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| One of Us |
I was considering getting a semi custom rifle built and was wonder what was so popular about the M700 action? its been suggested a lot by a lot of different people, so i really want to know is why are they so popular? | ||
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one mans opinion: The Remington 700 is a fine action for just about anything but it's forte is in varmint rifles and smaller game rifles such as deer and antelope. The push feed in that action works well and the action is normally extremely strong and reliable. When it comes to larger game I prefer the M-70 action or the Mauser types but they can be used conversely as well. It's purely a matter of preference. There is absolutely no reason I can see to not use a Remington 700 for a DG rifle but most here would want a CRF action. Remington may be having some problems but I don't see the M-700 action as a unworthy candidate for a custom. | |||
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I was going to get it put into a 7MM rifle, possibly a WSM or just a 7mm remington magnum probably the WSM as they seem to be more accurate of the two. also is there any merit in getting the action trued? | |||
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again, a personal opinion. NO! at least not for a hunting rifle. | |||
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another reason for popularity of the M700 is every rifle accessory is made for them. Want certain custom trigger evrybody who makes a custome trigger amkes it for the M700...same goes for stocks, scope mounts, you name it... Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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I also like putting holes in paper! and small groups are good for the soul. | |||
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Paul Because they are cheap, in price that is. There are many actions that are much better than a 700 but the $400 that you will spend on a 700 will barely make a down payment on a really good action. Ray Arizona Mountains | |||
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but.. dont I have to buy a complete remington 700 just to get the action, I was thinking a new SPS S, cant buy the action on its own can I... | |||
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Look at used shops for M-700 rifles in poor rig. Badly worn stocks and shot out barrels and buy it for the action only. Last one I got was $125 | |||
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The remmy is popular also because it's pretty easy to make a accurate rifle out of. What are you planning on using this rifle for? "Molotov Cocktails don't leave fingerprints" -Dr. Ski | |||
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Personally I wouldn't worry to much about the action. I think the 700 was fashionable for the cheaper bench-rest rifle, maybe it was suitable for sleeving or something. But plenty of people get amazing accuracy from most other actions also, so if a Sako, M70,Brno, Zustava, Ruger, turns up cheap, why not grab that? | |||
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If punching holes in paper, tiny groups and long distances are the goal, you won't beat the 700 for the price. When you blueprint the action, the groups only get smaller. For instance, I recently built a pair of 700's in a 7mm wildcat based on a slightly altered 300 Dakota case. One of the two sent me his 3 shot 200 yard target, and you can literally cover the entire group with a dime with no edges showing. The other gun is getting .369 size groups at 100 yards, but he is still tweaking his loads. And these are hunting rifles and sporting composite stocks. So if this type of performance intrigues you, a trued 700 would be a good place to start. | |||
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The correct answer is absolutly yes. I've seen a Model 7 that was shooting 1 1/2- 2" groups, "blueprinted" - meaning lug surface ground lugs lapped and squared, barrel set back and rechambered, crown recut. The stock was then pillar bedded. The first group the customer shot was well under 1/2". Blueprinting probably won't make a 1/2" rifle a 1/4" rifle but it just might fix a rifle that's shooting over MOA groups. Remington barrels are usually pretty good but they tend to be sloppily enough put together that they can really benifit from some gunsmithing. IMHO 700's are a gunsmiths best freind because they can pretty easily be made to shoot better but need gunsmithing to do so...........DJ ....Remember that this is all supposed to be for fun!.................. | |||
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I really wanted to start with a new action because then I know its in perfect order, but might start looking around for a used one in mint condition.. what sort of barrel would u reccomend? I was thinking something like shillen in 7MM WSM, unsure of twist rate (9.5??) but either 24 or 26" would be using heavier bullets, around the 160gr area. long distances and tiny groups are the goal! | |||
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I agree completely with Malm on this statement. Two nationally recognized Benchrest champions started in registered benchrest matches using a Remington 722 I bought heavily used at a Scottsdale gun show for $125 and which only needed a scope to do well. Of course, it had been tweaked as required before I got it...an early McMillian BR stock (dipped in flat white exterior latex house paint, BTW), a stainless LV barrel of unknown parentage (covered in black enamel), and a standard Remmie trigger converted by someone (Skip Otto, I suspect) to 2 oz., and a sound job of glass bedding a homemade aluminum sleeve. Talk about a sleeper!! It shot well enough to actually make them competitive in regional matches, and gave them a chance to learn what the game is about. It was loaned to one to get him going, and he loaned it to one of his friends to get HIM into the game after the first one bought his first Panda. Now it's back in my safe and it STILL shoots well...not good enough to win with, maybe, but well enough to learn BR on. Both later moved on to both Stolle and Nesika actions, but both also commented after a couple of years that the Custom jobs just gave them more confidence...they really didn't shoot small groups any more dependably. And, of course, that Rem 722 action is very much the same design except for the bolt handle as the M700 short action. My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still. | |||
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Agreed. Or put another way, 700's make good target rifles. IMHO there are better actions for hunting rifles..............................DJ ....Remember that this is all supposed to be for fun!.................. | |||
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The reason that many uses Remmington, is that you can call it the Harley Davidson among rifles. Literaly every part can be bourght in a better or more fancy quality The only real difference betwen Remmington and Harley, is when you actualy has changet all the parts of an Remmington, it becomes reliable and wellfunctioning. Harley never does   | |||
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haha! oh yeah well it looks like the Remington 700 action would be a good choice then. any suggestions on different triggers and perhaps something like replacing the firing pin and spring with a gre-tan speed lock system? | |||
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The only modifications to the Rem 700 action I'd want is the safety to be converted to win three pos type. Properly adjusted the original trigger and firing system is just fine. | |||
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Why are you guys so facinated by this Winchester safety. All i have seen, is heavy, Noizy and you almost need to úse both hands and a foot to hold against, to put them back in safe position. Further i regard them problematic in combination with the 45 deg attack angel on the remmington hammer and trigger. It doesnt matter that a safety in theory is 5% more safe, when you dont use it in 40% of the critical situations, because it is to hard and noizy to use, when the hunt is getting exciting  | |||
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| one of us |
Hey Paul, I'd recommend you start with a new M700 with a 26" Bull Barrel from the factory. Something like a M700VLS "if" they still make them. The key is getting one of the "V-series" rifles. I've shot a whole bunch of them and they all had nice SAAMI Minimum chambers. Adjust the Trigger yourself, or have someone who understands Remington Triggers do it. Get a 6.5-20x VariX-III and mount it in Burris Signature Rings(with the Synthetic Inserts). If you are serious about wanting tiny groups, have the rifle chambered for the 308Win, use Cases that have been "fully Match-Prepped", Fed-210M BR Primers, starting loads of H380, and 168gr MatchKings. With that rig, you can totally blow-away any other Factory rifle, especially the rag M70s. You could easily "win" all of the other rifles you want and sell them off as "scrap". --- If you plan to use it for Hunting, there is not much you can't kill with it. But if you need more horsepower, just go with a 30-06 or a 300WinMag in the same rifle. You can always down-load them. Best of luck to you. | |||
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Having owned a number of Factory 308 rifles including 2 of the aforementioned Remingtons I can assure you that the above statement is complete BS. After some work the Remmy's can be made to shoot well but out of the box there are several rifles that shoot better.....................DJ ....Remember that this is all supposed to be for fun!.................. | |||
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Sorry friend but I can't agree with this assessment in any way. I agree that a few M-70 safeties have been dificult to use and stiff and not very good in gern eral but properly made and installed they're the best thing since sliced bread. You do have sliced bread there in Scandanavia don't you? | |||
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Paul I'm gonna jump in here one last time. I plink, varmint, hunt, and shoot benchrest, all four. Among all my rifles right now 4 are Remingtons. None of the 4 are Benchrest rifles. Why? Because by the time you do everything to the action that has to be done to make it competitive you could have purchased one of the custom actions for the same $$$. Plus, when it comes time to sell the rifle the custom will still be a custom and the Remington will still be a Remington. So while you are still in the planning stages make a complete and honest list of what the final cost is going to be. Then compare it with what the cost will be for the other actions that are available before you make your choice. I think you'll find that for pure target work the Remington will not be number one. For varminting and hunting, it will be OK but there will be others that are worse, some better, and a lot as good as. For plinking, get a 22 LR. JMHO Ray Arizona Mountains | |||
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And of course there are always some folks who couldn't shoot a decent group at 5yds with the rifle in a vise. Once again dj proves his firearm knowledge is totally worthless. | |||
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I think my great grandmother talked about sliced bread as revolutionary, in her childhood  But ewen thoug it is still posible to sell sliced bread, but you should be able to sell sand in Sahara, if you should have any succes in selling rifles with a model 70 safety here But perhaps it might be posible from an antique shop  | |||
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over here a remington 700 sps stainless is $1200 (NZD) and to true the action its about $300, thats 1500 alreaddy just for the action. unsure of what something like a nesika action is worth, which is what the supplier I deal with sells. with a action like nesika, do you have to get one of them trued? or are they perfect and readdy to go? | |||
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just found out they are around $1900 - $2000 | |||
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| One of Us |
Buy the Remington and have a competent gunsmith tune it up. Trigger work, recrown and bedding. Work up a load and take it shooting. You should have a 1/2 minute gun when you are finished. If you need tighter groups than that, and you can't achieve it through practicing, then you might look at having the action trued. Don't make it too complicated. It should be a pretty straight forward project. | |||
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Originally I was just going to get a remington 700 SPS S and rebarrel it. make sure it was properly free floated and bed the action and get the action trued. got that figured out that it would cost less that my current, kinda crappy kimber montana that will only shoot about an inch because the barrel is just so shocking. | |||
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You could contact C R Pain down there, i think he can get you a rifle of another brand, in caliber 6,5-284, that will deliver what you wants just out of the box | |||
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Then you might get lucky with a Tika even. In our markets (mob of cheapscates) you will probably never get someone to pay what you put into a "custom". Which is ok if you never want to sell it. | |||
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Hey Paul, Sounds like a fine plan to me. Just be sure to try it out before you take it to a Gunsmith, it might surprise you at how well it will shoot as-is. What do you mean about the Kimber barrel? What is wrong with it? | |||
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There are so many function defects in the Remmy design that I really don't want to be around one when hunting. I still use a 40X for single shot targets but I don't use the safety. Join the NRA | |||
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And Don also preaches that a "Belted Case" is a poor design.  | |||
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And he is of course correct. There is not a single belted magnum (with the possible exeption of the 450 Marlin) that would not be better if it was identical to it's existing design sans belt. Belts were a cosmetic addition that serve no useful purpose in a bolt action rifle. Certainly there are several belted rounds that have acheived legendary status. They are here to stay. But they have become great despite the belt not because of it. The simple fact is they would have been better if they had been created from the start without belts....................DJ ....Remember that this is all supposed to be for fun!.................. | |||
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Hey Rem - Whore, don't you ever get tired of insulting people who disagree with you simply because their actual mileage may vary from your own??? While I do not remotely disagree with you on the receiver design as one of the strongest designs available on the market, if not THE strongest, or the M/700 as a sound base to build a custom rifle on the inherent strength of it.... As always I object to the tone and the lack of merit in your post that has almost nothing to do with facts of the matter, but rather the form of seething emotion and insults to exploit your position.... Good save though, in the way you skirted Savage99 post! I am still checking in on you from time to time to keep you honest my old friend, better to remain silent and be perceived a fool than open your mouth and remove ALL doubt ;o) Aug ><> To Be Safe, First Think You Might Not Be. | |||
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Hey Hot Bore.........Go to your local shooting range with one of your Remmys. Load it up, and apply the safety. Turn to the guy next to you, and chat for a minute. Go back to your Remmy, take a sight on the target, and pull the trigger.......Oops! Forget the safety was on. Keep your sight picture while slipping off the safety......BOOM!! Oh Sh** Got the target frame! Damn gun!! Forgot the safety can be the trigger sometimes........Tricky Remington gun designers........Trade your trick rifle off for a "rag Winchester".....They're like most guns. They don't go off 'till you pull the trigger. Grant. | |||
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For years I sneered at the M700 as tinny junk. Then my ears played up and I needed a moderated rifle for a short while. I wanted to do it cheaply but have a good trigger without recourse to a gunsmith. I bought a stainless synthetic (SPS) M700 in 243. I had it chopped to 19", threaded and put Talleys and a Jewell on it, all available from stock and all simple fitments. My first group was 0.35" Nothing but nothing has gone over an inch from 55gr to 105gr. Half inch groups are easy. The throat is ideal length for the magazine and the barrel does not fout - period. It was so good I had it uniformly bead blasted and bought a Mcmillan mountain stock for it. It's barely been out of my hands since. In fact it's so good I will make a 7mm08 twin next year. It's very easy to rubbish something on theoretical grounds but harder to get practical experience - when you do you often change your mind. At some point I'll replace the bottom 'metal' (term used loosely) for a Williams. | |||
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well, its really quite rough looking, and it fouls pretty bad, put about 120 shots through it and it aint gotten alot better. I got someone else to look through it and they said that it was also pretty rough, you can see obvious machining marks and its pretty patchy like the metal is pealing off. I have done a bit of reloading for it, and i thought i had found the right stuff, did a .3" group with it ( 3 shots @ 100 ) so i loaded up some more of those and now its around an inch for average, itll put 2 through pretty much the same hole then the next will leak out and open it up. other times it just wont go at all. | |||
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