Remington 700 VS .308 observations.

[Sling Shot]

Hello all. I own a Remington VS in .308 with the HS Precision bedding block. When I first got this rifle a few months ago, I wanted to have the trigger adjusted, so I took it to a real good smith in my area. I asked him about bedding the stock, and he said that bedding the HS stock would not be worth it. He recommended that all the rifle needed was the trigger adjusted, the lugs lapped, receiver squared, and the head space set to minimum. I left the rifle with him, and a couple days later he called me, and said that the rifle would need to be bedded. I asked him why, and he said that Remington had taken a dremel or some sort of tool to grind out part of the bedding block so that the receiver would fit, and that the fit was sloppy. He said it would be $50.00 to bed it, and I told him to go ahead. I finally got to break-in this rifle over the last couple of weeks. At first copper and carbon fouling was awful. The copper was really heavy toward the muzzle, but after about 40 rounds cleaning got a little easier, and copper fouling had diminished somewhat. I now have exactly 100 rounds through the pipe, and cleaning is a lot easier, and copper fouling has diminished to what I would expect from a factory barrel. I have been shooting Federal 168 grain match at 100 yards. I do not have access to any range longer at this time. The smallest three shot group that I have shot came in just under a half inch with most being in the half inch to 3/4 range. I am not the best shooter, and feel this rifle is more capable than I am. I did notice that when the barrel gets hot, the groups really suffer. When I first noticed this, I thought something was wrong with the 6.5x20x40 Leupold scope. But I let the barrel cool, and the groups became a lot tighter. This rifle is truly accurate, and I would to shoot it off a quality bench rest instead of bags to see the potential of the rifle with factory ammo. I do have one question about the bedding. When I separate the receiver from the stock, what do I need to watch for, so that I do not damage the custom bedding? Sling Shot

[k in AR]

Sling Shot,

Per your question, if the bedding was well done you should not have to worry about doing it any damage with normal assembly.
One trick I have learned:
If the fit is very tight (almost like a vacume when you try to remove the action from the stock) get yourself a 2 or 3 inch long screw that has the correct threads for the forward action screw hole. When you remove the action screws for disassembly, you can install this longer screw temporarly and use it to (gently) provide direct upward pressure to the action. This will help in removal without the need to "rock" the barrel. Once the barrel is almost free, simply remove the long screw & lift the action out.

IMHO: If anything was to damage the bedding, it would most likely be rocking & prying the action out of the stock.

BTW: I own a Remington (VLS), and that is one shooting machine with either 165gr Gamekings or the 168gr Matchking. I normally reload, but I also use Federal Premium (with these same bullets) and score surprisingly good groups with that "factory" ammo.

I think you have made a real good choice of Caliber, Rifle, and bullet weight. k

[Rex Feral]

If you don't already have one, get yourself a good bore guide, they help keep cleaning solution from running into the stock and softening the bedding compound.

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Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.

[El Rojo]

I just finished orphaning two dozen ground squirrels with my 700 VS in .308. I was using reloaded Hornady 110 gr. V-max bullets. I am a definite V-Max fan from this day forward. Talk about effective. They shoot very well and I hit just about every squirrel that I shot at (only operator error was a factor). I forget how much powder I used, it was around 45 grains of 4895. Anyway, what a great gun.

[Clint Tickler]

K in Ar. Did you do anything to your VLS like bedding and floating? I've been drooling over one of these for a while and keep hoping the shop will sell it so I can move on. Thanks

[James K]

I don't know about that particular rifle, but the general advice about removing the barreled action from the stock when you have a good glass job is - don't. There is just nothing that needs cleaned in there.

Jim

[4V50 Gary]

If you insist on taking the rifle apart (and Remington sees no problem in this), buy yourself a 1/4" drive Seekonk "T" handle torque wrench set for 45 lbs (recommended weight by factory). You can buy it from Brownells. This allows you to consistently torque down the stock when you reassemble it.

Since it's been glass bedded, inspect the area around the recoil lug rests against. This is probably the most critical area as the recoil is absorbed here (shooter's side of the recoil lug, not muzzle side).

[Art Eatman]

Sling Shot: If you do take the rifle apart, and inspect as 4V50Gary said, "Since it's been glass bedded, inspect the area around (which) the recoil lug rests against. This is probably the most critical area as the recoil is absorbed here (shooter's side of the recoil lug, not muzzle side).", you will see some very slight sign of "hammering" by the recoil lug. Maybe some discoloration.

The key point is that any slight marking by the lug, or any discoloration, should be evenly spread across this impact area. This would mean the material of that part of the stock is parallel to the lug--which would mean an even, uniform distribution of the recoil. And that's a Good Thing.

:), Art

[Sling Shot]

Thanks everybody for your replys. I would like to take the rifle apart and do some more stoning on the receiver rails. They were very rough from the factory. A person could rub their finger tips on the top and bottom sides and cut their fingers. That was how rough it was. Other than that, I would only take it apart once a year for annual cleaning. Mainly just flushing the trigger with lighter fluid to clean and oil it. OK, this rifle has a HS Precision stock with the aluminum full length bedding block, and it is recommended by HS that the action screws be torqued to 65 inch pounds. But due to the sloppy workmanship at Remington, I had to have the rifle bedded by a smith. Now that I have the rifle bedded, would I still have to torque the action screws to 65 inch pounds? I have never taken apart a Remingto rifle. There are two screws holding the trigger guard, and another screw just forward of the trigger guard. Do all of these screws I mentioned get torqued to the recommended inch pounds? Thanks in advance for your replys. Sling Shot