Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Rem 700 actions old or new?

Which would you rather start with a "c" prefix or the new "rr"? I had somebody tell me the new ones were better but I've always thought the older ones were better. It's prob luck of the draw either way unless you have all the work done. What say you?

I'm old school all the way.

in fact I won't own a new remington if they still can't lock the bolt closed when on safe.


they lost me there, when they first changed over to that system they were leaving the tab off the safety that keeps the bolt closed when in "safe" mode. But they still had plenty of bolts with the detent in them so you could order an older safety from Brownells or the like and fix your danged rifle so it behaved like a rifle ought to.

but the last several years or so (don't know exact time) they quit putting the detent in the bolt, so afaik, you can't lock a bolt closed on a Rem. utter bs imo&e

won't have one in anything other than a plinking caliber.

The older Remington actions, preferably from the 60's and early 70's, are the only way to fly.

The latest production ones are pure junk in comparison.

I always look for older used ones because they're cheaper and it's usually just for the action. The thing will be fooled with anyway. Also an action that's been cycled a bunch is smoother. But quality-wise, all that stuff about older being better? I once asked my riflebuilder which runs were best, he said it didn't much matter. He trued most of what came in and had seen them very true or less than true no matter when they were made.

I've not noticed any difference in accuracy between old and new. I must say that the newer matte blued ones seem to rust easier though. I do like the looks of the ones with the flat sided safety levers from the 60's. The wife and kids just got me a 1963 model 30-06 in a carbine from Cabela's yesterday. Sweet little rifle.

I see a fair amount of older M700s in 30-06, 270, and 7RM in
my area, they range from poor condition to excellent. Very
seldom do I see an older short action for sale.

I like older, they're smoother too.

Old

I can see the beef with the finish on the blued SPS being a rusty problem, but other than that .... How so?


.

I have seen several that have things like bad threads (i.e. the threads had rough places and metal missing), lugs way out of whack and burrs on the feed rails.

Another vote for old.....

Well I'm weird.
The new receivers are built on CNC equipment and are much better than the old ones!

That only applies if you don't have an idiot running the CNC machine, even then a skilled machinist can do as well and in some cases better on manual equipment. It costs less to do things on a CNC machine because it's faster and takes less training to operate.

I much prefer the older actions.

new for me. as long as it is stainless.

Older, by a long shot.

Don't care.


Travis

^.

They all hold rounds down and push them into the chamber.

Almost all of the newish CM Remington actions I've had needed the firing pin hole bushed, the stainless actions were fine.

I've been bushing the new S/S too, I think they suck as bad.

I must have got lucky on the couple I owned? I had a Mag bolt face and a .473.

Edit: Come to think of it, the Mag bolt face could've used bushing, but I didn't keep it around too long.