Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting I have a legitimate Rem 700 question.

My experience and observation of M700 production the last few years is they tend to shoot very well. I have one friend who is having a hard time getting his 308 to shoot good though.

Remington SS barrels I have clean a easily as my custom barrels. My CM barrels in three M700 243's are fouling mutha's though (of course 243's have that reputation), and one of those is a pristine 1983 vintage rifle that does not like any bullet I've tried except for the 95gr NBT.

Long time Remington fan, myself. Most of my stuff has been re-barreled, though, because I wanted something Remington didn't offer.

Of my most recent 700 purchases.....
I bought a new stainless SPS in .300 Win Mag a couple years ago. I immediately chopped 2" off the barrel and swapped-out the stock. When I bedded it in the new stock, though, I realized that the recoil lug was off kilter (rotated a few degrees). I played hell getting the barreled action out of the stock, and after reassembly (more finagling), it shot ok, but nothing special. I thought about dumping it and buying a new one in AWR guise, but I kept it and decided to use it as a donor. As of this spring, it's still a .300 Win Mag, but now it now wears a Mullerworks barrel, TriggerTech Primary, Rimrock stock, a straight recoil lug (grin). As one would hope, after all of that, it shoots very well.

Back in May, I took a new stainless action and had it turned into a 24" .280AI in a Ti stock. I probably should have started with an ADL as a donor, though. I needed enough little parts, it would have been worthwhile.

I just picked up a new stainless ADL in .223 this week. I bought it with the intent on re-barreling it with a faster twist and finished between 16.5 - 18" for a suppressor. In the meantime, I plopped it in a take-off Ti stock and installed a Jewel trigger. I'm hoping to get out and shoot it this weekend, out of curiosity, more than anything. I just can't see keeping it a 1-12" twist.


I guess maybe I like 700s more for what they can be, rather than what they actually are coming from the factory?

Agree that the 700's have become a hit and miss proposition. From my experience, if you get one that is chambered straight, you're probably okay. Every one of the rifles that people could not make shoot well that ended up on my bench had chambers cut that were not concentric with the bore. The worst case was one that was so far off it had rifling on one side of the case neck.

I have learned that jumping the bullet .100+ often helps. Berger explains this approach on their website.

My best result using this method on a rifle with a crooked chamber made a gun (242 compact) that would not hold 1.75 inches at 100 yds a 1/2 gun but I was jumping the bullet .150.

Some rifles just plain would not shoot regardless of tweaking was done, new bedding included.

This right here...that was the problem with my 30-06. I replaced that factory barrel with a Douglas barrel. It shoots much better, but the douglas has another problem. The first two shots are relatively close. The third shot will creep up about and inch and to the right about an inch. Every shot after that will creep up and to the right a little further. If I wait at least 15 minutes between shots I can squeeze about .75 out of it. I still hunt with it sometimes because that first shot is going right where it's suppose to. Killed a pile of deer with it.

After this season, I will probably replace the douglas with a krieger.

I have owned several 700s and all have shot well. Two of the three that I own now, were re-barreled, not due to accuracy, but for caliber change. I have an sps 7 mag, that is a half moa shooter. I do, however, notice a difference in fit and finish and also the stupid trigger.

I have a friend that sent two upper-end 700s back to Remington, before finally getting a third one that shot correctly. One had a crown that was jacked up right out of box and the second, had action problems. Definitely a quality control issue.

How is it bedded? Douglas barrels are usually well stress relieved.

Rifle has been bedded. Will probably send it to eddie to see what he thinks...probably will swap out the barrel.

I've had a wad of Mod 700s, and 7's through the years. I'd say 2/3 shot very well with a little tweaking. The 1/3 that didn't got turned into customs or traded/sold off for customs. I have had several Adams & bennett barrels from Midway ( $99) that made excellent shooters! I've also used more Shilen's than any others, though I have had Kreiger, Pac-Nor, Lilja, Douglas and a few others too. I have used NECO firelap kits too, and it improved everyone I used them on. I think it gets down the luck of the draw. I've hears of fine custom rifles that couldn't hit a bear in the behind with a bass fiddle, have had commercial Mausers, Mod 70s that would not feed right, and so on. I've had better luck with Marlin leverguns than Winchester levers too. Had a couple Ruger #1s that were pure dippy doodoo. One just has to pick one and use it awhile.

If you call it a "Remmy", it will think its a beret wearing Frog!

IMO, it's all about the quality of the chambering job. I've used most of the brands of barrels through the years from very cheap (and the bore looked it) to the top end and all shot well if the threading, fitting and chambering were done right. Find a quality smith and get it done right and you will go a long ways to having an accurate rifle. Yes the bedding needs to be right and a good trigger helps for sure but if the steel is off, the rest will not fix it.

Did not read the entire post but three things come to the front of the accuracy equation from factory rifles. First overlooking a bad barrel will be: bedding, recoil lug contact and trigger. Fix these before buying a new barrel.

I just had a 7mm/08 built from the ground up. It started out as a mint 1985 700BDL .243 action.

Beautiful rifle...which stock is that?

As you know, there are so many variables that can affect a rifle's performance even to an experienced shooter. Bullet. Wind. Bullet. Wind. All the etc.s. Trigger. Pulling the trigger.

Liked my Remington 7mm Long Range so much, bought another a few serial numbers from the same lot. After they reached copper equilibrium, two cold bore shots and using only handloads am usually happy with the results, but only shoot 700-1100 meters and am just happy to hit the target at that distance. I never remove the copper as each subsequent bullet wipes excess copper fouling from bore.

You might have her try shooting it prone with a bipod and bag and see if results improve.

Although I no longer shoot factory loads, have found that many factory cartridges suffer from concentricity issues (runout) and varying bullet seating lengths and the usual other shortcomings of production.

Have a 700 in .270 that usually is .75" at 100 meters with handloads.

I have found that to be true, even with hunting ammo from a "high end" brand.