rifle stocks and pressure points

[sniper1379]

as some of you may remember, i've been working with my rem 700 300wsm for some time now and only get average accuracy most of the time. the rifle has been glass bedded in a hs precision stock. about the first 3 inches of the barrel (chamber area) has been bedded as well. yesterday i installed a pressure point with a business card at the forearm tip. groups got better, but still not great. i know lots of remington rifles come with a factory pressure point. my only concern about having one is zero changing with weather and climate, but i would think with a hs synthetic stock with the aluminum block in it, stock movement would be non-existant. your thoughts please?

 

[rick smith]

Some rifles do seem to shoot better with upward pressure on the barrel but I am not in that camp. If you have checked all the screws and have tried more than one scope then I would look at the loads. I have worked on several 300WSMs and they have responded well to IMR-4831 with a 165gr bullet seated 10-15 off the lands but with a standard WLR primer, not the magnum. I have not followed your other posts so don't know what you have tried.
If you find that pressure on the barrel will correct the problem, you can replace the pressure point with bedding.Rick.

 

[OldMan]

If you absolutely need a pressure point, use it knowing the warmer the barrel is the more chance of changing p.o.i. If you possibly can get one to shoot well free floated, that's the way to go. Did you try sanding clearance in that area ahead of the recoil lug? I would try this before a pressure point, in my experience bedding in just that area never helped my rifles! Make sure you have clearance ahead of the recoil lug, at the bottom of it, and at the sides on a model 700. All that needs to touch would be the back of the recoil lug and the tang. Make sure you do not impede the movement to the fore and aft except for the recoil lug. Any other bedding should be there to keep the action at the same spot up and down. If you bed anything that interferes with the fore and aft it can cause the action to whip around as it grows with temperature changes. If it hits before the recoil lug on some bedding it can also put stress on the stock and maybe crack it. Ive been where you are with that rifle and it sucks!

 

[sniper1379]

i've done everything with this rifle, bedded the entire gun, bedded just the action, trigger job, changed scopes, load upon loads upon loads. it shoots good sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. i don't like the pressure point idea but he seems to shoot decent. my dad has a rem 700 .30/06 that shoots inch or better most of the time with a pressure point. i know with wood stocks pressure points, when warping is gonig on, can cause POI changes. i just hope this is the case with a good synthetic like the hs. considered it sending to hill country rifles. for $450 they accurize and guaranteed sub moa. that is just a lot of money to get another 1/2-3/4".

 

[OldMan]

Sniper I feel your pain, sometimes it seems like it's just easier to sell the rifle and get another! If you reach that level, just get a Tikka t3 and load up some RL-22 in the 180 BT or AB and shoot some half inch groups in a 300 WSM.

 

[sniper1379]

oldman, don't think i haven't thought about it. if it wasn't a 10 year wedding anniversary gift and probably not being able to get out of it near what i've got in it i would have already parted ways. at least it looks like an accurate rifle. i like challenges, developing loads, getting rifles to shoot, but this one has been a mystery.

 

[Greg Nolan]

This may sound off center but! The last thing the bullet touches is the crown (end) of the barrel. It "IS" one of the basics in accurizing barrels by the best of the best. You can buy a Crowning bit from Brownells cheaper than anything you have to pay a gunsmith to do. Heck I would rent it for a couple of rifles I love that shoot "worse than I would hope" Or send it back to the factory. I did have a Winchester that was grouping 8+ inches at 50 yards. They checked it out and sent me a new rifle.
Greg

 

[elkeater2]

Greg's "off center" comment may be appropriate another way. The throat may not be concentric with the bore. That's difficult to see sometimes, but a chamber cast will make it obvious if that's the case. Some of them are pretty far off and it happens in all makes.

Another possibility is the bolt face not square to the bore. If you end up with fired cases 'longer' on one side than the other, you can be putting cases into the chamber that either match the bolt from previous firing or are 180 degrees off. Have you tried marking headstamps or orienting the cases the same way each time they are used?

there's a couple possibilities for you, if you haven't considered them already.
elkeater2

 

[OldMan]

I have a 700 in 300 WM that I tried a full bed on barrel and all when everything else failed. The first shot from a cold barrel it would be touching the forend, the next it would start to come away, and by the third it would be fully away at the bottom, but touching on one side. Evidently metal grows with heat in different ways according to the stress in the metal. Anyway I figured it was going to just be a mediocre shooting rifle that was free floated and shooting 1 and one half 100 yard groups. I started fresh on the bedding to make sure I didn't have any issues and ended up making it do 3/4 inch at 100. Little things can cause big problems such as the depth of the bullet, a change in powder, primer, brass. I started on this one after a bout with my model 70 300 Wby that shot all over the place. My final analisis on both was my bedding technique was flawed. Remember you want no stress anywhere when you are done. When you bed the action don't tighten the screws while the bedding is still setting, leave clearance in front of the recoil lug, the bottom of it and to the sides. Make sure not to let any bedding stop the action from moving rearward except for the recoil lug. The remainder of the bedding is to only keep the action on the same horizontal plane. I also like to cover the complete barrel with electrial tape for clearance full length of the barrel. This stiffens and helps stabilize the forend. And lastly do you have it pillar bedded? Action screw tightness can make a huge difference in accuracy if you compress the stock with the action screws. I hope this isn't too long winded, but I have been where you are, maybe I can help a little!

 

[caribouhunter]

i had a bit of a problem when i bedded and free floated my rem. 700 in 300 rum. i rebuilt a pressure point using layers of aluminum tape used to seal ducts. now it groups .5 to .75 with barnes ttsx 168 gr. and AccuBond 200 grain. load dev. was quick and easy finding both loads within 20 rounds of each.
pressure point has been there for a couple of years now and my zero never moved, be it 75 deg or minus 5.
i nrver tried more than three shots strings though cause i want to keep the barrel as long as possible. but three shot in a row group as good as letting cool 5 min in between. and the first shot from a cool and clean barrel goes in the same group as the followers. (i'm thankful for that )

 

[6mm Remington]

I would try sliding a piece of paper back down the barrel channel to the point you have the bedding 3" in front of the barrel contacting the recoil lug washer just make certain you don't have ANY place that are making contact. It there are, then I would find those spots and sand them down slightly to make sure it is free floating. I don't know what you torque your stock screws down with, but I would use a pounds per inch screwdriver and set them at the manufacturer's recommended amount, whatever that might be.

I load for a friend and I tried a BUNCH of different powders and loads with 180 gr. Accubonds. I went through several range sessions when all of a sudden with two loads, both using 4831, H4831Sc and IMR4831, it just clicked. Different powder charges of course because of different burn rates. I used Winchester cases and Federal Magnum Primers. The one load shot just a little of 1/4" and the other load was just under 1/2". I quite at that point! Good luck. His rifle was a Winchester Model 70 Laminate that had been glass bedded with the barrel floating just like yours sounds. With most of the loads, I was getting about a 1 inch group to about 3" or slightly more, three shots at 100 yards. If you want to know what the OAL was and the loads so you can work up to them, send me a PM and I'll give you the data. Like I said, I tried several powders and loads, and all of a sudden I hit it out of the park. Both of these loads shoot to the same point of impact and are within 5-10 fps of each other in velocity. The harmonics must just be perfect for that rifle.