Gunsmithing Recoil Lug

[Trev]

Does anyone know if the recoil lug on a Remington 700 supposed to be square with the bottom of the rifle or does it matter?

I just got a custom barreled action back from a gunsmith today and the recoil lug is crooked by a few degrees. I would like to find out if that’s normal and acceptable before I complain about it.

It seems like out of neatness and pride in his work he would have made it square.

 

[GasLight]

Re: Recoil Lug

I think they can be a little out of square and not cause a problem, will matter if it clears the stock or not really. They make a jig to square the lug up to the reciever, but he must not have one. I kind of agree, out of professionalism you would want it as close to square as possible. If the stock you have doesn't have much clearance on the bottom or sides, it would cause a problem right away, also if the stock was bedded with the lug straight then it was put in crooked.

To answer your question yes, it should be square. How much you can be off and it not be a problem is somewhat variable, but if it is very noticable it might be too much.

Hope that helps answer the question a little, if it were me I would at least bring it to the 'smith's attention and see what his explanation is.

Dave

 

[7mmRM]

Re: Recoil Lug

Ive seen a few from the factory that were off a bit, but none that were worked over by a competent smith. Id say something to the smith.

 

[remaction]

Re: Recoil Lug

Do you know if the gunsmith pinned the lug to the action face? If so, you'll proably want him to correct that (or remove the pin and use a jig to hold the lug in place in the event you don't want another hole in the action face) in the event you want to switch barrels on the action in the future.

If not, it probably just turned a bit with the final bit of barrel tightening. If an alignment tool was used it shouldn't have turned like that unless the jig was removed for some reason before the final tightening. I doubt if that's the case though as why stop the barrel tightening process to remove the jig?

 

[Nocalphoenix]

Re: Recoil Lug

If a gunsmith is replacing barrels and chambering he should have a jig to hold the lug. That could be an ugly problem to deal with when you bed, your basicly making a mechanical lock that could make getting the action out difficult to say the least.

 

[remaction]

Re: Recoil Lug

+1 on Norcal's comment.

 

[scotharr]

Re: Recoil Lug

Better idea, take the action to your "new" gunsmith and have him fix the problem.