I am thinking very seriously now about ordering this rifle, but I can't find one to have a play with before hand.

I don't particularly like the stock on the Laminated Seven, but from the pictures the synthetic stock looks to be a little slimmer.

Does anyone have experience with the stainless synthetic or both rifels and can tell me how the rifle handles?

I have a model 7 s.s. in 7mm.08. Mine came with the synthetic stock which was all right, but I am the type of person that cant seem to leave things as they are. So I bought a H.S. precision stock which is a little wider, but is a lot stiffer in the forearm.
Next to go will be the j-lock on the bolt.
I say go for it!

had a model 7 in 7mm-08. shot really good as long as you let the barrel cool down. handled really well. good walk around gun. later i changed the barrel to a #3 contour shilen match grade to be able to sit and shoot it. i have loads from 100 gr. hp's to 154 gr sst's that print holes. the h.s. precision stock is the way to go. i fell that it would shoot better. great all around rifle. had a lot of one shot kills. 140 grain federal premium nosler bt's. shot 2 holes in the same and strung the third out to an inch.

I have a 7 in .17 rem and love the gun. I have a friend that has a SS MDL7 composit stock in 260 with a custom brake (he originally bought the gun for his wife) with a burris 3x9 compact. Les than a box thur this gun. He wants $500.00 for the package if you are interested.

EXPRESS
What calibre are you thinking about getting?

NE, .300SAUM - I need an allround S/S rifle that can do more or less anything and still be reasonably light and handy.

Next on the list would be the Titanium in 7mm-08, but geeze I wish I could get a Titanium in the .300SAUM...kill two birds with one stone!

Are you aware that Remington now catalogs the Ti in 300SAUM?
http://www.remington.com/firearms/centerfire/700titanium.htm

Thanks WYO, but now, to add insult to injury, it isn't listed on the Italain cataloge and may well be a two years before they get around to waking up and adding it...

Tomorrow I will call the importer for Remington and see what they can tell me.

That is THE rifle I am after.

If anyone wants to have some fun, here's a link to the Italian National catalogue. See how many things are missing...

https://www.bignami.it/bignami/catnaz_find.jsp

I've hunted VERY hard with a Model 7 SS in 308 Winchester for 6 years now and it's performed flawlessly.

I highly recommend the Model 7 as a walkabout hunting rifle it has no peer in the "inexpensive production rifle" category.

Mine will put 3 inside of a half inch if you take the time to let the barrel fully cool between shots.

NOTE: DON'T REMOVE THE FRONT BARREL "PAD"!!!

$bob$

I just spoke to the importer, who at first refused to speak to me, see they only deal with gunshops. I had to argue the point that I refused to participate in a reley of questions between the gunshop and them, then back to me...

...Hmm we Italians seem to have beurocracy bred into their DNA.

Anyways they say that it's not going to happen this year. Maybe next year...

While it is sometimes true that light sporter barrels shoot better with some foreend pressure, I prefer to have my bbls free floated. That way different pressure on the stock does not have as significant an impact change.
One way to test your rifle is to place material under the front of the action raising the bbl off of the foreend enough to free float it. Then shoot the rifle. My stainless mod 7 shot a 10 shot one hole group about 3/4". So I free floated it. Some of the time this rifle was going to be shot off of a bipod, so it was double important to have no stock effect zero change.
I would even give up a little in accuracy to have NO zero shift.

I had an M-7 S/S in 308 and I recommend it if you like Remingtons. The stock seemed flimsy, but mine shot well enough. Every 20-30 rounds the groups would start to string out horizontally as the action screws shot loose, but retightening them always fixed it. The main thing I didn't like was the short barrel. If Remington made it in 308 with a 22" barrel, which would move the balance farther forward, I might have to get another one. Hope this helps, Okie John.