Are all Rem 700 actions the same?

[4xforfun]

A friend of mine just completed a build (Manners stock, Rem 700, Krieger BBL, Jewel trigger, ect..) in 300 WSM. For the action he baught an el-cheapo 300 RUM and ditched the stock, bbl, and triger. Along with the customs, I also run 4 REM 700 actioned guns. All are at least 15+ years old, and, IMO, seem to be much better quality. The new action seems like it is made of hard plastic. It is black in color, not deep blue. The bolt is not jueled, and just isn't the same (look or feel) as my older 700's. It has been many years since I walked the isles of the big gun stores and fondled all of the new REMMYS, so I am a bit out of touch.

So, as the title asks...are they the same????

 

[Sniper338]

No not at all.. same blueprint... but they all come out different.. some are looser than others etc etc... the higher end factorybremingtons seem to have a better action that althe lower end even though theybare all 700 actions... thats why you find many time people like to buy the older actions that are better quality..

 

[Preacher]

The dimensions are basically the same on all of the 700's, very little has been changed other than the appearance of the finishes.. The new CNC'ed actions vary less than the old ones.....

 

[T 700]

But the old ones are better, they took more care when building them!

 

[22DASHER]

My older actions look and feel as if they are a lot better quality as well. And I don't know if the tolerances are better or worse from one to the next. However, I do know they all shoot just as good!!!!!

 

[Shynloco]

Well...Don't want to seem harsh, BUT, I recent walked into a local popular Gun Shop and took a look at a new Remington 700 SPS. I ran the action and quickly concluded you couldn't give me one of these POS. I don't know if it's because the best gun salesman of all times keeps running his stupid face or its because people are willing (or too uneducated or stupid) to accept less for more. That's why I'm now looking for a nice OLDER model used Remington 700 for one of my sons. I'm not knocking Remington either because I really like my Remingtons, but this new stuff lacks quality and that nice feel that a Remington has historically had. Must be the new generation's idea of "quality"...NOT! I still believe you have to have confidence in what you shoot no matter how well or poorly this newer stuff performs.

Alex

 

[4xforfun]

My smith, who did the build for him, said that the action was pretty darn good and took very little work to "true up" compared to others he had done recently.

I am confident that it will be a shooter, just curious about the starting quality.

Thanks,
Tod

 

[carlsbad]

I don't true actions. I like them to have the same thread. Accuracy lives in the barrel/chamber.

That said, I like a nice quality smooth action.

Last night I looked at a new RR serial number rem 700 which I think was a "tactical" model. Had a nice stock that I think had aluminum block. nice 24" 308 barrel, maybe threaded. New trigger is improved too. Action felt wonderful.

I'm thinking of picking up one of these for my build. The stock, barrel, trigger and bottom metal will all be easy to sell.

--Jerry

 

[22BRGUY]

Another one that is nice IMHO are the old 722's. A local gunsmith several years ago said he liked them more for custom builds than the 700's as he also thought maybe they were better made. I had a .222 that was very smooth and nice also. They can be found pretty reasonably priced on gunbroker .com etc. in some of the less popular cartridges with dinged up stocks or whatever.

 

[CatShooter]

I have been building on and shooting Rem 700 actions for half a century. The old ones were nice.

There seems to be two levels of Rem 00 actions now - low end, and high end - I don't know if one set is made to lower standards, or if the inspections stages separate the wheat from the chafe... but my more expensive 700 rifles in the last ten year have ALL been terrific, and the 22-250 700 VSF I bought two years ago, I bought it strictly for the action... it is the best fitted, smoothest action I have ever handled, bar none - it was made in 2005.

So if you buy a $400 Cabela's special for the foundation of your project, don't expect much, but if you are spending north of $900, my experience is that you will be a happy camper.

 

[STS]

They are most definitely not all the same. I've trued many of them, rethreading via the single point method, and you never know what you have to work with until you get it in the lathe. I think the newer, CNC made stuff varies less than the older ones but they still can be all over the map. A close friend bought a donor rifle this week for a project. An "A" prefix action. I put that action in the lathe this morning and it was as straight and true as any custom action ever made. I faced the action and lug abutments just to have nice clean surfaces to work with but did nothing to the threads as far as truing. I haven't checked out the bolt yet to see what work needs to be done to it. I will sleeve the bolt body but who knows what after that. You just never know what you will find.

 

[carlsbad]

Any thoughts on the actions that come with the recent 5r barreled rifles?

-Jerry

 

[aj300mag]

So if you buy a $400 Cabela's special for the foundation of your project, don't expect much, but if you are spending north of $900, my experience is that you will be a happy camper.

I've done a half dozen rifles using stainless ADL actions. Once the action is indicated in the action face and the bolt lug abutments have <.001" TIR to the bolt bore. I single point the action threads to .01" oversized on the P.D. and they're cleaned up and concentric to the bolt bore. Setting up the bolt the back face of the lugs have had <.001" runout, same with the bolt face. Fuzz off the blueing and they're good to go. Only thing that I've found funky is the O.D. of the bolt nose.

As usual YMMV...

 

[22DASHER]

So if you buy a $400 Cabela's special for the foundation of your project, don't expect much, but if you are spending north of $900, my experience is that you will be a happy camper.

And yet I have purchased an overwhelming number of these $400 rifles and built some real hammers. None of them were trued, squared, and/or blueprinted.....

 

[Rtheurer]

This is where I used to bad mouth the recent Rem 700's and sugest a fella look for a used action with a "A" "B" OR "C" prefix in the SN# ( those baby's are slick slick slick) Just this last year we put together a 260 for a friend on a R Rpefix current prodiction... it was pretty darn nice. Much better than what I have seen before anyway.

 

[butchlambert]

Typical internet thread. What would you do? 50-50 on new against old. How many of you have actually set one up in a lathe and know how to check and machine one "properly" if needed.

 

[butchlambert]

Why don't you flip a coin?

 

[flatlander]

No doubt an older action that's been run a lot - but at the same time, with care to keep it clean & properly lubricated - might seem slicker than a new action. But for the most part, these new RR prefix actions are usually pretty darned good, in part because Remington finally started heat treating them before machining out the big cuts for ejection port & magazine well. That should reduce the warping you'd typically see in an action heat treated after those cuts were taken.

90+% of the actions I true for customers get blasted & CeraKoted after truing - afterwards, it makes no difference whether it was an older polished & blued action, or one of the el cheapo new ones sold at Wally World.

 

[shortgrass]

Typical internet thread. What would you do? 50-50 on new against old. How many of you have actually set one up in a lathe and know how to check and machine one "properly" if needed.

+1 Americans with too much time on their hands...... Truely, the "mis-information super highway".

 

[dantiff2]

Aside from facing the action and chasing threads to cleanup, do you see many with bolt timing issues? I have two Rem's with zero extraction because the bolt handle is too far back on the body. These are the cheaper actions bought about ten to twelve years ago.

Dan