Rem 700 Crooked base mounting holes

[allard_msu76]

Could Remington possible drill straight base mount holes? I have 3 rem 700s and ALL of the screw holes are not straight. I have 20 EGW mounts and XTR rings on each. I took the rails and rifles to my gunsmith and they were mounted correctly by him. But when I mounted scope I ran out of R to L adjustment. I removed the scope and shot a laser down the center of the mounting holes and they are off L or R a 1/4 inch at the end on the barrel, depending on the rifle (This happened on all 3 rifles with 3 different scopes over about a years time). How do I fix this? my Gunsmith put a wedge on the inside of one of the rear rings and that seemed to work but this is driving me NUTS!!! COME ON Remington!!!!!

 

[Bullet bumper]

I think the best way to fix these kind of issues is to buy a Sako rifle instead.
I have owned quite a few and never seen a crooked mounting scope ever .
Even a Howa or Weatherby V is an ok rifle and your 700 mounts should fit the Howa and Weatherby also , rails on the same length actions though.
Had plenty of opportunity to buy a Remington 700 but they just have never impressed me as is . However if you are wanting to modify and accurize and such then the Remington 700 is very good for that with all the add on aftermarket stuff and being a cylindrical action easier to work on but to use as they come from the factory I would pass .
Flame suit firmly on.
I think a 1/4 of an inch out in say 30 inches is 28.647 MOA That's quite an error.
I have a Mauser with a similar problem although not as bad , What I did was make a blank Picatinny rail base and bed it to the action and screw it down tight then set the action up in the mill and machine the dovetail on straight with the action and the slots square accross . The result was when I mountyed a Vortex scope it was one click away from the windage center with reticle centered .That could be a few clicks in reality as there may be no exact center as far as counting clicks goes. It is very close to centered for practical purposes as the trajectory will tend to drift sideways a small amount anyway with precession, spin drift .

 

[bruce_ventura]

Are you sure it's the base screws that are mis-aligned, or could the barrel be installed crooked? I find that crooked barrels are pretty common in production rifles.

You can tell if the barrel is crooked by placing a 24" metal straight edge across the right side of the receiver and measuring the gap to the barrel at the muzzle end of the straight edge. Then repeat for the left side. The two measurements should agree. If not, you can calculate the alignment error.

The point is, a crooked barrel is easily fixed by truing the receiver and reinstalling the barrel.

Meanwhile, you can use Burris Signature Rings to correct the boresight problem, regardless of the cause. A crooked barrel may still shoot tight groups.

 

[Bullet bumper]

Are you sure it's the base screws that are mis-aligned, or could the barrel be installed crooked? I find that crooked barrels are pretty common in production rifles.

You can tell if the barrel is crooked by placing a 24" metal straight edge across the right side of the receiver and measuring the gap to the barrel at the muzzle end of the straight edge. Then repeat for the left side. The two measurements should agree. If not, you can calculate the alignment error.

The point is, a crooked barrel is easily fixed by truing the receiver and reinstalling the barrel.

Meanwhile, you can use Burris Signature Rings to correct the boresight problem, regardless of the cause. A crooked barrel may still shoot tight groups.

That's a good point , worth checking . I have seen a bent barrel also.

 

[allard_msu76]

Ok so I checked two of the three rifles tonight and the difference at the end of the straight edge (24") is .06 on one and .075 on the other. So I don't think a crooked barrel is the issue. The third rifle (7rum) is at the gunsmith in need of a new 28"Lilja . So on the 7 rum I assume it can be fixed while the action is being trued anyway. but what about the other two? I am really frustrated at this point and it doesn't sit well with me that I have quality products and have to wedge the rear XTR ring to get my windage correct.

 

[ArizonaWildernessHunter]

This is what should be done



and then bed a one piece scope base to fit the top of the action. If there is a high side only tighten the screws on this side so the base does not flex. Check for this problem extensively before starting the bedding process.

I have noticed that on 2 of my 700s that the rear base screw holes are not in alignment and have not corrected it yet since I was able to deal with it using machined off 2 piece bases. My dad has a savage rifle that was misaligned and offset so much that it took 3 different bases till one could be machined off and re-drilled to correct the problem (think a warne steel base finally worked). This cost $15 per base for the modifications. When I rebarrel I am going to get this corrected on the 2 remingtons.

 

[Bullet bumper]

This is what should be done

Gunsmithing - Making the Scope Base Mounting Screws Nearly Perfect - YouTube

and then bed a one piece scope base to fit the top of the action. If there is a high side only tighten the screws on this side so the base does not flex. Check for this problem extensively before starting the bedding process.

I have noticed that on 2 of my 700s that the rear base screw holes are not in alignment and have not corrected it yet since I was able to deal with it using machined off 2 piece bases. My dad has a savage rifle that was misaligned and offset so much that it took 3 different bases till one could be machined off and re-drilled to correct the problem (think a warne steel base finally worked). This cost $15 per base for the modifications. When I rebarrel I am going to get this corrected on the 2 remingtons.

Heavier screws is a good idea but that will not change the hole missalingnment issue as the drill will just center in the old hole .
If they only need a small amount of off set to line them up I would fudge the holes over a bit using a center drill held in a milling chuck and then tap out to 8x40 . If a long way out then buy a blank 1913 rail and drill it out to match the staggered holes . Do this by bedding the rail straight with the action first and having a stop or mark of some kind to position the rail in the same palce each time , then setting the action up under the mill and center a hole then back the drill up and place the rail on the action in the correct position and drill down part of the way . Do the same for all the holes . Then remove the action and put the rail in the vice on parallels and complete the holes and the counter sinks for screw heads . They should all now line up with the old holes and pull the rail down onto the bedded shape well. If anything is a bit tight ease the hole with a slighly bigger drill .

 

[Edd]

Find a Gunsmith that can machine the holes oversized and in a straight line.

 

[Hired Gun]

They are most likely not off near that much. Most likely barrels installed crooked or have curved bores internally. Burris Signature ZEE rings are a good solution until you can rebarrel.