Thanks for the info, seems like I got some more homework before I can make up my mind. Going for a better optic and getting a good platform to start seems the more cost effective way for me to start long range shooting. Just can't decide the platform to start with so far. For sure I'd like to go with a nice Sako, but something cheaper is in my mind. I'll look for tikka and savage too as they seems to have a good reputation. It would be great to have some specific model that any of you had a great experience with.
Need some advise for rem700. Im juste starting long range
- Thread starter Bobdole
- Start date
Thanks for the info, seems like I got some more homework before I can make up my mind. Going for a better optic and getting a good platform to start seems the more cost effective way for me to start long range shooting. Just can't decide the platform to start with so far. For sure I'd like to go with a nice Sako, but something cheaper is in my mind. I'll look for tikka and savage too as they seems to have a good reputation. It would be great to have some specific model that any of you had a great experience with.
- Location
- Ozarks of the Okanagan
Honestly, this is very familiar for me! I went from collecting and shooting hunting rifles. I got the itch to get into long range shooting and got into the market for a brand new rifle. Down to Grouse River I went and home I went with a Rem 700 XCR Tactical Long Range 338 Lapua Mag! I worked up a load and shot it. Messed around installed a trigger and bedded the action. The rifle would shoot sub MOA if I did my part.
I found myself wanting to do all the extras though so that I knew it was as accurate as it could be. True the action, match barrel, more ridged and adjustable stock... The list goes on.
Eventually I decided to sell it and roam into the world of Custom Tactical Rifles... The only thing I can say is that I would never look back! There is simply no comparison!
All that said, the Rem 700 is hands down the best choice if you want to start with a good shooter and build it into a great shooter. You really need to ask yourself what you want to end up with.
JR
I found myself wanting to do all the extras though so that I knew it was as accurate as it could be. True the action, match barrel, more ridged and adjustable stock... The list goes on.
Eventually I decided to sell it and roam into the world of Custom Tactical Rifles... The only thing I can say is that I would never look back! There is simply no comparison!
All that said, the Rem 700 is hands down the best choice if you want to start with a good shooter and build it into a great shooter. You really need to ask yourself what you want to end up with.
JR
My goal is to reload, shoot in the wild open a .308 in a prone position and try grouping good at 1000 yard. Bench shooting once and a while at 200 yards too. Might take it out on coyotes. Maybe if ill try comp when skills will permit.
If everything goes well, I'd like to get a nicer .338 LM for greater distance in the next years, and I'll post more threads when I get there!
Hope this can help pinpoint my needs
308 will hit at 1000 yards but I think there's better options. I want a rifle that's good for hunting and good for distance. So I chose the Tikka HB 7 MM, I might add a Cadex chassis later. For $1500 I think you can do better than a rem, and though .308 is a good rnd, there's better for what you're trying to do.
I've seen lots of moose taken with .308 at 3,4 hundred yards , but I think the .308 is so popular because it's so easy to come by. I think a lot of people like the .308 because of , bullit availability , and barrel life . But you can find pretty much any bullits and if your worried abou barrel life , then you picked the wrong hobby.
- Location
- Ozarks of the Okanagan
I would really consider a 6.5mm of some description. They have come a looooong way over the last few years and are beginning to take over in the long range world.
The 6.5x47 and 6.5x284 are both incredible cartridges.
JR
The 6.5x47 and 6.5x284 are both incredible cartridges.
JR
Right, I also heard that under 1000 yards, 308 is great. More powerful calibre might do better at more expanse, noise and kick in the arm. At first I was looking for a 300 win mag, and a military told me that it would be way too much. Take a 308 and go for the 338 LM when you'll need that extra power. What do you think?
Thanks for info
You spend $1500 on a remmy, and then add a few upgrades , you're north of $2000. Just build a rifle you like , you can do it for a little more than $2000 and you'll have a much better rifle. Once you have the parts , any competent smith can put the barrel on the action for you. If you don't want go custom , take your &1500 and look at Tikka tactical, at lest your getting accuracy and quality out of the box . And there's better options than the .308.
Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Summerland, BC
right now, I am playing with Rem 783's and stunned at how good the action and rifle really is. For a dirt cheap starter rifle, if the average rifle shoots like mine, BUY IT. The action has a host of features I have always wanted and their button rifled barrels seem to have taken a book from Savage.
Heck, this rifle looks like the love child of a Rem and Savage.... all the positive features from each and ditching the quirks of the parents. Even the plastic stock is fully useable with some proper bedding... best of the plastic fantastics that is for sure.
With handloads, I am getting 1/2 min groups in 243. Winter is slowing my ability to get to the range more but if it actually holds that level of accuracy, all you will need to plink and learn for a very long time.
Local Can tire had them on sale for $365... and then I am supposed to get a rebate from Rem. For that type of money, I couldn't say no.
Now working with the action, I am stunned at how good it is and this is compared to other custom actions. For a mag fed repeater, someone at Rem got it right.... and was really thinking ahead on being able to merge with desired parts
I am currently putting it into a boyds stock to run AICS mags. This will the the base for my PRS style tactical rifle.... yeah, that good.
I am still a strong fan of Savage and older ones are gems.. BUT Savage has changed of late and I am not so excited anymore.
For me, and current Rem 700's, this is a definitely a fix it type of rifle. Get back into the 80's and 90's when Rem was making "guns" and compare to today to see what I mean. I wouldn't recommend a factory Rem 700 today as a donor... maybe in a few years when they build them in the same plant as they build the 783's.
Personally, for low recoil, ease of components and ease of tuning, the factory 243 is not a bad choice. So many great 6mm bullets now with decades of load data. I am really having fun with my 243 Rem 783... I will have a build review in the coming month or so. It only has a 9 1/2 twist so limited to 90/95 gr bullets. But these will still easily zip to 1000yds for lots of plinking fun.
WRT to the 308, tech has moved so far that it is a formidable 1000yd competition option. If you haven't kept up with the world of FTR, you will be stunned at how close the gap between the 308 and wonder 7's have come.
Over a decade ago, I was plinking out to 1450yds with my 308 and then novel Amax bullets. Current stuff, would make a mile simple a function of scope elevation. Plenty of youtube vids of shooting ELR shooting with the 308... old news now.
So from the 6mm to 30cal, there are plenty of options to pick.. all have pros and cons. But the first thing is just get started. Even a HB Savage in 223 and 75gr bullets can be all sorts of fun plinking to 1000yds... and we can gone much further.
Given what is available now, I would highly recommend the Rem 783 as a base. Bed it, shoot it... When you want to upgrade, there are now aftermarket stocks from Boyds. Other aftermarket companies are catching on to how good this action is so I expect more accessories to come in the next year or two.
When prefits become available, this will truly move into great performance for little money and likely take over the tech that Savage started.
As I said, all sorts of options today.. some good, some expensive. Decide on your goals and get started.
This will most certainly not be your one and only stop on your journey. After years of being dissappointed with Rem, preferring Savage, I am now coming full circle to the brand I started off with... just a different action.
Jerry
- Location
- Ozarks of the Okanagan
Which 7mm are you refering to? The advantages I think people are seeing with the 6mm and 6.5mm are: lower case volume, relativly high velocity, good BCs, better brass life in most cases, and low recoil.
Now for me, If I'm going to use it as a general purpose hunting rifle, I would select minimum a 7mm of some description.
These are my opinions, please take them as such.
Here is a link to some interesting info.
http://precisionrifleblog.com/2013/12/17/best-rifle-caliber-what-the-pros-use/
JR
OP , I'm not saying there's anything wrong with buying the rem and doing some work with it. Just that if your spending $1500 , there's other options and maybe better. I went down that Rd once, now I just bought a Tikka Varminter 7MM RM , cost me $1300 all in.
Hey Mystic,
I am interested in your comments on the 783. It looks like it is better than the 700 in some respects. Rather than having the action wide open it is much more similar to the higher end stuff.
Is the foot print the same as a 700? It looks pretty darn close.
The downside of the 783 is no heavy barrel option but I would guess you could probably build one for $1,500...
I am interested in your comments on the 783. It looks like it is better than the 700 in some respects. Rather than having the action wide open it is much more similar to the higher end stuff.
Is the foot print the same as a 700? It looks pretty darn close.
The downside of the 783 is no heavy barrel option but I would guess you could probably build one for $1,500...
CanGunNutz
Member
- Location
- Northern Ontario
If you plan on reloading, then take a serious look at the 6.5mm or 6mm. The 6.5 is an amazing caliber and more support is coming. Savage announced more 6.5 creedmore rifles at shot show as well as other manufacturers. I have a rem 700 SPS with an additional $1000 into it and it's a pretty good riffle but my 2 other 6.5CM are much better at 1000 yrds. I bought a Ruger Precision Rifle last fall and have taken it out to 1200 yrds already with 140gr A-Max loads. I just received the new Hornady ELD match bullets so I working up new loads with these now. They have great ballistic coefficients and will surely improve my long range results.
Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Summerland, BC
I have a stupid smile on my face everytime I pick up this rifle. Someone let 'GUN' engineers alone for long enough for them to actually build something we need and want. And the engineer were wiley enough to make it dirt cheap to manf so the bean counters would leave the design alone. There are so many features built into the rifle that we will spend silly money on in custom actions - and some you can't get regardless of how much you want to spend. It truly gets rid of generations of band aids.... wonderful.
And then they built it with modern machinery and actual QC so it does what it was designed to do. The action actually runs well out of the box.. some TLC and this thing is a gem. this is a new inletting pattern.
I grabbed a spare as fast as I could and before the bean counters tweak the design to dumb it down... Yes, this is the right direction for modern actions and what we need for current bullet types.
It comes with the Rem heavy magnum contour... almost rem sendero so it is actually plenty for most forms of shooting. It will certainly be plenty for the shoot and move crowd (I would feel it heavy for a pure hunting rifle). So far, my barrel is shooting very well and seems quite stable even when hot. I can only shoot at 100yds so will reserve my opinion on LR stability until the snow melts.
As far as heavy barrels, they can always be put on and then you get a far better barrel into the mix. I have pushed a few barrel makers to take a good hard look at the action. The thread size is bigger then standard Savage and Rem.. Perfect... but that means it will be a stand alone pattern... yes, setting up a CNC to cut another thread pattern seems to be a massive undertaking for some... oh well.
But the base genetics are solid... except for the GD bolt knob. This seems to the where the good guys had to back down and let the bean counters have their way. WOW, what a horrible part to use. This I can say is the most uncomfortable bolt knob on a rifle.
And with that big "R" logo, you will never forget that some bozo actually meant to build it this way... I know for sure, this was not designed by anyone that actually shoots a rifle for pleasure. And it is going to get buzzed off asap.
Like the Stevens 200, the 783 is actually a better value then the higher models in the product line. Get them before the execs figure this out and destroy the design.
Jerry
The Rem 783 eh.
It will certainly have more receiver rigidity with the closed in top and small ejection port (looks alot like a TRG ejection port). The barrel nut makes things easy to work on and it looks like the bolt now has a sako style extractor.
Steps in the right direction for sure.
It will certainly have more receiver rigidity with the closed in top and small ejection port (looks alot like a TRG ejection port). The barrel nut makes things easy to work on and it looks like the bolt now has a sako style extractor.
Steps in the right direction for sure.
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Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Summerland, BC
Oh, you have only touched on the obvious... so much more goodness buried in that action. It is as if the design was made to be modified to fit current mag fed needs. You will see when I am done with the full review and build.
And that PITA "R" knob... guaranteed to dampen sales for sure.
Jerry
And that PITA "R" knob... guaranteed to dampen sales for sure.
Jerry
