They've always made a decent rifle. When designed they were pretty accurate for a rifle that was mass produced on dedicated machinery. They were designed for ease of production and could be produced cheaper than Winchester. Competition has stepped up the anti and management dropped the ball but they are still decent. CNC machinery made a difference in quality. The Remington 700 footprint is still the go to in the industry.
When did Remington still make good 700's?
- Thread starter SteveOak
- Start date
NZ_Fclass
Silver $$ Contributor
The design is fabulous. The execution poor. Check out the clones - Surgeon et al and you will see why. I have 2 Tikka actions, both unfettled with, factory triggers but custom barrels. I regularly shoot them in 600-800 yd competition.
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CJ6
Silver $$ Contributor
I've always had pretty good luck with the varmint (heavy barreled) Remingtons I've bought. Last one of those I bought was late 90s 7 mm STW Sendero. The last sporter Remington was a SPS in 6.5 man bun (RR prefix). Didn't shoot worth a plug nickle. took the barrel off and put a Brux on and TT Dia. shoots like a house a fire now.
pertnear
Silver $$ Contributor
Last week.
Seriously, Rem 700's have always been a good rifle choice with price, re-sale, accuracy & function considered. Hard to go wrong buying a 700.
Prose
Silver $$ Contributor
Once things became plasticized with the SPS I lost my love for them. It's not the bones that are bad, but the trigger, stock, and bottom metal. Barrel and action are always good until they started given them a cheep finish. I think I'd find it pretty hard to buy one today unless it was 100 bucks cheaper than a tikka.
dryhumor
When an old man dies, a library is lost forever...
I can’t speak for the Remington Arms stuff. I’ve heard good and bad about them.
If I was in the market for an action, I have found that a complete rifle can be had cheaper than just buying an action/trigger alone; plus you get the magazine box, spring and follower, screws, and bottom metal if there. It gets upside down when you pay for another trigger, and/or barrel, and/or stock.
The plus side is a lot of aftermarket parts for them.
If I was in the market for an action, I have found that a complete rifle can be had cheaper than just buying an action/trigger alone; plus you get the magazine box, spring and follower, screws, and bottom metal if there. It gets upside down when you pay for another trigger, and/or barrel, and/or stock.
The plus side is a lot of aftermarket parts for them.
urbanrifleman
Site $$ Sponsor
Here's my question. Where are all are all of the Remington 700s? I mean there are literally millions and millions of those rifles out there. But now you never see them. Are they simply just in people's gun safes?
The same thing happened to the music equipment. A whole bunch of rich people bought up all the old amps and guitars. Some of them just put them in warehouses. Like they're storing them away for someone?
The same thing happened to the music equipment. A whole bunch of rich people bought up all the old amps and guitars. Some of them just put them in warehouses. Like they're storing them away for someone?
Rube Shooter
Gold $$ Contributor
Great guns but they are not without issue. Better rifles out there, but for the money I spent years ago they were worth it.
My first off the shelf Remington 700, purchased new in late 90s is a 308 VS model. Shot under an inch with 150gr core lokts and put many deer in the freezer for me, fine tuned a hand load and it still shoots under an inch, not match grade by any means but a good working rifle. 2 others I bought late 90s are my 300 win mag Sendero which now wears a Krieger varmint contour barrel and my Remington 700 stainless 25-06 is fixing to get it's factory sporter barrel put back on as I want a lighter deer gun.
The 2 RR prefix rifles I have bought were immediately rebarreled, upgraded to new triggers and stocks complete with pillars and bedding.
Some have been in the safe for a while but I still shoot all of them when the urge hits.
My first off the shelf Remington 700, purchased new in late 90s is a 308 VS model. Shot under an inch with 150gr core lokts and put many deer in the freezer for me, fine tuned a hand load and it still shoots under an inch, not match grade by any means but a good working rifle. 2 others I bought late 90s are my 300 win mag Sendero which now wears a Krieger varmint contour barrel and my Remington 700 stainless 25-06 is fixing to get it's factory sporter barrel put back on as I want a lighter deer gun.
The 2 RR prefix rifles I have bought were immediately rebarreled, upgraded to new triggers and stocks complete with pillars and bedding.
Some have been in the safe for a while but I still shoot all of them when the urge hits.
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dryhumor
When an old man dies, a library is lost forever...
A lot are on the internet sales sites. From very reasonable to are you kidding kind of pricing.
And Cabelas, when they’ve had firearms for x amount of time either discounts outright or accepts offers.
Amen
joshb
Gold $$ Contributor
…because the design is sound and the custom copies get the machining right.
FNSafari
Gold $$ Contributor
The early to mid 70's on push feed M70's were a fantastic rifle, IMO better than any 700 I have ever seen. The XTR's were beautiful rifles in the style of the day with lots of bling. I have one in 270 Win that to my eye is gorgeous.
I bought a $379 R700 in 243 Win from Walmart back in 2016. It shot great, sub-moa groups with my handloads. For the price then, I don't think there was anything that was better. Now that I'm playing with the higher end actions, I wouldn't buy a 700, but for my first bolt gun, I still think it does a great job, as a hunting rifle particularly.
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Good point. I have owned a bunch of them too, primarily the 70's, 80's and 90's versions. For the most part, they performed well even with the long free bore.
My varmint models with the bedding block stocks, routinely shot in the 1/2 moa with tuned reloads. However, the 700's with the injection molded plastic stocks and forearm pressure points would not shoot well unless bedded (I opted for pillar bedding) and the stock free floated OR, the stock upgraded with stock that had a bedding block. The former was a relatively cheap fix that worked well.
The 7's were plagued with the same problem, poor stocks. Once bedded and free floated, they shot well, at least in my experience.
The two "improvements" I hated was the new triggers and that "key lock" on the bolt shroud. I also didn't care for the extractor design but in all honestly, I only ever had minor problems with them and easy fixed with a replacement extractor.
I am a big fan of Tikka's but in my opinion, the one area the 700's do better than the Tikka's is in calibers over 243 Win. due to better control of felt free recoil. The heavier 700's in calibers such as the 270, 308, 30-06, etc. are much easier to shoot than the Tikka T3X Lite models, at least for me. I also like the 24"-barrel lengths in the 700's for use with slower powders in the 270 and 30 06 case capacities.
c3d4b2
Silver $$ Contributor
I have always respected the 700 design. If it wasn't a solid design, I doubt it would have been cloned by so many. The rifles I have had always performed well for a non-custom rifle.
I read and heard several reviews of pre-bankruptcy 700's that had very good bolt lug engagement. Believe these were coming out of Huntsville. In my mind, I attributed this to new and modern machining equipment.
I had high hopes for them until the capital management company pulled their financial wizardry and sunk them.
I read and heard several reviews of pre-bankruptcy 700's that had very good bolt lug engagement. Believe these were coming out of Huntsville. In my mind, I attributed this to new and modern machining equipment.
I had high hopes for them until the capital management company pulled their financial wizardry and sunk them.
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Popularity does not necessarily correlate with quality
padom
Gold $$ Contributor
If the plans to literally never touch the rifle or do anything to it, get a Tikka and be done.
But, if he thinks he will get bit by the bug and plans to put a new barrel on it, trigger, new stock, etc. Eventually then I'd get an Origin and slap whatever barrel you want on it, drop it in a KRG Bravo or whatever stock of choice and be set for a very long time.
But, if he thinks he will get bit by the bug and plans to put a new barrel on it, trigger, new stock, etc. Eventually then I'd get an Origin and slap whatever barrel you want on it, drop it in a KRG Bravo or whatever stock of choice and be set for a very long time.
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