Help with gun value?

[NealWright]

I know my description will be vague ... but, I have the opportunity to pick up what I believe is an older benchrest rifle. I think it will go ~$600, and am trying to get an idea if there's any $$ to turn it around?

Remington 700
6PPC, neck turn, but not labeled
Full aluminum "stock", 3" fore end
Polished stainless barrel, blued received, glued to stock
Trigger won't register on my gauge, so I'm guessing oz's

No body has any history on the rifle (it was bought CHEAP) at an amish auction! No gunsmith markings we can find, but receiver also doesn't easily come out of stock. None of us are setup to shoot PPC, but barrel looks clean from what can see.

Any ideas on value? Thanks, Neal

 

[jonbearman]

My feeling is if the aluminum stock looks like a skilled person made it and it looks nice and the bore is good,I would give 600.00-900.00. I would scope the bore if possible before you actually pay for it. On a gamble,shoot it after you do a chamber cast and find out the neck diameter.At 600.00 you wont get hurt to bad.

 

[NealWright]

We don't have a chamber cast ... but it worries me that the guy who has it, has fired a couple rounds. Somebody makes smaller brass??

Anyhow, the fired brass measured .262" after fired, and extracts fine ... but I'm assuming that small will be a turned neck.

We'll see ... the deal is still there, just worried with no gunsmith markings? Probably under the barrel, if I froze it out of the stock.

Thanks, Neal

 

[fdshuster]

Neal: If your fired case neck diameter is .262" I'm betting your chamber neck diameter is .263". With every one of my chambers, regardless of cartridge, fired case diameter is always .001" smaller than actual chamber neck diameter, that is verified with my reamer print drawings.

Take a chamber length measurement so you will have the actual trim to lengths for your brass, measure the headspace length ( I prefer the Stoney Point or Sinclair gauges) and adjust your sizing die accordingly & you will be good to go, for the brass fit.

Establish the bullet seating depth's for each of the bullets you plan on using & you're all set.

$600 seems like a fair price. The receiver alone is worth around $400, plus the stock, trigger ( might be a Jewell?), and the barrel, most likely a hand-lapped.

p.s.: I would not try to remove the receiver from the stock, looking for chamber information that may not even be there. You can learn everything you need to know without taking a chance of damaging the stock, or if no damage, then having to re-glue or revert back to the guard screws.

 

[fdshuster]

Neal: And one final thought, then I'll keep quiet: That rifle may very well be set-up as a switch-barrel, most, if not all glue-ins are. How else to replace the barrel when it's shot-out without destroying the expensive glue-in job?


A barrel vice and a receiver wrench to fit the Remington 700 receiver would be needed to remove the barrel, usually set at anywhere from 30 to 80 ft. lbs.

There should also be a pair of holes in the stock, above the trigger guard, used to drift the 2 hanger pins out from the trigger, to remove the trigger. If not, then the trigger may be screw-attached to a hanger, accessable by removing the trigger guard.

 

[fdshuster]

A glue-in.

 

[NealWright]

Yeah, not my gun ... so, I've only looked it over moderately. No one we know has any PPC dies anymore. He just found an old-timer to throw him 2pc of brass ... both fit in the chamber, so he loaded them, pressed a bullet in with something.

There are two pin holes above the trigger ... I haven't looked close enough to see if those are adjustment holes, but I had suspected that taking the 2 pins out would remove the trigger.

With the aluminum stock and glue in ... I'm not sure how an action (or barrel) wrench would fit? I'll have to look closely again, but I think the stock is 1pc front to back.

Really trying to get insight into what I'm look at, as it is definitely outside of anything I've worked with before. I figure it might be a gem worth looking at, but am in the dark on many of the aspects.
Thanks, Neal

 

[fdshuster]

Neal: The rear entry action wrench's slide in to the receiver with side extensions that fit in the same cuts that the bolt lugs ride in. Push it all the way in, attach a 3/4" or 7/8" socket with a breaker bar, give it a little rap with the open hand & barrel breaks lose from the receiver. All this is done while the barrel is securely clamped in a barrel vice, which in turn is clamped ( with C-clamps) to a benchtop.

Simple procedure that is done in a very short time, changing from one barrel to another.

The 2 holes in the stock are for inserting a punch to tap out the 2 hanger pins that secure the Remington style triggers. Entire trigger assembly then drops out for cleaning & adjustement, or replacement.

Some of the newer glue-ins have a hanger attached to the bottom of the receiver with the trigger held on with 2 socket head screws. Remove the trigger guard and the 2 screws are reachable with an allen wrench. Entire trigger can be removed very quickly, in way less time than a factory trigger.

As I said, the price sounds reasonable, even if the barrel would need to be replaced soon. But, who knows? I've seen barrels on rifles like you described in as new condition, obviousely fired very little, or sometimes, not at all.