I have a 700 ADL that I might want to rebarrel in the foreseeable future and then put in a quality stock. It seems that a lot of gunsmiths have 1,2 or 3 levels of blueprinting to go along with the barrel installation. How much is fluff and how much is really needed ? This is for a big game hunting application only. Thanks

I had Greg Tannel do the works on my Rem action which included double sleeved bolt, bushed firing pin, double pin lug and ect ect. At the same time I had Clay Spencer building me a second rifle which had the basic blueprint with surface grind factory lug.

Both rifles shoot way better than me. Listen to what your smith suggest. I asked Spencer about the extras which Tannel was doing and he said not needed. He could have squeezed an extra bill or two from me.

Some interesting blueprint videos on utube.

Well my feelings are why bother buying a 700 . Just get a STiller predator action and have a gunsmith thread a blank on. A few months ago I was at the range and there is a guy there that is really into BR..nesika action,krieger barrel all the bells and whistles. His buddy was shooting a 700 ADl .308 in a Medalist stock. He had a gunsmith screw on a Krieger barrel with minimal reciever work and the gun shot so well that I would have been happy to use it and no other for all my hunting.

In the old days, it was common procedure to re-face the receiver, lap the locking lugs/recesses and, if necessary, re-cut the boltface. This was adequate for varmint rifle accuracy 40 years ago and still is. Can you do more? You bet! Will you notice the difference? Probably not. In many cases, "blueprinting" is more of a bragging feature than a utility feature. If you are building a 6BR for long range target work, spend as much as you want. If you are building a hunting/varmint rifle correct obvious deficiencies only. GD

Lap the lugs and screw on a new tube.

I'm getting some pretty awesome accuracy from 700's that only had the lugs lapped for better contact. Guess I'm siding with Clay Spencer on that point.
If I was going to use a 700 action for a benchrest rifle build, I would investigate all options, and select the ones that provide results. But, my rifles are hunting rifles and I figure that 3 shots at 100 yards giving 1/2" groups, or better in a few caes, is good enough.
In the overall scheme of things, I think there are other areas of the rifle/ammo system that are more important than bushing firing pins, as an example. GREAT triggers come to mind as being hugely important, and ammo with minimum runout...

All I have done is an action re-face and lug-lap. It's cheap and makes me feel better, but I can't say if it makes a big difference in accuracy.

Mine usually have the front of the action face off, lugs lapped, and the recoil lug surface ground. A quality tube with a good chamber finishes it off. Most should bone up on their loading and shooting skills to take advantage of this or anymore.

What level of blueprinting does a Remington 700 require? Depends on what level of accuracy you are seeking.

It does little good to go crazy over lapping lugs if the barrel and receiver are out of alignment. Consistent accuracy and long range performance demands alignment. Most Remington 700's will deliver pretty good and sometimes amazing performance out to 300 yards, occasionally some even further. However, if you are playing in ranges much beyond that, it's gonna take a little more than lapped lugs and handloading to put you on target with any threatening consistency.

When my long range varmint and balloon popping customers want their 700 action trued, the minimum includes the receiver face, receiver threads (single point, lathe, no tap), receiver lugs, bolt face, bolt lugs and a new, surface ground and parallel recoil lug. I charge $250.00 plus the lug for this work. When combined with the customers original action, it is well below the cost of a custom copy. And will run with them. Albeit, not as sexy.





The Sako extractor pictured is extra.

Nice work Malm.

Thank you!

All i do is true up the face of the action , lap the lugs, clean up the threads in the action and replace the factory lug with a Holland. I don't really think you could tell the difference if you when any further in a Big Game or Varmint rifle.