Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The perfect whitetail combo...

my thought on the perfect whitetail combo rifle is or might be different than someone in Texas , since i hunt near the Canadian border and only for older whitetail bucks. these older bucks live weight are around 225 lbs. - 325 lbs. ,so myself i prefer a larger cartridge so i am able to most of the time knock that buck down hard and fast. where i hunt on my land in a tamarac swamp i have cut and maintain shooting lanes out to 300 yards ,lanes are 20 feet wide so i don`t have alot of time for more than one shot. i like a Ruger #1 because its shorter because it does not have a reciever so it swings up and out my enclosed stand faster. the reason for a enclosed stand its quieter,no scent outside of enclosed stand ,as long as you keep windows shut tel you make the shot,its warmer and dryer too,my movement isn`t seen either. so for me a rifle that is accurate,shoots that one shot fast and has plenty power is a Ruger #1 in a 257 Weatherby Mag. with a Nightforce scope,i use this same rifle out west with a bi-pod then ,my son has one too. >believe me this grand old cartridge the 257 Weatherby Mag. is still a great buck slayer shoots a long ways out fast and hard. good luck this fall,Pete53

Easy decision when you post FC's for ~1050

Maybe for you, but not for me.

If the Tikka T3/CTR didn't exist, I would be all about this rifle.

To my eyes, its about the most well thought out 700 and that Rem has offered in some time.

I'd consider it, but only to find one used here in a year or 2 for closer to $700

Which version did you buy and not like, threaded, non-threaded, 30-06, Creed?

As I get older, I'm liking shorter barrels more and more. I also like the option to use a suppressor. Like Scott said on here many moons ago, "I've never heard anybody say I could have made that shot with a longer barrel".

It is a pretty well thought out rifle. It's not as heavy as it appears either. I primarily a whitetail hunter. I hunt from tree stands and blinds. My longest walk is about 1/2 mile. Weight isn't an issue for me. If I were in a different locale and hunting other animals, I'd carry one of my lighter options.

While we're on the subject, I do think the Barrett Fieldcraft is probably the finest stainless production rifle on the market right now. To call it a production rifle isn't really fair either. The all get some custom attention. Personally, I'm just not crazy about the stock ergo's. If that rifle was in the Kimber Montana stock, I'd probably have 4 or 5 of them!

This is close to what I think would be the best whitetail gun. I would go 308 and a McMillan, oh, and sweep back that bolt handle. It looks awful at that angle.

Not hot for the H-S stock, it isn't stainless, I don't do suppressors, and if I had $1,000 to spend any way that I wanted to, it probably wouldn't be on another Remington Seven.

I own, and have owned, a pile of Remington Sevens and the only two that I really like are a matched pair of stainless barreled actions in 223 and 260 that are bedded in the laminated mannlicher stocks from the Remington Custom Shop.

I have hundreds of CF rifles, so in order for me to be motivated to buy another one, it has to scratch an itch or be exceptionally uncommon or priced so low that to not buy it would be almost irresponsible.

Model Seven? If you are talking about the OP's rifle its a model 700......Hb

My bad, I thought that was the Model Seven with the H-S stock, but I see that it is a 700 with a B&C stock. Remington lists it an the 700 NRA American Hunter with a MSRP of $1,349.

Remington claims the following specs:

20" fluted barrel with 5R rifling and threaded muzzle
Improved barrel surface finish in the bore
Overall Length of 39 3/8"
Twist Rate: 1:8
Mag Capacity: 4+1
Remington receiver and barrel with custom level blueprint machining and tolerances
Durable black Cerakote finish on barreled action
Premium Bell & Carlson stock with aluminum bedding block
Upgraded Leupold Mark 4 scope bases with 8-40 screws
Distinctively engraved floorplateb
Unique serial number dedicated to this limited edition offering
Enhanced and externally adjustable X Mark Pro trigger

Call me skeptical, but I wonder if a production rifle can really have custom level blueprint machining and tolerance. People pay $1,349 or more for 700 action clones that really are custom level, but Remington claims that they can do the whole package for less that the $979 that Whittaker's is selling them for and still make a profit doing so?

That was the point I was making earlier, a Fieldcraft was listed for ~1050 in the last few days and Remington does not have a ticket to the race much less a place on the track.

Even at full retail Remington is not even close to Barrett in quality or accuracy.

I built a rifle similar to this one about 20 years ago for the kids. Factory Rem 700 .243 cut down to 20". Put it in a 12.5" LOP Rynite ADL stock. It accounted for far more than it's fair share of KY WT's... A Left Hand version of this rifle would be tempting...

As I said earlier in the thread, the Barrett is a phenomenal rifle. You won’t see more at that price. That was a personal rifle of mine I’d put back on the shelf. I have a plethora of lightweight rifles and that one just didn’t turn me on any longer. I also have 9 other 7mm-08’s.

And the quality of this Remington rifle far surpasses what I’ve seen from them in a while. I think this specific run (2000 or so rifles?) is a big step above their typical production rifle. Fit and finish are superb. I hadn’t shot it much, but so far I hadn’t seen any reason to believe many others will trump it straight out of the box. Random ammo, random scope, 1/2” group. I’ve been through hundreds of rifles and very few have done that. I hadn’t measured the throat and I know it doesn’t have a 3” mag box, but I’d bet you it will shoot as well as any hunting rifle at a similar price point. I also know Ruger American’s and Tikka’s commonly do the same thing for less money.

This Remington is worthy of a look to those interested in something different. Look one over the next time you’re out shopping. You’ll see why I’m saying the quality is a step above what we’ve seen from Remington in a while.

Savage 99 250-3000.

Thanks for the pics and short review SAS, These are obviously nicer than the standard SPS type rifles offered, as are the Gen 2 5R and other “high end” 700 models.

I don’t get why some of you are crapping on them preemptively, especially when you’re not even discussing the correct model...SAS is telling you they’re nice and this one obviously shoots pretty well.

I'm still hoping/waiting for the RARs in 17HM2 to arrive in Owensboro, so that you can send one, maybe two, on to me in Omaha.

Funny you mention that. That’s the one rifle I’d like to own, but don’t.

I did order some of these for the shop though.

https://www.savagearms.com/content?p=125th

I’m keeping one in 250 “just because”.

While I’m on Savage rifles, we sell a ton. I’m not a Savage guy either. Consumers continue to suck them up. We go through a bunch of 110 Storms, several of the cheap Axis models as well.

The 110 Storm has some unique features. The mag box is almost 3”. Three position tang safety. Modular stock system. Although I don’t care for the accutrigger, it does adjust nicely and break clean. Most are extremely accurate. Their gas system is really good. They offer tons of left hand models. Maybe that’s why they sell? I just never really give them a second look. I think it’s because it says “Savage”. Kinda like Bear bows. Both of their names were synonymous with cheap, KMart products in my youth.

I wonder what small dealer wholesale price is for them? Big dealer wholesale must be pretty low if they are showing up on GB with starting bids at about 2/3 of what Darrik is asking.

I'm skeptical of production rifles that claim custom rifle specs and are being offered for less than the price of a true custom action. Colt couldn't do it with the CLR when they bought ULA from Mel Forbes and Remington has a well documented history of introducing and then dropping some of their better configurations.

That said, Darrik is a great guy and I believe that he is as honest and sincere a person who posts on this site. He has demonstrated that he is a friend to people who participate on this site by going out of his way to order small lots of rifles in specs that rifle loonies like us call for, the RARs in 22-250 with a 1-8" ROT barrel come to mind and I'm sure that there are other examples of his looking out for us. Who but Darrik would contract with Ruger to make a small run of RARs in 17HM2 when there are probably only a couple thousand fans in the entire U.S.A.?

If only he had some influence with CCI/Hornady to make Eley-grade 17HM2 ammo, then the 17HM2 clan would think that they'd died and gone to squirrel shooting Heaven.

I would not be so fast to say that, the few Fieldcrafts I have been around were accurate but I wouldn't call them "tack drivers" and I have had more than a few off the shelf Remington model 700's that were for 1/2 the price of a Fieldcraft 👍.......Hb

I expect them fairly soon. They keep telling me they’re close. They’ll be listed on here first. And I’ve figured out a way to hold some back in case guys try to suck them up in minutes. I’ll have an item number just for members here.