What are your opinions on the Remington XCR for brown bear. I know it's not controlled feed, but I've had a Rem 700 BDL in 270 for 30 years that's never had a malfunction with thousands of rounds put through it. So other than that, and the fact that it's butt ugly, any comments?



Chuck

I have a 700 classic in 375 H+H that was made in 1981. Been using it for all this time with no problems, I don't know why a new one would be different. The CRF stuff is nonsense in my book. If you shoot the gun enough to be positive it feeds and extracts every time-- then you have no worries.

I am going on my first brown bear hunt this year and I purchased a CRF rifle for this hunt when I had a 375 H&H Remington 700 XCR sitting in the gun safe. Here is why.........you many go hunting dangerous game 100 + times and never have an issue. But.....there is always that one time that might bite you.

A good example........a good friend of mine went on a brown bear hunt 2 years ago and took his 375 H&H Remington 700 XCR. He and his giude found a nice brown bear and made their stalk. My friend shot and hit the bear. His guide said good shot.....hit him again. My friends XCR was jammed and he could not shoot. The guide started shooting at that point.

My friend had to dump all his round from the magazine and reload before he could get back on the bear, which by then had been shot several times by the guide. Good thing is......they got the bear. My friend was not a happy hunter.

He swore after that incident that he would not go back without a rifle with CRF.

You will most likely be fine and never have a problem. It's up to you to make that decision. Heck......everyone needs a good excuse to buy a new hunting rifle!

Just my 2 cents worth.

Good luck on your hunt.

I own a Remington 700XCR chambered in 375 H&H and I would not hesitate to take it brown bear hunting. It feeds quite smoothly, is accurate, should be nearly impervious to rain, sleet, etc.

While CRF guns are desirable for such hunting they are not without their problems, either.

I worked up loads for a friend who has a pre-64 Winchester chambered in 375 H&H. He was headed for Africa and I worked up very accurate loads using the 300 grain Swift A-Frame. However, when I tried to put some in the magazine, they would just jump right back out. Seems he had had some gunsmith work done on the gun and they had installed the wrong follower in the magazine. Had I not checked the feeding he would have been in Africa with a single shot.

I would very much like to try my 700 XCR on a bear hunt. I do not think that it is an ugly rifle and it handles very well. I have two XCR's and they balance nicely, feeling like they are even lighter than they are.

Jerry Jacques is a retired Master Brown Bear guide who hunted and guided Cold Bay for nearly 20 years. He used a Model 700 XCR 416 Remington that he worked over(trained in gunsmithing) so it would function very well.
He got to retired with own hair.
I think that this is evidence enough.

The key thing about BB hunting is having a gun that you are completely confident with and can peg a tennis ball offhand at 50 yards. You can do that and then don't worry.

Sincerely,
Thomas

I am sorry it was a BDL and not XCR.
Thomas

Hey R Flowers, I just handled a 375 H&H XCR at Sportsman's Warehouse. You're right, it doesn't look any worse or better than any of the synthetic stocks. It's a nice gun.

I have a CZ Safari Classic in 500 Jeffery which I love, but it's got blued steel and a nice wooden stock. It's very accurate and I'm real comfortable shooting it off of a rest or offhand. I'd love to take it, perhaps put a CZ Synthetic stock on it and keep a light coat of Rem Oil on it every night ....






Chuck

That 500 J is a nice big rifle Pretty . With a 20 " barrel it would be really great and handy to have around .....A fair # of jams happen from short stroking the bolt ...A big problem with those who take a magnum length action rifle on a special hunt but do all their blasting hunting with a standard or short action ....I would say that if you shoot your rifle a bunch before you go you will know it and be good friends with it .. I myself don,t know anyone who lost out when shooting for thier life with a Remington 700 . But I do know people who saved themselves with a Rem 700 ......I prefer the Ruger , in alot of ways because I prefer the safety and it,s about impossible to beat the M77 375 Ruger Alaskan ......

I've owned a Rem 700 in 270 Win a long long time, never had a malfunction. The 500 Jeff is all I ahoot now, gave my 270 to my son. So I'm not concerned about short stroking it. I think I'll have Harlan but one of those nice CZ Synthetic stocks on it for Alaska then put the pretty wood one back on when I get home.

Thanks Gumboot

Took my 700XCR in 375 to the Alaskan Penn in 2007... No issues at all... 2 shots at 175 yds = dead bear.

Thanks Jersy Joe, the Remington Custom Shop makes an XCR on steroids called the Alaskan Wilderness Rifle (AWR). Seem like it might be worth a look. Don't know how much they go for though ...

http://www.remingtoncustom.com...rGrade_700AWRII.aspx

Regards,

Chuck

Chuck, I looked at a gaggle of 375's and finally settled on the remy.. It shot well on the bench and survived the alaska weather without any issues. I felt very comfortable shooting it. Good luck with whatever choice you make..

R Flowers,

thanks for making the point for me. The CRF had to be turned over to some moron to get it to misbehave, the P/F models can do it on their own.

Rich

I have a pair of prized M700's. They have never failed me. I like the lines of a M700.

I'd never give it a second thought to roll with Remington XCR.

Agree Buliwyf, my Rem 700 BDL in 270 has never failed me in over 30 years of hunting deer, elk and bear. Besides if I get a Remington XCR in 375 RUM for a light rifle, I can load 300g North Forks at 2700 fps for bears, and 250g A-Frames at 3000 fps for elk and deer ...



Chuck

quote:

Originally posted by Kaboku68:
Jerry Jacques is a retired Master Brown Bear guide who hunted and guided Cold Bay for nearly 20 years.
He got to retired with own hair.
I think that this is evidence enough.

The key thing about BB hunting is having a gun that you are completely confident with and can peg a tennis ball offhand at 50 yards. You can do that and then don't worry.

Sincerely,
Thomas

As Thomas pointed out - a familiar Rem 700 will work fine for hunting in AK. Over the years there have been a lot of them used by guides, including Jerry Jacques, who didn't actually "retire" willingly.

I have a 30 some year old 338-06 Rem BDL that ios my favorite goto shooter...plus have/had a passel of Rugers and various mausers and clones over the years. Never had any of them malfunction in normal shooting positions...with reasonable care and smithing...

BUT...I can get ALL of them to malfunction on occasion by various ways, either by short stoking, having the rifle upside down, sometimes by having it point straight up or slightly up and back, or pointed down and rolled over on either side...just a certain point and not the same for each specific rifle.

It also depends on the bullet, COAL, follower fit, follower spring strengh, and a bunch of other factors pretty much unknow by the average shooter. All it take is a stovepipe or the bolt to miss the case base to muck up the works.

This argument over CFR vs push feed seems to exclude the fact that ALL MECHANICAL DEVICES CAN MALFUNCTION...nothing is 100%. A rifle may get passed down through 5 generations of shooters without a hitch and the last person using it gets Murphyized and ends up bear schat. No one knows for sure...and NO rifle, CFR or push feed, is 100% reliable no matter what anyone says.

You pick you poison and live with it...or not...it's your choice and your skin...and if I ever go large bear hunting again I will use one of my big bore CFR's just like I did in the past and keep the push feeds for things less toothy and bad tempered.

now ain't that somthing...a 2 piece bolt haha..sold my Rem. 375RUM..just junk really although a tack driver

Hey Ryan B whats the story on that beauty??
I bet Remington was mighty proud of that workmanship.

I have a pushfeed Win M70 that has had a few thousand rounds through it, has been carried hundreds of miles and cycled countless times in the 24 years I've owned it. I have never once in any situation had a single malfunction of any kind with it even in near panic situations like rapid firing it trying to put a bull elk down, in really shitty weather with ice and snow all over the rifle, dusty conditions, rain you name it.
Honestly I think a lot of human error is somehow attributed to a "malfunction" when in fact people just need to man up and say "I panicked and short stroked the bolt" or whatever the real problem was.
Get familiar with your rifle and use it so much that you can operate any function of the rifle and scope automatically without looking at it, shoot it so much you are concerned you will wear it out. Any "bugs" with the rifle will surface in that time and you can deal with it then your chances of a "malfunction" whether mechanical or human error will be greatly reduced. This goes for a pushfeed or a CRF!