Well I'm kind of in a pickle here and not sure what direction to take with a rifle I have. Thought I would reach out to you folks to see what you suggest.
First a quick little background as to the why and what lead up to this.....years ago, probably about 15, I had drawn a couple cow elk tags in two consecutive years. Both of those years I was able to hunt and shoot a cow elk. Notice I said shoot, the recovery was something different. At the time I was shooting a 270 with a 150 grain bullet. In both instances the shots were 150 to 200 yards and on a dead rest broadside with the animals not even knowing I was there. One of those cows actually dropped in her tracks but when I got the spot she dropped she was gone. Her tracks mixed into the other tracks and after a day and half of looking and due to time running out we had to leave the mountain. The prior year was somewhat similar. This made me sick! Two years in a row I had hit an animal and didn't recover it. I vowed at that time that the next elk hunt I went on I would have a bigger caliber rifle that had a little more punch and a little more knock down power to it. Let me just say that I have killed a hand full of elk with my 270 so I know it can be done but I made a choice at that time it would happen no more.
So after that last hunt I went into a local sporting goods store and picked out a beauty. It took me some time but I saved and scratched my pennies together over the next year or so and I was able to finally purchase the gun I was after, a 300 RUM. So now I have my new gun and I am stoked to get it built to my liking. First on the list was to have a muzzle break put on it, but soon after that some unfortunate life events happened plus military commitments came into play and the gun got put in the safe and didn't come out for a couple more years until things calmed down. The next step was picking out a scope and having it mounted. I took the gun right back to the same store I had purchased it from picked out the scope and had them mount it all up for me. This is where things went south. So the guy that was putting the scope on the gun comes out and says there's a problem. He says that one of the holes for the scope mount is stripped out. I'm not quite in panic mode yet but getting there. The guy explains that when he pulled the screw out he noticed something wasn't right but tried to install the mounts anyway and when he tightened that particular screw it stripped out. I was like ok what do we do now? They basically put it all back on me. I was like well if its a manufacturer flaw then I should be able to receive a new gun but there explanation was that because I altered the gun by putting the muzzle break on it that they couldn't do anything for me. This is when the managers all got involved and we had it out with how to handle it. In the end I lost. I found a local gunsmith and took the gun to him to see what could be done. Because its the most forward hole we are dealing with(right above the chamber area)he said he could only drill and tap it out one size over that what it was originally was. I was relieved that there was at least a fix for it, still not totally happy with the situation but what do I do.
So after that I enjoyed my new toy on a couple Limited Entry hunts here in Utah taking both a nice bull and buck with it and even a cow this past year. always having that screw issue in the back of my mind I came across a recall on Remington rifles that were bought between a certain time period. I do a serial number check and low and behold mine is one of them that's in the recall. Remington's offer was to pay for all costs involved to have this recall taken care of so I figured why not. The recall was basically something with the trigger. I was sent a box and instructions with what to do with the rifle and where to send it. I followed the instructions that included stripping it down to just the bare rifle. I kinda cringed when I undid the scope mount screws just because I was worried how it would go back together. I did notice on the screw in question that the threads were not looking that great but I remained hopeful.
Sorry, I know this is getting a little long but I promise we are about there..... So the gun gets sent of, two weeks later its back in my hands and I'm ready to put it back together. I line up the scope mounts and the back mount goes on fine and now the front......sure as sh*t...as soon as the slightest pressure starts on that screw it strips! Spins like a roulette wheel in Vegas! Im just sick about it.....part of me is kicking myself for not doing something more years ago when the problem first came up either with Remington or the store I bought it from. Part of me regrets pulling it apart to send it in for the recall thinking it was probably fine before.
So here I am....wondering what I can do. I realize that a ton of time has passed but I guarantee you this gun hasn't had but a hand full of boxes of ammo put through it. Is there a good quality gunsmith in the Ogden area that someone can suggest that might be able to help or do I have a nice wall hanger? Was it true what the old timer gunsmith told me years ago that they can only drill and re-tap one size over from the original hole size? I sure hope this can be taken care of and somewhat reasonably. I hate the thought of having to replace it. At this point I'm just glad that we have some time to find a fix before this fall.
Any help or suggestions is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
HD
First a quick little background as to the why and what lead up to this.....years ago, probably about 15, I had drawn a couple cow elk tags in two consecutive years. Both of those years I was able to hunt and shoot a cow elk. Notice I said shoot, the recovery was something different. At the time I was shooting a 270 with a 150 grain bullet. In both instances the shots were 150 to 200 yards and on a dead rest broadside with the animals not even knowing I was there. One of those cows actually dropped in her tracks but when I got the spot she dropped she was gone. Her tracks mixed into the other tracks and after a day and half of looking and due to time running out we had to leave the mountain. The prior year was somewhat similar. This made me sick! Two years in a row I had hit an animal and didn't recover it. I vowed at that time that the next elk hunt I went on I would have a bigger caliber rifle that had a little more punch and a little more knock down power to it. Let me just say that I have killed a hand full of elk with my 270 so I know it can be done but I made a choice at that time it would happen no more.
So after that last hunt I went into a local sporting goods store and picked out a beauty. It took me some time but I saved and scratched my pennies together over the next year or so and I was able to finally purchase the gun I was after, a 300 RUM. So now I have my new gun and I am stoked to get it built to my liking. First on the list was to have a muzzle break put on it, but soon after that some unfortunate life events happened plus military commitments came into play and the gun got put in the safe and didn't come out for a couple more years until things calmed down. The next step was picking out a scope and having it mounted. I took the gun right back to the same store I had purchased it from picked out the scope and had them mount it all up for me. This is where things went south. So the guy that was putting the scope on the gun comes out and says there's a problem. He says that one of the holes for the scope mount is stripped out. I'm not quite in panic mode yet but getting there. The guy explains that when he pulled the screw out he noticed something wasn't right but tried to install the mounts anyway and when he tightened that particular screw it stripped out. I was like ok what do we do now? They basically put it all back on me. I was like well if its a manufacturer flaw then I should be able to receive a new gun but there explanation was that because I altered the gun by putting the muzzle break on it that they couldn't do anything for me. This is when the managers all got involved and we had it out with how to handle it. In the end I lost. I found a local gunsmith and took the gun to him to see what could be done. Because its the most forward hole we are dealing with(right above the chamber area)he said he could only drill and tap it out one size over that what it was originally was. I was relieved that there was at least a fix for it, still not totally happy with the situation but what do I do.
So after that I enjoyed my new toy on a couple Limited Entry hunts here in Utah taking both a nice bull and buck with it and even a cow this past year. always having that screw issue in the back of my mind I came across a recall on Remington rifles that were bought between a certain time period. I do a serial number check and low and behold mine is one of them that's in the recall. Remington's offer was to pay for all costs involved to have this recall taken care of so I figured why not. The recall was basically something with the trigger. I was sent a box and instructions with what to do with the rifle and where to send it. I followed the instructions that included stripping it down to just the bare rifle. I kinda cringed when I undid the scope mount screws just because I was worried how it would go back together. I did notice on the screw in question that the threads were not looking that great but I remained hopeful.
Sorry, I know this is getting a little long but I promise we are about there..... So the gun gets sent of, two weeks later its back in my hands and I'm ready to put it back together. I line up the scope mounts and the back mount goes on fine and now the front......sure as sh*t...as soon as the slightest pressure starts on that screw it strips! Spins like a roulette wheel in Vegas! Im just sick about it.....part of me is kicking myself for not doing something more years ago when the problem first came up either with Remington or the store I bought it from. Part of me regrets pulling it apart to send it in for the recall thinking it was probably fine before.
So here I am....wondering what I can do. I realize that a ton of time has passed but I guarantee you this gun hasn't had but a hand full of boxes of ammo put through it. Is there a good quality gunsmith in the Ogden area that someone can suggest that might be able to help or do I have a nice wall hanger? Was it true what the old timer gunsmith told me years ago that they can only drill and re-tap one size over from the original hole size? I sure hope this can be taken care of and somewhat reasonably. I hate the thought of having to replace it. At this point I'm just glad that we have some time to find a fix before this fall.
Any help or suggestions is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
HD
