Remington 700 SPS AAC-SD Issue Attaching Nightforce Rail

[JeffOutWest]

Hi everyone! First time post, but I've been reading a lot from your forums the past few weeks as I've started getting involved in shooting!

I'm having an issue here.. I bought a Remington 700 SPS AAC-SD in 6.5 Creedmoor, and I just tried to add the Nightforce A115 Picatinny rail - 20MOA, made for short action Rem700 - but the screws won't go in.. I had read about it previously and was pretty sure the Rem700 used 6-24 screws, which is also what the model A115 should be.

I've read on this forum that sometimes Remington drills the holes a bit off - but what confuses me is that the screws that were already in there from the factory had no issue! So maybe the tolerances are slightly different - or maybe something else is off?

If anyone can help I will be eternally grateful!

thanks
Jeff

 

[JeffOutWest]

If I put the screws in by themselves (directly into the receiver, without the rail), it has the exact same issue - It starts to thread, feels great - and after maybe 2 rotations, you can feel it start to bind - it gets harder to turn it - I've not been willing to force it at all of course.

It happens the same with and without the rail.

It happens worse on three of the four holes - on the furthest forward hole, it screws in farther before it starts to "bind".

It feels to me, identical to how it feels when you have a very similar type of threading geometry, that starts to bind - and it feels like it will start to strip the screw if I turn it more (so I don't).

 

[JeffOutWest]

I'm pretty sure the Nightforce A115 is 6-24, which is what the Rem700 SPS AAC-SD in 6.5 Creedmoor should be, as I understand it.

 

[JeffOutWest]

yeah sorry - I meant 6-48, I'm just tired. I believe Rem700 and the Nightforce A115 are both 6-48 from what I can tell (although neither really lists it in specs, which annoys me)

 

[JeffOutWest]

that would be awesome thanks. I will put that front screw in again tomorrow thanks for the help. I'm leaning toward thinking the gun just has some bad taps.

 

[OREGUN]

Did the rail come with 8-40 screws?

 

[JeffOutWest]

Confirmed 6-48. Yeah might be a few bad holes in the rifle.
Did the screws for the rail come in a little package like this?

yes that is exactly what they looked like, came in a little package just like that. Had five screws just like in your picture.

 

[JeffOutWest]

Did the rail come with 8-40 screws?

I think it came with 6-48 but I can't tell by eyeballing it.

They fit pretty neatly into the screw holes in the receiver, it just seems the threads are probably slightly off.

 

[JeffOutWest]

I agree, they should list the details.
I’ll measure one from the NF rail in the morning.
Oh and you have a screw that DOES fit in the whole properly? If so do you have a way to measure it? Or post a pic of that screw and one of the new ones side by side?

Here is a picture of where it starts to bind slightly - the front two holes (especially the very front one) are much better before there is an issue - the screws go in farther.

I don't have a picture of the screws I took out, unfortunately, because I stupidly threw them out, thinking I would not need them again. Stupid, I know.

 

[OREGUN]

If the plugs were in and came out easily, the rail screws are either a different size or a different thread pitch. In my opinion, there’s very little chance that the holes are wrong AND the plugs were wrong….it’s way more likely that the rail screws are the size for those holes. Can you take them someplace like a hardware store to check them or at least put your calipers on them and check the diameter?

 

[JeffOutWest]

Yeah that logic makes sense to me too, but I've read about multiple other people having issues with putting in rails with the correct screws - which required a 6-48 tap to make it work better. So in those cases, it seems most likely to me that the screws that came in the receiver from Remington just had looser tolerances possibly.

 

[JeffOutWest]

I'll put calipers on the screws and see what the diameter is - but it matches the holes within a very small amount - you can kind of see that in the picture. And they actually go in maybe 4-5 turns on the rear two holes, so the screws certainly match the holes pretty closely.

 

[OREGUN]

A 6 will be .135, an 8 will be .16

 

[Makinchips208]

Ahh, well 6-40 is standard screw size for the general screws.
6-48 is what the rem 700 should be and is what the screws are that come with the NF rail.
Your rifle may have 6-40.
If you went to the hardware store and bought a 6-40 it probably will thread in.