Are Remington 700s really that bad?

[Maple57]

Supposedly the latest gen Remingtons with the QR code on the receiver are actually pretty square/true out of the box. Likely new tooling/machining used to make them now. I've heard horror stories about nearly every rifle out there, Tikka bolts falling apart, Sako's not ejecting cases, Remington triggers, Ruger American mag issues, Kimber accuracy issues, Christensen Arms CF barrel issues. I don't think any company is completely exempt from making mistakes so to teach his own.

It's no secret that Remington has had financial problems and when that happens they look for creative ways no stop loosing money. How they stop loosing money is through reducing production costs... meaning quality.

When a company brands itself as a hunting centric brand and hunters are notoriously cheap, the company is boxed in to compromises on quality to fit that budget.

On top of that, Remington is a victim of their own success with a saturated the market... meaning they will struggle to hit the sales volumes of the past. This opens up the market to niche companies that can be competitive with better quality specifically because they are not scaled for high volume.

I still think the Rem 700 is a decent all around hunting gun and good enough in practical terms even for competition, but competitors tend to be fearful of buyers remorse from spending too little and needing to upgrade, as opposed to buying the best one time and being done with it.

 

[Alpheus]

Supposedly the latest gen Remingtons with the QR code on the receiver are actually pretty square/true out of the box. Likely new tooling/machining used to make them now. I've heard horror stories about nearly every rifle out there, Tikka bolts falling apart, Sako's not ejecting cases, Remington triggers, Ruger American mag issues, Kimber accuracy issues, Christensen Arms CF barrel issues. I don't think any company is completely exempt from making mistakes so to teach his own.

There are two factors to consider when talking about firearm QC.

1: Frequency of faults.
2: Severity of faults.

Which is better, 1% of items have fault rendering item unusable or 5% of items have faults that reduce/degrade performance?

And the Sako ejection thing, are you referring to when a case is ejected but hits the scope turret and falls back inside the action? In that case, there is nothing wrong with the rifle.

 

[Hitzy]

Colt goes into receivership every decade or so, do they make terrible guns?
The parent company that owns Remington... Cerberus is why they are in receivership, you can read all about it here. Remington made nearly $1B profit in 2014, Cerberus moved money around and pulled money out of Remington, while simultaneously unloading its own debt on Remington.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/01/magazine/remington-guns-jobs-huntsville.html

 

[The Outsider]

Most of my bolt action hunting rifles are older Remington 700 BDL's.

They are all very accurate and function like they should.

I can't comment on the newer ones, but I don't buy new guns anyway, waste of money really,
there are lots of great older ones out there for half the price.

 

[260SnowBird]

The 700's I've had new and old have been great, and get positive comments from everyone that sees them, no issues here, except I'd like acouple more,

 

[MartyK2500]

My friends higher end new model R700 could never get to shoot as accurate as my ex-factory Savage 10TR.
To me this killed all appeal to Remington.

I have since moved away from Savage and using custom actions, which have R700 triggers and footprint.
The only reason I’d buy a Rem, would be to slowly make a build, so I can reuse aftermarket chassis and trigger once my budget allows for a custom.

 

[caramel]

After i bought my first Steyr Scout 308, i never bought Rem again, if you have nothing to compare them with, well they are ok rifles then.

 

[Jon.]

My 700 sps tactical in .223 is my favourite gun to shoot. 25 grains of varget and a 55 grain vmax bullet and it shoots nice ragged little groups.

 

[theshootist]

I had a R700 once. It had terrible extraction issues. It was a big disappointment. I haven't owned one since. With other options out there I prefer to buy from other manufactures. I have never liked a 90 degree bolt rotation anyhow.

 

[cbh560]

I currently have 3 700's. Two are factory rifles, one is a custom build. All 3 have been good quality with no issues. I have also had one other 700 previously but sold it. No issues with that one either.

 

[dero338]

I compare newer lower end 700 I have seen to Harley Davidson. fans will tell you the good thing is you can change whatever you want and lots of choices. thrut is you have to change lot of parts to get it half decent

 

[old303]

I understand that there are third-party 700 clones that let you tap into all the aftermarket support while perhaps hitting a better quality point than Remington. Interesting that nobody's brought them up as a viable alternative yet though.

 

[njohnson]

I understand that there are third-party 700 clones that let you tap into all the aftermarket support while perhaps hitting a better quality point than Remington. Interesting that nobody's brought them up as a viable alternative yet though.

Depends on ones budget. Lots of 700 pattern custom actions that are high quality and accept most 700 accessories. Thing is you are looking at probably $1000 or more vs $350 for a Remington. Once you spend the money to true and upgrade the Remington you are approaching the cost of a custom but some people try to get into the game at the lower price point.

It’s all in how much you want to spend and what results you are expecting.

 

[guntech]

Once you spend the money to true and upgrade the Remington you are approaching the cost of a custom but some people try to get into the game at the lower price point.

It’s all in how much you want to spend and what results you are expecting.

Truing a Remington is about $200 including a bolt "bump"... no where close to the expense of the custom action. Sure the custom resells for more and it should, it cost a lot more...

Trued 700's are the cheaper route dollar wise no doubt... but a trued 700 with a quality barrelling job is quite competitive.

 

[njohnson]

Truing a Remington is about $200 including a bolt "bump"... no where close to the expense of the custom action. Sure the custom resells for more and it should, it cost a lot more...

Trued 700's are the cheaper route dollar wise no doubt... but a trued 700 with a quality barrelling job is quite competitive.

For sure, Remingtons are all I own outside of some single shot dedicated target guns. Mind you I often have a new PTG bolt fitted and handle tig welded to give the best raceway clearance so perhaps that’s what adds to costs in my situation. I’m a big fan of them.

 

[ArmedGinger]

For sure, Remingtons are all I own outside of some single shot dedicated target guns. Mind you I often have a new PTG bolt fitted and handle tig welded to give the best raceway clearance so perhaps that’s what adds to costs in my situation. I’m a big fan of them.

View attachment 415525

Beautiful guns as always!

 

[sunmoong]

R700 is not that bad, but if you want change most after market parts to improve it, turns out that the investment is pretty much close to a custom action rifle.

 

[Hitzy]

700's need triggers, and depending on price level, a decent stock. They at least have several decent factory stock options if you are willing to spend a bit more...Magpul/HS/B&C/Chassis are all factory options. Probably more then any other manufacturer out there.

 

[guntech]

R700 is not that bad, but if you want change most after market parts to improve it, turns out that the investment is pretty much close to a custom action rifle.

If you had a 700 action and had it trued and the bolt bumped (you have about $700 invested) - what after market parts are you thinking of adding? Possibly a trigger (but custom actions usually need that as well) What do custom actions average?

If you want a crisp 2 pound trigger the original 700 trigger can be worked and adjusted to that for $50. If you want a trigger in the ounces you need to spend big money.

 

[caramel]

Any Remington or Marlin is a hit or a miss proposition. I dont have any of those on my bucket list.