Is the barrel shot out?

[sven556]

How do know when a barrel is shot out?

I have a Remington 700 30-06 adl from the 1970's. I've owned it for about 10yrs now. After I bought it, I bedded the action and free floated the barrel. It will shoot 1.25-1.5 moa groups out to 200 Meters with hunting loads and only trying a couple different loads. Good enough for hunting.

Recently I've been wanting to shoot longer range. So, I loaded some 168 got A-maxes. Seating them 0.01" from the lands; I find them loaded really long. The case neck is only gripping about 0.15" of the bullet. Is this due to throat erosion or do Remington barrels have long throats?

I haven't shot these rounds to see how they do yet, but I have been wondering if I should plan on changing the barrel soon.

 

[J E Custom]

How do know when a barrel is shot out?

I have a Remington 700 30-06 adl from the 1970's. I've owned it for about 10yrs now. After I bought it, I bedded the action and free floated the barrel. It will shoot 1.25-1.5 moa groups out to 200 Meters with hunting loads and only trying a couple different loads. Good enough for hunting.

Recently I've been wanting to shoot longer range. So, I loaded some 168 got A-maxes. Seating them 0.01" from the lands; I find them loaded really long. The case neck is only gripping about 0.15" of the bullet. Is this due to throat erosion or do Remington barrels have long throats?


Seat them to mag length and try them. Secant ojive bullets will add to the COAL and may not shoot well because of the lack of neck engagement.

Chances are your barrel is fine. 3006,s are not hard on barrels and many thousands of rounds can be fired through them.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Greyfox]

Remington 700's tend to have very long throats. I have owned four in 308 that, like your experience, would hold very little if. 168 SMK' bearing surface when seated to the
Barrels lands. All shot exceptionally well when seated to the standard COAL of 2.8".
Unless your rifle has a history of 2000+ rounds fired, I would doubt very much that your barrel is shot out.

 

[sven556]

Okay thanks. I'll try seating them to a shorter oal. Seems like everything I read on precision reloading says to seat them close to the lands.

I will be happy if I can find a load that consistently shoots <moa.

Edit to add:
Not sure how many rounds were fired before I bought it, but I have put around 1000-1200 rounds through it.

 

[xsn10s]

My PSS new had a long throat. Generally most manufacturers throat long to avoid high pressures. And my 06's shot about the same as yours did at 100 yards. Oddly I still got 1.5" groups at 300 yards. I've seen a 270 wby test barrel with two inches of it's throat missing still shoot half inch groups at 100 yards. Also in my hunting rifles I just seat to box mag length and adjust loads/ powders for accuracy. Even the VLD's in my PSS will shoot sub moa at box mag length.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

My buddy use to work for Remington. He said Remington specifically has it in their policy to make sure reloaders never reach the lands. He said it has to with operating pressures and making sure Remington isn't held liable if the gun blows up.

Crazy world we live in.

 

[xsn10s]

"Liability" is a key buzz word in the firearm's training and manufacturing world.

 

[Dosh]

Steve, if possible have the barrel borescoped. This will give you a definite look at the bore condition with no guessing. Most smiths won't charge for this if a rebarrel is a possibility $$.

 

[misterc01]

As for a bullet seating - try various seating distances, You will get to where the groups you shoot will "tell you" what your gun likes the best. Some folks find ten thousandths off work for them, others closer. At this point with some loads, mine likes .02-.03 off the lands. Noe work well for me at .01.

 

[Savage 22-243 AI]

When the barrel is shot out it won't group a 100 yds. And some bullets will keyhole on target. You won't hit target at 200 yds well.........After 7000 + rounds from a Savage 22-250 it would shoot 3-shots at 4" @ 100 yds then open up to 14". Clean again and same thing. It shot 1/4" groups at its best before throat was shot out.

 

[J Doss]

I would check the barrel and action seating to make sure it is still secure and floated properly, then scope the throat and barrel. Next, I would check the crown on the barrel.
The crown sounds crazy but I have a 7 Rem Mag that is just like your 06, had it 30 years before it started doing the same thing. I checked everything, all good. I was talking to a old school gunsmith who told me to take ultra fine Emory cloth and wrap it around a muzzle loader round ball and polish the crown with.
Not sure why or how but, the rifle went back to stacking holes on target again.
It's worth a try before going to a rebarrel job. It's still my favorite shooter.
Good Luck.

 

[Rustystud]

Remlngton 700s 3006 are throated so they can accommodate the longest factory rounds. 220 trainers.

 

[del2les]

I still have an R700 in 30-06 from the late 70's, and that rifle has always required me to seat 165GKBT very long. Upside was I could load about 100fps faster than a couple of friends' rifles with shorter throats. It always grouped 1 1/2 inches @200 with that load.

 

[RAGGED EDGE]

Definitely play with your seating depth in .005 increments and think about an 11-degree crown job.