Remington 700 TLC

[nchungryhunter]

I have been looking for a gunsmith to do a bit of work on my Remington 700 CDL in 300 win mag and was wondering if someone here could recommend a shop. I bought the gun in 2007 (was the first firearm I purchased) and just want to give it a bit of an update. I've been hunting mainly in the southeastern US with it and I'm looking to take it out west for elk next year. I have already purchased a scope to put on it, a Leopold VX5 4x20 but haven't replaced it with the Nikon Monarch that's on it yet.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm in North Carolina but travel all over the East Coast for work and would like to find someone local-ish.

 

[fourfive8]

Not many Remington fans out there I guess or most are in the closet on this forum

My gunsmith just threw in the towel on taking on outside work or I would recommend him- although he is nowhere near the East Coast. Many good ones out there who can work on 700s- so you'll have to do some researching and online leg work. The Rem 700 is an easy action to work on and there are quite a number of gunsmiths who work on them. Unless your gun is not shooting well, I would think hard about spending a ton of money on it, though.

But, I know the itch to improve and tinker. There are a few relatively easy things I can think of that can be done. No guarantee they will make it shoot better but they will not hurt either. I've had several 700s worked over or built in the past. For really hard hunting use, nothing beats a quality synthetic stock... I have used HS Precision stocks and can recommend them. You can free float the barrel and the HS Precision stock is rigid enough so the free floating means something. Many times people free float their barrels only to put them into a limber noodle stock or a warping wood stock negating the positive attributes of free floating. You can have whichever gunsmith you choose true the action (true the barrel to the action and true the bolt face and lugs to axis of bore) and that never hurts. If you stay with the wood stock (if it has one) pillar bedding is also on the "should do" list. If you use something like an HS Precision synthetic stock you won't need to pillar bed as it already has a built-in aluminum skeleton and bedding platform. One thing I would hesitate to do unless you can be shown otherwise is cave to the temptation to install a Sako or M-16 style extractor. On the surface it seems like a good idea because of the shortcomings of the Rem 700 extractor but the location of the new extractor may cause ejected cases to fly up at too high an angle and hit the scope or scope turrets. Just something to think about. While at the gunsmith, have him give the trigger a once over to make sure it is adjusted correctly! If uneasy about the factory trigger you can install one of the more proven, after-market triggers.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[GA Hunter]

I have been looking for a gunsmith to do a bit of work on my Remington 700 CDL in 300 win mag and was wondering if someone here could recommend a shop. I bought the gun in 2007 (was the first firearm I purchased) and just want to give it a bit of an update. I've been hunting mainly in the southeastern US with it and I'm looking to take it out west for elk next year. I have already purchased a scope to put on it, a Leopold VX5 4x20 but haven't replaced it with the Nikon Monarch that's on it yet.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm in North Carolina but travel all over the East Coast for work and would like to find someone local-ish.

My smith has put together many semi custom projects based on the 700 action for me and many of my friends. I don’t think you’ll find many much better than he is. I’m in central GA and so is he. PM me if you want more info. I’m certain he can take care of any and everything you need.

BD

 

[HuntingGold]

All of my recommendations are West Coast.

 

[bruce moulds]

what 458 said.
plus look hard at jewell triggers.
i have them on a number of rifles and they have never missed a beat.
definitely a cut above such as timney.
canjar triggers were good bwfore the factory burned down,
some gunsmiths can do a 3 lever conversion on the old rem 700 triggers.
bruce.

 

[Areaonereal]

Just exactly what are you referring to giving it an “update”. What problems are you experiencing? Accuracy, trigger, cosmetics, mechanical? plenty of smiths on the east coast that are excellent and Pennsylvania. Planning on a complete overhaul does not make $$$ sense tho...i.e., truing action, trigger, bedding, extractor, metal refinish, bolt timing, rebarreling, etc. you would soon be approaching 2 K. If it is a hunting rifle, an investment to that extent would never be recovered. I have always used Remington 700’s and currently have 8 in different calibers and switch barrels. Nice actions if you are willing to invest in the modifications, but for hunting rifles, a replacement trigger is your best $$ spent. I have seen out of the box 700’s shoot very well out of the box with hand loads and some factory ammo...3 shot less than .75 at 100 yds.