Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Remington 600

I have a Remington 600 in a 222. Shoots pretty good 1” to 1.5” groups at 100 yards. Does anyone have any experience with these rifles on what can be done to make them more accurate? Any Gunsmiths that you know that has worked on them with good success? Thanks for reading.

I've only been around 2, a .308 and a .222. Both shot excellent.

I would check the normal things first, proper stress free assembly and bedding. Then check scope and mounts. With a good load and straight ammo, and those 2 boxes checked, I can't see it not shooting 1" or better. How's the trigger? And what optics/ammo are you using?

I'm not sure what a gunsmith could do besides the above, unless you're talking about rebarreling or something of that nature.

Bed the action, free-float the barrel, and have the trigger adjusted to a reasonable weight of pull, anything more than that you will have to decide how deep down the rabbit hole you want to get for better accuracy. One thing to keep in mind though is that the barrel contour on those is pretty small and they will heat up fairly quickly, even in a 222. Actually 1" to 1-1.2" groups is not all that bad, it is just that everyone now days seems to own rifles that shoot 1/2" groups if you want to believe the internet shooters or gunrags.
The Mohawk 600's in 222 Rem I owned shot quite a bit better than the Remington 600's in 222 Rem I owned, the Mohawk has a heavier barrel contour and a little longer barrel.

p.s. - when having the trigger adjusted you may want to check to see if it has been fixed under the recall Remington did for those, IIRC they stamped an X on the trigger housing after they were checked.

drover

Andrews,

Also, take a look at the crown for damage or issues.

Right off the bat, I'd try another scope (after checking the bases and rings for torque).

At 1 to 1 1/2 inches, the 600 would still be a great walking varmint rifle.

Jerry

The one I had was well used, and shot dime to nickel sized groups all day with RP 50gr PLHP and PSP over H322 and BLC as I recall.

Bores on many older guns sometimes have pitted bores, if so they often shoot better after some fouling. I would check crown, scope and scope base/rings, as well as possibly the bedding but the short stiff tubes should easily shoot sub-MOA if not a big problem going on.

I’ve had more than a few 600’s, & 660’s. I don’t remember having one with a rib though - 308’s, 350, 222 and a rebarreled 22-250, that I can remember - either a 6mm or a 243 too???. Years ago they could be bought a half the price of a 700.
They’ve all been accurate. As others have stated, free float, glass bed, do the best you can with the trigger - they’re not as tunable as 700’s. I have had lots of parts (40x & 700’s) for the triggers and have made them 2 to 2 1/2 lb and crisp. I no longer have any extra parts though.
If I had one that didn’t shoot well (I have not) I’d be checking the usual suspects - scope, crown, bedding, loose mounts etc.

If you can’t get it to shoot and want to unload it you can get good money for it.

I had a 222. It was 1.5 MOA rifle. I bought a couple of take-off barrels and screwed a .223 barrel on it. It's a .9MOA rifle now and easier to find ammo. Trigger needs replaced

I bought one new in 1966 in 223, long before the internet and never knew it was rare. It was the ugliest POS I ever saw and before I shot it the AF armorer friend of mine removed the rib, milled the studs off of it and rounded the square edges of the stock. It was very accurate shooting sub .5 MOA groups when I was on. I won a couple club BR matches with it shooting Herters powder and bullets.

I used it for predator hunting and control work for thirty years, loaned it out to a couple youth hunters and they took deer in MT with it.

I had friends in LE that would get me cans of surplus ammo so it went through a lot of rounds. Finally the accuracy started to go down hill and I had PacNor screw a 6x45 barrel on it and it is still one of the most accurate rifles I own. I did put an aluminum trigger guard on it when the old plastic one started to warp. also a synthetic stock as I had cut the pistol grip off the original so it wouldnt dig into my back skiing

It's been a faithful companion for 55 years you can't ask much more.from.a.$69. rifle

The only pic I have of it, I was playing with a Balvar 8 on it but it didn't work out as I needed a different base that I couldn't find. I'm killing coyotes with a savage and the Balvar now.

I forgot to say, if you’re selling that 222 I’d like a chance to buy it.

I turned a M600 308 into a faux Chet Brown Mountain Rifle back in the 80s. Basically did all the work he did to end up with a short, light hunting rifle using one of his fiberglass stocks. Within a few months, Remington introduced its M7, which is essentially what I'd turned my M600 into. Later on, I replaced the turned down 308 barrel with a new 7mm08 tube.

An uncle gifted me with a M600 222 rem that had been neglected (before he got it) and had a fine coat of rust throughout, inside and outside. I cleaned it up as best I could, but it never shot well. I figured the bore had been compromised by the rust. At the time I was playing around with T/C Contenders in 7mmTCU and thought a caliber conversion would be a good idea, so I had it rebored and rechambered to 7mmTCU. To get it to feed correctly, I had to block up the rear of the magazine well a little. I now have a 'not-too-pretty' M600 repeater in a cool caliber that shoots light's out with 115 and 120 grain bullets. BTW, this was an early version that had the plastic rib, but it had been removed and the studs milled off. Because these barrels were so thin, I had to make sure the drilled and tapped stud holes would not be so deep as to compromise the larger hole diameter from the reboring.

My latest M600 is a Mohawk that came with a butchered-up hardwood stock. I ran across a somewhat less buggered up M660 stock, cut if off well short of std length, added a barrel band swivel stud, and sanded off as much of the excess wood as I felt comfortable doing, ending up with a slim, light, short walkabout rifle. The one on the bottom:

Did the very same thing in the mod-80s.

FWIW, whenever I rebarrel a 600/660 action I always replace the recoil lug with one from a 700 series rifle so that the top of the recoil lug has the same contour and the front of the receiver ring.

Thanks for all the great information😊😊

I put mine in a HS stock when they were still available.

This one is new to me, in 7mm08, put together by Chic Donnelly, who as I understand it, worked under PO Ackley.

Shilen barrel helped mine a lot. Aluminum bottom metal and Timney trigger didn't hurt.

DF

That's really nice.

Thanks for sharing.

DF

660 in .222. 600 in .222 and .243

The 660 was free floated and a half incher w handloads

The 600 ran factory 55gr just under an inch w trigger job and free float ( was family members that didnt reload ).

The .243 was .75 w handloads. 70gr NBT. Free floated.

It was also friggin LOUD. 😁

All of em shot off a Harris and rear bag. Scopes maxd at 9x ( AO ).

I would from my limited experience, expect sub MOA w minor tweaks.

Yes, on a Mohawk that is rather unsightly.

Agree. If I'd have thought of that when I had this Shilen barrel installed, would have done likewise. BTW, I went with a 22" barrel for a little more forward heft. I like the way it looks.

The scope base seems to hide it pretty well. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they did that. Must have had a reason.

Check out my new Maven 2-10x38 scope. So far, am pleased with it. Glass is excellent, ER a bit short. But, this is a .22-250, not a big kicker.

DF

Any recommendations on a good gunsmith that is familiar or has done work on 600s that I could send it to? Pilar bed, crown trigger, any other tricks?

Jim Kobe has done work for me on several occasions and is top notch.

He’s a Fire contributor. Jkob. Send him a PM

DF

If you're in Maine, I'd suggest that you consider talking to Larry Racine in North Swanzey, NH.

His email address is LarryLPRGunsmith.com and his phone number is 603-357-0055.

Was able to shoot the 600 for the first time today with old Remington 120 grain hollow point factory ammo. I'll burn the four boxes of ammo up for the brass then begin handloading. No problem other than the usual factory ammo fliers. Super light rifle seems to shoot well.

I like to sort factory ammo for runout to minimize the phenomenon.

I have several 1pc bases that cleared the recoil lug of the 600's. Weavers, Redfields, and a Burris I think. I had the Weaver base copied by a machinist friend who made it out of some kind of aluminum, did an excellent job. Ran those bases on a 600 Mohawk in 222 and a 6mm. The Weaver base is on the Rem. in the photo below.

If you're upgrading any 600/660, I'd also recommend buying one of Willie Manning's alloy bottom metal units.

Willie posts here as CVMW, the initials of his business, and his alloy bottom metal is the best in the business.

Here's how the 7-08 shot once sighted in with the Remington 120's. This is with a 4x scope. Looking forward to handloading for it.

I love Larry, he did work for me but is now retired I believe, I live one town over. Phenomenal gunsmith and super nice guy. Matt Roberts at MNR custom in Wethersfield, VT is also an amazing gunsmith. There is also a guy in Belchertown MA, Swift River Gunsmithing, I haven’t used him but has a great reputation.

Picked up a 600 in 350 last summer. Groups with 250's are pushing 1.5" probly do better with somebody else shooting that damn thing.

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THIS

my 350 is very good. under an inch with most everything . saved factory stock and rides in a brown precision . all that sub min of angel and every deer and 1 bear were all under 100 yards, the bear was 27 feet.