel?

There are lots of aftermarket barrels for your rifle. Shilen, Hart, Douglas, Lija are just a few of the big names, there are many more. If you do a Google search for custom rifle barrels you'll have lots of choices.
 
A 30-06 barrel should be good for at least 5000 rounds and still have match grade accuracy. Should be good for at least 10,000 rounds of hunting accuracy. I doubt the barrel is shot out. You could have a bad crown, or several other problems. A good cleaning won't hurt.

Wood stocks expand and contract over time. It is possible that over time your stock has changed shape or size enough to effect accuracy. If cleaning the barrel doesn't work I'd start looking at a stock bedding issue.

I no longer use wood, got tired of dealing with such problems. But it might be possible to have some material removed from the interior of the stock and have the action glass bedded. This will limit, but not completely reduce the effects of the wood expanding and contracting.
 
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