Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington 700 CDL SF, thoughts?

Anyone of you own and shoot a Remington 700 CDL SF? If so, what are your thoughts? Approximate weight of a LA? Thanks in advance.

I can't say I was real impressed with the fit/finish of the .17 Fireball I had. If they were 5-600 I might have thought differently

Worst rifle I've ever had. Fit & finish was poor, and I won't talk about how it shot...the thought of it makes me sick!

i have one in 270 win. it shot terrible out of the box. traced it back to a bedding issue. had it glassbedded, pillarbedded, and freefloated. i mounted a zeiss conquest 3-9x in warnes rings and bases. it now shoots 130 grain ballistic tips into 3/4-1 inch groups. i "occasionally" get 1/2 inch groups. lol! if i ever get to go on a texas aoudad hunt, this will be the rifle i take. hopefully i will get to test it with some 130 grain tsx loads.

My Remington 700 CDL SFs in 257 Roberts and 260 look and shoot fine.

Jeff

I bought one in 7 Mag(26" barrel) and though I haven't had much time to work on load development but it has shot five Nosler 175's into an inch at 125 yds more than once. It think the advertised weight is around 7 1/2 lbs but it feels MUCH lighter and handier than you would think even with the long barrel.
The bolt works smoothly and doesn't drag on the magazine follower and I really like the externally adjustable X-Mark trigger.
There is a slight barrel gap but I don't know how they could have inletted a fluted barrel and not leave at least some gap. I'd be curious to know how much the weight is reduced by the flutes.

If the "fit and finish was poor", then why did you buy it in the first place?

I've got one in 30-06 and the fit and finish is great, and it shoots great.

Can't speak for him, but the one I bought was NIB on-line. I never did shoot my fireball, so other than so-so fit/finish I can't comment any further.

One of the few firearms I've ever purchased where I had buyers remorse.

GW,

I like them. I have 3 CDL SF's - .257 Weatherby, .270 and one of the new .280 Limited's. I had another .257, a .264 Win Mag and another .270 that have moved along due to economic circumstances. I have been pleased with the fit and finish of all 6. The .257 and .270 shoot great as in 3 shot groups of .55 - .75 at 100 yards. I didn't shoot the 3 I sold. I haven't shot the .280 as I expect I will sell it but I would expect no less of it. Good luck to you.

10-4, I've never bought online, so it didn't cross my mind.

Guess it's like any other mass produced item, you'll get a few stinkers here and there. But, I love mine.

In fact, I hate being worried about messing up the nice wood on the stock when I go out hunting, so about 2 months back, I ordered a McMillan Edge for mine. Can't wait till it gets here!

I don't own the SF model, but do have two CDL's I bought 2 years ago. They are blued rifles. I think they are excellent in every way.
I bought both from a local gun store here, so I could inspect them before putting down the money for them.

I have one in .270 WSM. Couldn't see it in the store, but it was fubar straight from the box. Remington made it good. With a 5x magnifier, it looked like someone had dropped the bolt on a hard surface and bent the front "ring" pinching the extractor so it could not move to snap over the case rim.

Mine shoots ok so far. If what it does is the best it'll ever do, I may not stay happy with it but it looks promising so far. It does not like max loads, it shoots best about 2 grains off max which means it can be equaled by a very warm .270 Win load. That's not a bad thing.

If I had it to do again ... well, I went into the gun store really looking for a 700 XCR in .270 WSM and this was the nearest thing they had. I would have taken an XCR in .270 Win if they'd had that, too. In hind sight either might have been a better choice but this is not a bad one.

Tom

CDL SF annvrsy ed. thirty-ought-six, Ti Alaskan, talley, vxIII 2x5 BC with alumina rainkote , finish is perfect and it shoot bug-eyes - Greg

I have one in 30-06, weight 7.6 lbs with a 3x- 9x Leupold and Talley lightweight rings (that combine the mount). As is obvious, it was less than 7 lbs out of the box. Compared to my mountain rifle (also a walnut stock), it's stock seems unusually light. I think it just happens to be low density or very dry wood.

Mine shoots great, and particularly likes Winchester XP3s 180 grain and the Federal plastic tipped trophy bonded loads, but has shot everything I put through it acceptably (as in 2.0 " or better). The ammo it likes goes into less than an inch.

The four things I really like are 1) the barrel does not copper foul and cleans up very easily; 2) it cools fast between strings; 3) the balance; and 4) the trigger, which I was able to adjust below 3 lbs easily without incident, using the recommended safety checks, etc. I also like the way it looks, stainless on wood, and I like the feel of the stock. It has more drop at the heel than mountain rifles do, but I actually prefer that since the stock doesn't knock my hearing protection askew, and with the kick of 180s, the drop seems to work out better.

I'm happy and it's my go to hunting rifle.

I've got one in a .257 Weatherby and I really like it. With Weatherby ammo (norma) I can get honest 3/4 groups. It outshoots my Cooper 25-06. I can tell you that much.

+1

I would concur with DMB. While not an SF, I have a plain 700 CDL in 35 Whelen. I've been very pleased with the rifle thus far.

I have one in .257WBY, I like it, shoot real well and the fit and finish is pretty good.

Good looking rifle.

Thanks for all the input. Saw one for sale on another board for what looked like a decent deal, but can't get a reply from the seller, so I'm not wasting any more time.

I have one in 270WSM, great rifle. Light weight, shoots great, feeds great. I would buy another. Currently I have it in a McMillan Edge with a VX III 2.5-8,Talley LW rings. Weighs 6lbs 15 Oz. The wood stock will push the weight up a tad.