Anybody know

J

Jason Shore

Guest
Just purchased a new Remington 700 VSSF 11 in 204 cal that has the short action.I also purchased a Nightforce one peice mount that was ordered for the rem short action.
I have struck a problem installing the mount to the action.The screws that were supplied from NF are bigger in diameter that the screw blanks that came out of the actionIn other words the screw are too big for the holes!
Did remington change the screw thread size on the 204 cal in the action for scope mounts ?
Some thing must be up.I would of thought that they would keep the thread/hole size universal on all there actions.
Any help and imput appreciated
Thanks Jason
 
The screws that came with the NF mount are probably 8-40 screws.I believe Rem uses 6-48 screws.If your set on the NF mount just have a smith make your holes bigger.
 
The screws that came with the NF mount are probably 8-40 screws.I believe Rem uses 6-48 screws.If your set on the NF mount just have a smith make your holes bigger.

I would of thought that NF would know what screw size the remington action are tapped for.
These are listed and sold to go onto remington short or long actions
Jason
 
The Nightforce scopes I've seen are pretty large and heavy, and Nightforce has no idea what caliber rifle the scope will be mounted on. The smaller screws will work on low recoiling rifles, but if someone uses them on something with some recoil they could shear off under recoil. Hard on the equipment, and the shooter's heart and attitude too. They probably figure it's better and less expensive for them and their customers to supply 8-40 screws and have the customer have to open up the screw holes in the action than to supply 6-48's that might be sheared off. I'd be a LOT happier paying a little to have 3 or 4 holes drilled out and retapped than to watch my expensive scope land on its head. :(

A gunsmith can drill out the Remington holes and tap them to 8-40 for not too much, which is what I'd do.
 
Larry Elliot: Are you saying that the folks at NightForce could/would supply 6-48's for that base/Rifle combination - and that they would work in the same base (hole size works with both size screws?)?
I am familiar with a lot of fellows who use the NightForce line of scopes and never heard anyone mention this situation/glitch (need to drill out and re-thread the action holes) before.
I have used some large scopes on Remington actions (both long actions and short actions) and never had or heard of the scope/rings/bases shearing off of the action even with the magnum calibers?
I to would like to hear the explanation from the folks at NightForce.
I don't think the folks at Remington are aware of this "shearing off" situation with their Rifles - at least I have never heard them mention it?
Interesting.
I have heard of folks breaking the heads off of some brands of scope base screws and sometimes stripping the screws of their threads - when installing them though.
Maybe the larger screws allow more torque to be safely applied and the NightForce folks think more is better in that regard?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
 
Varmint Guy since I don't work for Nightforce or have any other connection with them the only reason I can surmise that they supply larger screws than will fit the factory screw holes in the Rem action is that they must have some concern about the screws shearing off. I've never personally had scope base screws shear off, but I tend to not shoot big boomers that do that. But I can sure see that something like an Ultra Mag, .338 Lapua, or similar that generates a fair level of recoil IMHO - and yes, I don't like being hit by anything - on a Rem actioned sniper rifle could shear 6-48 screws off. A big heavy scope sitting on top of a rifle that's trying to move out from underneath it at a good rate is not a good combination unless everything is as strong as needed. Borderline might not continue working.

Nightforce has no control over what caliber rifle the scope will be mounted on, so they may well be covering their tail. I certainly would NOT use smaller screws in a base designed for larger ones. It might work, for awhile anyway, but it's not something I'd do.
 
Reply from a Nightforce sales manager

Cut a pasted from a email


What has happened is the direct mount originally came out with the 8x40 screws (larger ones) as standard. We then changed our standard size screws to 6x48 (smaller ones). For a little while after the packers were still packing the 8x40 screws incorrectly.



The screw head on the 8x40 and 6x48 are the same so you should not have a problem with the mount you have.


The 6x48 are on there way
Thanks for the replys
Jason
 
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