Installed B&C Medalist (Pictures Added)
I purchased a Bell & Carlson Medalist Weatherby Style rifle stock for my Remington 700, and was told it would be 6-8 weeks because I had it made to a custom length. Much to my surprise and elation, it arrived in UNDER 2 weeks. I bolted the stock to my Remington 700 action and it didnt fit quite right. The barrel was sitting to the left side of the barrel channel and was by no means "free-floating". After about an hour of sanding the left side of thebarrel channel(wouldn't have taken that long if i had known what i was doing) and reinstalling several times to make minute changes here and there, it finally became free floating. I can run a sheet of paper all the way to thebarrel attachmentwithout too much interference (still a little snug but not too bad).
Now to the shooting.... The rifle recoiled a tad with 180 grn loads (30.06) before the B&C Medalist was installed, but was easily manageable. With the new stock, 14.5 L.O.P., Pachmyr pad, and thefull length bedding block, the rifle became a true pleasure to shoot.Its amazing how much easier it is to shoot a rifle that fits you somewhat correctly. As far as accuracy, the POI was WAAAAAY off so i made the neccessary changes. I was using a bi-pod with no rear rest and unmodified trigger, so I cant comment on group tightness with any type of certainty yet, but i printed a1.1 inch group right off the batand retired that rifle for the evening. Hopefully I will do some more shooting this weekend and can get some real numbers for you with multiple groups for consistancy.
Overall:
I was a little dissapointed with the initial fit of the stock, but that was corrected with a little work, which i assume most stocks require anyways. Once installed, the rifle had a completely different feel to it that fit me almost perfectly. I would add some more l.o.p. to it if i could, but that's just because im 6'7" and could use a little more. Though it wasnt bad to begin with, recoil dropped considerably making it a pure pleasure to shoot, and the one grouping i did was better than any previous group i had with the rifle. I am very happy over all and would buy another one in the future if the need arises. I will furnish pictures of the rifle as soon as I can.