Remington Throat Length

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Kimberguy2004

Guest
Does Remington cut their throats long? I'm using a Hornady OAL tool to determine bullet seating depth. I'm using a Berger 155 MG. With the bullet just touching the lands, I get an overall length of something slightly over 3", and there is only about 1/8" of the bearing surface being held by the case neck. Recommended OAL for that bullet is 2.775". This is a Rem 700 5R in .308. it has the 24" heavy SS M24 barrel with was made for the military, so I'm suspecting that the throat was cut long on these barrels to accomodate military ammo. Maybe it's a standard throat fro a Rem .308. It would be really nice to be able to at least touch the lands with the Bergers. Would the longer 175-185gr bullets allow me to at least touch the lands and experiment from there? What bullets/powders have you guys had success with? I'll load and shoot the 155s since the barrel has to break in and I have 100 rounds of Lapua brass that needs to be fire formed.
 
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Long Throat Remington

Out of the 6 I've had only one did not have a way long throat--a 243 winchester. All the rest had throats like you've encountered. I ended up using a lee factory crimper, because I could not seat the bullets any where near the lands.
 
Long throats in Rem700`s

I could be wrong with this, but didn`t Remington at one time offer a 200gr factory load that would require the throat to be longer than most factory bolt rifles? Your results seem to agree with many others...the factory throat length is 1.5 blocks long...at least. There seems to be alot of VS, PSS, and SPS Remington rifles that don`t seem to mind the "jump" to the rifling. I go to an OAL of 2.800 to 2.810 and my 700VS doesn`t seem to mind. I`m speaking of MOA at 1K, not BR standards at 100/200yds.;)
 
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I noticed something else, and it may be normal. I've been loading .223 and .243, but this is my first round with a .308. I'm using a RC press and a Redding neck Sizer S type die, neck sizing only.. My loaded round with new lapua brass measures .338", so I'm using a .336 bushing. It's very hard to neck size these cases, and that's comparing to the other calibers that I load. It doesn't matter if the neck is lubed or not, and you shouldn't have to with the titanium bushings anyway. I even went up one size and it didn't make that much difference. The sized neck measures .304 and it seems like it should meaure .306". The neck wall thickness being .015" X2, and adding the diameter of the bullet, makes .338" minus 2 is .336, so I know the bushing is the right size. Just wondering if resistance is normal for sizing these cases.. One thing that I also noticed is that the actual inside diameter of the bushing(all my bushings) measure .002" less than the stamped size on the bushing. I'm measuring with a digital caliper, not an inside micrometer, so that could be it..
 
bushing diameters

I've also noted differences between the stamped dia., and what you actually get, when using the Redding bushings. My usual method of determining "true" diameter is to size the neck, then measure the outside diameter with a micrometer. Wilson bushings seem to be closer to claimed diameter, but their stamping is not nearly as clear and readable w/o magnification.
 
Two Remingtons in last few month w/long throats..

I have been asked to rebarrel two factory Remingtons both in 308Win with excessive throats. The SAAMI max COAL for a 308 is 2.808". The Remington short action mag box will accomodate a 2.8125 COAL.

The first factory Remington I encountered this year was a model 700 with a 5R Mil spec barrel. The rifle would not group less than 1.5" at 100 yards. The right bolt lug was also found to be .018 longer than the left bolt lug. The customer requested for me to install a new barrel and true the action.
Because of excessive wear due to one lug engaging I had to remove .020 from the bolt and .010 from the action lug engagement surface. This through the primary extraction out and required the bolt handle be moved forward .040. Then it was tig welded on. this rifle left the shop after having shot a single digit group at 100 yards.

The second Remington I encountered this year with excessive freebore was a Model 7 in 308Win. The rifling did not start until .2.2605 measuring with a Hornady (formerly Stoney Point Bullet seating gauge). Again SAAMI spec for a 308 Winchester is 2.146- 2.175.

Both of these rifle should not have passed inspection and left the factory.

This is all the reason one needs to know for using a custom action and custom barrel when having a highly accurate rifle built.

Rustystud
 
Sometimes just flipping a Redding bushing over in the die will help. I've noticed with fresly annealed 204R brass that if I install the bushing "upside down" it will shave brass off the neck.
 
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