Remington Ilion repair shop

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Hi All, I'm a first time poster here, so be gentle. I bought a NIB Rem 700 VSSF II in .17 Fireball 5 weeks ago. Right out of the box it had a dime sized dome of rust where the forward scope mounting hole was supposed to be. I had to have it drilled and retapped by the local gunsmith. Took it home and started cleaning the barrel....and cleaning. After 5 brushes, 1/2 bottle of shooters choice, a little sweets and nearly 1000 filthy patches I took it back to the local smith who borescoped it and told me the first 4-5 inches of bore were scratched up bad. Put it back in the factory box and called Remington. The customer service rep told me to ship it to their main factory repair shop in Ilion, NY. That was 3 weeks ago, and the only feedback I have received is that it has been "received and logged in" via their online "repair tracker". It has said the same thing for 2 weeks now. Does anyone have any recent experience with Remingtons main factory repair shop in Ilion, NY?
 
Let us know how you make out. They use to be good. The merger moved the rifle manufacturing to another state.
They lost 2nd and third generation rifle makers with that decision.
 
Last spring I sent them a 17 Fireball that had a grossly oversized chamber. Cases cracked at the base when fired. They sent it back to me with targets from two three shot groups and the six cases. They said it met specs but they evidently didn't notice that all six cases they sent me were cracked at the base. I was not impressed with them.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I sure hope it is sooner than 6 weeks, my wife and kids are about ready to use me for crab bait. (not the most patient guy in the world) Not good news about the cracked cases either. Maybe I should have bought a Savage and had it re-barreled to 17 Fireball
 
I bought a new Remington 700 VLS in .204 Ruger. It could hardly chamber a round, meaning that it was difficult to close the bolt. Once fired, the now you would think perfectly fired formed case should re-chamber with no problem, was even worse. It also would not stabilize 40 grain ammo but the 32 grain groups were nothing to write home about either. Called Remington and they sent me a UPS shipping label. I sent the rifle the first week in May and got it back around June 6th. In fact they sent me a whole new rifle, not the same serial number. So my experience with them was excellent.

Ed
 
Thats good to know Ed. I see as of a few hours ago the online tracker status of my rifle went from "received and logged in" to "being evaluated".
 
The lack of pride taken by the workers or the lack of the manufactures allowing the workers the time to take pride in their work is the down fall of this great country and I tend to think the fault lies on the manufactures in their attempt to save the all mighty penny and they tend to lack the knowledge/common sense to realize that their decision to do so just cost them a dollar.
 
ehkempf said:
I bought a new Remington 700 VLS in .204 Ruger. It could hardly chamber a round, meaning that it was difficult to close the bolt. Once fired, the now you would think perfectly fired formed case should re-chamber with no problem, was even worse. It also would not stabilize 40 grain ammo but the 32 grain groups were nothing to write home about either. Called Remington and they sent me a UPS shipping label. I sent the rifle the first week in May and got it back around June 6th. In fact they sent me a whole new rifle, not the same serial number. So my experience with them was excellent.

Ed
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Ed,
I would agree that the experience was good. BUt it raises the question why such a rifle that had to be replaced ever made it out of the factory in the first place! jmho --Greg
 
glp said:
Ed,
I would agree that the experience was good. BUt it raises the question why such a rifle that had to be replaced ever made it out of the factory in the first place! jmho --Greg
Click to expand...

They are saving money by letting the customer do the inspection. It's that simple. Ruger and Savage do it too. As long as they all do it, quality isn't a discriminator as long as it isn't too awful. That marketing theory is being put to the test by the WEB which facillitates communications about manufacturing defects more than was ever possible before. This thread, for example.

I had a Ruger Single Six .22 Hunter that arrived with cylinder numbers that didn't match the frame, and severe (realloy ugly) tool chatter in the bore. I took pictures, called, sent an e-mail with the pictures in it, they sent a shipping label. They returned the gun a few months later with the same frame, two new cylinders, and a new barrel.

I've seen new out of the box Savages with truly ugly bores - really severe tool chatter (mostly in Model 10, 110, 11. and 111 rifles - the Model 12, 112, 14 and 114 seem to be better quality lines). I've seen Remingtons with chambers that showed reamer chatter and chambers way off center.

I've also seen some factory rifles from all three companies that were just plain superb. It's basically a game of chance. I won't buy anything new from a gun store unless I can run a patch through it and inspect it with the Hawkeye borescope I take with me when I'm serious about buying a new gun.

My local gun store has no problem with me inspecting guns before purchase. So I buy there when I can.

Fitch
 
Fitch it would now make one wonder how much is out there in the hands of those poor individuals that don't have the knowledge to decipher the real good from the real bad and so much for handing down priceless keep sake's to one's children, grand children etc. It does not amaze me that some our manufactures have lowered their standards to the point of forsaking quality control but it sure is troubling! So much for getting your money's worth when doing business with those who follow those guidelines it is more like having somewhat of a chance of winning the lottery.

J.Louis
 
Louis.J said:
Fitch it would now make one wonder how much is out there in the hands of those poor individuals that don't have the knowledge to decipher the real good from the real bad and so much for handing down priceless keep sake's to one's children, grand children etc. It does not amaze me that some our manufactures have lowered their standards to the point of forsaking quality control but it sure is troubling! So much for getting your money's worth when doing business with those who follow those guidelines it is more like having somewhat of a chance of winning the lottery.

J.Louis
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Lottery is an apt analogy. It starts at the top with a short run outlook and gets amplified by middle management that wants to make "good numbers" right now. What can we do to maximize return on assetts (and our bonuses) this year? Middle management responds: How about reducing cost of goods sold by not looking at quality? Our stuff is pretty good, why go looking for problems? Then they lean on manufacturing to the point where they don't care what goes out the door as long as something does. Manufacturing's rationalization, some of it never comes back so we don't have to spend money fixing it, and we still get credit for shipping it.

And so the story goes.

There is frequently little or no concern for the long run. Management by maximizing ROA with out a balanced outlook for long term growth is a sure way to destroy a business.

I would say, don't get me started, but I can at least stop now.

Fitch
 
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And you know what gets me, certain magazines and organizations used to be the bible for rifle accuracy and quality articles on the real dope about a product. Now? Just interested in the advertising money? Again, jmho. --greg
 
Had this same conversation about American cars back in 1972....... Toyota and Datsun became available in a year or so, and the rest, as they, is history.
 
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