I've got a 700 in MCM w/ M5 BM pillar bedded. Its a solid 3/4 MOA shooter. I've been considering sending it to gap for a skim bed and blueprint job. I'm only shooting out to 400 now but want to go to 1000 as accurately as I can on this rifle. Anyone had GAP do work on their 700? If so, was it worth it? Thanks!
Anybody send their 700 to GAP....
- Thread starter eyekahn
- Start date
GAP does good work, but why would you send a rifle that is shooting pretty well to chop it up for a bunch of expensive work? Unless you have an itch to change calibers, I wouldn't sent it in until the barrel goes south. Your factory barrel won't fit a blueprinted receiver unless it's rechambered.
The barrel threads on the breach end won't time with a trued receiver. Typically gunsmiths rethread the receiver threads oversize from the factory threads. The only way to reuse the factory barrel is to cut the old threads off and re-thread it, which would involve re-chambering it to get headspace right. Chad Dixon discusses this at length in his R700 Group Buy.
They offer a blueprinting and chambering service. Id like a 1/4 minute gun and feel I have maxed out my setup at 3/4 minute. I have found the load my rifle likes and now see the only thing that could help accuracy is work by GAP.
You're not going to get a 1/4 minute gun with your factory barrel, even if it's trued an rechambered by GAP. To get there you'll need the blueprinting AND a match grade barrel (Bartlein, Krieger, Brux, etc.). Nearly all of the "match grade" accuracy is derived from the barrel; the bedding, the blueprinting, etc. is mostly polishing the cannonball - there is some improvement, but marginal compared to the performance a hand lapped match grade barrel (properly chambered) provides. Most gunsmiths do not recommend blueprinting a rifle that shoots well unless you plan on changing out the barrel as well because the labor costs for using your POS factory barrel and a new match grade barrel are the same.
You are absolutely dreaming and completely kidding yourself if you think that you can send your factory rifle to GAP and they will return back a 1/4 MOA gun that's only a rechamber factory barrel on a blueprinted receiver. You think I'm full of it, go ahead an call them and get their opinion.
BTW, if you get a new barrel, you'll probably need to work up a new load.
You are absolutely dreaming and completely kidding yourself if you think that you can send your factory rifle to GAP and they will return back a 1/4 MOA gun that's only a rechamber factory barrel on a blueprinted receiver. You think I'm full of it, go ahead an call them and get their opinion.
BTW, if you get a new barrel, you'll probably need to work up a new load.
Thanks, I guess... Your first paragraph was very informative but your second and third were way out there. Less hostility would have been nice. Anyways, like I said anyone WHO HAS DONE THIS want to chime in?
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Blunt, yes. But true? Absolutely. Don't waste your money, drop the extra few hundred and do it right. This is good advise.
unreasonable expectations
1/4" inch rifles are not easy to come by and the difference between a 3/4" rifle and 1/4" rifle is not exactly 1/2" . Gap accuracy guarantees are 1/2" for some rifles and 3/8" for some rifles. That is with high grade custom barrels and mostly custom actions. Expecting that anybody can turn a Factory action and especially barrel into a 1/4" gun is probably beyond reasonable. Not saying it's impossible, just highly unlikely. Using the weakest link theory, your factory barrel will likely be the weakest link and ultimately limit the accuracy potential of the rifle.
1/4" inch rifles are not easy to come by and the difference between a 3/4" rifle and 1/4" rifle is not exactly 1/2" . Gap accuracy guarantees are 1/2" for some rifles and 3/8" for some rifles. That is with high grade custom barrels and mostly custom actions. Expecting that anybody can turn a Factory action and especially barrel into a 1/4" gun is probably beyond reasonable. Not saying it's impossible, just highly unlikely. Using the weakest link theory, your factory barrel will likely be the weakest link and ultimately limit the accuracy potential of the rifle.
Bingo. This sport is expensive enough. Don't spend when you don't need to, and when you do, do it wisely.
These guys are shooting you straight. "Polishing the cannonball" could not have been said better. I'm in the same position you are, I have a few 700's I want trued up, but i know in the back of my head 99% of accuracy is the barrel.
Been pretty well covered, but GAP guarantees 3/8" on some of their rifles, not all. 1/4" is a good goal , but not, likely.
OFG
OFG
Personally by the time you spend all the money on the action, stock work and barrel why don't you order a new rifle from GAP? I just received one after 8 months, not a really long wait for a 100% custom done right the first time 100% by GAP. All they require is a deposit, shoot your gun till the GAP is done and then sell the one you have to offset the new rifle. I would guess by the end of everything for an apple to apple the money difference isn't much and your factory gun will most likely not keep up with a full GAP build. Other option is find a nice used GAP or other quality rifle with good barrel and sell yours. Something to think about...email Ken with a list of what you want done and go from there. You have to figure once you send in your gun if you put a new barrel on it you probably won't see it for 4-8 months.
Lots of good feedback here. I have been thinking about this as well. However, I am really only interested in their Gladius. Since the base rifle from them is a trued 700 action and bartlein barrel, it would make sense for me to keep my rifle since I have 98% of the parts that come on it and just get the same barrel and send in all my parts to build it. It seems the price difference in doing this and selling off my whole rifle to fund a Gladius is way more than just getting a Gladius built with my parts. With a quicker turn around. Thanks for all the replies!
Well I would highly suggest you contact Ken at GAP and discuss this with him. You do realize they will make anything you want not just the rifles they have preconfigured. I also had considered doing the same thing as you are and after looking at it I was able to go with a Templar for pretty much the same cost as a 700 and then all the work to it. At the end of the day labor is the killer here. If they have a bunch of time spent taking your stuff apart, reworking your parts, stock work, refinish, barrel fitting etc it doesn't necessarily save you any money. Lets say brand new is $900 more (just a guess for convo purpose) and it is a GAP rifle is that not worth it? Plus consider the resale value etc. You will not be getting your parts back any faster then going with a new build...the barrel is what will take the longest so the time frame is the same. Let us know what you do but I really suggest discussing all your options with Ken and putting a number to it. I know I did and the difference was so small I had it built the way I wanted from the start.
David
Shoot the barrel out of it, then send it to GAP. A bedding job may improve how it shoots, but you may only see marginal accuracy gains if any. As far as truing the acton, I would have it done along with a new barrel job when its time.
Kirk R
Kirk R
I dropped off a 700 action and a new barrel with Gap last year. A few weeks later I picked up the worked over action and barrel chambered as I asked. It went back into it's old stock perfectly. It's excatley as anticipated and a bargain for the work done by them.
Send it to whichever honorable smith can get it done the quickest. There's really only a handful of ways to blueprint a Remington action. In my eyes, Benchmark Barrels has the best procedure around. But there are 20 other gunsmiths on this forum that put together damn fine rifles as well. Dot get caught up on the GA Precision band wagon if their lead time is twice as long as anothers'. Yes they build good sticks, but they aren't the only ones.
As far as the barrel goes, I HATE using tools and equipment knowing that they could be better or more accurate. Send it to a gunsmith, blueprint the action and chamber a good barrel on it (again doesn't have to be Bartlein only) and bed it back in your stock. I'd bet it shoots as well as you can group them. Wether that's 1/4 or 3/4 MOA is up to you. But the rifle will shoot.
As far as the barrel goes, I HATE using tools and equipment knowing that they could be better or more accurate. Send it to a gunsmith, blueprint the action and chamber a good barrel on it (again doesn't have to be Bartlein only) and bed it back in your stock. I'd bet it shoots as well as you can group them. Wether that's 1/4 or 3/4 MOA is up to you. But the rifle will shoot.
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