Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Remington 700 SPS to free float or not

Hi guys,
I just bought my first Remington SPS in 308win.
It's just the standard hunting rifle, not the heavy barrel version.

The rifle is not free floated at all, I have no experience with Remington rifles and was wondering if you'd recommend I free float it ?

Thanks

I'm no gunsmith, but I'd shoot it first before free floating. If it shoots good leave it alone. No sense trying to fix something that isn't broken.

If it has a crappy factory trigger get that taken care of first.

It has that new x-trigger or whatever they call it, it's a terrible POS compared to my Sako's trigger.

I'm going to order a timney tonight.

In my very limited experience most shot best with a little upward pressure at the front of the stock. I'd free float and bed, shoot, add a temporary pad (card stock, whatever) at the front and shoot again. Mostly I added a pad of bedding compound.

All the ones I worked on shot well out of the box, certainly minute of most critters. We're talking about group improvements less than an inch.

BTW, I could get a very light and smooth and SAFE trigger with a little tuning. But that was the old-style trigger. Too light for me, that was for a friend who could have used a set trigger. Basically a sound design IF maintained properly. I made the adjustment because I knew he maintained his rifles meticulously. Haven't had occasion to tear into the new design.

Never had a Remington 700 with a sporter or varmint barrel that wouldn't shoot better free floated

Mine seems to be tighter to the barrel than a Kiwi in a sheep.

Free floating that summbitch is going to take a bit of elbow grease.

I think I'll see how it shoots as is and if it's good enough to shoot critters I'll call it good, if not I'd better start sanding

I used to free-float everything but some years ago went to full-length neutral bedding lighter barrels and have found it works better. Key is getting the bedding job stress-free.

30 seconds with a Dremel will remove the bump in the barrel channel...

Worst results I have routinely found to be from the bedding channel factory bump. And it is also the most prone to erratic results over time...

I have a dozen or more Rem 700s in 17 to 30 caliber. All are free floated and shoot exceptionally well. Some are heavy varnmint, some are sporter.

Make sure you are not overtighting the front screw. If it has a front bedding bump and that screw is cranked down, accuracy suffers.

This.

I'd have to double check but I think I have her farmer tight. Thanks for the tip