Are 7600's hold sensitive?

[smong2000]

I was doing some load development work today at the range and noticed that my 7600 seems quite hold sensitive.  If I rested it on the frame just forward of the magazine I got a much different POI than if I held the forend in my hand and set my hand on the rest.  My groups were very tight in both cases (1/2 inch or less at 50 yds) but about 1.5 inches apart.  Is this common, is there a cure?  I'm not too concerned because I would never rest the rifle on the frame in the field but I'd like to know if this is quirk of the pump action and if the cause and cure are understood.  Thanks

[mannyrock]

  Yes, it is a quirk of the pump action.   But it is also a quirk of most lever actions, and H&R Handi-Rifles as well.  Depending on where you rest the forearm, the point of impact and even the size of the groups can change alot.   This is caused by the fact that the barrel vibration will be different, depending up where (and how much) upward pressure is exerted upon it.

  Know your rifle, and adopt a consistent hold.  There is no cure.

   Regards,  Mannyrock

[Dave in WV]

My son and I both have an Uncle Budd's bullbag rest. We both have a Remington pump rifle and have found if we use the bullbag rest we get a different POI zero than if we use a standard front rest and a samd bag rear rest. The standard front rest and sand bag rear setup gives us the same POI in the field. Our bolt actions don't have this quirk.

[smong2000]

 Now I feel much better knowing it's a normal situation  .  I was thinking it might be related to the lock-up bar and was trying to figure out how to build it up to take the slop out.  I may still do that experiment if I get around to ordering a new one but like you say. practice like you'll use it and everything is good.
Thank you gentlemen.

[R.W.Dale]

I disagree with the above posts. I think there must be a shooter induced aiming error. Because The rem 7600's for end and action bar is fully free floated from the bbl all the way back to the receiver block. In my opinion the 7600 is one of the most position INsensitive rifles you can own simply because it;s design makes it impossible to have bedding issues

The only other possibility that comes to mind is the barrel retaining nut/bar isn't tight enough

I always detail stripped my 7600's and made sure this attachment point was tight and never witnessed such a POI issue. Below is a pic of a rem pump not with a dollar bill or piece of paper between the barrel and forend  but a complete catalogue

[Dave in WV]

My son regularly gets less than 1" groups with his 760 30-06. I posted a picture in a recent post concerning 760 accuracy. I know if we use our bull bag rests the shots hit 1" high and right compared to using a standard front rest (contacting the forearm) and rear bag. We may be doing something wrong but we do ok.

[smong2000]

Guys,
How tight is the lock-up on your rifles?  If I jiggle my pump forward and back and there is about a millimeter movement between the locking arm (the thingy that you release to pump it) and the bolt mechanism.  Easy to check it with the magazine out. 

Krochus,
I hear you and maybe you have had different experience than us, but this is a very real and reproducible shift.  The barrel is floating but the pump is contacting the action and generates a bit of movement in some cases like mine and certainly a difference in tension against the locking lugs. I burned up 30 rounds to prove it yesterday, and checked the parallax on this scope.  This is something I've messed around with since last spring, changed scopes twice, mounts and bases once.  I'm totally anal about my shooting and if a rifle doesn't hit 1/2" at 100 with some regularity it goes down the road.  This 7600 does that but the shift in POI has driven me nuts...   I know it can be fixed, just don't have the recipe -yet.

[NHNATIVE]

Could be that everyone's right. What krochus said is true. But, on many 7600's the forend comes in contact when the weight of the rifle/carbine is laid on a rest. My 7615 is a perfect example. I've done a bit of testing this "problem". One way to check (theoretically) is to shoot it with the fore end off in both types of rest. BTW, my accuracy and poi chanced when I didn't rest it on the fore end. Also not all 7600's do this due to different tolerances that give slightly different fore end/barrel gaps. Hope this helps.

[targshooter]

I believe that the nature of the pump design does create a hold sensitive point of impact variation at the forestock. I have only owned one 760, but I found that it was sensitive to uniformity of hand positioning and the support arm in the offhand; much more so than my bolt action and semi-auto rifles. Additionally, I hunted with pump action shotguns in the NY's Southern Tier for 20 years and found this to be the case with them as well. For the 200 yard offhand shooter this was problematical, but at 100 yards and under I feel that the entire sensitivity was indeed within MOA of deer. As a still hunter I found the rattle of the forestock to be more problematical, especially on those cold days when even wood surfaces are cold enough to generate a clink and all sound travels so clearly. This is all due to the wobble present in all pump action forestocks. The reason they can be so accurate is the free floating barrel, this not being where the wobble generates. Try this, tape the forearm with electrical tape in a manner such that the wobble is uniformly prevented; make sure the tape is uniformly tight by having the tape detachment point being the same each time. This means one side only and returned to the same attachment point for both tape and barrel after each cycling of the action. Try a few shots this way. This is where the floating barrel gets to display its accuracy potential, at least in my experience.