Remington of Old

I thought this would get some comments as lots of Remington fans on here . Maybe not Remington of late but prior to a lot of their troubles . Really I find it a shame that once great companies fail .
 
There was a time in the mid to late 90's when I would not consider any other brand of hunting rifle. The model 700 was the only one for me. I had several, in several different calibers, and they were all super accurate.
Then when I saved up enough to by my fantasy remington of the time, a model 700 lvsf in 22-250, (about $1200 in 2008 or so) and it shot 4 inch groups at 100 yards with every ammo I tried, I started to re consider....
I gave them one last chance and bought a model 700 police in 308, and yeah, it was about a 4 inch rifle......
The old remingtons were great rifles. The new Lemingtons were complete pieces of shYt. Lemington is dead to me......
 
Craftmanship is a dying art. Too many people don't understand quality firearms done by hand and they do come at a cost. Nothing is ever cheap other than those Turkish firearms and that being said have a quality that shows. Fitmanship is definately part of the cost to any firearms, machining with technology does have its benefits tolerances if not done correctly can be catastrophic. That being said this video definitely posted shows the old age art of a company that showed years of craftsmanship too bad that they lost the desire of quality in the past years and has been taken over by other manufactures. Truthfulness in manufacturing is key to being transparent and accountable hiding behind these fault shows lack of respect to those who buy your product quality. Too bad for the P320 problem not too late to fix the issue just they have to go outside the box to fix it. Remington knew in the 1960 that the 700 triggers had issues and still had issues even with the fix they provided by the manufacture. Buy a Timmy Trigger or a Triggertech to fix the issue for the 700 Remington and you have a rifle that is fully functional without that poorly designed Walker Trigger and they knew that back into the 60's so much for tranparency.
 
I watched the video when you posted it but, to me, the Remington of old, one at a time and hand made refer to the Model 8 rifles I collect.
Don't get me wrong, I respect the old 700s and other Rems but, you really have to tear down a turn of the century Browning designed semi auto to respect the rudimentary hand work that went into it's production
And all HAND made in a 1900s era workshop = magic
 
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Never owned a 700, but I was really pleased with a 721 I had even though I'm illogicaly biased. Definitely on par with other fine rifles of that era
 
I appreciate when rifles were made this way. Newer guns of today just don't have the same soul. All this fancy CNC, laser checkering, and precision fit stocks... You can really tell the difference between guns that were crafted by hands and those by a machine. But, Remington, Winchester, Marlin, all seem to have met the same fate, even after they found efficiencies in production methods. The market became saturated and too much competition followed. Quality control is certainly lacking in todays manufacturing as are warrantees and customer service. Gunsmiths that know how to build, fix and tune guns unfortunately are few and far between. I've done my best to learn from some of them and keep sending them business from time to time.
 
conor_90 said:
Never owned a 700, but I was really pleased with a 721 I had even though I'm illogicaly biased. Definitely on par with other fine rifles of that era
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My main hunting rifle is a ridiculously accurate Remington 725 in 30/06 that I got from Rembo some years back . It's over 60 years old but will still shoot around one MOA with most loads , less with some . One rifle I'll never part with .
 
My 721 was built in 1949 and had an address in Vanderhoof electropenciled into the bottom metal.

I bought it from a guy in Ontario and lived in PG at that time, so it was taking a trip home.

Looked like it had an honest life, but was in great shape
 
.22LRGUY said:
That video has been posted before, it’s great.

Yep-old Remingtons/Mossbergs are favourites of mine. (Shotguns)
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When Mossberg was making their version of the S&W 1500 bolt rifle it was a solid piece of quality work. Howa carried on the design when they got going and like all guns Made In Japan (and optics) they are mechanically perfect IMO.
 
The enclosed extractor system is what makes the 700 the strongest, safest 2 locking lug bolt action ever produced, and is an excellent rifle for handloaders because of it.
 
When Walker designed the 721/722 action, he could have done better on the bolt handle/extraction system. Apart from that, it was a great design The original 722 extractor was a little weak, but the 700 extractor was fine. People who were interested in accuracy soon realized that the Remington 700 was the easy button for building an accurate rifle. Easy to bed, easy to barrel, and with a great trigger.
The separate bolt handle and the extraction cam angle were things which troubled the rifles throughout their production.
I think the earlier 700's, the 870, and the 1100 really epitomized hunting and shooting through the '60's and '70's. I think it's safe to say, guys like Dennis and I felt a bit of a kinship with these models. Especially in Alberta, I think I handled more Remington 870's and 1100's than all other shotguns combined. I can't even guess at how many 700's I glass bedded, or re-barreled, or tuned triggers, or put a recoil pad on. As a warranty 'smith, I got to see what problems one might expect, and believe it or not, there weren't many.
I took a tour through the plant at Illion, NY., in the mid nineties. This was late in their run, and they were still doing most things as they did after the war. It was fascinating. I got to see the barrel making equipment Mike Walker used to make the fine 40x-BR barrels and spoke with the guys in the custom shop. A great day.
 
Bill Leeper said:
When Walker designed the 721/722 action, he could have done better on the bolt handle/extraction system. Apart from that, it was a great design The original 722 extractor was a little weak, but the 700 extractor was fine. People who were interested in accuracy soon realized that the Remington 700 was the easy button for building an accurate rifle. Easy to bed, easy to barrel, and with a great trigger.
The separate bolt handle and the extraction cam angle were things which troubled the rifles throughout their production.
I think the earlier 700's, the 870, and the 1100 really epitomized hunting and shooting through the '60's and '70's. I think it's safe to say, guys like Dennis and I felt a bit of a kinship with these models. Especially in Alberta, I think I handled more Remington 870's and 1100's than all other shotguns combined. I can't even guess at how many 700's I glass bedded, or re-barreled, or tuned triggers, or put a recoil pad on. As a warranty 'smith, I got to see what problems one might expect, and believe it or not, there weren't many.
I took a tour through the plant at Illion, NY., in the mid nineties. This was late in their run, and they were still doing most things as they did after the war. It was fascinating. I got to see the barrel making equipment Mike Walker used to make the fine 40x-BR barrels and spoke with the guys in the custom shop. A great day.
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I did that same tour, hmm, maybe 97 or so. Was working in NYC with the LIRR, so spent my weekends hitting all the firearms related places I could find (and back then there was quite a bit, Rem, TC, Auto Ordance, Numrich as well as some great gun shops). Anyway, it was an impressive plant with a lot of history. - dan
 
Except for the matte "bluing" finish on them now, I really don't mind the Rem 700 as it currently is, as far as 700s go. They shoot. Never saw a bum one yet. Theres no debate the older ones look better. Even the modern wood stocked ones are cursed with that ridiculous looking huge recoil pad. Maybe they work well but they look like a$$

Would love an old 721 or 760 in 300 Sav tho. Even the 700 Classic in 300 Sav.

Probably just too big of a Winchester/Ruger/Tikka guy and 700 trigger skeptic to do it ;)
 
Demonical said:
The Walker trigger is a great trigger, ya just gotta know how to adjust them.
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Nothing wrong with the trigger itself. Just the lack of foresight that went into safety. If they'd only have incorporated a trigger block as well as the sear block into the safety. We'd never hear about gummed up triggers or old grease, as that would mitigate the vast majority of problems with it.

Still not as good as a positive striker block, but it would've made a big difference.

I picked up a classic 700 a little while back, which doesn't have a very nice trigger pull. I'm not a big trigger snob, but it's heavy and creepy. I'll adjust it a little nicer. Because it has the Walker trigger, I'll probably remove the bar that's the little bolt lock in the safety.
 
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