Will truing or blueprinting an action increase accuracy that much?

[CarbonLead]

I have a Remington 700 LR in a 7mm mag and I am considering have my local Smith true the action for me and glass bed it as well. I haven't had it that long and been able to really test it out but so far with just factory Ammo it's staying right under 1 moa at 500 yards so far. Could I potentially cut that down to half or quarter moa accuracy from truing the action and bedding? Thanks!

 

[Georgiashooter]

That is a million dollar question. If it were my factory Remington shooting a true half moa out to 500, there's not a chance I'd mess with the action. Bedding, yes I would do. There's no absolute when you start cutting metal. I would leave it alone.

 

[Jerry M]

Shoot it first with match grade ammunition before spending money.

Good luck

Jerry

 

[lancetkenyon]

If You are not rebarreling, not really a need to true the action. Usually it will slightly change your chamber, since the barrel will be slightly set back when they square the face of the action. If you are rebarreling, trueing the action is a no brainer.

Bedding is a good option however. A good trigger could help too. But a factory rifle that Shoots under 1 MOA out to 500 is already doing pretty good. I am not sure if you would cut groups in half or down to 25% without a barrel swap too.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I have a Remington 700 LR in a 7mm mag and I am considering have my local Smith true the action for me and glass bed it as well. I haven't had it that long and been able to really test it out but so far with just factory Ammo it's staying right under 1 moa at 500 yards so far. Could I potentially cut that down to half or quarter moa accuracy from truing the action and bedding? Thanks!

How much accuracy is dependent on the rifle, the factory barrel, the smith, and how square he gets everything, and how much he knows about re-working factory barrels to increase accuracy (hand-lapping the bore, recrowning, setting the chamber back a couple threads and re-cutting to clean it up and ensure it's square, chasing the threads, re-cutting the lug shoulder to ensure it's also square, etc...).

But as far as the physical action of blueprinting a receiver and bolt, yes, it will increase accuracy and consistency just by squaring up everything and ensuring 100% even contact on all the mating surfaces and lug surfaces.

With factory rifle barrels, it's a crap-shoot if it will shoot better or not...Normally they react in a positive way, and they don't usually shoot worse than they did before the work...Kind of a one-way street. But if you're already at 1MOA with factory loaded ammo, it sounds like you have a good factory barrel that should show signs of improvement from blueprinting...Provided the smith knows what he's doing.

Depending on how much he charges to do this type of work, it might be more beneficial to go ahead and get you a nice Bartlein 5R 1:8 twist 7mm Rem Sendero/Varmint contour barrel blank, and just go ahead and have him chamber and install that while he's got it. Or you could see if he'll cut you a good deal later on when you rebarrel it, since you've already paid him to blueprint everything, all he'll have to do is thread, chamber, headspace, and install the new barrel.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I have found bone stock 700 actions will consistently produce .5 moa rifles easily with a good barrel and bedding. If a guy is wanting better I do recommend truing. Bedding is a must. If your shooting factory you may not see any improvement. The best rifle in the world wont shoot if you dont feed it the correct load. I find that to be one of the biggest hurdles to really good accuracy.

 

[CarbonLead]

Thanks guys I appreciate it.

 

[CarbonLead]

How much accuracy is dependent on the rifle, the factory barrel, the smith, and how square he gets everything, and how much he knows about re-working factory barrels to increase accuracy (hand-lapping the bore, recrowning, setting the chamber back a couple threads and re-cutting to clean it up and ensure it's square, chasing the threads, re-cutting the lug shoulder to ensure it's also square, etc...).

But as far as the physical action of blueprinting a receiver and bolt, yes, it will increase accuracy and consistency just by squaring up everything and ensuring 100% even contact on all the mating surfaces and lug surfaces.

With factory rifle barrels, it's a crap-shoot if it will shoot better or not...Normally they react in a positive way, and they don't usually shoot worse than they did before the work...Kind of a one-way street. But if you're already at 1MOA with factory loaded ammo, it sounds like you have a good factory barrel that should show signs of improvement from blueprinting...Provided the smith knows what he's doing.

Depending on how much he charges to do this type of work, it might be more beneficial to go ahead and get you a nice Bartlein 5R 1:8 twist 7mm Rem Sendero/Varmint contour barrel blank, and just go ahead and have him chamber and install that while he's got it. Or you could see if he'll cut you a good deal later on when you rebarrel it, since you've already paid him to blueprint everything, all he'll have to do is thread, chamber, headspace, and install the new barrel.

Well I think I am kind of in luck. My neighbor is a retired machinist/gun Smith/gun smithing school instructor. I've been told he does really good work. He tinkered with my 6.5 Creedmore which has shot very well so far. He wouldn't charge me all that much if he charged anything we may just swap out the work he does for some work I do for him.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Well I think I am kind of in luck. My neighbor is a retired machinist/gun Smith/gun smithing school instructor. I've been told he does really good work. He tinkered with my 6.5 Creedmore which has shot very well so far. He wouldn't charge me all that much if he charged anything we may just swap out the work he does for some work I do for him.

Your gunsmiths sounds just like my gunsmith... Small-time local guy, who's a machinist by day, and gunsmith by night. His prices are great, he's picky about who he does work for, his turn-around time is a week or 2 tops, and only takes cash, because he "doesn't think the government needs to know any of his **** business." LOL

Keep us updated on how your build goes. The good thing about your gun, is that you already know it will shoot MOA out to 500. Your smith messing with it won't make it any worse. It can only make it better. And being that he doesn't charge much, if you do decide to upgrade the barrel later, you won't have to pay to have it blueprinted, because you've already done so. And that will make the turn-around time alot quicker, as well.

I would also recommend torquing your action screws to 65 inch-pounds. It might be worth a try before you take it to him just to see if that helps any.

Also, reloading will help you get your groups alot smaller. Usually factory ammo is not going to do much better than MOA (because it's not as consistent as handloading your own ammo), except for on rare occasion.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Agreed..if your getting one minute groups out of a hunting rifle at 500..DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING !!!!!. If it's not a REAL competition bench rifle don't waste your money or time..one little unseen puff of air will cause more heachaches than a blueprint....just look at the wear on the locking lugs, that'll tell how good/bad it is..

 

[Canhunter35]

Bed the rifle for sure, every rifle should be bedded. Not sure it'll pay to true the action while leaving the factory barrel

 

[okie man]

Before I spent money machine work I'd try a few handloads

 

[Havingfun]

If it ain't broke - don't fix it!
Sub MOA at 500 yards is darn good with factory ammo.
I'd play with premium ammo or hand-loads before doing anything else as previously suggested. The only thing I would potentially do is bed the action if it's not already.

 

[jrock]

I have a 700 that is doing about 1 MOA using reloads. I've been on the fence about selling it or working with it. Thought about doing a recrown on it but didn't think it would do much. Anything more requires much more work/$$. It just collects dust. My local gun smith says a new barrel is of much better value than action work.