Rifle Scopes Seekins Scope Base Advice, Rem 700

[brutus1776]

My wife purchased a Seekins 20 MOA Rem 700 SA base for me as a Valentines Day present. I just have had the chance to mount it up on my Accurate Ordnance rifle. She ordered a #8 screw and my rifle has #6 screws. The dealer she bought it from will not take it back since the package has been opened. So Im stuck with it. Short of selling it....Any advice on what to do? Have a smith thread the receiver for #8's? Any sort of washers or bushings or similar that can be used to center the screws in the screw slots? Any problems for seen with running the # 6 screws?
Scope is a S+B 5-25

 

[Lionsbreath]

Dude I would open the receiver screws to #8, I did that to my 700’s, it’s worth it... Good woman BTW

 

[MelvinRoe]

+1 on opening up to #8.

 

[Xander3Zero]

I'm gonna go against the flow here and say that you should just try to sell it, and order the correct base with the #6 screw holes. Do you really want to have to bring your receiver to a gunsmith to have them open up the holes just so a $100 scope base will fit? Or do you think you are capable of doing it yourself; it's not something you want to mess up.

Even if you do open up the holes, its not much of an upgrade. With a quality rail like the seekins one, it has a built in recoil lug that will contact the receiver and prevent the screws from seeing the side load.

 

[Bridges90]

Can you not just buy #6 screws for a seekins somewhere?

Edit: sorry I’m an idiot. Didn’t think #6 screws wouldn’t fit the holes in the rail ?. Going on 18hrs at work, brain isn’t working right

The good news is, minus the screws being wrong, the quality of the rail is superb and the fit is wonderful. I bought a 0moa SA seekins for my bergara b14 hunter and like most bases I figured I’d have to bed it but I didn’t have to. Perfect contact!

 

[brutus1776]

Any idea's on cost to open up the #6's to 8's?


I ended up sticking it on the rifle temporarily with the #6 screws. It seems solid but I do not trust the small screw heads in the bigger #8 holes. I'll either have receiver re-threaded or sell the base at a loss and buy another, whichever works out to be more feasible.

 

[Xander3Zero]

The cost is going to be around $50-150 to open up the screw holes, plus shipping costs to and from the gunsmith (unless you find someone local). You will also have to deal with the logistics of sending your barreled action out to a gunsmith, i.e. packaging and wait times. Given that AO built your rifle, I would suggest starting there to get an actual quote.

I'll say it again, your better off just selling that rail and getting the correct rail with the #6 holes. Even if you didn't end up selling the rail with the #8 holes, the cost of the new rail is a wash compared to having a gunsmith open up the receiver threads. Then you don't have to worry about shipping, and don't have to worry about finding a quality gunsmith who can open up those holes correctly, for a good price, and without a lead time. You will see absolutely no gain from using #8 screws vs. the #6 screws if you are using a properly installed Seekins rail.

 

[rd_kng]

I would sell the base and buy a new one with the right screws.