Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington, Winchesters, and Rugers

Price considered first, and talking used (as your proposed purchase is) I'd go Ruger, Remington, Winchester.
Shooting quality considered, and judging only from my experience with a limited universe of the three, I vote Remington, Ruger, Winchester.
New guns I don't know. Have seen many complaints about the newer Remingtons (mine are all pre 1990) so I'd be darn choosy about investing in a more recent model. Winchesters of the last few Connecticut years were pretty good. FN Model 70's had better be darn good to match their hype. Older M70's have mystique that is greater than their general usefulness: A good gun that's priced like a GREAT gun being no bargain. My 1984 M70 is a good, smooth tough rifle that I bought at a bargain price, but it isn't as accurate as my tang-safety Ruger or any of my 700's.
I guess on balance, I'd go for an older Remington.
But that's me, not you.

With several million (in the aggragate)of all three in circulation,and untold millions of rounds fired in target and hunting,millions of man-hours of hunting time beind them,a guy is hard-pressed to argue persuasively for the superiority of one over the others.

I know which one I'd take in a big game rifle to be used everywhere,on anything;but that does not make my decision the best.I think a guy is hard-pressed to go wrong with any of the three. That said,in the end, for me,it's a Model 70,with the Hawkeye a very close second.

The most important factor is which YOU like best. They will all do what they are intended to do for the most part.

For me it's Winchester only. I have four 1993-2002 Model 70 Classic's, and two push feeds, and I will never need another centerfire rifle as long as I live.
They say variety is the spice of life, but when it comes to bolt action centerfire rifles, my mind is closed, and so is my wallet, I'm done.

Nor would I go near a 'bedded' rifle with a muzzle brake.

Why did you sell the M70? [/quote]

why no bedding and muzzle break?????

sold my mod 70 to replace with a remington 700 cdl.
but might end up buying another mod 70 in 30-06.

thanks guy for all of your input, I went and looked at the rifle today, seemed a little barrle heavy (Unbalanced) to me.there were some marks on the underside of the barrle not sure if it will come off. the gun had a very nice trigger pull i would guess around 4 to 4 1/2#. might make a offer for less.

Just put the dog out of its misery. just called in and ordered
Rem 700 CDL in 30-06. I have this rifle already just put it into a HS stock, and have another HS sitting in the safe. so when the new gun comes in it will ware the HS. MY oldest son will be shooting this rifle when he go hunting. Can't wait.

A few thoughts:

Rugers, for the $ the best hunting rifle you can buy. They are tough, dependable and ones produced in the past decade or so are either accurate or very accurate. But, the triggers on current production guns suck from the factory and need gunsmith work. Personally I think the trigger design is great for a hunting rifle, but it needs work to tune to perfection. The safety is a trigger block in the middle position and a bolt block in the rear position. In the rear position the safety can be heard to find to release it.

Remingtons are typically quite accurate from the factory, and many people like to use them for the basis of a semi custom rifle. The triggers come heavy from the factory but can be adjusted. The triggers are a complex mechanism and aren't going to take the abuse a ruger or winchester will take. Remington safeties, well there is a reason many folks that use remingtons hunt with an empty chamber and safety off. There have been many ad's resulting from the rifle firing when the safety is released.

Win 70's, the rifleman's rifle, well, when in production and produced by people that care about quality. Mdl 70's are like a box of chocolate, you never know what you'll get. Personally I'd take the ruger over the winchester and put the $ into the scope. Great trigger and safety, and in a properly built or customized one, IMHO close to perfection in a hunting bolt action.

I sure like M700's, but that might partly be because I didn't get into high-powered rifles until about 10 years ago, and so the Winchesters I looked at were pretty much CRAP. Their last few years they made some God-awful rifles IMHO. I'm sure they made a few good ones too, but I never handled anything I wanted to buy.

Rugers have nice lines. Very classy.

M700's feel good to me and I've have very good luck with the... minus one total dog <g>. That would be... 6 of them total I believe.

-jeff

Some years ago I did alot of center fire silhouette shooting. Now this was when competitors actually shot rifles and not the weird things I see now. If 100 shooters showed up 90 would be shooting Remingtons. Because they were easy to make shoot well and they are totally reliable. But are they a better hunting rifle? That comes down to personal opinion.

For $600 you don't want that outfit. Tupperware? bedded?? Burris???. Sounds like a junker to me. Buy what you want new and screw it up like you want it screwed up, not someone elses screw-up.

Ruger, Remington toss up.
Winchester after some reports from new owners, maybe!

g

well i used to own a Ruger SS Laminate sporter, sold that after the CDL's came out. I really like the looks of the CDL. That was before i started using HS stocks. i might have to try and do a rattle can on the black HS.

that is excatly what i did. called my guy who i have been buying guns from the past 18 yrs and ordered a CDL in 30-06
should be paying after taxes and shipping like just under 600.00 or just over 600.00

As one famous socialite once said; Ford and every body Ford's with you, Rolls and You Rolls alone.
(Rem / Win / Rug) and every body is with You; Mauser 98, and You 98 alone!

In my experience the Remingtons go some wierd stuff. This goes for their automatic shotguns too. If I were buying right now I would go with a Ruger. They are a super gun for the money. If the new S.C. made Winchesters turn out to be good guns you can't go wrong either way.

I could live and hunt comfortably with any one of the three.
I have a pair of 700 CDL's and think that stock design is one of the very best available for a factory rifle. I also have a Ruger 77 Mk II in 257 Roberts that is a GREAT rifle; I love it. Hugely accurate, and balances perfectly, as do the two CDL's.
Don't own any Winchesters, but I will be buying one of the new ones in 7-08.

Always been a Model 70 man, but will wait until I can handle the new one to comment on that version. This past July I just bought a new Ruger M77 MKII, my first Mark II, and am quite impressed - better than my old M77 tang safety version; I may just have to buy a Hawkeye too. I have owned a couple of Remington M700's over the years and cannot say anything bad about them, I just prefer the Mauser design, so the M700 doesn't attract me.

I just picked up a 1962 model 700 in 243 with a 20" barrel and a piece of junk scope,ran it out to the range and shot a .710 7 shot group with it with 100 gr. bullets.the only winchesters Ive been really drawn to in the post 64 realm is the 70 XTR featherweights,I have a couple of those that shoot under an inch easily,I have a few old M77s that shoot very nicley,they required floating the barrel and bedding the action to get them there,all in all thru out my life Ive probably been drawn to the old ruger M77 the most

I have all 3 and like all 3. My favorite of the 3 is an old 280 700 Mountain rifle. It looks like the new CDL in a trimmer package.

I like the Remingtons for their weight and balance. They just fit me better and think lighter action helps with balance. I have also had extremely good luck from accuracy dept with Remingtons. Rugers are nice, but I've had to work with them more to get them to shoot (sample of 4, so take it for what it's worth) and (to me) are a bit chunky for standard calibers. However, Rugers are a lot of gun for the money. No complaints for the Winchester except they just don't fit/balance as well for me for as Remingtons with factory stock and it's harder to find a good deal to upgrade stock (have had good luck finding deals on second hand 700 stocks). I know there are some QC issues now and then with all of them, but all of mine have been nicely put together, functioned well, and been very reliable.

Lou