Is Rem 700 ADL free-floating?

[TexasTea]

I went the range today shooting my Rem 700 ADL with my newly reloaded 30-06 cartridges. This is my first reload so I was nervous and excited. I shoot at 50 yard first with 6x on my scope. I was pretty thrill to see my first reload worked well, nice grouping. I moved out to 100 yard and did pretty well for the first three shots, nice grouping. After that it went wild. I miss the bull eyes my 6 inches, consistently high.

I remembered reading a book indicating if your shots are stringed vertically while not much left to right, you can reasonably suspect that bedding of the rifle is the problem. I did the dollar test under the barrel. It got stuck right the way. I suspect that the inacuracy after half of a dozen shots is due to expansion of the hot barrel, contacting the stock at the fore-end, and push the shots up.

Is the Rem 700 ADL barrel free-floating from the factory? I went and look on Rem website. I did not see anything mention on the Rem 700 ADL. So I assume that it is not free-floating from the factory. If I only shoot couple shots like in hunting, I guess the rifle is fine. But I want to shoot a lot and this really bother me. I enjoy shooting more than hunting.

So what can I do? Is it something easy to fixed by myself? Or do I need to take to a gunsmith to get the barrel free-floating? Is there another after market stock that I can buy, which does not have this problem? Thank you for your comments.

 

[Arkady]

Remove the action from the stock, and sand the interior of the hand guard little by little until it passes the dollar bill test.

 

[dfaugh]

Also depends on the barrel stiffness

Many guns like to be free floated, some others like just a bit of upward pressure on the barrel(near the tip of the forend)...But most guns that I've seen, with "sporter" weight barrels, with change POI if you get the barrel hot, even if free floated...often less so if they have some pressure on the forend...Personally, I free float them, and if I'm getting POI changes I try shimming the barrel near the forend...Again, this applies more to lighter weight barrels than to heavy (stiff) barrels

 

[Joe H]

Sanding then shimming?

If you sand the stock down to clear the dollar bill, what would you
use to shim the front end later? Brass shim stock? Index card?
Fold up a dollar bill?
Does the barrel need to clear the bill all the way up the stock?

 

[adaman04]

I've always been curious about this as well. My ADL has the lugs at the end of the forend that "cradle" the barrel. Sometimes I think I oughta float it, but if it doesn't work out, I don't want to be adding material to the the stock to fix it. What's the deal?

 

[pcf]

No your rifle is not free floated from the factory. 6" shift at 100 yards sounds like loose screws or your rest is contacting the barrel. Check that first. Has your rifle ever done this before when shooting it with factory ammo? How many rounds did you fire? How fast?

 

[Rockstar]

Your ADL doesn't have enough "meat" in that cheap, crappy stock to withstand "doing a little sanding" to free-float the barrel. If you want to free-float the barrel, buy a better stock!

 

[adaman04]

Personally, I think the Remington synthetic stocks are pretty well put together for the money. Sure, bedding them would help, but there aren't many stocks out there that don't need a bedding job. My ADL shoots great.

 

[pcf]

One more thing, before you start sanding your action needs to be securely mounted in the stock. Some rifles the only points of contact will be the rear of the action and the bump at the front end of the stock. If that's the case and you start sanding your going to have to remove material until the action grounds out. It would be useful to bed the action first.

 

[Rockstar]

An ADL should shoot 1" or so, out-of-the-box, with the right ammo, the right optics, and the right shooter. The plastic stock is probably a $10 item. If you remove enough plastic to free-float the barrel, you'll find the stock will become very flexible...not a good trait for a stock.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Congrats on the reloads. I can still remember my first time

My 700VS (varmint synthetic) is free floated with the aluminum bedding block but my 700VLS (varmint laminated stock) has the "bump" - the barrel is free floated almost to the tip where there is a small bump to support the barrel. I have thought about removing the bump and then bedding the action. My buddy did this on his old 722 and it really improved the consistency from shot to shot.

 

[TexasTea]

I shot a total of about 25 rounds that day. Like a said the first few was decent at 100m. I would say 2" grouping or less. The later rounds were the ones that went awry. I shot about 8-10 rounds each time we change targets. I put out two targets each time and I shot about a minute between round.

Like I indicated I would guees that the rifle would fine if I only shoot about three rounds every time out to the range. I was a bit shock when I did not get shoot within the 6 inches targets at the end of the session. I certainly hope it is not me doing it. I would be a shame if I can only use this gun for hunting and not able to enjoy shooting it at the range regularly.

I will take the gun off the stock tonight and examing the thickness of the fore end before sanding it down. I guess the worst case is I may have to put something back to support the barrel or buy a new stock. But I want to find out.

Thank for all the comments.

 

[Rockstar]

Your barrel's heating up. No sporter-weight barrel is going to shoot tight groups when hot!

 

[pcf]

You were firing 8-10 shots per string of fire, with 1 minute between shots shots, and about 25 rounds fired, total?

I won't say "in no uncertain terms" but I'm pretty sure that your barrel heating up was not a cause of your shifted POI. At the rate you're firing I can't imagine your barrel getting that hot.

 

[Rockstar]

You were firing 8-10 shots per string of fire, with 1 minute between shots shots, and about 25 rounds fired, total?

I won't say "in no uncertain terms" but I'm pretty sure that your barrel heating up was not a cause of your shifted POI. At the rate you're firing I can't imagine your barrel getting that hot.

Have you ever fired a centerfire rifle? Of course, his barrel's heating up!

 

[TexasTea]

I am pretty sure that the barrel is heated up. The barrel felt warm felt warm around the fore-end area when the shot went awry.

How many round you would usually shoot when you go to the range? Since I am new I thought I need a lot of practice. If I have to wait 5 or 10 minutes every three rounds, it could take all day to shoot 50 rounds.