Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rem700 action screws

Recently bought a 700 in 7mag to drop in the grayboe ridgeback stock i snagged a year or more ago. The action screws are way too long. Is this common? Didnt see shorter screws listed at midway. Any reason i cant get shorter ones from a local hardware store? Thanks guys

A bench grinder is your friend.

I've had to shorten action screws on a couple of Rem 700's. It mostly depends on the stock design.

If you got a Fastenal local, they stock Allen head cap screws.

I forget, 1/4-28?

Fastenal here has lost its mind. You have to have an account to deal with them or pay a fee. They sell by the box only. If you have a good hardware store they should have them.

I buy quite a few specialty screws on ebay.

I made an action screw out of a metric bolt for my old Sako with a file, a hacksaw, and a lathe. There's nothing special about action screws. When you're tightening a 1/4" bolt with a screwdriver, you're not in danger of threatening the tinsel strength. That was over 20 years ago and it shoots bugholes.

Don't sweat it.

Carry on

Cross

FASENTAL SUCKS - AROUND HERE YOU HAD TO BUY A GROSS BOX (144) FOR ANYTHING - THEY WOULDN'T BREAK BOXES EVEN THOUGH THEY CLAIM TO SERVE RETAIL. THEY CLOSED UP 18-MONTHS AFTER OPENING UP.

AS TO 700 GUARD SCREWS, GO TO BROWNELLS SITE OR (REMINGTON WHEN THEY USED TO HAVE A MODICUM OF CUSTOMER SERVICE AND REPLACEMENT PARTS), AND YOU WOULD SEE ALL DIFFERENT LENGTHS. THE STOCK YOU USE WILL ALWAYS DICTATE WHAT LENGTH SCREWS YOU NEED. ALSO IF YOU FIND SAVAGE 10/110 SERIES GUARD SCREWS THEY'RE THE SAME PITCH AND YOU FIND OVERLAP WITH 700 SCREWS HAVING SIMILAR LENGTH. BOTTOMLINE, BUY A SET OF EXTRA-LONG SCREWS FROM BROWNELL AND CUT THEM TO WHAT YOU NEED. IF YOU DO MUCH OF THIS, I WOULD SUGGEST GETTING A 1/4 X 28 DIE TO CLEAN UP THE SCREWS YOU ALTER.

There probably wasn't anything wrong with the screws, you either hadn't cleaned them properly, you had jiggered things up by improperly adjusting them, or you had your finger on the trigger.

I've even just used my dremil to grind a few down.

Bb

Sometimes

Screw too long
Screw too short
Stock too tall
Stock too short

From here it's a WA guess, but, for screw too long, grind or file, cold blue, oil. Sometimes adding a shim is a corrector course of course, You don't want to just go with a short screw for a short stock and potentially bind your correct height mag box for example.. I have never seen a vendor with a fine enough variation in appropriate 1/4-28 screws to avoid sizing. YRMV

Yep. Buy long, cut to length.

Fair common problem...

Yes on the 1/4 28TPI...

Before you cut/grind... put on a nut... it will realign the cut threads after the cut/grind when you remove the nut.

JE Rice in Manassas MIGHT have the nut/bolts... pretty good store... old school... at least used to be.

If you are going to keep the old stock to put the rifle back into it when you sell it don’t mess with the old screws… go buy new ones and screw with the length of those… Brownells along with other places stock them.

Better answer...

Some ACE Hardware stores have a couple drawers of Gun Screws and bolts in their hardware and bolt section. Might be a good place to look before trying to accurately cut a stock Remington screw and try to get those fine threads lined up after cutting. BTDT...