Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is there a golden age of the Remington 700?

When they released the “Pre” Limited Run Classic Models.
And MountaiIn Rifles. Basically early 80’s to early 90’s.

From 1958 to 1961 Remington made 16,635 Model 725 rifles. If you want Model 700 I would look for early one with blackened stainless steel barrel. A 7mm Remington Magnum would be a nice find.

Once again, you’ve never seen or owned a gun. You just regurgitate schitt you google.
No one believes or gives a schitt about anything you post.

I have always liked the very early 700 ADL 20 in barrel carbines the best. Certainly, the Mountain rifles and Ti's are up there too.

I have been around a couple since new, both are still in use though the owners are in their 70's and eighties respectively.. Except for one needing a rebarrel a couple of years ago and the other losing aold style extractor after 50 odd years they have been great.

I have owned 30 or more model 700's since the early 1980's (i really dont have a clue how many, could even be 40) My favorite era was from the mid 80's thru the early 90's just before the J-lock models...Every one I owned shot at least decent and some were tack drivers, I only got one bad one that the receiver screw holes were tapped off center, I sent it back to Remington and they sent me a brand new rifle ( even gave me my choice of what model id rather have) ..I dont currently own a model 700 as i dont care for push feed rifles anymore and I dont like the paper clip Remington 700 extractor though I never had trouble out of any i owned they still seem very flimsy to Me.....Hb

Over the years a number of gunsmiths have told me the A series actions were generally the straightest. I've had one tell me the RR's are even straighter. A couple have told me the early SS actions are just as good. Every one of my well and sanely adjusted SS Walker triggers are about as crisp as my Timneys, Shilen, or Trigger Tech trigger. Then again, I'm not dumb enough to try and make a Walker trigger a 2lb trigger on my hunting rifles

Most, if not all "accidental discharges" of the Walker trigger are because of dirty triggers and idjits misadjusting the trigger. The M700 is the most popular bolt action in North America and it stands to reason there will be more stories about them and more people messing with them.

Over the past 50 years I've carried mostly M700's and killed most of my big game with M700's. Backpack hunts, horse pack hunts, two DIY rafting hunts in Alaska for 2 weeks each time--I've never had an extractor break or a bolt handle fall off. The latter almost always happens when the bolt has been beat open with a 2x4.

When it comes to the cro-moly rifles I do like the A series and have had very good luck with accuracy. The 1992 thru the late 90's SS rifles are my favs and my 1993 Mtn Rifle is the most accurate factory rifle I've owned.

But, once I installed a SS Walker trigger on my new 2020 M700 Mtn rifle in 308, it is shooting 150g TTSX's about as well as I can shoot a light rifle. It doesn't even care what powder I've tried with that bullet, it shoots the same.

Of all the eras of M700's, the ones I've seen that had quality control issues were made around 1999- 2010--I generally will take a pass on that era. The 1st generation Ti being a notable exception.

If the rifle cocks and extracts the brass reliably I'm not sure how there can be a "primary extraction" problem. If it really bothers a guy a Gre-Tan FP assembly resolves the non-problem..........

Of all the options out there in the hunting rifle world, the 700's are about the last thing I would spend discretionary money on. If I HAD to have some form of 700, I would think the 725 is the best of a bad lot. But, for the same money you could get into a classic like a Rem model 30 Express, a well done upgrade of a military proven action. Other than just a joy to handle, lightweight, with a scant old style stock, there is a reliability factor that is over the top. You will never experience a failure under any conditions, the bolt handle will not come off, the trigger will not malfunction, the safety will never bump off, it will never fail to feed or extract, the floorplate will never flop open, the factory barrel is old skool cut rifled perfection and on and on. And if you doubt me, just look at the 5 or 6 pages of Brownells catalog, with aftermarket 700 fixes, it's a cottage industry making things to make 700's work. It reminds me of Jeeps built after the 1970's...hell of a 4x4 if dump enough money in aftermarket fixes to make them perform the way they should have from the git-go.

I bought my first 700 around the 1979-80 time period. I have had a bunch, and I mean a bunch, since then. Most were rifles I bought, shot a few times, or maybe restocked or put a scope on, and sold them. I still have quite a few. I've had a bolt handle fall off, and had a trigger go bad on a Model Seven, and even had one that had some rust on it even though it was NIB..............but I have never owned one that would not shoot good enough to please me, and I want any rifle I hunt with to be accurate. I can't say that about other brands I've owned.

Having said that about the 700's, I've also seen rifles of other brands that had issues as well, and some that you couldn't hit a bull in the azz with at 10 yards. Nothing that is man made is going to be perfect every single time. Yet because the Remington 700 is the best selling bolt action rifle of all time, it catches a lot of flack and cheap shots from those who are either jealous or just don't like it. If you prefer another brand, fine, use it and be happy, and leave the ones alone who happen to like something else.

I have an A serial number Classic in .30-06 that I bought new around 1979 or 80. It was unusually accurate and smooth. It was scoped with a Leupold VX-3 in 3.5X10. For years it was the only centerfire rifle I owned. It started shooting bigger groups a few years ago so I gave it a thorough bore scrubbing and the groups got much bigger. Dirt Farmer looked at it with his bore scope and pronounced the bore badly pitted (no maintenance) so I found a good rifle man to put on a Douglas barrel. Now it is back to shooting. It now has a Burris Black Diamond 4X16. For years I used Federal Premium Gameking loads but I found it shot perfectly well with cheap Remington Core-Lokt 165s. During the time it was out of commission with barrel trouble I bought a stainless Weatherby Vanguard 2 in .30-06 which is what I carry now but I shot my Weatherby handloads out of the old Remington the other day and it is still sub minute.

Some early ones had just outstanding wood. The S style BDL comes to mind. Any of the Classics are really great and I have a 25-06 and 35 Whelen in those configurations. Have never had a 700 that wouldn't shoot within an inch and most much better. Right now my favorite is a 20" Carbine 6mm and a LH BDL in 308.

Boxerdog: I bought my first Remington 700 back in 1965 and have bought MANY, MANY dozens of them since!
I currently own just 48 (forty eight) of them and will begin next summer to sell them all off (due to the realities of aging).
I will NOT loose one penny in the sale of any of these Remington 700's that I have left - in fact some I will quadruple the money I originally paid for them!
So there's that - and DO NOT let any keyboard cowboy try to disparage the Remington 700 Rifles!
Anyone that does try is easily written off as an uninformed, biased, idiot.
I have been target shooting, plinking, Big Game Hunting and Varmint/predator Hunting with Remington Model 700 Rifles for 56 years now and have as yet to suffer my first failure with one!
Having said those things I must admit that for the last 10+ years I have relied mostly on the used market to buy my Remington 700's.
The last "new" Remington 700 I purchased at retail was an incredibly accurate Remington 700 VSF (Varmint Synthetic Fluted) in caliber 17 Remington Fireball.
This Rifle, again, is amazingly accurate, reliable, great fitting and is now worth way more than I paid for it new back in 2,008.
IF.... accuracy is foremost on your list be confident in about ANY Remington 700 made from 1962 through 2,010 (as long as the barrel is "O.K.") - I base this on an extensive amount or FIRST HAND experience.
I just can not comment "first handedly" on the latest production Remington 700's.
Best of luck to you if you decide to try one.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

"will begin next summer to sell them all off"

I'd love to see that list!

Mine is a sample of a handful of Remingtons since the 80s. The oldest one was a .30-06 and it shot about 1.5 MOA on average. All of the others were 3/4 MOA and under. They're not the slickest action. However, they are the Chevy small block 350 of the gun world. There's a reason why so many custom actions duplicate the footprint of the Rem 700.

1986-2004.

The original run of the ks.

the dumbest shi t I've read in quite a while

Didn't read here where folks favored the early 70's models. I have a BDL .30-06 that I bought new in 1973. My first cenerfire rifle.

I’ve had a bunch, never a bad one, have a few now.

Nice collection hanco, i also like all those Leupold's 👍.......Hb

Oh good God. A picture or Remingtons and leupold scopes. You are never gonna hear the end of that from some dimwits on here. Go say 10 Hail Marys and ask for forgiveness. Edk

lol