Gunsmithing Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

[SteelW0LF]

My friend and I were getting ready to cut threads in the end of my R700 SPS Tactical, and noticed that when spinning on the lathe that the middle of the barrel appears bowed.

I bought the gun new and only have shot about 20 rounds through it so far. All thats been done to it is its been put in a new stock, and been duracoated. Certainly nothing that would tweak a barrel out of roud.

I'm just wondering if this should be a warrenty issue, or if its within tolerances. The hole down the barrel could be straight, and just the exterior out of round....

Either way here's the measurements we got off the lathe using a dial indicator.

Base (near the chamber) : .016 out of round
Mid Barrel : .026 our of round
Muzzle : .006 out of round

measurements were taken with a centering pin holding the end of the muzzle while the chamber end was chucked in the lathe right behind the recoil lug.

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

i have seen factory barrels w/chamber jobs SEVERELY out of plumb.

there is no such thing as a straight barrel, and as such any gunplumber worth spit with thread on the bore center axis ...not the OD

 

[SteelW0LF]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

Is there any easy way to tell if its just the OD thats out of round and not the rifling as well?

Looking through the barrel, it apears straight to the eye. If the bend was in the 12 o clock position I probably wouldnt have worried much about it. But the out of round portion is in the 3 o clock postition. That caused me to pause and want to find out more information.

 

[Robert Gradous]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

How does it shoot?

 

[steelcomp]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

At a minimum you can chuck up the chamber end and compare the OD with the chamber and threads and see if they're concentric.

 

[SteelW0LF]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

It seemed to shoot ok....

Like I said its only had about 20 rounds through it, and only at about 100 yrds. Dont know how far off the shot group would be when only shooting at 100 yrds.

Weather permitting I plan on shooting next weekend and trying it out to farther ranges.

I may call Remington during the week just to see what they have to say about their barrel tolerances as well.

 

[zenbiker]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

Remington, while making a good action, has a tendency to bolt on some of the crappiest barrels I've ever seen. It's absolutely shameful. I excitedly opened a new 700 PSS in 300 Win Mag, only to note the barrel was contacting the front of the stock. A boresight showed the the barrel was <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">bent and twisted</span></span> (!) in front of the chamber.

I'm guessing you're turning between centers; put a dial indicator on it and tell us how much runout the barrel has in the middle, and then tell us how the barrel fit in the barrel channel on the stock. Some shooters accept some warp in a barrel if it shoots well; I routinely reject any barrel that doesn't run true between centers and has visible evidence that it was bored less than straight.

This is what happens when a company builds to a price point instead of to a standard of quality. You're not the first to get a crooked Remington, sorry to say, and probably not the last. At least you've got a great platform for a custom rifle if you decide to rebarrel.

Regards,

Wes

 

[300sniper]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

i have never run a factory remington barrel between centers but those numbers don't surprise me at all nor would they bother me. if it were mine, i'd run it. i also wouldn't be doing barrel work between centers unless there was no other option.

 

[SteelW0LF]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

The numbers in my OP are the numbers between centers.

I'm going to contact Remington during the week to find out what they say. I'm hoping they dont say that treading the end and Duracoating it voids their warranty, but we'll see.

If it does it will be a good excuse for me to justify buying a better barrel. =P

 

[DAVETOOLEY]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

I've seen worse. I've seen custom barrels that were out a good bit also. All small hunting contours though. After 27 years in this business I'm amazed factory rifles shoot as good as they do as they are made as fast and as inexpensively as possible. Shoot it, if you don't like the performance then screw on a new tube.

 

[steelcomp]

Re: Warped Barrel or within tollerace?

If you're going to put this barrel back on, would it be worth while to at least time the threads so the runout if vertical, not horizontal, or can you assume the bore is following the OD? If we're to assue the bore is following the OD, why not striaghten the barrel as much as possible?