Rem 260 Mountain Rifle

steve4102

I have a Rem 260 Mnt. that won't shoot. Tried dozens of powder and bullet combos. Most groups were over 3in. Some groups were less with shots 1 and 2 touching and the third always 2 to 2 1/2in. away. The barrel was allowed to cool between rounds. Last week I had the action bedded and the barrel free floated. My groups have now gone from two touching and one flier to an even spread of 4 1/2 to 5 inches. I have checked the action screws and the scope mounts, everything seems fine. What can I try next? Should I put the pressure point back in at the end of the forarm or should I use this gun for a very handsome tomato stake?

1armbandit

You speak of powder and bullet combos which indicates you handload. Have you tried factory ammo? My -06 is very ammo sensitive and performs similar to what you describe, that is, until I started using Winchester Supreme with the black coated bullets. With that factory ammo I can hold tight 5-shot groups.

Just a suggestion.

edit: Another idea: Make sure you clean the barrel well of the copper and residues with something like Blue Wonder-something that will get it really clean. That wa another of my problems with the -06.



Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.
--General George S. Patton, Jr.

Snellstrom

Sounds like you are doing everything you can but sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and need to STOP take a look at the big picture and re-think starting with the SIMPLE stuff. Is the bore immaculately clean? Check that first, clean it like you've never cleaned a gun before this is the most common problem of all guns I've ever seen that weren't performing. Is the scope a KNOWN good shooting scope? If not a positive yes put on a scope from another rifle that is a tack driver to check it out also make sure your mounts are tight and not compromised in any way. You've already advanced to the bedding and from your comments I'm assuming that the bedding is okay that you free floated it that sounds like its not working so try a light fore-end pressure some guns respond well to this, some respond to free floating. My honest opinion is that the rifle is not clean enough or you have a bad scope.[;)]
Good luck!

steve4102

quote:My honest opinion is that the rifle is not clean enough or you have a bad scope.


I should have mentioned that the barrel is very clean when I start my testing. I use "WipeOut" and leave it sit overnight. At the range I use "Sweet 7.62" after every 20 rounds. I also use "WipeOut" with the excelerator for a quick thorough cleaning at the range. The scope is a new Nikon Monarch 3x9. I switched this scope with the one off of my 280 ABolt and had the same results. I know it is not the scope but, it could be the mounts. I will check them again.

ern98

You might try recrowning the muzzel? After that I'd contact Remington and see if they would do anything for you. It is not in their best interests to have piss poor shooting rifles with their name on them. I had a 7mmMag Winchester M70 classic with a bad chamber that they replaced for me, at no cost other then shipping.

MFI

How bout the scope ? Maybe the scope is off or out of line. Have you tried another scope and had the same results ?

JustC

That tells me your rifle after freefloating/bedding performing worse, points to the fact that your barrel may need a foreward contact point. Try folding a business card over enough times to have to pull the barrel away from the front of the stock, to fit the folded card between the forend and barrel. Insert that card under a fair amount of pressure ( Pull hard and shove hard), and go fire a few more strings with your rifles preferred ammunition. If the groups improve, then you will simply need to have a gunsmith add a foreward contact point in the barrel channel again.

If your rem700 doesn't shoot well,..I'd look real hard for lug lock up issues, correct action screw torque, barrel channel clearance, scope integrity, etc. The 700 action is pretty simple and quite consistent from the box. Be methodical and check the components one by one until you find the reason. I am betting on a foreward contact point. Many factory thin barrels are quite a bit bent from day 1 and need the upward pressure to help uniform the harmonics.

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?

asa

I've had a Mountain rifle in .280 for several years that I found was very "bullet-weight" sensitive. It absolutely refuses to group 150 or 165 gr. factory ammo. 140 gr. is another story; with a Leupold 2 1/2-8 it will consistently bunch a 3 shot group inside 1 1/2 in. all day, despite the crappy factory trigger-which I should have smoothed up and adjusted, but just haven't bothered. My dad's .280 ADL, on the other hand, prints even smaller groups with all three weights; heavier, longer barrel-who knows? -Asa

Snellstrom

asa may be on to something too, my lightweight 30/06 won't shoot anything very well factory or handloaded unless it is a 180 grain Spitzer Boat tail bullet.150's 165's 168's handloaded or factory shoot an embarrasing 3to 4" group, when I stumbled across the guns pet load groups went to 1" and sub MOA. Just for grins I tried 180 gr Grand Slams and was back to 3"+ groups.
One more Tech tip check your bolt too, I've seen many bolts that when all the way closed were resting on the stock instead of resting metal to metal. If this is the case remove the stock material until you have consistent closure metal to metal.

sandwarrior

Steve,

A funny thing happened to a friend of mine down here in the twin cities with a Remington rifle in 260 rem. He was getting the same thing as what is happening to you.
Do like ern98 said and check the muzzle crown. That was where my friends rifle had the problem. Once recrowned it has been shooting well. I heard this from a mutual friend.

We have the second amendment so that all the rest are secure....UNK>

steve4102

Well, good news the 260 is shooting one hole groups at 100 yards. I replaced the pressure point with a thin piece of anti-vibration material that came with my "Biathlon Stabilizer". It now shoots well with every powder I have tried and shoots great with R-15. Thanks for the help.