Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Afer market recoil lugs for Remington 700's?

Given that the recoil lug on a Remington 700 must be removed for barrel installation anyway are there any drawbacks to adding an aftermarket recoil lug, such as a Hollands or Badger, if the gun is going to be restocked as well? Or, put another way, but for the requirement of some minor inletting work with aftermarket lugs, is there any reason to retain the factory lug when rebarreling?

Your factory lug not strong enough?
You can change it, but I have not seen any real world improvements, (Hunter Benchrest, Metallic Silhouette) from doing so.
But if you want to, by all means change it.

No......

I agree with the post above. If it makes you feel better do it. Otherwise, I doubt you will see any gain.

Defiance machine also sells them. .312 is there standard size.

It makes sense to flat grind a factory lug to make sure the thickness is completely consistent. Cost of doing that is nearly that of a replacement, and you get a better design with the aftermarkets (drafted sides make bedding easier.)

Hollands .250 stainless lug is the one you want!

Ackleyfan got it right. You want a Hollands .250.

Pinning an aftermarket or factory lug is a good idea so if you need to have the barrel removed in the future there is no need to rebed the action.

How will pinning the recoil lug keep you from having to rebed? I don't rebed when I do a barrel change.
Butch

butch ... pinning the lug just makes sure that when you remove the barrel and lug to put a new tube on, the lug ends up in exactly the same position relative to the action as it was when the original barrel was installed.

If the recoil lug is not in the same position for the new barrel - and if the bedding for the lug is very tight (as it should be), the lug will dictate how the action sits in the stock. If that happens, the action can be canted when set back in the stock. Now, when you go to torque the action screws down, you are creating stress between the action and the recoil lug, which may result in problems.

Only if the guy putting the barrel on don't know what he's doing.

WGM probably doesn't have the proper tools to orient the recoil lug when putting the barrel on Jim.
Butch

Butch, Jkob

How do you guys make sure the lug is perfectly straight? Pinning always seemed like the easiest way to keep everything straight as there seems to be too much variation in lugs.

Dale

If you reuse the same recoil lug the special tool will line it up properly.
Butch

wow ... what a good guess there ... seeing as I'm not a gunsmith though, it shouldn't be surprising that I don't have the tools to do it.

I'll bet you don't have the tools to drive 80' long precast concrete piles, do you? See how easy this is? ... (grin)

Butch, do you free float up to the lug or do you bed the chamber area.

special tool? kleindorst?

WGM,
You're right, but I don't try to do it either. I leave it to the experts. I bed up to the chamber.
Butch

Please, tell me when I said, or even implied, that I have ever attempted a re-barrel job myself, much less even even contemplated it.

not jabbing at you, but rather just pointing out that I simply provided an explanation as to why it's done ... never even said it was necessary.

Not trying to give you a hard time, but when you are stating how it would be, you are open to correction. This is how things get started when somebody says something that they heard in a bull session and states this is how it is.
Butch

butch .. unfortunately, there are smiths out there than don't necessarily take care of making sure that the lug is precisely centered, or even index it in the first place prior to removing the old barrel so that they can make sure it goes back on with the new bbl exactly where it was before.

I didn't mean to imply that's ok ...

I didn't mean to imply that a good smith would mis-align the lug ...

I didn't mean to imply that I do such work and pin the lug to avoid that issue ...

on and on and on ...

the information I provided IS the answer as to why some smiths choose to pin the lug ... like it or not, it's the truth. Can it be done other ways? yes ... is it necessary to pin a lug to aid in barrel changes? not at all ... did I answer the question the OP asked? I most certainly did, and gave a factual answer.


Either way, for the record, I have no rifles with pinned lugs, nor do I plan on having it done to any of my rifles for any reason. IOW, I agree with you, but was simply trying to help the OP by answering his post.

Just out of curiosity, why is the Holland lug "the ticket"? About the only thing it will do that some others won't is fit into a "factory inlet" stock without modification.

I've used Badger, Tubb(or maybe Superior Shooting or both), and Callahan lugs all of .300 and larger, and it takes all of 2 minutes with a dremel tool before bedding them to make them fit.

Just wondering.........

WGM,
You're a pretty good guy. I was a little harsh.
Sorry Butch

I used Greg Tannel's lug, he double pinned it to the action.

Holland's lug was installed by Pac-Nor it's not pinned. For a rebarrel just have Holland do it. Any of the smiths that cater to the benchrest crowd should be able to pin a recoil lug. They are primarily for switch barrel rifles. If the lug is canted, the barrel will be pushed to one side or the other in the stock.

Now I just use Savage Precision Target actions and Sharp Shooter Supply lugs - no problems with alignment. Thirty or forty years ago I could tell the difference a lug made but now, I'm just glad to see the target through my trifocals.

I've seen plenty reports of single pins breaking when doing the barrel switch-a-roo. guess that is why greg double pins. Would add that paper shooting switch barrels are seldom cranked like a killing rifles barrels are.
To the question at hand i always throw on a tapered after market lug of one makers or another. Cheap, looks good, and definitely makes pulling from the stock/bedding job easier. Just a win/win situation, IMO.
For the price of a Holland or similar I can't see the worth in machining a factory.

+1

Sounds like bullschitt to me. Locking them in place with a pin is no good but you don't say how your going to line the lug up because you know there isn't a way to get them perfectly lined up again. It's easy to get them very close to lined up with alignment tools but there's always a slight amount of movement.

I'm sure there are others that will work just as good,but I am not a fan of the lugs that are thicker than .250 and the Holland imho is perfect in every aspect from the material,the thickness and the draft on the sides,and they usally are an easy fit,thats why I choose Holland's lugs....no pressure

Yep, it is the action that suffer the misalignment.
Bottom line is it has to be right.

I had this happen several times with certain rebarrels using factory lugs from different barrel makers. I could either relive the lug mortise or straighten up the lug. Best to crack the barrel and realign the lug.

Its so common that Hogue provides instructions with their stocks on how to try and reposition the lug (with a big brass hammer) by smacking it in the direction needed. They say it will slip - but don't do it with the trigger or scope installed.

Personally, an action wrench with lug alignment recess and a barrel vise is the better way. In every case I noticed that the factory lug wasn't bearing equally on the action face, so that now I have actions faced and the target lug installed. The small cost is worth the result.

+100

Been changing Remington barrels for 20+ years, never even heard of a rebed.

I use a Kliendorst Lug Locator from Brownells, works like a cham, never spend the money having a lug pinned again.

If you are worried about the exact location of the lug and do not want to buy the lug locator, then freefloat the sides and front of the lug...works also.

i like the .250" thickness, and i also sleep better at nite cuz my lugs get pinned. to each there own..........

It took apart a 1963 Rem 700 7mmRM to turn into a 7mmRM.
Take out the original Hart stainless with chatter marks and put in a new Shilen stainless without chatter marks.

The recoil lug did not look good.



So I made one.
That was two days ago.
Then I read this old thread that shows up nearly at the top of a "Remington 700 recoil lug" Google search.

My recoil lug is not parallel enough.
I got it nice and flat. I did not think about parallel until I saw this thread.
So I ordered the Holland with 2 day shipping.

I sent 10 of them to a buddy and had him surface grind them so they are all parallel now. I have used both factory and aftermarket. I use whatever the action maker supplies.

I do have a surface grinder.

Pinning the lug is a waste of time.. 90% of the time the damn pin shears off when tightening the barrel.. I won't bother with 'em any more..

What do you torque a barrel to?

I’ve used lugs from Tannel and Holland and have had good results with both. I’m always intrigued with the “why bother” attitude that is associated with many of these rebarrel questions. To me, if you’re going to spend the time and money on a rebarrel, why not spend the little extra on a lug, on ensuring that the relevant receiver surfaces are true, etc. Can I prove that any of this will make a rifle shoot better? No, but it seems like reasonable insurance in this contex. Just my view as someone who has been a custom rifle client and has built a few of my own.

I usually replace them with a decent aftermarket lug of either .225" or .250". The thickness doesn't matter, the factory .187" lug is plenty strong but it's not likely to have parallel surfaces. Surface grinding a factory lug is fine too, just whatever it takes to get it parallel. That assumes the action has been faced true which I would always have done with a remington action. If you don't have the action faced then I wouldn't bother with an aftermarket lug.

I put a light coating of moly paste on both sides of the lug where it mates up. I haven't sheared a pin yet.

This is what I use
Molykote Gn

I've tried that a couple times - thinking it should work.. It did - a couple times...not always.. Besides, I'm not a fan of drilling a hole in the face of a M700.. Doesn't 'add' to the strength, IMHO..

Besides, if a 'smith can't figure out a way to get a lug aligned w/o a pin, he/she might wanna try a new profession.... (just a gentle poke - no flames intended)..

I have never drilled a 700, just used them on the actions that came already drilled and supplied with a matching lug. All mine are double pinned.

I only have one Kleinendorst tool and it fits standard 700 lugs. I guess you need a different one for each type of lug you use. I can remember putting a couple of barrels together in Danny Pedersen's shop in Prescott and he had about 12 different ones on his barrel vice table.

You would be surprised. -Al

Al, you are very correct!

Lee, I made my action wrench with an integral pocket to hold the recoil lug in position.

I’ve found on huntin rifles it doesn’t matter, I use the factory lug...

Even pinned lugs do not orient perfectly unless the barrel tenon fits the lug precisely. As long as there is some clearance on the sides of the lug (as there should be) minor misalignment can be accomodated. For many years, I honed factory lugs by hand to within .0001" when fitting barrels to match rifles. When replacement lugs became available, I started using them instead. If they were not parallel (and not all are), instead of honing them, I could just send them back. GD

Pinned correctly with grade 8 dowels and little anti-seize on the barrel shoulder bearing side of the lug you shouldn't be shearing anything at all. I usually torque to 75 ft lbs on standard rounds and 100 ft lbs on magnums (hunting rifles).

With the above being said, I don't recommend pinning unless you are going to be actually switching barrels yourself. The recoil lug locating tools work great.

Holland lugs are nice, but if you are building on a HS Precision stock with a bedding block, you will need to inlet some for the Holland lug. This inletting will require getting into the sides of the bedding block in the recoil lug area and removing some aluminum. This weakens the the forearm of the stock slightly in the flex/twist area.

Gre-Tan makes a .250" lug that keeps the factory profile but the bottom sides have a slight taper. These drop right in the stocks with bedding blocks without having to get into the block itself. I use them now instead of the Holland for this feature. Plus Greg is great to deal with

https://www.gretanrifles.com/product-page/250-bedding-block-lug-w-pins