Barrel or stock?

[NY Hunter]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site. I recently bought a new Remington 700 spss varmint in 204 Ruger. Best I could do was 3 to 4 inch groups. Found a damaged crown. Local barrel maker cut a new crown. Shoots great now, as good as I am capable of shooting anyway, as long as the barrel is cold. As soon as it starts to heat up (10 shots or so over 5 or 10 minutes) my groups start to open up. I'm going from 1/2" (100 yards) to 1-1/4" groups that quickly. If I take the rifle in the house to cool completely it's right back to 1/2" or less for a handful of shots then they start to open up again. It has the heavy varmint barrel (stainless) and the cheap plastic factory stock it came with. There doesn't seem to be any preasure points where the stock is touching the barrel, except the two small pads at the end of the forearm. Anyone out there with a similar experience? Thanks for your help.

[Trent]

The first thing I did to my SPS was to remove those pads completely. Those SPS stocks are horribly flexible. There are some ways to stiffen the forend.

Also, I you are shooting from a bipod or position your rifle in a rest too far towards the front of the stock this will create even more pressure on the barrel.

[Sidewinderwa]

Sounds like a stock issue. You want to remove any pressure points. You should be able to remove some of the stock material to ensure it does not touch, including the pressure points. You may want to consider an aftermarket stock. Stocky's and H-S Precision have some good choices to consider.

[Volstandigkeit]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site. I recently bought a new Remington 700 spss varmint in 204 Ruger. Best I could do was 3 to 4 inch groups. Found a damaged crown. Local barrel maker cut a new crown. Shoots great now, as good as I am capable of shooting anyway, as long as the barrel is cold. As soon as it starts to heat up (10 shots or so over 5 or 10 minutes) my groups start to open up. I'm going from 1/2" (100 yards) to 1-1/4" groups that quickly. If I take the rifle in the house to cool completely it's right back to 1/2" or less for a handful of shots then they start to open up again. It has the heavy varmint barrel (stainless) and the cheap plastic factory stock it came with. There doesn't seem to be any preasure points where the stock is touching the barrel, except the two small pads at the end of the forearm. Anyone out there with a similar experience? Thanks for your help.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your problem is the same as what I was having to a T. I hogged out the stock so that it made no barrel contact from the recoil lug on forward, but it did nothing. If you make a Cerosafe casting of your bore, it will likely mic out at .206. The rifle has multiple other issues as well, the lugs don't mate with the rails and need to be worked on, the bolt face is not true. My smith set the barrel back .080" and it shot no better, and still got hot enough to fry an egg after 10 rounds with a 60-90 second time between shots. I've got an E.R. Shaw barrel on order, but like all barrel companies, the wait is 4+ months right now. If you like the rifle, and round, a barrel is the only fix. If you like the round, but aren't married to the rifle, dump it and get a Savage or Ruger. I wish now, that I had just spent the extra money for a Ruger at this point.

[wirelessguy2005]

I have been thru the same situation with a Remington 700 SPS in 17 fireball. I ended up going to a Bell & Carlson stock with the aluminum bedding block, problem solved. As noted above Stocky's gun stocks website has the goodies you will need.

Brad

[Volstandigkeit]

For Hunter's sake, I hope it is the stock. Do a cerosafe casting before you spend any more money on it and see what you find. I'm betting it's overbored, which also explains why it gets so hot so fast.

[Trent]

I'm trying to understand the "over bore" and how that can affect the heat of the barrel. Flame getting past the bullet? At what point in the chamber (bore) cast are you measuring .206"? The grooves or the lands?

It seems like if the barrel were truly over bore and flame was escaping past the projectile that the velocity would be greatly reduced and that it would never group well.

I'd bet money that this is a stock issue. It is very common for the SPS.

[Volstandigkeit]

I can push a bullet through the barrel with virtually no resistance, that's what I mean by overbored. I don't know what they are doing, butt the smallest point in the casting my smith made at both the muzzle and chamber end was .206. In a .002" oversized bore, the bullet never makes solid contact with the barrel. I bought an uninletted stock from Calico Hardwoods for mine, but when I couldn't get it to shoot under 1 1/2" off a bench at 100 yards with a fully floated stock, factory or not, I stopped and made a call. After waiting 2 months to get it back from Remington for a nicked crown, I'd rather just have a gunsmith handle to issue. It's obvious they don't have much in the way of quality control any longer.

[Bodei]

I hope it's a stock issue, but since a good stock will run you $200-300, I would have a smith check out the bore. The overheating is worrisome. What kind of loads are you running through it?

[Trent]

The only way I'd be able to get a bullet down the barrel on my SPS is with a hammer and a ramrod.


Volstandigkeit, sounds like yours needed to back to the factory!

[Volstandigkeit]

It should have, but I didn't want to wait another 2 months.

[Tokimini]

I have the opposite problem in my 700 SPS in 204. When my barrel is cold my 5 shot groups are well over an inch. When it heats up the groups shrink to sub .5 inch. The hotter the barrel gets the better it shoots.

[Volstandigkeit]

That can't be good for barrel life either.