I took the stock off my Rem 700 the other night because it was shooting erratically. I found the rifle has no glass or pillar bedding, but the action is basicly screwed to the trigger guard though a wooden stock. I found that the barre channel has a flat portion about 4 inches from the end probably to put upward pressure on the barrel. I also found that the groove cut for the recoil lug was much larger than the lug itself, allowing the entire barreled action to slide back and forth with the screws loose.


I have heard that Rem 700's are meant to have upward pressure on the front of the barrel. Is this true? Or could I get better accuracy by freefloating it?

I'm planning on shimmimng the cutout for the recoil lug to tighten up the fit and also shimming the action to bring the barrel a few thousanths of an inch off the stock. I've had good sucess with accurizing mauser 98's in this fashion, would it work with a Rem 700? Will the lack of a recoil lug crossbolt put too much strain on the stock if I tighten up the fit especially if the wood shrinks or expands due to humidity?

Also does anyone have any resources where I could read about glass bedding and pillar bedding?


Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms... who's bringing the chips?

Briman, you can go to Google and search "bedding rifles" and find all kinds of reading. I have bedded a bunch of 700 rifles over the years, and here's what I try first and this usually gets good results. Take a barrel rasp and free float the barrel by hogging out all contact in the barrel channel. Next, bed the receiver from the tang all the way to the back of the recoil lug, with no contact on the sides, bottom, or front of the lug. Only the back of the lug is in contact with the bedding compound. To get this relief, put two layers of masking tape on those surfaces. Use plenty of release agent and a good hard epoxy. I have used regular old two ton devcon, and devcon aluminum putty. I like the putty because its easier to control. I have also seen remington actions shoot very well with the recoil lug bedded all the way around though. Those are hard to get out of the stock. I think the main thing is to get even contact under the reciever so that nothing is binding when you tighten the screws. The round bottom remington actions are the easiest to do this on. If you decide to use pillars, that will preclude compressing the stock and having the bed change on you over time. The pillars dont have to be metal, you can build them out of epoxy if you like. Metal ones are just a little easier to put in. Make sure the action bolts dont touch anything but the guard and the threads in the bottom of the action. Good luck, I hope some of my babbling makes sense to you.

Get a hold of Brownells and order there bedding kit with the VCR tape on bedding. You can't go wrong if you follow the tape, I've done several of my rifles with good luck. Zeak

Try http://riflestocks.tripod.com This should have what you want.

Edited by - MR300WM on 10/08/2002 21:04:47

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Factory bedding on 700's is awful even on their so called custom shop rifles . I would follow DG's and Larry338 advise on bedding and leave the pressure point in the barrel channel. I have a 700 Classic in 300 win mag similiarly bedded that showed dramatic improvement when done this way.