Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rem 700 or Win 70

Yes they both had problems in the past. However, if you had one to pick for a brown bear hunt, which would you choose and why?
What about deer hunting?

For this exercise let's pretend you can purchase either gun and they are both without past company problems.

New production or in this hypothetical are we picking from anything made by them in the past?

Whatever you like

Waxing nostalgic tonight. Pre 64 in an Echols legend.

Older, Winchester for me. If brand new I might go Remington 700. Sounds like the new 700 rifles are pretty high quality just from a few early reports.

M70, new or old. Would never hunt dangerous game with anything but a crf based rifle.
For deer or other non dangerous game I have and use both types. Guess if I had to pick one I’d stay with the M70.

Rem 700. Just historically have had less problems mechanically and feeding. Simple as that.

Rem 700 - industry standard
Superior aftermarket support
The CRF argument is BS

Coyotes to deer to brown bear, 700 for me - always.

Which ever fit me the best....

I’ve killed 2 grizzly (albeit-not ‘brown’ bears) with a REM 700. No problem….

That said, the Mod 70s have always felt more solid to me than 700s and less like a kid’s toy, though they generally have been less accurate also. If I were to choose one over the other specifically for brown bears I’d probably go for a Mod 70.

You know that is weird that CRF is so important to some folks. I mean how many big five in Africa have fallen to Weatherbies, Sakos and 700's . Of course this is all theoretical for me I've never been to Africa after dangerous game

Winchester Model 70! It doesn’t have to be a CRF and assuming that both are box-stock, I much prefer the Winchester trigger. memtb

They both have issues I'd want addressed, no huge preference.

CRF, old style trigger M70 by a nose.

I feel there is no advantage in CRF, only disadvantages. I have a few.
I like the pre-64 triggers. I like the accuracy of the 700’s.
I had two post 63 M70’s. I liked the push feed the best.
I didn’t like Remington’s Tupperware stocks or the locking firing pin they once had.
I like the Winchester safeties. I didn’t like Remington’s safety that locked the bolt closed.
I’d be happy with either a M70 or a M700. But I own more than 10 to 1 Remingtons over Winchester M70’s.

If I had either one I’d set the trigger on the 700 or give the 70 to a smith for a trigger job. I’d glass bed and if inclement weather was expected, a top of the line synthetic stock and a top of the line weather proof finish on the metal.

Either one would be much nicer than any other factory rifle that I’ve owned. (Ruger, Savage, Tikka & a few other European manufacturers)

I'm with Bugger on this. Either one as long as it was worked over.

I've taken grizzlies & coastal brownies with 700's in 30-06, 300 Win Mag, 8mm Rem Mag & 300 RUM, a few with a Win 70 in 300 Win Mag years ago and a couple with a Sako TRGS in 7.82 Warbird, most recent one was in '22 while out Spring black bear hunting, a charging griz at 13 steps with a Rem 700 in 300 RUM

More than a few were defensive close range in your face kills while moose hunting or skinning/gutting moose

Never crossed my mind that I should have a crf, just work the bolt and shoot

When I decided to build a dedicated brown bear hunting rifle when I had the predator control permit for brownies & blackies, I built it on a Rem 700 with a McMillan stock, Trigger Tech Special trigger, an 8 tw .408 cal Rock Creek barrel with a Muscle brake & the Last Frontier bottom metal for 5 round 3.850" Accurate mags

Not sure how a crf bolt would improve on that set up

M70.
Better extractors. Better (safer) trigger. 1 piece bolt and handle. Better safety.

Model 70 if baco.
Rem 700 new production or late 80s early 90s.

The new 700 Alpha 1 has some upgrades that make it more to my liking. First, it has a one-piece bolt, unlike the old version and the post-64 Winchesters, both of which occasionally have failures of the handle-bolt body connection. It also has a Sako/M16 extractor. I never liked that tiny thingy inside the bolt face on the 721-722-725-700 rifles, though they seem to work better than they look.

I prefer CRF provided the parts are robust and properly tuned. Good 98s are the standard for that, but some others have been made with castings or not properly tempered and may fail. I believe some of the Classic M70s have those, but later ones are supposed to be better. A doctor that belongs to my club had a M70 Classic .458 out one day practicing offhand for an Africa trip. He’d had the cast(?) extractor replaced with IIRC a Williams unit.

That Alpha 1 is priced about the same as a comparable M70. If I were in the market for a new rifle, I’d certainly want to see one in person before buying anything in that price range.