I am about to buy a Remington.

I have no good reason, but I just don't trust that a Remington will be all that I want it to be accuracy wise.

The rifles that are in the lineup are a Mod. Seven in .300SAUM and a Titanium in 7mm-08. Over the next year I would like to buy both of these rifles.

I've gathered that the Remington actions are held in high regard. It appears that the fitting and finish are not too good.

Obviously I will decide for myself once I have one of these rifles. I'll take it to the range, set it up in my zeroing "vice" and see just how it shoots.

If I'm not satisfyied, what instructions could I present myself to a gunsmith with, in order to iron out any of these possibly imperfections?

Go to www.benchrest.com and click on the web-sites of some of the gunsmiths....most of them have some explanation of what they do to improve the Rem 700 action....one of the better sites is Bryants Gunsmithing.

How many other actions do you see at benchrest matches???????
Browning??
Win??
Savage??
You might see a Sako.
But usually only customs or Rem 700's
although some are sleeved.
Buy a 700 ADL at the discount store for less than 400.00 and send it off to have a quality BBL put on 500.00 ADJ. Trigger and add luepold dual dovetails and for under a grand you have a rig that will outshoot just about anything made if you do your part - and in any chambering you desire... That 5 bills for the bbl is installed with the action trued and bolt lugs lapped...... Hollands Gunsmithing , Powers, Oregon And lots of others out there.

I say, with all humility, that I think you'll be presently suprised. You didn't say you were looking for a benchrest gun, but if you want a hunting rifle, you'll be fine.

I've owned (and still own) 5 different remingtons in calibers from .22-250 to .300. All will shoot an inch, if I do my part. the .270 will do CONSIDERABLY better than that.

Tinker with your loads a bit before you spend money elsewhere...unless you just draw a bad one, it'll shoot.

I have to agree with what has been said about Remington rifles. The ones I have had experience with were all without exception shooters, all were 100% factory and un-modified, including my 700 BDL SS/SYN W/DBM in .338wm. It is a solid sub MOA rifle with no less than seven different loadings of Nosler Partitions, BTs, and Hornady Interloks. I also have been looking over any and all BDL 700s for sale in my neck of the woods and although I am no expert, I strongly feel their fit and finnish were all quite good. I guess for me the bottom line is I have shot 90%+ of all the production rifles out there and no other rifle fits me like a 700.

I have been hearing alot of negative comments towards 700s for over two years concerning accuracy and fit and finnish, however the Gander Mountain near me is by fare the #1 seller if 700s in my area and i know quite well and trust their #1 guy in the gun deptment who is a retired fellow who has hunted all over the globe, and I ask him every time I see him if he has had any complaints about the 700s he has sold, and thay are far few between.

Now I know undoubtedly that someone will post here on what utter P.O.S. 700s are, and thay are intighteled to their opinion. All I can state is what I know to be fact based on my personal experience.

I have litterall dozens of 3 and 5 shot 100 and 200yrd three shot groups at or below MOA shot with my 700 in 338wm, but the one I am most proud of is a Colman fuel can that I put five out of five rounds in from a semi-prone possition over a large rock at 400, yes thats 400 yards while I was elk hunting in Wyoming this year.
Granted I did this early in the morning before it got windy, and as a matter of fact there was almost no perceivable wind at all, but for a self taught shot, I was quite happy.

Unless I find strong evidence to the contrary, I will be buying at least to more 700 in the comming year.

Go with the 700. It's the rifle all others are compared to. Mind you, the Savage will do the same thing for less money.

Well,
I've have owned and played with and currently own Remington 700's. My current match rifle is a Remington 700. If I wanted to buy a rifle that I could tinker with myself it would be a Remington 700. BUT...If I wanted the best bargain in terms of off the shelf rifle with the most accuracy potential and the least amount of added expense...I'd go with a Tikka T3 in the $500 range. In the $1,000 up range the Sako 75 is not bad but then you are easily withing striking distance of something like a Magnum Research rifle or a Dakota 97 Long Range Hunter...
In my experience with Remingtons...by the time you get done adjusting/replacing the trigger, replacing/bedding the stock, truing the action, lapping the lugs etc etc you'll have $1,000 in the rifle...but you won't ever be able to get anything near that out of it. Some Remington's will shoot great out of the box and some will be dogs...its really a crap shoot.

WallyW,
It's the Winchester Model 70 thats known as the "riflemans rifle"

Uh, Steveorex...did you mean how many "factory" mass produced actions do you see at benchrest matches? Because I sure see a lot of Stolle, Nesika, Hart, Hall, Kebly, Time Precision, McMillan, etc...go to the list at shooterscorner and count the number of rem 700 actions on the first two pages....I think somewhere on page three there is a xp100 action...

http://www.benchrest.com/shooterscorner/the_list.html

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to buy Rem...justed wanted to point out what most of the Benchrest crowd is using....if they can afford it...

Nor does the Remington need a different extractor, wing safety, ground recoil lug, etc.

Out of the more than 100 rifles in my vault right now, at least 20 are Remington 722s, 725s, & 700s of various ilk. All shoot and work just fine, thank you very much.

Just last weekend I had my factory production 700 PSS at the range testing some of the new Winchester 168 gr. factory "Match" ammo. Its BIGGEST group was in the high 0.5's and the smallest was in the 0.4"s. Not bad for a day when the temp was +36 F and it was raining to beat the band.

I have Model 70's and Rugers too, and they also shoot well. About as much difference between Remington, Winchester, and Ruger as there is between Ford, Chevy, and Dodge.

All get the job done, properly driven.

AC

There are a host of things that can be done to accurize a Model 700, but many of these proceedures often aren't necessary. I've owned about ninety Model 700s over the last thirty years, most of them built before the late 1980s.

I especially remember a couple of varmint versions in .222 Rem. and .223 Rem., a BDL in 7mm Remington Magnum, a "C" Grade in 7mm Rem. Mag., and a Classic in .30-06 that were incredible tackdrivers (as in one-hole, five-shot groups) right out of the box. All I did to them was adjust the triggers, tighten the screws properly, install mounts and a scope, then come up with a good handload or two. The handloads were uncomplicated, straight-forward recipes that didn't take a whole lot of time to work up, either.

On the other hand, I owned a Famous Maker "beanfield" rifle in .338 Win. Mag. (Model 700 action) that had the works done to it (blueprinting, pillar bedding, fancy custom barrel - all the standard 'benchrest' proceedures) that was a most whimsical rifle in terms of accuracy. It only shot 225 gr. Hornady's reasonably well, and I basically hated the rifle. I've owned a great many out-of-box 700s and Model 70s (besides the exceptional Model 700 specimens mentioned before) that were much more accurate and forgiving, plus a heck of a lot cheaper.

The point: ALWAYS thoroughly test any stock factory rifle before you initiate any complicated, expensive, time-consuming set of proceedures to "accurize" it. It may just drive tacks right out of box with just some minor tweeking.

Believe it or not, a good many potentially great rifles had extensive bedding jobs, and a lot of other stuff done to them when the only problem was a bad scope or a loose set of screws........

Normally when I get a new rifle or build one the first thing I do is to glass bed the action and free float the barrel.

I'm a hunter and varmint shooter and benchrest accuracy is not my goal....if I get it fine but Most rifles give me fully acceptable accuracy properly bedded and floated.

Remingtons have been fine "out of the box" shooters all my life. I still insist on bedding and floating for other reasons. Go get one and shoot it as is....I think you'll be surprised with the accuracy!!!

I am glad to see people out there that have not only a great deel more experience than I, posting good reveiws of 700s, but being objectional and fair in doing so.
I have been seeing an alarming amount of posts that claim that the so called "been counters" at Remington have greatly impacted the over-all fit, finish, and accuracy of the M700. But, for the life of me I have looked at ltterally dozens and dozens of BDL 700s, and although not all where absolutely perfect, 90%+ were in shape equal to or better than all other makes I also looked at. I will admit I am no expert, but I can spot left over tooling marks or other blemishes as well as most.

I have a fair amount of experience building .1-.2 MOA rifles on Rem 700's. While I'd prefer a Nesika or Stolle as a basis for one, there is absolutely no question that a basic Rem 700 can be turned into an action every bit as good. It takes time and money, but yes they are every bit as good except in the bragging rights catagory.Out of the box, many Rem 700's will shoot 1 MOA groups in various calibers and with a simple replacement trigger, most will do better than that. You can sink a small fortune into a Rem 700 and build yourself a pretty decent rifle if you want to and there are a bunch of gunsmiths out there who will be happy to take your money.-Rob