Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rem 700 - Receiver drilled & tapped crooked?

I've got a 1990's Rem 700 SS LA that had been giving me trouble trying to get a scope screwed into a set of Talleys without binding in the rear ring. I threw on a set of Leupold 2 piece STD and the results confirmed the rear base was not square.

What are the chances, of a 700 action with crooked holes? I asked my most trusted gun-guys, one of them says 'not likely' and the other says 'common'...

After lapping a brand new set of Talleys this morning, the scope sits in there perfect with no binding. Comparing the front ring halves to the rear, I can plainly see that the lapping rod worked far more away from the rear than the front.

Not unheard of

Easy to check holes. Put screws in your rear holes and see where the straightedge goes.

Bruce

My .260 Mountain Rifle is crooked.

It happens.. On a similar note: a Rem 870 I had in the shop early this week had the top receiver flat off by about 5 degrees or more..


I trust nothing from the factory any more..

It happens to all brands, although less likely today with the computer controlled machining centers. Even so, there are variances and tolerances to deal with, a screw hole can be off within the allowable tolerance, a base hole can be off from its neighbor within the tolerance, and the receiver contour at the plus or minus limit.

This condition is amplified with the older Mauser actions converted from military surplus.

My solution is to use Ken Farrell bases (or any brand one piece double dovetail bases)where the size and weight will work, and glass bed them to the action (they aren't glued to the action using this method). This gets them level with the action contour and stress free. The same with Weaver two piece bases, where they are made exactly level with shims and axially aligned.

Then I only use Burris Signature Rings with the plastic inserts. This allows using the offset inserts to balance out any misalignment to bore sight the scope before using the scopes internal adjustments. No lapping of rings is necessary - which is always a poor method of alignment and will either reduce the holding ability of the ring, or not completely eliminate stress on the scope tube.

I gave up on Talley mounts along time ago, because of problems with scope alignment and loosening under recoil. They can be made to work, but aren't worth the effort in my opinion. I have never appreciated vertically split rings that must be assembled to the scope and base at the same time, while relying on the scope tube O.D. and ring I.D. to properly clamp to the base. Same thing for their horizontally split mounts with the base and ring made as one piece, there is no easy way to make corrections in the base before installing the rings. These mounts require everything be perfect to work well. Just too much hassle and too many scratched scopes for me.

Happened to me with a SPS 25-06 and it was real bad. I had a choice of Signature rings or sending it back to Remington.

Have seen this on my Remingtons more than any other of the makes I own. It doesn't surprise me, although it can happen to any of them.

My uncle had a Remington 760 that had the rear sight
canted to the left, didnt bother him as he always used
a scope. Cant understand how it left the factory like that.
I also heard of a Ruger 77 with the front reciever not
grooved for the scope rings that came with it.

Pretty common. I use Burris Posi align signature rings most of the time now. I use the varying + or - inserts to get the scope centerd and bore sighted THEN adjust the turrets as needed but minimally suing this method. Solves many problems and they work great anyway. Sorry you had to lap so much out of the Talley's. Not useful for any other rifle now, most likely. Hope the rest of the rifle is OK.