This is an older remington model 700 in 7 Mag. I see that it is not free floating. Do i take it into a gunsmith, sand it down myself, or forget about it?
time and effort. If you are handy, can be done. Brownell’s has the bedding mix and youtube has the videos. More than just sanding or removing material. Are you in love with that stock? There are a few 700 stocks out there that would solve the problem for whatever your budget. A laminate from Boyd’s would be money ahead in most cases. Unless a nicely figured walnut stock I would not bother. Less than $300 for a laminate. But if you want the 7mm to really work I would not forget about it. My 2 cents worth.
PS in the olden days we did not have the options like now. For best accuracy we had to epoxy bed the rifles.
MDT has a stock (MDT Field Stock for $300) that I am seriously considering buying for a Remington 700 that is chambered in 6mm Remington. It rains all the time here in Ketchikan and I am assuming that the wood is swelling with the moisture. Some days the dollar bill test passes and sometimes it’s pretty tight.
What are your thoughts on the stock?
I’m amazed how many guns I review that have barrels that are clearly not free floated well—usually because the plastic stock slightly warps in manufacturing. And yet, they shoot really well.
So as to save you time in fixing it, you could put on another REM 700 stock and shoot it to see if it improves accuracy and then know the modification would be worth it.
A confounding factor, however, could be the wood stock. The non-free floated plastic barrels may not cause an issue because the plastic is Toomey and yet wood is stiff and may be more likely to cause an issue—especially if changing humidity and the wood adapts.