Remington 700

[Doc Lightning]

I’ve owned a bunch of Rem 700s and their cheap clone the Sportsman 78. All could shoot less than MOA and half inch quite frequently.

 

[Doc Lightning]

I have owned several Rem 700s. All of the wooden stock ones performed well; only the plastic
stock one did not. Have replaced triggers on some, had some glass and pillar bedded.
Recently took my .243 Winchester which shot really well right out of the box and put on new
barrel 6.5 Creedmoor (why do I do these things?) and had trigger replaced. Shoots lights out
(occasional 1/4 inch group). Waiting to take a deer or hog at 300-400 yards.

 

[sestoppelman]

Owned a car load of them over the years, never had any issues with any of them. My first BA rifle was a Rem 700 ADL in .308, that was sold years ago, but I recently found one of the same vintage, 1968, also in .308 and enjoy it immensely.
I also have two M40 clones of the rifle our Marines used in Viet Nam. One is an early 60's receiver that I turned into a clone, the other is the Rem reissue done a number of years ago now. Both are super shooters and no issues with either.
I was at the range one day a few years ago when two young fellas showed up with two identical Rem 700 rifles. One worked, one did not. The bolt would not close on it, on an empty chamber! I messed with it as well, and told him to take it back where he got it.
How a rifle escaped the factory like that I will never know, but any maker has the odd junker leave messed up. It happens.

 

[leslie hetrick]

a little OT, but i had to show you. how does this shabby three shot group look?, shot at 100 yards with a old short barrled ruger # 3 in 45-70. loaded with 50 grs H-4198 and a 300 gr remington bullet for 1900-fps. i have killed many deer with this rifle and ill die with it, lord willing.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Seriously, I believe every word in the OP post. I've owned and messed with at least 6 different Rem 700s and 721s. A Rem 600 in 222 is the only Remington left in the safe. But, positive anecdotes unfortunately don't prove much while a single negative anecdote may be cause for real concern. It is not the 100 Rem 700s that don't fail at the wrong time, it is THE ONE that does. I too don't put too much credence in the stories of "accidental" discharge litigious claims about the 700 trigger. IMO there is something else involved with most of that. I will say that I never had a problem with a Rem 700 trigger, that does not mean I think it is the best nor shouldn't be changed out. Compared to an original design Win 70 trigger, the Rem 700 trigger in a hard use hunting rifle leaves a lot to be desired. Matter of fact any enclosed box trigger in a hard use hunting rifle leaves a lot to be desired. No way around it! If it is enclosed it will collect crap over time and that crap build up will over time greatly increase the chance for a trigger problem. Not the mechanical design at all... the problem is the basic box enclosure that becomes a gunk trap. On the other hand the original Win 70 trigger is a genius of design- adjustable, simple and no way really to trap gunk. Adjust a Rem 700 trigger the CORRECT WAY and mechanically it is a very safe and good trigger. Set it the wrong way and it becomes an instant liability. Even if adjusted correctly, it is still a gunk trap that is prone to those issues over time. And no matter the trigger, let a shade tree smith at it with half the knowledge required to understand the safe and correct function of a trigger and the design or brand matters very little.

Added to the trigger issue and somewhat related to it is the safety design. Hands down- no contest the three position Winchester 70 safety is superior to most all if not all modern safeties. The most common upgrade, beside the trigger, on most all bolt Mauser variations is the addition of the Winchester 70 wing type three position safety. That little lever blocking the internal trigger sear on a Rem 700 safety is not in the same league of design and may account for some of the ADs reported by 700 owners. Let a half knowledgable gunsmith set the over travel and sear engagement adjustment a little too cozy on a Rem 700 trigger, cock the striker, put the safety on safe position, lightly set finger on trigger, push safety to OFF- Bang! The mechanics of that scenario are pretty easy to understand. Or adjust the over travel and sear engagement in the same manner, cock, drop the rifle on hard sruface in a certain way and BANG! Also, not hard to understand. Adjust most any trigger with too little sear engagement and too cozy over travel in that manner and expect similar results.

Even the basic design weakness of the safety is not the problem in the 700 as it is designed.... if the trigger is CORRECTLY adjusted. IMO the most obvious weakness that everyone knows about and talks about, in the 700 and other similar models, is the extractor. What makes for a nice easy dump one in under stress and push feed it home design also makes for a weak extractor design. Over time and with an unknown lifespan, that system really becomes compromised- either from breakage of the little half moon clip with extractor nub or AGAIN gunk getting under that captured half moon clip and causing function failures. An OK upgrade to the Rem 700 type extractor is the M16 or Sako style extractor conversion. The biggest issue with the M16 or Sako extractor on a 700 is the location of the extractor may cause a potentially big problem with angle of ejection where empties are flipped at too high an angle and won't cleanly clear scopes, mounts or turrets.

After having and customizing and rebarreling and shooting the various Rem 700s or similars, I can say with confidence they are easier to blueprint, work on and "accurize" than all the Mauser-based bolt guns like the Win 70. Therefore they do tend to be more accurate on average because of that. But take a Win 70 or basic Mauser action and put the effort into correctly mounting a quality barrel onto it and making sure the lugs are trued up and plumb to the axis of the action along with the bolt face and what little max accuracy potential that is given up to the cylinder in a cylinder Rem action is more than made up for with the reliability as a hard use hunting rifle. If entering the world of DG rifles- reliability then becomes the most important attribute of a rifle. No bashing here either just calling it as I see it and have experienced it.

@fourfive8
You are always going to complain about a rifle on hearsay and yes ALL companies do make crap from time to time. Remington do make into an accurate rifle and people are now using the Brewer systems to attach barrels to the Remington. They use a Remington nut.
I personally prefer the savage 110 action and it's derivatives as the are easier to get shooting well. With the floating bolt head there is no need to lap the lugs to get them to bear evenly. Just true the threads up and replace the presses recoil lug with a machined one and jobs done. Easier to set the head space as well, that's why people are now using the Remington nut.
ALL RIFES have their own likes and dislikes, even consecutive numbered rifles can be different in their likes.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

a little OT, but i had to show you. how does this shabby three shot group look?, shot at 100 yards with a old short barrled ruger # 3 in 45-70. loaded with 50 grs H-4198 and a 300 gr remington bullet for 1900-fps. i have killed many deer with this rifle and ill die with it, lord willing.

View attachment 375208View attachment 375209View attachment 375210View attachment 375211

@leslie hetrick
I got offered a No3 Ruger in 22 hornet a few years ago for $500 Australian. As I already had a hornet I declined the offer.
Every time I see a No3 now I take myself outside and give myself a good slapping for being so stupid for not buying it, especially since I had the money in my pocket at the time.
Bob

 

[fourfive8]

@fourfive8
You are always going to complain about a rifle on hearsay and yes ALL companies do make crap from time to time. Remington do make into an accurate rifle and people are now using the Brewer systems to attach barrels to the Remington. They use a Remington nut.
I personally prefer the savage 110 action and it's derivatives as the are easier to get shooting well. With the floating bolt head there is no need to lap the lugs to get them to bear evenly. Just true the threads up and replace the presses recoil lug with a machined one and jobs done. Easier to set the head space as well, that's why people are now using the Remington nut.
ALL RIFES have their own likes and dislikes, even consecutive numbered rifles can be different in their likes.
Bob

Yah, guess I'm kind of neutral on the passion for or against the Remington 700. Every 700 or cousin I've owned, except the M600 and 721, I had "blueprinted" with a custom barrel installed and on a couple of those I added a custom high speed striker. Smiths like them because they are relatively easy to work on and work over. And, IMO, they have a really high accuracy potential for re-worked factory rifles. No expereince with the barrel nut rifles but I know the Savages have a following.

Most of my experience is with the Rem 700s produced in 70s and 80s. I understand there may have been issues with more recent ones but I have no direct knowledge. I will say the ones I had were generally pretty accurate right out of the box and very easy to glass bed for those wishing to add a DYI touch. Both 30-06 721s I had were actually excellent rifles overall. But, they apparently suffered the same weakness as the 700 with the cheesy extractor and the problematic box trigger with connected safety. Selby's 721 in 30-06 was darn near as famous as his 416 Rigby built on a standard Mauser bolt. One of the 721s I had broke an extractor and there is just enough difference between them and those on the 700 that finding a suitable NOS necessitated installing a Sako type extractor. Worked fine but because of the geometry, with the new extractor location, it throws ejected carts at too high an angle, IMO. The same applies to Sako and M16 type extractors on the M 700. If you compare that extractor location to a comparable one on a push feed Winchester 70 you'll notice the ejection geometry in the Win 70 PF is different. The 70 PF has the extractor in the lug so it throws empties at an acceptably low angle for clearing scopes and mounts.

Some have fits and seizures about the bartop epoxy finish on the Rem 700s of that era. Actually, it was not a bad finish in that it was very tough with the major detraction for those preferring oiled wood being its high gloss. Some didn't care for the stock design but I thought it was a very good and practical design and the wood itself usually of fairly decent quality. But as good a target and/or non dangerous game rifle they may be- given a choice, I'll still go with a good CRF bolt gun. I think the 700s weaknesses are often overstated but it only takes one failure, rumored or first hand, to tweak the question of confidence

 

[CoElkHunter]

@fourfive8
You are always going to complain about a rifle on hearsay and yes ALL companies do make crap from time to time. Remington do make into an accurate rifle and people are now using the Brewer systems to attach barrels to the Remington. They use a Remington nut.
I personally prefer the savage 110 action and it's derivatives as the are easier to get shooting well. With the floating bolt head there is no need to lap the lugs to get them to bear evenly. Just true the threads up and replace the presses recoil lug with a machined one and jobs done. Easier to set the head space as well, that's why people are now using the Remington nut.
ALL RIFES have their own likes and dislikes, even consecutive numbered rifles can be different in their likes.
Bob

Bob,
The Savage 110s were at the time (maybe still?) one of the most accurate, reliable, inexpensive rifles rifles ever manufactured along with the Remington 788s back in the day. I’ve never owned the Savage, but have owned two 788s. Two hunting buddies have older 110s in ‘06 and consistently take game with them.
CEH

 

[Ray B]

My first centerfire rifle was a 1962 M700 ADL 308. It's been all over North America from South Carolina to the Arctic Circle. As I've mentioned on other threads, I've used this rifle for the live fire portion of hunter education classes from 1989 until the department opted against use of private firearms a few years back. Since 1962 it has been handled and fired by over a thousand students and relatives. the only trouble it ever had was when my cousin borrowed it in 1965 and managed to chamber a round in the process of unloading and didn't close the bolt completely so the extractor didn't snap over the rim, leaving the cartridge in the chamber, giving my cousin the impression that he had unloaded the rifle and it was empty when it was still loaded. Since he had safe gun handling habits, there were no adverse results, but could have been. I much prefer the Mauser style extractor, but the one in my 700 has a proven track record with the one exception when it was fairly new.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob,
The Savage 110s were at the time (maybe still?) one of the most accurate, reliable, inexpensive rifles rifles ever manufactured along with the Remington 788s back in the day. I’ve never owned the Savage, but have owned two 788s. Two hunting buddies have older 110s in ‘06 and consistently take game with them.
CEH

@CoElkHunter
I own both the savage and 222 in a 788. Both unbelievable in the accuracy department.
Bob

 

[BeeMaa]

I had a Savage Model 16 Bear Hunter 300WSM.
Shot 1.5" groups at 200 yards with ease.
My wife's Savage Lady Hunter 270WIN was the same.
Excellent accuracy.

Never been a fan of the R700 action.
For the price, I thought Savage made a better product.
The barrel nut wasn't pretty, but it made the rifle accurate.
I'll take results over looks every time.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I had a Savage Model 16 Bear Hunter 300WSM.
Shot 1.5" groups at 200 yards with ease.
My wife's Savage Lady Hunter 270WIN was the same.
Excellent accuracy.

Never been a fan of the R700 action.
For the price, I thought Savage made a better product.
The barrel nut wasn't pretty, but it made the rifle accurate.
I'll take results over looks every time.

@BeeMaa
Chris @CBH calls my savage Whelen a dumb gun because it c ant tell one projectile from another.
It will put 6 different projectiles in three different weights into 1.2 inches at 100yards.
Bob

 

[BeeMaa]

@BeeMaa
Chris @CBH calls my savage Whelen a dumb gun because it c ant tell one projectile from another.
It will put 6 different projectiles in three different weights into 1.2 inches at 100yards.
Bob

Gotta love boring and efficient accuracy.
And at a very reasonable price.

 

[PARA45]

I have two Rem 700s. One is a 700 ADL, in 243 that I purchase in 1981/1982. That rifle is super accurate, and was reliable until I had an AD (unloaded). This rifle has done that 3 time, and I do not trust it any more. I will one day replace the stock trigger with a Timney and call it a day. I have another 700 ADL, that I purchase as a donor and built a 7mm STW. That rifle is a tac driver, and very reliable, no issues so far with that rifle.

I'd like to ask you which Weatherby rifle model you had, what caliber and what loads (factory/reloads) you were shooting out of it? You know you could have reached out to Weatherby and they would have looked at your rifle and fix it free of charge. What you said you hear about Remington, I hear about Weatherbys.

 

[MikeNC]

Remington 700 CDL in 30.06

 

[Professor Mawla]

Good day @outwestidaho

Here is Don Heath “ Ganyana’s “ assessment , regarding the suitability of the Remington Model 700 rifle for African hunting .

I am much inclined to agree with the gentleman . Leaving out the dangerous game , the Remington Model 700 is an excellent rifle for plains game . It’s accuracy is most praiseworthy .

I have been following Remington’s advertisements over the years and I believe that they were intending to release an updated version of the Remington Model 700 for the African hunting market . It would be chambered in calibres such as the .416 Rigby and feature a far more sturdily constructed extractor . However , with Remington recently going bankrupt ( again ) ; I doubt that that this project will ever see the light of day .

 

[meigsbucks]

a little OT, but i had to show you. how does this shabby three shot group look?, shot at 100 yards with a old short barrled ruger # 3 in 45-70. loaded with 50 grs H-4198 and a 300 gr remington bullet for 1900-fps. i have killed many deer with this rifle and ill die with it, lord willing.

View attachment 375208View attachment 375209View attachment 375210View attachment 375211

I have the same rifle but with a 1-4x Leupold shooting a 350 gr Hornady RN or Barnes 300 gr TSX. Accurate and deadly. I wish Ruger would bring them back.
Getting back to the Rem 700, I’ve owned three and all shot great and none had an AD issue. I currently only own one; a newer 700 Long Range in .25/06. It only shoots Barnes bullets well, however, the factory trigger sucks. I can’t get it below 4# (I think a Timney is in its future.)
NOTE: My former boss had an older 700 in .30/06. He was on a deer hunt in Saskatchewan. He had the crosshairs on the deer, flicked off the safety and the rifle fired. Killed the deer. He never had that happen before. It happened a couple of more times. Remington repaired it.

 

[CBH Australia]

Nothing wrong with the Remington 700 or so many clones that followed.
I only have one in .223. It’s a straight shooter.

I thought the main issue was CRF vs PF

 

[Rule 303]

Like the OP I have many experiences with firearms that most do not seem to have. I have seem the fabled Mauser 98 fail to feed, double feed, drop case into the action, extractor jumping over case rim on extraction etc. Most could be fixed by a competent gunsmith. I would not touch a CRF for years because of this and thought people that used them for DG were nuts until a M98 aficionado explained what was going on. Now I like that wide claw extractor.

My first Rem700 an ADL B series in 270 win had the following problems. Firing pin going off on closing the bolt when new. Store fixed problem, no other problem with it. Why they never stuck with the simple P14/M17 trigger I do not understand.

I agree the triggers can/do collect gunk.

The extractor is actually one of the best of the push feeds going in my opinion. As you start to open the bolt the extractor starts to dig into the rim for solid purchase. You are more likely to pull the rem extractor through a rim then any other design. It has the same bearing length as a Sako extractor as near as I can measure. Put a Sako or M16 extractor on a 700 and you break the gas sealing. Sako, M16 and other types are more likely to jump the rim. I had two 788 that would dump extracted rounds into the mag and empties just out of it. Turned out both had broken/cracked C clips of the extractor. They didn't fall out or stop working.

The negatives. Like any non rotating extractor the exactor blade will wear and as it tightens on opening it wears quicker then the other sorts. This also leads to shaving minute/microscopic pieces of brass off the rim of the case. Just need to pay attention to cleaning it a tad more than the others.

I have a couple of newer Rem 700 but have been careful in selecting them as I have found that from the late 80's or early 90's Rems quality control seemed to have gone out the door.

These are just my experiences and findings.

 

[adzhoo]

My 700BDL in .375 HH is almost 30 years old, battered but still going strong and often -if not always- the most accurate gun of the hunting team. The bullet goes where I want it, all shots without rest or stick.
October 2020: 4 bullets, 2 forest buffalos (one charged us and has needed a second shot) and one forest hog. That rifle is not the sexiest tool in the box, but it does a hell of a job.