General thoughts on a Remington 700?

Apparently most on this thread have lost sight of the OP's original question. If the price is acceptable and the condition meets your needs go ahead and buy it, with confidence, knowing it is a very well made firearm.
The 700 is the top of the Rem line and always has been in sporting weight rifles. There have been small hiccups over the years, but when you make millions upon millions of something this will happen to everyone. I have owned more than 100 - 700 Rems in all kinds of variations and find their quality to be outstanding overall. One of, if not the most accurate out of the box rifles you can buy with exceptional triggers.
Most of the other makes suggested here are fine quality rifles as well, but then you didn't ask about Ruger/Tikka/Savage/Winchester did you?
 
manbearpig said:
i see many custom actions integrating features that are standard on the M77mkII - such as flat bottoms, integrated bases, CRF, Mauser style safety, etc.
regardless, the point is pretty moot since id be willing to bet that less than 5% of hunters will ever hunt with a custom action, or a Remington 700 that has been smithed into 'precision rifle' territory.

the man asked about a factory Remington 700. IMHO, if you go out right now (not 10 years ago, 50 years ago, etc) and buy a factory rifle you will get more for your money by buying a Ruger than a current production model 700.
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Wowsers!... :nest: H:S: Kinda reminds me of the "Tikka is King" type vs the rest of us lowly Remington peasants.
 
...the man asked about a factory Remington 700. IMHO, if you go out right now (not 10 years ago, 50 years ago, etc) and buy a factory rifle you will get more for your money by buying a Ruger than a current production model 700...


That's my opinion too, except I'd buy a Winchester M-70 or a CZ-550, instead of the Ruger M-77.
I hold my nose when I'm around the new M-700s though.

But if I stumbled into a gun shop and found an older model used M-700 on the rack, I'd be all over it, and if the caliber was right, I could be persuaded to buy it.



I guess if you've got tons of cash you could buy a Cooper or Montana or Kimber, blah, blah, blah...
 
blargon said:
Not really. The title of the thread is "General thoughts on Rem 700?" so guys are giving thier opinions...





How many of those 100 do you still own?
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1) Yes but he does go on to ask specifically about the used Rem mod 700 270 he's considering purchasing from a friend. How does singing the praises of Ruger/Winchester/Savage/Tikka etc, address his question about this specific Rem or any other Rem 700 for that matter.

2) Without going to do a specific count in the vault, I'd say 30, maybe 40.

I am not manufacturer biased, I see a gun, it intrigues me, I find it pleasing to the eye, it balances well and fits well - I buy it. I don't care who's name is on it. It seems that mod 7 and 700 Rems fill these criteria more often than most other makes. But I have Rugers, Wins, Sakos, CZs, Merkel, Brownings and more. Of coarse each rifle is checked for fit and finish and flaws and if they are major or sometimes even minor - I don't buy it.
 
I own these M-700s:
.270 'Mtn Rifle' 2002 production year (I was given it)
.270 Sendero 1996 production
.30-06 1980 production (when Remington was truly good quality)
.300H&H M-700 'Classic' 1983 production (when Remington was good quality)
.338WM 1989 production (when Remington was still good quality)
8x57 M-700 'Classic' 2004 production
.35Whelen 1989 production year (bought used, sight unseen, was told it was a 'Classic' but I think it was just a BDL; I need to figure out when that one was built...)

I think the older M-700s, like pre-1995 or something like that, are better.
Quality Control at Remington has definitely deteriorated, over time.

Trigger pulls have gotten stupidly heavy (of course they can be easily adjusted).

I've told this story a number of times, but it bears repeating:
My 2004 'Classic' (the cartridge is a classic, the rifle is not), has the holes for scope mounting crooked; they are not aligned with the barrel. The front hole is offset to the left. But I got around this by using 2-pc Leopold bases, that allow me to adjust the rear of the scope to the left, thereby getting the scope correctly aligned to the receiver & barrel.
Two guys I know, bought those same 2004 'Classics' (because of the great 8x57 cartridge); both of those rifles had the same problem with the scope mounting holes being crooked. One of them also had the forward scope mounting hole drilled completely through the receiver. When he installed a scope, the bolt wouldn't cycle. The screw was protruding through, interfering with the bolt.

I would absolutely buy another M-700, but I would have to inspect it, and more importantly (to me); I'd want to know the serial number so I could check manufacturing timeline.

As I said, if it's used & pre-1990-95 then I could be interested.


Edit:
I wanted to be sure about the manufacture dates of my M-700s, so I sent an email off to Mother Remington, and verified the dates. I was wrong on several. So now the accurate dates are listed (in red).

Now to add to what I said previously, maybe the reason I've always been happy with the M-700s tyhat I own, is that they are all built during those years before QC and Lawyers took the quality downhill, triggers got ####ed up etc...
 
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I like the HS Precision stock with the full aluminum bedding block that is under my 700 Varmint.
It's been a few years now that Remington dropped this rather nice stock for the newer SPS "noodle stock" Shame on Remington!
 
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I own these M-700s:
.270 'Mtn Rifle' 2002 production year (I was given it)
.270 Sendero 1996 production
.30-06 1980 production (when Remington was truly good quality)
.300H&H M-700 'Classic' 1983 production (when Remington was good quality)
.338WM 1989 production (when Remington was still good quality)
8x57 M-700 'Classic' 2004 production
.35Whelen 1989 production year (bought used, sight unseen, was told it was a 'Classic' but I think it was just a BDL.


I wanted to be sure about the manufacture dates of my M-700s, so I sent an email off to Mother Remington, and verified the dates. I was wrong on several. So now the accurate dates are listed (in red).

Now to add to what I said previously, maybe the reason I've always been happy with the M-700s that I own, is that they are all built during those years before QC and Lawyers took the quality downhill, triggers got f**ked up etc...
 
^ If you cross refence the Remington serial number info (see sticky thread on getting production dates above), to check your firearms date of manufacture, I find they do not jive. According to that info, versus sending an email to info@remington.com, there were major discrepancies in dates.

And I have contacted Remington, in the past, on these manufacturing dates, and the info I get from the is FAST, FREE, and CONSISTENT.

If you are in doubt, or just have to know (like me), then send them an email. I had answers on all 7 of my M700s, within a day.
 
I have a small collection of Rem 700 BDL V.S. rifles, and I love them all very dearly. Quality, Hell yeah I see it there for sure! I'm missing a few, only collecting the short action group, got 222, 223, 22-250 and 243, still looking for the 6mm, 7mm-08 and 308. Memory is fading a little, I might have the 7mm-08, but maybe not, I know I was given a false lead on one, right here on CGN, the clown knows who he is, if he's reading this, see my finger fella? I kinda smelled H:S: coming from your end in our chats! And I did handle one at the Brandon gun show, but it had a nasty flaw or gouge in the top of the barrel, didn't buy that one, but might have found another one. Will hafta check in the safe. I have a custom built Apache gold thumbhole stock that I use for all my 700 metal in the collection when I bench rest shoot in the back yard range. It's a left hand shooter's bench rest type stock that accepts the right hand bolt action's of the 700 V.S. BDL's. It's kinda cool, everything is right there in front of your face/eyes, you can see the action open, closing, cartridge shoved in, closed etc! Nope, never a skinned nose!
 
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manbearpig said:
im not running around saying 'dont trust the 700 safety', i have no gripe with it.
that said, if you look at how a Ruger M77mkII safety works, its hard to dispute that it is a superior design (in terms of safety). it physically blocks the trigger/firing pin/bolt.

lc6triggergroup.jpg
saftybltmtdetls.jpg
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If your buying a gun solely on the safety, go ahead . 100% of the time I shoot my gun the safety is off. Safeties should not be installed on guns, the safety should be the person that is holding the gun.
 
Thanks to the email address graciously provided by Demonical, I confirmed my 700s date of manufacture is 2003.
Presently a Kyle Precision 20 MOA base & a NXS 12-42 sits on top of it.
My best efforts so far with recent experiments is about 1/2 MOA at 300 yards with 155 Scenars. Still looking for the best load formula. I think I might try out 170 grain Lapua Lock Base and Accurate 2520 just for giggles. Work in progress.
 
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