Remington 700 BDL 243. Patterns all over the place

[CJ5Dave]

I had one that I added a flat washer between action and stock on the screw holding the stock on. Took out MOST of the inaccuracy. A lot of people glass bedded the wooden stocked 700's, and a lot needed nothing.

 

[lordbeezer]

Has a different scope been tried at some point?

 

[CJ5Dave]

Wonder if the barrel was rebored to something, like 7mm -08, and the barrel was not restamped? Would still chamber .243, but would not touch grooves.

 

[pdentrem]

I would expect split necks if it was rebored to a larger caliber. Even new brass would show stress if not splitting. I would look at the bedding. If the recoil lug is floating instead of being in firm contact to the stock, the accuracy would be poor.

 

[Harry Knutz]

A 243 will have serious throat wear after 12 to 1500 rounds, It is known for being a barrel burner. If you bought it used there's no telling how many rounds have been shot out of it. Buy yourself a bore scope, They are inexpensive these days.

A worn throat will cause accuracy issues due to the worn throat tearing the jackets as they pass through causing instability and bad accuracy. As John mentioned twist is very important and older guns tend to have slower twists and modern ammo has heavier bullets available these days, Some people just don't know that heavier bullets need faster twists. Although I was glad to see some of the companies started put the required twist rates on the boxes.

 

[RockKrawler]

Pickup some Cerrosafe and make a cast of your chamber. The process can seem a little daunting ,but just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.
Another thought,have you checked the alignment of your scope bases ,making sure they are not putting bind on the scope itself?
I still have a few 700 actions in one of my safes waiting to be built into rifles again.

 

[GeneT45]

Pickup some Cerrosafe and make a cast of your chamber. The process can seem a little daunting ,but just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.
Another thought,have you checked the alignment of your scope bases ,making sure they are not putting bind on the scope itself?
I still have a few 700 actions in one of my safes waiting to be built into rifles again.

Be careful not to let the cerrosafe flow up into the lug recesses in your action or you'll be spending some quality time getting it out. Easier to do than you might think, especially if you try pouring it from a bag with a cut corner, as a lot of people do.

GsT

 

[RLPrice]

Have you borescoped the barrel? Did you buy the rifle new or used? As others have indicated the .243 is a "barrel burner".

 

[Rick Leslie]

You may have mentioned this earlier but are you getting keyholes or just big spreads? I've found that action screw tightening sequence is critical on the Remmy 700s. I've had plenty in the shop that 'wouldn't shoot'. Simply loosen the screws, force the action to the read of the stock to make sure it's resting on the recoil lug and tighten the forward screw first. Follow by the rear screw and then the middle. Just snug the middle. Apparently cranking down on this one tweaks the action enough to give wild groups.
BTW, I always bed my stocks and float the barrels.

 

[Harry Knutz]

You may have mentioned this earlier but are you getting keyholes or just big spreads? I've found that action screw tightening sequence is critical on the Remmy 700s. I've had plenty in the shop that 'wouldn't shoot'. Simply loosen the screws, force the action to the read of the stock to make sure it's resting on the recoil lug and tighten the forward screw first. Follow by the rear screw and then the middle. Just snug the middle. Apparently cranking down on this one tweaks the action enough to give wild groups.
BTW, I always bed my stocks and float the barrels.

There is no middle screw on a Remington 700.