MDT Rem 700 300 win mag build. Factory or Custom Action?

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MartinRiggs

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Hey everyone,

I have a MDT tac21 chassis for a Rem 700 long action. I want to build this bad boy in 300 win mag.

I'm looking for advice and suggestions.
1. Grab a used 700 off the EE, drop in and upgrade as I shoot?
Or
2. Factory or custom action with nice barrel, spend more $$ up front (save a little longer) and go straight to the nice custom stuff?

The purpose of this rifle is for long range shooting/tactical style shooting. Not for competition, but I want this to be a nice precision tool that I can rely on, and shoot the snot out of.

I appreciate any feedback!
 
Starting on a custom action will undoubtedly result in a higher quality build that has more features. It's up to you as a consumer to decide if the extra quality and features are worth it.

You can make a rem700 action shoot very well. Accuracy is not very dependent on the action. The actions purpose is to insert and extract ammo, to and from the chamber. Accuracy is mostly going to come barrel blank quality and the quality of the chamber job of the gunsmith, as well as using the proper chamber to compliment the type of ammo you want to shoot.

Pumping money into a R700 action to "upgrade" it is usually not a very good value proposition. It's like hot rodding a vehicle - sure you may get more performance, but come time to sell the vehicle, it's not worth any more then it was prior to the upgrades on the resale market, as other people don't usually see the value in an upgraded Remington 700 (or the Silverado that you put a lift kit and 32" tires on).

If it was me, I would start a build from scratch. Lots of excellent quality actions available today, and pair it from the beginning with a quality match barrel spun up by a quality gunsmith.

Action preference is fairly subjective. A Defiance is a great choice, you can customize it almost any way you want and they've been building quality two lug push feed actions for a while. Lone Peak Fuzion and Impact are other great options (Impact is supposedly coming out with a long action soon). If you want CRF, then you have Bighorn TL3, ARC Mausingfield and Nucleus. You can also go with the Bighorn Origin, Kelbly Atlas or Defiance Tenacity if you want a high quality "budget" custom action. This list is definitely not all-inclusive, there's a lot of excellent custom actions out there.

The sky is the limit when you go custom. Would need to know more of your preferences in order to nail it down more. It also comes down to how much money you want to spend.
 
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As a car guy myself, the Silverado analogy was perfect. That brought clarity to my back and forth thoughts on the subject.

A custom action is the way to go for me. I want the rifles bones to be of high quality for the operator. I have a Bergara, and a Tikka... I love the smoothness of those rifles. Since this is a chassis gun, I really want it to be on par or above the quality of those actions/bolts.

I concur that the barrel is paramount. Do you have any suggestions, or know of well proven combinations?

My budget is about $2k, give or take. In summary, I am looking to get started in the world of custom rifles for my budget. Thanks Kthomas for the thoughts.

I really appreciate the help!
 
Unfortunately, being in Canada, you have import costs and the Canadian dollar working against you. $2k would be easy to do in the US, but not so much in Canada.

For actions, there is a lot of value in the "budget" custom actions like the Bighorn Origin, Defiance Tenacity and Kelbly Atlas. I would start here for actions, and shop around and see who had the best prices. The Origin and Tenacity are pretty new, so they may be a bit scarce still up in Canada.

I always recommend a top tier barrel brand. As a well renowned gunsmith in the US says, "putting anything but a top tier barrel on your precision rifle is like putting 7 cylinders in a V8". For me, that's Kreiger, Bartlein, Brux, Hawkhill, Benchmark, Rock Creek, etc. The brands that are consistently putting out top quality barrel blanks, with great CS to match.

The advantage of all the actions I listed is that they are held to such tight tolerances that shouldered prefit barrels can and will be made and stocked for those actions. Getting a prefit will help save on costs a bit, while still maintaining the ability to have a top notch blank.

Alternatively, you can go with the home grown IBI barrel. I usually don't recommend them, as the early reports of the barrels from sources I trust indicated poor quality. People are saying those issues have since been addressed, but I haven't been able to corroborate that with sources I trust. You could take a leap of faith and go with IBI, you will certainly save some money and there are people on here who swear by them.

My gunsmith of choice in Canada is Insite Arms, reach out to them and tell them what your goals are. They are trained by one of the best gunsmiths in the US, and their work is right up there with any of the top quality smiths that I have available to me down here. Ultimately, you need to go with a gunsmith you trust, and build a relationship with them. Alternatively, if you do go with the prefit route, you can essentially assemble the rifle yourself at home.
 
I was hoping to be able to get out the door with a trigger for $2k, but I have been scouring the net and you are absolutely right. The CAD is killing us up here.
It does seem the actions are scarce. I read the Kelbly Atlas has broken under hard use, but they may have remedied that?

I've had my eyes on a Krieger or Bartlein, but i'm not partial as I have no experience with custom barrels. I will definitely consider a prefit if the savings are there.
I would consider IBI, but like you were saying, if I am going with a custom action it would only make sense to go with a top tier barrel. I don't like the thought of taking a chance on the barrel. If I were to go with a factory 700 action, I would take a hard look at IBI.

I appreciate the recommendation on the Smith, I will give them a call!
 
If budget is an issue, the Rem 700 in any form is one of the most expensive routes today vs the on target performance you get.

Unless you really like the Tac21 chassis (not just the style but that exact chassis), sell it... now you have a budget of up to $2800 and you can build a smoking good rig.. and it might even include a good quality scope?

Today there are many many ways to build a rig that can reach out with accuracy for not much money. Set your priorities, especially around 'gucchi'

Sometimes the most expensive part is how it looks....

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
If budget is an issue, the Rem 700 in any form is one of the most expensive routes today vs the on target performance you get.

Jerry
Click to expand...

I am confused about this... 700 actions can be had pretty cheap... installing a quality barrel costs no more for a 700 than for any other action... and truing and bumping the bolt on a 700 is $250... and it will shoot very accurately at that stage... why is this such an expensive route to take?
 
GT, you have built me some amazingly accurate 700's year past. They work no doubt... but today, a used 700 is what.. $500 to 700'ish????

You have some great pricing on action work. I have seen some bigger numbers quoted. So let's say, $250 to ensure all is well.

Then how much to thread the bolt knob?

for some, they would like a pinned recoil lug (not a necessity of course but makes barrel changes easier). how much would that add?

At this point, how much are we away from a custom action? Is the BDL inletting ideal for AICS mags?

Trigger hanger? I really like that option in my competition rifles cause fixing a pinned trigger in the field is less then ideal.

Start adding up these features which are pretty standard in custom actions and you are real close in price to some of the newer custom offerings. I know that prefits are likely not your thing but new customs accepting Savage prefits are a big plus to those who shoot a bunch.

So a 700 action is going to be around $1k... customs now start north of $1k... not a huge difference.

now you can compare to other donor actions which have a variety of positive features out of the box for similar money to the factory 700 and don't need the same level of TLC.

Ultimately, the shooter will choose whatever they prefer. Costs are dropping vs performance given which is great for the sport.

Jerry
 
guntech said:
I thought the majority of custom actions were over $1200 US and still in the US...
Click to expand...

Lots of actions coming out that are cheaper then that. Bighorn Origin, Defiance Tenacity, Kelbly Atlas, etc are all sub $1000. Mack Bros just announced a new action at SHOT that's retailing at $575.

With advancements in CNC tech that action manufacturers are employing, actions are being built to better tolerances and for less $$$.
 
No point in going with a custom action in the Tac 21, all the gucci bling bling will be lost inside the enclosed chassis. GT is correct, pick up a used Rem 700, have it trued up and in the end you spend maybe half the cost of a custom action that does the same thing. I have had several custom rifles assembled for me over the years, I have never used GT but he has a great reputation and some of the prices I have seen him quote recently are fantastic, I would definitely give him a call for your build.

I too would sell the Tac 21, it has some cool factor to it, but some of the features make it less than ideal for a long range rig imo. I would suggest the MDT XRS, just released and retails for $500, or the MDT ESS or ACC, all these chassis allow for a lower scope mounting height, have better ergonomics and possibly more features then the Tac 21.
 
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