Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing 721 magazine box

I have read that one doesn't want the magazine box to seat hard on the underside of the receiver but a new to me 721 does. I seats hard up against it when the trigger guard/bottom metal is tightened up w/ the guard screws. I have been having a devil of a time getting it to shoot anything less than 3" @ 100 yds (270 Win.) and have tried everything else I could think of. All I would need to do is grind a bit off of the bottom of the box. Also how tight does one tighten the center screw? I read somewhere that it shouldn't be very tight at all. Thanks-Muddy

Muddy, get something flat like a mirror and sand the box down till you have a little wiggle room. It should shoot much better. Just snug...not tight on the middle screw. powdr

Instead of grinding on the box, I'd start with a 1/4" flat washer between the front and rear stock and floor plate and leave the center screw loose. I suspect you have something other than the snug mag box going on. I had a 721 rebored to 35 whelen and dropped it into a 700 BDL stock using the 721 bottom metal hard against the mag box and it shoots well.

Shoot it without the box to verify the box is the issue...

If it is you can easily bed it a little high in the stock for a bit of clearance. I use a bit of duct tape on the box top while bedding.

Put in a pillar to maintain the relationship without relying on the wood.

You're probably aware of this but there is the cutout/recess in the bottom of the receiver in which the top of the magazine box fits. I have several of the 721 and 722 series and when I reassemble one, I try to make sure the mag box is seated solidly in that recess before I lower it into the stock (actually I normally have the action upside down and lower the stock onto the action).

If the mag box is seated firmly in that recess (sometimes you might have to tap it with a rubber mallet or something to get it to seat) and the mag box still bottoms out in the stock then you might need to take some off the bottom of the mag box. I've never run into that with a whole bunch of them but you never know.