I have a Manners T5A with mini-chassis that was originally on a Surgeon 591. In order to run my Rem 700 action in the stock I had to clearance the area to the left of the trigger shoe ( Timney Trigger), and relieve an area behind the bolt slot to allow for the back swept 700 bolt. While I understand that the chassis is a Floating tang design, it feels like the action is unstable. Is that normal? Also when I lay the barreled action into the stock it rests in the center, but when I tighten the front action screw the barrel begins to torque to the right. When I install and begin to torque the rear action screw the barrel moves all the way to the right of the barrel channel. Am I doing something wrong here? Is it binding somewhere that I don’t see? All in all I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling about the action returning to the same location each time. It seems like it slips and slides around in the chassis until you start tightening down. I have attempted to capture the above issue in the pictures below. By the way, this barrel channel is for a Krieger heavy palma. If the channel had been for a varmint/sendero it would be contacting the side.
Surgeon actions require a little different treatment than remington. If it’s inlet for a surgeon, then that’s what’s suppose to go in it. You could bed it.
I spoke to Tom, and he said the chassis should be fine with the 700 action. More than likely the issue was still in the trigger (either a pin protruding to far, or the saftey pin causing the action to be off axis.). I will remove the trigger, and re-install the barreled action to eliminate the trigger as an issue.
Have you Chem dyed the safety or trigger pin in question to indicate if it / they are interfering ?
Looks like your barrel channel is too small as well.
I’d open up your barrel channel some as well.
Either send it in Manners to have done or get a wooden dowel & sand paper, secure your stock & go slowly until you get the barrel channel opened up to more clearance. Then I’d skimbed it to at least just beyond the lug.
Can’t see from the pics but a R700 Bolt handle has approx. 11 degree sweep angle. Is your bolt handle channel in stock straight ?
The stock has a straight bolt channel, but I modified that to fit the Rem. bolt. That was no problem really, it was the easiest part. I haven’t checked the safety pin, but I do think it is playing a role in the issue I’m having. The barrel channel is for a heavy palma, and I have the factory Rem. varmint barrel, so there is ton’s of room around it. I’ll report back tonight after I have verified the trigger is the cause.
Pics make the barrel channel look closer than it is apparently. Mine have considerably more room than your pic indicates. I could store food in my barrel stock channels.
May want to dyechem or paint mark the stock where it’s inletted on inside to see if trigger/safety pin are interferring/touching stock etc.
Dis you inlet enough of the left side of the trigger area to also clear the 700 bolt stop parts?
The surgeon inlet will not have that area inletted as the surgeon bolt stop is on the left side of the receiver at the edge of the stock.
I did not inlet the the trigger area. I removed a bit of material to the side of the trigger shoe.
Last night I popped the trigger out and bolted the action into the stock. It was still pushing to the right. Now I know that there is no pressure on the trigger area.
I am going to borrow a friends rifle and bolt it into the chassis. If his rifle is straight then either my barrel is off or my action is drilled off center.
If his rifle is canted the the chassis must be canted in the stock. Either way I’m sure Manners will do everything possible to help me out.
I did read that. The stock will, more than likely, be going back to Manners to have that area opened up. Right now I am having the same problem without the trigger installed, so I think its safe to assume the trigger isn’t causing the issue. It may in fact be a a secondary issue, but not the primary. I am expecting a call from Mr. Manners some time this morning. I will mention this when I speak to him. At lunch I am picking up another rifle to test in the chassis. I will try it with and without the trigger also.
By the way, you haven’t yelled at me about my Muzzle Brake yet. Are you feeling ok?
If you do not have the trigger installed, I would also assume you did NOT put the bolt stop back in with the bolt stop pin.
That being the case, there should be nothing making a 700 receiver sit wonky in a surgeon inlet unless the recoil lug were longer than the recoil lug pocket is deep.
The only time I run into that problem is with Badger lugs.
I would think the mini chassis would be cut to clear those though.
In fact, I would think the mini chassis were cut to clear a 700 bolt stop as well.
I’m gonna hedge my bet on a crooked barrel on this one.
Feelin fine. Just really not caring what the hell anyone else wants to do lately.
I too have seen some WAY crooked barrels on rifles. Anyone seen that “barrel straightener” picture from the savage factory? :lol: It’s not uncommon for factory tubes to be out of whack enough to be noticed. Bed a factory barrel, then rebarrel and you’ll often see the need to re-bed.
Just checking. I know you have been warning about the top hole brakes for a while.
I just dropped a different action into the stock, and it exibits the same symptoms, barrel cocked to the right. In fact it almost looks like the chassis is canted verticalli. Either way its out of my hands now.
Per Mr. Manners, I’ll be sending it back for an evaluation.
By the way I just want to throw a huge thank you to the crew at manners. Everyone was polite and helpful each time I called, even when it was early in the morning.
Chip, I had to send mine back for this EXACT issue. The chassis is crooked. They opened up he barrel channel which allowed the barrel to float. they did it in ONE day and had me shooting 2 days later.
It shot just fine after that, before that I was having major zero shift issues.
It sucks that they have this problem, but it’s Awesome that Tom got the stock, fixed it the day he got it and shipped it the next day.
I have a Manners T5A that’s bedded now, I still love and will keep buying Manners stocks.
I’d like to add, that I’m sure they could have replaced the stock, but I had did quite a bit of “work” to it myself trying to get it to shoot. I only had a dremel to clear out the channel, they salvaged it the best they could!
It came back looking great, and shooting better. They also replaced my flush cups w/ the newer ones, and opened up my trigger guard for any trigger all FREE of charge.
I noticed your rifle on the hide. It looks like we have very similar set ups. I appreciate your post. It’s always nice to know you aren’t the only one who has dealt with an issue like this. Tom told me he could turn it around quick for me.
I’m heading out on a trip to Hawaii in the next few weeks, so there is no rush to have the stock sent out ( I would hate for it to sit on my porch for two weeks). Tom has offered to ship the stock back and fix it (on his dime I might add). It’s just a timing issue on my part. At this point I have tried three actions, and they all sit the same way. I also mic’ed the both sides of the stock and chassis. There is a variance between the two. I think that the chassis is sitting cattywampus (Y’all Yanks know what that means right?) in the stock because the inlet was drilled at an angle. In the mean time I don’t want my lack of response to be taken as a lack of response from Manners. They are taking care of me, and I will update you all when I have the final word from Manners.
Are you feeling ok?
Just really not caring what the hell anyone else wants to do lately.