I found a 90% Remington Model 700 custom shop in .280 for $800.00. It has synthetic stock and some sort of parkerized finish. Decent price?
Does a custom shop rifle offer better bedding or mating of the action and barrel?

Sounds like a Custom KS mountain rifle to me.
The price seems right.

The custom shop guns might have better bedding and or mating, but the main selling point is the stock and lightweight.

I have a Rem M7MS custom shop rifle in .257 Roberts. From what I know the rifle is assembled a little differently.

The marketing blurb on Remington's site claims that the barrels are hand selected (tighter?), hand lapped, and assembled to the action more carefully. Triggers are supposed to be worked on a bit to be cleaner breaking.

The trigger on my rifle breaks right around 4# and has almost zero creep. One of the best factory triggers I've ever used.

The stock on mine (laminated stock) is glass bedded. The lam stock on my 673 is not bedded. So there is truth in the Custom Shop rifles being glass bedded.

The retail on the CS guns is around $2400. I paid $1250 for my M7MS new in box.

So yeah, assuming no major damage to the rifle, $800 sounds fair.

As a total aside, first day I brought my Roberts to the range it shot 4x 3/4" groups in a row with 100gr. reloads that I hadn't even tweaked yet.

If you want a 280, that's a good one to have.

If you search for Remington Custom Shop in the gunsmithing forum you will find a lot of horror stories. The worst Remington guns I have seen and torn apart to measure were Custom Shop guns. Seriously-they have been far worse than the typical ADL from WalMart. Based on my life experiences, I would never buy a Remington Custom Shop product.

They charge a premium for nothing, expecting the owner to never have the gun torn apart and measured. What they fail to realize is that guns which shoot so poorly will often be sent to a gunsmith to be made right. Then their dirty little secret is out of the bag.

I have 4 700 ks's, 1 700c & 1 7ms. They are all sub 1" rifles. May partner has 2 KS's,1 c , 1 APR & i grade II that are also sub 1" rifles. The custom shop just does drop in bedding which has worked in all my rifles except 1 which had to be glass bedded. The barrels are from the early part of new tooling use so in theory you get a better barrel.

All my rifles have been bought used in the $600.00 range but Remington has just really up the retail while starting to use junk stocks so I think your price is very fair. The stock on the KS you are looking at is a mcmillian copy of a Brown precision which I think is very desirable. I'd buy It there is no downside even if you have to rebarrel & bed it you will have under $1,500 in a 1st class custom huinting rifle.

Wow, sounds like someone has an axe to grind. Would you like to share some of these "dirty little secrets"? First hand now, no, my brother-in-law's uncle's cousin was talking to a guy in a bar who overheard, etc,etc.

I've never owned a Custom shop rifle but I've seen several that came from the Custome shop. Without exception, they shot like a house on fire.

I just bought a CDL and I though it had a pretty nice piece of wood for a production rifle. Nice figure in the stock.

If you are talking about me, I sure have no axe to grind-just relaying what I have seen with my own eyeballs; Definitely NOT word of mouth info. And as I stated, if you search the gunsmithing forum you will find my stories and those of others. Seen action faces WAY out of square, bolts with one lug touching, throats cut crooked, hosed up crowns, hosed up bedding, etc.

My first centerfire was a 700, and I have a lot of Rem products. I just hate to see folks drop a lot of money on Custom Shop guns and think they are getting a gun that had special treatment. Man, they really get bummed out when they hear some of the reasons why the gun won't shoot. Many Custom Shop jobs I have seen were worse than ADL's from WalMart, but the owner spent a lot more on them, and still had to pay to have them made right.

The original question to this thread was about the cost of a used rifle. To me, based strictly on my life experiences, it would not be worth it. I think the guy would be better off to buy an ADL and have a gunsmith fix it up for him. I don't care at all what anyone buys. Buy Custom Shop, WalMart, Ruger, Savage, whatever. Just get whatever makes you happy!

How large is your sample? When you 1st started posting these comments I ask John Lewis if he had simular experiences & he said he had not.

Didn't intend to start an arguement with my question. Just needed an idea as to value because I am unfamiliar with this model of remington, and what it offers. BTW, it is a full size 700 and not the Mtn Rifle.
As far as Remingtons, I currently have three M700's, two BDLs which I will keep, and one ADL which I will probably sell.

this what a KS with a mcmillian stock looks like
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=86773418

I have that rifle in a 7 mag - I paid $800 used with a Leupold VariII - 4x12. New ones are well over $1000+. Mine is terrfic - very accurate. I'd buy another for $800 any day