Stock Pressure Pads

[tyswaney]

Hello Everyone -
I have a Remington 700 Custom Shop AWRII 7MM REM MAG which comes with a sub moa accuracy guarantee. However I am having inconsistent accuracy results and I am curious if it is caused by the pressure pads on the fore end of the stock (picture attached)? Therefore the barrel is not free floating it is contacting the pressure pads. Thank you for any feedback.

 

[tyswaney]

Does anyone have an argument against sanding down and removing these pressure pads?

 

[Mikecr]

Do you reload?

 

[Dosh]

ty, quite a few shooters sand them down to free float. Looks like it is already bedded. You can always replace the pressure pad with epoxy if free float doesn't help. Lots of threads on this forum on free floating as well as instructional video on You-Tube. Good luck

 

[tyswaney]

Yes I reload, components consist of 162g ELD-X, WLRM Primers, 72.7g Retumbo, 0.015 off lands. The problem I'm having is I will have one day I'll have 3 shot groups with two touching and one 3/4" out. The one 3/4" out appears to be random is not consistently either the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Then on another day the best I can shoot is a 1MOA triangle with each shot making up a corner of the triangle.

Current results have my questioning is it the fact the barrel is not free floated? is it me? is it the load?

 

[shortgrass]

Pressure points in forearms are finicky thing. Sometimes useful, sometimes not. They may just need 'tuning', as they're creating too much upward pressure. Then again, they just might need to be removed so the barrel floats. Some light weight barrels perform better with upward pressure, some do their best floated. The idea of upward pressure is to dampen vibration, to help control the harmonics of the barrel. Too much upward pressure and accuracy suffers, too little pressure and accuracy suffers. Pick your own poison! Remember, lightweight hunting rifle only need to be repeatable for three shots, they are not 'target rifles' that need to shoot 5 ten shot groups.

 

[Mikecr]

Hunting guns for LR work need to be repeatable for one shot -every time. That is, they need to be ACCURATE (not PRECISE).

 

[velvetant]

On my Remington I removed the pressure pad and accuracy got worse, didn't do that well before I removed it.
So I bedded the first three inches just forward the receiver under the chamber and that did the trick, small groups and repeatability.

Now questioning your current results, no offense intended.
Can you shoot? Do you have another rifle you consistently get small groups from, if so probably not you.
Have you tried playing with seating depth?

 

[tyswaney]

Everyone thank you for your input and feedback. I have also been in contact with the Remington Custom Shop and so far the customer service has been phenomenal. Thank you all again for your help.

 

[Gene]

Many years ago, Rem 700's came from the factory with a pressure point near the fore end tip. I could never get them to shoot until the riser was sanded down to free float the barrel. They discontinued this practice in just a few years.

Ironically, a few rifles did shoot better with the riser, and it would be necessary to replace it with a patch of glass bedding. Its all about barrel harmonics.