Remington actions

[duxbay]

Saw gander mtn. has reminton 700 adl on sale. Is the action on these rifles what I would use for custom build. Think the price was 499.00. Might be 399.00.
Am looking to build 7mm wsm.

 

[fdshuster]

I find the older Remington 700's, no alphabet prefix in the serial number to be the nicest. High gloss blue, jeweled bolts, etc. "A" & "B" prefixes are still very nice, but the newer ones with the matte finish, plain bolts, some with the J-lock's, etc. just do not seem to have the quality. For that reason when I'm looking for a Remington to build on, I buy used from a private owner. Price is usually around $350. My gunsmith has commented on how little was required to clean up the receiver before re-barreling, on several of them. Two needed nothing. The newest "G" prefix serial number needed a lot of work.

 

[Eddie Harren]

I build a lot of rifles on Remington actions. When I first started I shopped for the 722 actions beacause they were cheaper to buy than 700 actions. As Rem progressed to new ownership and new CNC machinery the quality of the actions got better IMO. The matte finish does not impress me but, the lesser degree of runout in the action and bolt certainly does. I have to do less work on the newer actions than I did on the older ones.

 

[Taildrag15X]

There's a 700 Short Action, no bolt or trigger up on Benchrestcentral, think it's listed for $225 USD.......

Get a PTG bolt and a trigger that makes you happy, you'd be set!

 

[Jonathan Zimmerman]

I recently purchased one of these 700 ADL short action package deals for a project (smokeless muzzleloader). When I took the barrel off and measured to the bolt face, I consistently got the same measurement. I have not put it on the lathe yet, but it appears to be really good. Another benefit of not having the polished action is the fact that the receiver is still round if you measure it. It does not matter really, but I noticed that when checking it out compared to an older polished action that I own. $397 was what I got mine for at Wal-Mart. It is better than I thought it would be.

 

[1shot]

I'll agree that the earlier 700 series were better, I have one each of the "A" "B" and "C" series actions and they are all shooters. Having said that, I shot my first clean at 600 yds. with a box stock "G" series VFS in .308. This was done sling/prone, not with the aid of a bi-pod. I might add, that I went to this match with 24 rounds down the barrel, and those were used to develop an accurate load. So maybe I got lucky with this rifle, who knows, but it just shoots lights out with everything I feed it from 110 gr. to 175 gr. bullets.
I hope this helps,
Lloyd

 

[flatlander]

Several of the newest bare actions that Brownells has been selling indicated out very well when I checked them in a Gre'Tan action fixture on my lathe. These are the latest actions, as they have a digital pictogram and miniature reproduction of the ser.# in the bolt handle cut-out. Two that I recall had no more than .001" wobble on the receiver face, and bolt lug abutments also checked out very good. I was getting brave enough to consider barreling one for a customer, but thought better of it - it had about double or .002" wobble, so I went ahead and took the light cuts needed to true it.

My biggest complaint is that X-Mark Pro trigger - I'd much prefer that they knock a couple of bucks off the price and send 'em out without any trigger at all rather than these things.

 

[fdshuster]

Whatever vintage Remington 700 you start with, it's still one of the best choices ( other than a custom receiver with the associated $$$$$). Drop-in stocks available in whatever configuration you need without a 6 month wait, the ever excellent Jewell triggers, recoil lugs, bolt parts, scope mount bases, etc. etc. Yes, the newer ones are machined on CNC equipment, probably to closer tolerences than the older ones, but much of that effort is wiped out when the machine finished receivers are heat treated resulting in the warped receivers, some worse than others, both old and new. Like anything else that is mass produced you may get a good or bad one.

 

[shortgrass]

Yes, the newer ones are machined on CNC equipment, probably to closer tolerences than the older ones, but much of that effort is wiped out when the machine finished receivers are heat treated resulting in the warped receivers, some worse than others, both old and new. Like anything else that is mass produced you may get a good or bad one.

I'd quickly bet a dollar that the bar those receivers are made of is hardened and tempered to Remingtons' specs from the steel mill. No harder than a Rem. 700 receiver is, it's no match for carbide and EDMs. I work as a job shop machinist, part time for a good friend, besides my 'smithing shop (worked full time as a job shop machinist/tool maker from '74-'91). We cut 4350HT , 4140HT, and 4142HT on CNC and manual machines everyday. Look how easily the receiver can be faced in a "gunsmithing"' sized lathe with just a C6 brazed carbide bit. As thin as some of the sections are on 700s they'd "tie themselves in knots" when quenched, if heat treated after the were cut. Quite possibly they are "stress relieved" after they are machined, which done on a production basis, my induce some deflection.

 

[Mark S in NM]

Saw reference to Wally World in above post. I was at local yesterday two 700's on sale $329 ea. One a 223 other 308. I looked twice thinking had to be 772's but nope. I'm and 01 FFL and can't come CLOSE with any of my distributor's.

 

[fdshuster]

shortgrass: One of the shortcomings I see on a lot of remington 700 receivers is the bolt locking lugs. I've pulled dozens of bolts out of factory receivers and will see one lug with normal rub marks from contact with the receiver lug and the other lug will have all the original factory blueing, untouched by the receiver lug. I've been told this is mainly caused by the "bent" receiver, some worse than others. If not the heat treating, what caused it?

 

[shortgrass]

It may be because of the interrupted cut either in machining those lug abuttments or the locking lugs or both. An interrupted cut is bad about inducing deflection in the work and the tooling. Because the bolt 'nose' is a seperate piece from the bolt body, which is really just a tube, with the bolt 'nose' silver brazed into that tube, the fit between the tube and the bolt nose many not be what it should for perfect alinement. This, taking into account, all happens at production speeds and there is much room in tolerance so these parts all fit together without any hastle. The thin section at the lower side of the ejection port is so different in mass, quenching a receiver would certainly warp it, much more than we see now. What we are seeing may come from the stress relieving process where the finish machined receiver is heated to about 300-350 deg., completely thru, and then allowed to cool without quenching, much like the custom rifle barrel makers do their barrels. I've bone charcoal color case hardened Mauser '98s. A snug fitting mandrel is inserted thru the bolt bore and a 1/4" to 3/8" thick plate is bolted to mandrel, the plate on the bottom side of the flat bottom receiver. If the receiver isn't 'blocked' in this manner, or another similar manner, the receiver will most certainly deflect when quenched and, it may deflect so much the bolt will not go back into the receiver. My 'blocking' usually will make two heat treating cycles before it has deflected enough it is not useable. I may be completely wrong about the way Remington does their receivers, machine and then heat treat and temper, but doing it that way wouldn't be conductive to keeping anything anywhere near as straight as they are now. Cutting a 700 to face the reciver, square the locking lug abuttments, or single point cutting the tenon threads for squareness is not hard on the carbide cutting tools I use, at all. The more ridgid set-up and massive amounts of coolant (and better tooling, probably) that production machines have would make it all feasible, even at production speeds and feeds.

 

[Oneputt]

Shortgrass: The method you described (pre-heattreated bar stock) was the method used by Wichita Arms way back in the '70s. There was no stress relieving or post heattreating. Trueing actions wasn't wasn't as en vogue as it has become but we indicated every operation in to within .0005 and had no difficulty because of the hardened material. Sorry for the hijack.

Jeff

 

[butchlambert]

They are machined from HT steel. Ain't gonna be a Remington with equal wear on the bolt lugs because the upper lug is not in contact when cocked. Until you ream the raceway and fit an oversize bolt body that is the way it is going to be.
The OP asked about a WSM I believe. Won't he need a magnum receiver in long action?
Butch