Checked out some rifles.. Disappointed with Remington 700. Tikka seems nice.

D3TH_OVRH3D

D3TH_OVRH3D

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I got off work a little early today so I stopped at Crappy Tire to have a look at some coyote rifles (to look only, would never pay their prices).. I checked out the Tikka T3 Lite, Axis, Remington 700, and a couple others.

The Tikka T3 Lite was very nice. It seemed to shoulder nice for me and cheek weld was great IMO. Just felt right for me, compared to the others I checked out. The action was smooth and overall, felt like a great rifle for this bolt gun newb.

The Axis just isn't doing anything for me, other than the price tag and the accuracy. My friend has the Axis in .22-250 and it's accurate. What I found to be a big problem upon further inspection today is that the bolt throw is way too high and the forestock on it has a ton of flex. I'm not sure if it'd be a great rifle to mount a bipod on.. Or would it?

When the guy handed me a Remington 700, I thought "oh here we go, after checking this thing out the others will seem like crap but I can't afford the Rem's price"... Nope. I was seriously disappointed. I don't know what the deal was, but the action was not slick AT ALL after working the action in the T3 and Axis. I couldn't believe it. I mentioned it to the guy and he looked at me like I was out of my mind, but also said a guy was in there recently complaining about his new 700. I asked him to see another 700 (looked awesome with a wood thumbhole stock, in .204R). Again, I just wasn't into the action. How is it that a rifle with a price tage over $1K feels nowhere near a nice as a $300 budget rifle??

I don't mean this thread as a slap on Remington owners. Maybe these guns need a cleanup and good oiling (they actually appeared crappy for some reason), but after today I'm liking the Tikka T3 Lite.

What do you guys think of my take on these rifles?
 
Remington does put a bit of a thickish packing grease and the action does improve with a good cleaning. They are not super smooth feeling actions even broken in however. The Tikka action will always be smoother. They are what they are: an inexpensive, reliable action that provides a great foundation to build an accurate rifle. Although the same can be said for a few other aas well. If it didn't feel right go with the Tikka.
 
Buddy bought a 700 SPS DM with hard case for $450 (Cabelas Cyber Monday sale). I picked it up for him and brought it home. I have a T3 an Axis and another Savage and I have to agree with the above observation. New out of the box the action did not feel smooth at all and I didn`t find the X pro trigger to be all that great either. This is his first first rifle and at the price he paid it is one heck of a deal. I will tell him to take it apart and clean it up and see if it smoothens out. Can`t wait till he get the optics on it and I can squeeze a few off. Who knows maybe I will become a remington guy.

G
 
A few years ago when I was looking to get a new deer rifle, the 700 was one that I had considered. After checking out several of them, talking to people and reading reviews and other articles, it quickly came off my consideration list. The bolt was horrible on all of them and it felt like it was being dragged through gravel, the finish was horrible, a couple even had rust on them and they were still brand new. One dealer said 'Remington is the worst gun on the market. I send back more of them for repair or replacement then every other manufacturer combined.'

I have seen many guys shooting 700s at the range, but they are mostly customized and heavily modified, 700 actions only for the most part. One guy was saying the action is the only thing worth buying and you still have to do a pile of work to it to get it to the point it should be when you buy it. Another guy with a brand new one couldn't get the thing to feed any kind of factory ammo from the mag, every single round jammed.

Everything I have seen, read and heard about Remington has left me wondering why people still buy them. I think they are surviving soley on the reputation the 700 and 870 had generated over the years and now that their quality has gone down the tubes, that now expired reputation alone is all that keeps them going...
 
So I'm not crazy lol..

Joe549, I see you're from Kingston. That's where I was checking out the rifles at CT on Princess and Gardiners. If you happen to be in that store sometime, take a minute to see the 700's for yourself. They always have a bunch of them in stock. Both of the ones I checked out were disappointing.

Unfortunately, the guy at the counter who was "helping" me, didn't seem like he was enjoying himself, so I didn't waste too much of his time by asking to see more rifles. I would've liked to see the Marlin X7, Ruger American, and Vanguard S2.
 
D3TH_OVRH3D said:
So I'm not crazy lol..

Joe549, I see you're from Kingston. That's where I was checking out the rifles at CT on Princess and Gardiners. If you happen to be in that store sometime, take a minute to see the 700's for yourself. They always have a bunch of them in stock. Both of the ones I checked out were disappointing.

Unfortunately, the guy at the counter who was "helping" me, didn't seem like he was enjoying himself, so I didn't waste too much of his time by asking to see more rifles. I would've liked to see the Marlin X7, Ruger American, and Vanguard S2.
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I'm in there all the time, I'm pretty sure I know which guy you are referring to.
 
i have 2 recent 700s they are both "smooth". but i could really care less i dont think they are better than my unsmooth cz 550. when i feed a round when shooting i dont notice smoothness. this gunfondling smoothness fetish is pretty dumb. i have a tikka t 3 i noticed it is not actually smooth at all you can feel the hard rough surface of the bolt sliding but this roughness of texture keeps it from stickiness. its a valid way to engineer it but not any better than the smooth surface remington. now youve got me on about this smooth drivel go shoot the guns
 
porpoise said:
i have 2 recent 700s they are both "smooth". but i could really care less i dont think they are better than my unsmooth cz 550. when i feed a round when shooting i dont notice smoothness. this gunfondling smoothness fetish is pretty dumb. i have a tikka t 3 i noticed it is not actually smooth at all you can feel the hard rough surface of the bolt sliding but this roughness of texture keeps it from stickiness. its a valid way to engineer it but not any better than the smooth surface remington. now youve got me on about this smooth drivel go shoot the guns
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Thanks for your input, porpoise.

While I agree that it may not be a huge problem to have a not so slick action, I don't think it's acceptable for a rifle to have a gritty action when they're priced as high as the Remington 700. When you buy a car, you don't say to yourself "well, it's got a shake in the front end, but I probably won't notice it when I'm cruising a dirt road" lol. Obviously, when spending this kind of money, you expect a great fit and finish, which was definitely not something I found in the Remington 700.. Which is kind of a good thing, cuz I really don't want to get into that price point lol.

BTW, how would you compare the accuracy of the Tikka with the 700?
 
Smooth has little to do with quality. The old Mauser 98 and similarily Winchester M70 systems certainly wouldn't meet your criteria, yet they're far superior actions to anything mentioned above.
I have an older Tikka M695 in 338 where the bolt is as slick as greased lightning. The reason for that is the plastic sleeve that surrounds it. ;)
 
I do agree that the newer rem 700 SPS do not have the smoothest actions in the world, however from the couple tikka T3's that I have handled and shot I will say this one thing: Don't confuse a SMOOTH bolt for a SLOPPY bolt. The only reason a tikka bolt is so "smooth" feeling is because they allow so much free space in the machining tolerance that the bolt has a tremendous amount of wobble and barely touches the receiver when closing or opening. Lift the bolt handle and then just tilt the gun forward and back and see how easily the bolt just flops opened and closed. In my opinion a properly machined action should not wobble and have this much play. A well machined action like a Win 70 has precise metal on metal contact when working the bolt, it may not be as easy because there is inherently going to be more friction in play, but it's still smooth.
 
Thanks for your input, StevieK. Makes pretty good sense. I was quite turned off by the gritty feel of the actions.. But, maybe after a proper cleaning and oiling they'd feel great.
 
Hmpffff.

They are both 'mid grade' rifles and if you prefer one over the other, use it and smile. I bout a fine 700 SPS Tactical for only $600 and change from P&D. If there is anything a Tikka can offer (besides looks) that the Rem can't...I dunno what it is. These guns are really not that expensive and they both offer excellent value for the money.

If you want fit and finish buy the Sako.
 
First off....has anyone ever noticed the feel of their action when hunting? Or recoil? (so long as you didn't just break your nose with the scope...)

Following that up...its a mid grade rifle. Mid grade is generally about $600-1200 for the rifle. If you want high quality fit and finish on the metal and wood for that super smooth feel out of the box you're looking at spending $2k or more.
 
my rem 700s are not only accurate they are cheap. plain jane 700 has been around 600 dollars for at least the last 20 years
 
I've got a Remington, Savage, Weatherby (the 'old' style Vanguard), and am working on a buddy's T3. They are all bolt guns. From those 4, slick actions/best fit and finish go in this order: Tikka, Weatherby (very close), Savage and Remington. Haven't shot the Tikka, the Weatherby has the best unmodified trigger, my Savage is about the same after I tuned it. They ALL print nice, tidy groups if the shooter does their part, none have failed, ever. They'll continue to do so long after I'm gone.

To buy a new one right now? Weatherby Vanguard S2 would be my first choice just based on the price point. It seems so close to the Tikka that I'd rather save the $300 difference in price tag and put it towards a scope.
 
I used to fix computer as one of my part time jobs. so many people bought windows system and had it crashed in a couple years. I wonder why the do not simply buy a Mac and live trouble free?

to me, it is mauser 98 or nothing. go buy a cz at around 1 gram and happy hunting
 
Weatherby Vangaurd sub moa . is a good candidate for a good shooting moderately priced rig. The rem's do clean up and smooth out the tactical finnish on th sps or the VTR is the one I have in 223 took a few hundred rnds to smooth out because of the matt finnish on the bolts and recievers the more expecive Remintons are a different story my Sendero is beautiful and smooth and I would not trade it for the nicest Tikka made.
 
Yep.

Before you worry about fit and finish - look for a good trigger and a good 'fit'. Throw the rifle up to your shoulder fast - can you get a good stock/cheek weld? Go prone and try it again.

A nice buttery smooth bolt throw is gratifying to the senses not absolutely necessary - you will be killing on the first shot most of the time if you do your homework, and any repeat shots are either a formality or mercy to the game. If you can cycle the bolt and reload without taking the gun from your shoulder you are golden. A little practice will take care of any perceived grittyness in the action.
 
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