Remington 700 magazine follower

[cj5wit4wd]

Good evening everyone,

I spent some time trying to figure out chamber options for a 7.62x39 bolt face and ended up finding a deal on a 700 chambered for 223. I had some store credit I'd forgotten about and ended up with a very lightly used Remington 700 in 223 for $8.71 out of pocket. Its an ADL and nothing to write home about, but I intended to put an HS Precision stock on it, likely a Timney trigger, have it trued and eventually rebarrel it and chamber for 6mm TCU. For now though I have an issue that will become much worse when I rebarrel and rechamber. The issue is that the factory magazine box has a spacer in it that limits cartridge oal to 2.460 inches. Im loading Nosler 53 grain Varmagedon flat base at the moment and they are pretty long. I'm at 2.3655 inches right now and they feed but barely. Surely there is a company or machine shop somewhere making a follower for the 223 cartridge rifles that removes the factory spacer and adds to available oal? If Im maxing things out on a 53 grain I can only imagine how much bullet is stuffed inside the cartridge for the guys slinging 80 grainers?!?! While its not presently a huge problem, when I go to the 6mm TCU it will become one. Sami spec for 6 TCU is 2.5 inches. As far as I understand it the spacer is .400 inches long so removing it and freeing up that space would put my possible oal somewhere in the 2.85 frame which should be ample plenty for the current chamber and sufficient for the TCU. Anyone know of a place to get a follower like this? I can't imagine this is an uncommon problem for the 222 mag, 204, and 223 70+ grainer guys.

Any help is appreciated,
Thanks!
Josh

 

[DanO]

Check out Wyatts Outdoors, Kevin makes an assortment of magazine options for Reminton actions.

 

[Asa Yam]

If Im maxing things out on a 53 grain I can only imagine how much bullet is stuffed inside the cartridge for the guys slinging 80 grainers?!?!

Josh,

Most 80 grain .224" bullets are not meant to be magazine loaded, but as single shot rounds only. Have seen 80 loaded for standard magazine length (2.260"), and they're interesting - the ogive to body join is inside the neck, making the cartridge appear as if it has an air intake.

As far as I understand it the spacer is .400 inches long so removing it and freeing up that space would put my possible oal somewhere in the 2.85 frame which should be ample plenty for the current chamber and sufficient for the TCU. Anyone know of a place to get a follower like this?

Using a .308 Winchester follower, and bolt release (and possibly, magazine box) would allow magazine feeding cartridges of 2.800" OAL. (Possibly a few thousandths longer.) However, pay attention to the construction of your rifle, as the bottom of the receiver forms the feed lips for the magazine. If the magazine well cut (blocked by the spacer) is narrower behind where the rear of the .223 rounds are now, misfeeds are possible. Fixing this condition requires machining the receiver.

Having said the above, there is another option you may not have considered: .300 Blackout. 7.62x39 performance, in a package roughly the same size and shape as the .223 Remington. Components - including brass - are readily available, and the only change to your rifle would be a new barrel. With a 1 in 8" twist or faster, use of subsonic loads is possible. If you are not familiar with this round, a may be seen at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_AAC_Blackout . At this time, Advanced Armament has a sale on lightweight Blackout barrels - see http://www.advanced-armament.com/Rem-700M-7-Barrel-300-BLK_p_464.html for details.

Hope this helps.

 

[Asa Yam]

Re: Blackout ammo. Multiple manufacturers load ammo for this caliber. Remington's "low end" 120 grainer actually performs fairly well, though I suggest you stay (far, far, far) away from most 147 or 150 grain full metal jacket loads. (Really, really low end bullets, resulting in less than desired precision.)

 

[SGS]

Good evening everyone,

I spent some time trying to figure out chamber options for a 7.62x39 bolt face and ended up finding a deal on a 700 chambered for 223. I had some store credit I'd forgotten about and ended up with a very lightly used Remington 700 in 223 for $8.71 out of pocket. Its an ADL and nothing to write home about, but I intended to put an HS Precision stock on it, likely a Timney trigger, have it trued and eventually rebarrel it and chamber for 6mm TCU. For now though I have an issue that will become much worse when I rebarrel and rechamber. The issue is that the factory magazine box has a spacer in it that limits cartridge oal to 2.460 inches. Im loading Nosler 53 grain Varmagedon flat base at the moment and they are pretty long. I'm at 2.3655 inches right now and they feed but barely. Surely there is a company or machine shop somewhere making a follower for the 223 cartridge rifles that removes the factory spacer and adds to available oal? If Im maxing things out on a 53 grain I can only imagine how much bullet is stuffed inside the cartridge for the guys slinging 80 grainers?!?! While its not presently a huge problem, when I go to the 6mm TCU it will become one. Sami spec for 6 TCU is 2.5 inches. As far as I understand it the spacer is .400 inches long so removing it and freeing up that space would put my possible oal somewhere in the 2.85 frame which should be ample plenty for the current chamber and sufficient for the TCU. Anyone know of a place to get a follower like this? I can't imagine this is an uncommon problem for the 222 mag, 204, and 223 70+ grainer guys.

Any help is appreciated,
Thanks!
Josh

I know of several guys that have done the 6TCU on a short action Remington. The spacer can be replaced with a block of aluminum, Delrin, or steel, made about .125 thinner than the factory one. This works fine with the factory follower and gains enough magazine length for 70 grain bullets at least. The factory mag box is about 2.375 and with the thinner spacer can allow 2.5" OAL.