"Rookie" Like Mistake!

V

VarmintGuy

New member
Well I have to rat myself out here!
I made a mistake today that would be worthy of a novice shooter, indeed!
It all started last week when I purchased through the U.S Mail a newish Remington XR-100 Rifle.
I spoke with the seller of the Rifle and we conversed about how he was going to ship it to me. He suggested that the Rifle be disassembled and put in a smaller container than the tell tale 48" long type that "signals" firearm inside.
I agreed and thought no more about that.
When the day that the Rifle was due to arrive at my FFL dealers I showed up at his shop and there was my Rifle "standing" in the corner.
We did the paperwork and I hurried home to get started affixing a scope to my "new" 22-250 XR-100 and making some precision handloads for it! I double checked that the trigger and safety worked correctly and put a bore scope and a trigger pull gauge to use on it.
I was so busy getting things in order that I overlooked "something".
I found out what that "something" was during todays second trip to the range with my new Rifle!
The Rifle had shot rather well on its first range session in which I was intent on mostly making 10 pieces of new brass into once fired brass and getting it on paper!
The one 5 shot group I made with the Rifle that first trip made a pretty nice group measuring .590" - discounting the one "flyer" though that group would have measured .283"!
Still I was blissfully happy and "ignorant" of what I had "overlooked" (forgotten)!
It became clear today though when I returned to the range with a freshly cleaned Rifle a couple of fouler rounds and the 10 now fireformed handloaded cartridges!
Conditions could not have been better - 14 degrees, not a breath of wind and the winter sun low at my back!
My first group measured .606"! But, it had 2 holes in one group and right next to it were 3 holes in a seperate group!
"It" then hit me like a ton of bricks.
I had NOT checked the torque on the XR-100's action screws!
I ran to the back of the VarmintMobile and retrieved a set of allen wrenches. I checked the "tightness" of the action screws and sure enough when my FFL dealer had taken the Rifle out of its shipping crate and assembled it for me he had not tightened the allen screws!
Not his bad - MINE!
Well I found the two allen wrenches that fit the three bottom screws and tightened them up - two of them REALLY needed tightening!
I cursed my stupidity (forgetfullness!) - I have a perfectly good Snap-On inch/pounds Torque Wrench in my gun room at home that I always use to set the action screws on new Rifles with!
Always!
Except this time.
Well I had five rounds left to shoot and I was anxious to see if this "flyer" situation or "double grouping" situation would be improved upon with my temporary range fix.
The "situation" indeed improved.
I shot a 5 shot group that measured .397" with the now "tightened up" Rifle.
The wind was so STILL during the shooting of this second group of the day that I had to get out my electric fan and aim it down the Rifles barrel!
Even though the barrel was cool (almost cold!) to my touch the heat was just hanging above the barrel and blurring the 36 power scopes sight picture.
The fan fixed that.
I felt "dumb" because of my oversight, and had proven that feeling "worthy" - for the day anyway.
I had just simply forgotten that the Rifle had recently been apart and rule number one on Remington Rifles is 45 inch/pounds of torque (minimum) on the action screws!
Well, I feel better now that the Rifle has been torqued and the readings recorded (45 in./lbs. front and rear) and that the range tightening apparently helped the group size.
Now to double check that load AGAIN (hopefully tomorrow), and load the other 90 pieces of brass for the new XR-100.
Forgetfullness is a sign of aging, and, I AM aging!
Thats better than the alternative anyway (NOT getting any older!).
Embarassing myself with this public confession will, I hope, keep this from ever happening again!
What torque settings do you all use for your Remington type actions?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
 
Back a couple of years ago I got to investigating about the various torque values and what different people recommended. My dear wife heard me talking and went to the local auto parts dealer and bought me a nice torque wrench for my Christmas stocking that year. She said the man behind the counter questioned her as to whether the one she had picked would be the right one since most people bought Ft/Lb wrenches rather than In/Lb wrenches. She persisted and I was really surprised. I'd always took a socket from one tool set and a 1/4 inch adapter from another tool set and a Allen bit from another set. I had to assemble all to torque the screws. Just this weekend I found a set of the 3/8 inch drive hex keys and remedied that. I just checked torque values with them yesterday and they definitely make it simpler.

I'm using 35 inch pounds on the front action screw and 25 on the rear of my Rem 700 action competition rifle in a laminated stock with pillars and Devcon bedding. In some of my hunting rifles with aluminum bedding blocks I run 50 and 40. I judge it somewhat by the construction and material of the stock. Some of the makers recommend as high as 60 in/lbs while some other stocks would split with that kind of force on the action screws. I had a 35 Whelen that did just that with a synthetic stock torqued to 50. Accuracy suddenly disappeared at the range and when I examined the rifle the stock was split longitudinally through the front action screw. The manufacturer replaced the stock.
 
On the HS Precision stocks which Remington has used; the 40X that I received about 7 years ago said 35 inch-pounds on the screws!
 
Rookie mistakes

The Varmint mobile, huh? I got a chuckle out of reading your post because my Jeep Cherokee is outfitted with varmint/shooting gear. My rests, sandbags, bipods, camo. netting, shooting mat, rangefinder, binocs., surveying tape, etc. stay in the Jeep. I've gone to the range one or two times only to find I left a vital tool at home. My friends think I'm crazy but I'm ready for varmints, towing, first aid, signalling, survival, etc.
Chino69
 
Chino69: Good for you and with the shooting gear and First Aid outfitted Jeepster!
I have a very extensive First Aid kit in my VarmintMobile including blood pressure "tool", scalpels, all manner of compresses (to subdue heavy bleeding!), ointments, CPR "mask", tourniquet, band aids, sunscreen and on and on. It is surprising how often I use something from it.

505Gibbs: Yikes I may be slightly "over-torquing" my 40X's? They seem to shoot well though and hold their point of impact.
I have written down your suggestion for future reference.

Whelenman: What is the brand name on your hex-key set or where did you buy them?
I should get a set of those.
I have made note of your "recommendations" also.
Here is the very "un-scientific" way that I came about settling on the inch/pounds torque values I use on most all my Remington bolt guns.
18 years ago I bought a then rather newish model Remington - it was the 700 PSS (Sniper Special) in caliber 223 Remington. I mounted a Leupold 6.5x20 variable scope on it, loaded up one test batch of ammo and headed for the range.
My first range notes showed it was February 1990 and it was dead calm there at the S.P.A.A. range in Seattle, Washington. Back then "I" was not aware of the now common barrel break-in regimens and once I got the Rifle on paper I went ahead and fired a 5 shot group there at 100 yards that measured .362"!
I was just THRILLED with that but I had more of the same test ammo so I fired off another 5 shot group which measured .293"! I was speechless - new brass, new Rifle, new load, Varmint bullet (Sierra 50 gr Blitz) and I had done NOTHING to this Rifle not even a trigger job! Yet it had come out of the box shooting like a house on fire!
I decided to use this load from then on and have never shot another load/bullet in the Rifle. Later that spring I fired the best group with that Rifle its ever shot - 5 shots at 100 yards measuring .219"!
I was just ga-ga over this rig.
"Fly in the ointment time" - in May of 1990 a certified letter shows up from the good folks at Remington addressed to me - they want me to pack up my Rifle and ship it back to them as "one of the steel pieces inside the trigger (which a jobber had supplied to them) had possibly NOT been heat treated properly"!
I was in no mood to "ship" that Rifle anywhere - it was a jewel that could not be replaced in my mind. I called Remington and explained my situation - we decided I would "drive" my Rifle to a certified Remington Warranty Station and they would change out the trigger while I stood by. I accomplished this and the trigger in question was mailed back to Remington.
I had previously disassembled the Rifle at home and used my in./lbs. torque wrench noting that the allen bolts were set from the factory at 44 in./lbs. rear and 45 in./lbs. front.
Later I returned that Rifle to that setting and it still shoots great to this day!
Like I say NOT very scientific but it has worked for me on many Rifles.

Thanks all for your input.
Hold into the wind (speaking of wind its back to howling here today!)
VarmintGuy
 
VarmintGuy, the 3/8 inch drive hex keys I found were at a Kmart. They were Craftsman tools since Sears and Kmart are now part of the same conglomerate. You should be able to find then at any Sears or Kmart. They're a seven size set in a black soft plastic carrier. If I remember right they were $12.95.
 
WhelenMan: Larry thanks a lot for the tip. I and a couple of friends are headed to the gunshops in Bozeman, Montana here in a few days and I will check both places K-Mart and the Sears store for these.
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
 
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