Rem 783 PRS/Tactical Rifle Build - McGowen Making Prefits Now

So does the 783 action share anything with the 700? Like, same triggers? Action bolt spacing? Foot print?

Completely new.... the only thing that is the same is the scope base contour... you use the front ones from the Rem 700. This receiver is a steel tube.. and a very strong one at that.

No clue on the marlins as I never saw a point to play with them but they can be made to work and CDI makes DBM and barrels can be changed.

As K alluded to, the key is the action run and run properly and fast. There is no shortage of receivers that can be made to work... see some of the speed shooting done in Sweden and you might think Sig Sauer or Krag... WOWSA.

PRS is about making hits on field positions without sighters or spotters.... you need to see your trace and hopefully impact or spot the miss to compensate.. Otherwise, you are shooting blind and you may as well go home.

So recoil and being bounced off target becomes important... muzzle brakes and cans reduce this problem alot so you have options on bigger, fatter, heavier options IF you think it will help you.

The game over the last few years shows winning combos in the mid case 6mm and 6.5. Change the stage protocols and this might be the 223 or the 7Rem Mag. There is no standardisation in the stages so you got to put on your thinking cap to see what combo is your best compromise for the type of stages you are likely to see.

PRS is not won by winning every stage (although, that would work) but scoring consistently at the top AND NOT making any serious FUBARs. So it is a great big wonderful world of compromises and your skill to raise to the challenges even if your gear is a little tired.

Building a boomer for the really long stages is great but if that is only 5% of the total score and the boomer hampers you ability to shoot other stages... bad choice. But if the event was 65% long stages, then ummmmmm......

You score on the stages you are good at, you manage the disaster on the stages you aren't.... hopefully, you average out better then the other competitors.

That is what is so exciting about this game... you can't buy your way to the top. You HAVE TO SHOOT and all the skills involved in field marksmanship. The gear has to first and foremost FUNCTION... then you have to be able to deliver a well aimed shot with an appropriate firing solution.

When you get 100% hits over all stages, you can worry about the next schnick of accuracy or wind drift. This is a sport that rewards practise, practise, practise, practise, practise... and when you are bored, more practise.

My build is just to highlight that all the fancy bling you see on blogs and pictures, although nice, may not be necessary. The rifle has to do certain jobs well and money doesn't always buy that success

And sometimes, money doesn't get you the better part.

YMMV

Jerry
 
Mystic, are you planning to shoot a PRS match with your 783 this year?

This year is confirming my spot on the Cdn National FTR team for the Worlds next year. Then prepping for the individual side as well.

We have been building this type of rifle for a long time and with the growth in interest with PRS events, I figured I better do more research. There is and will be lots of good new ideas

Jerry
 
Hi Jerry. Do you believe the savage action 10/110 is a better action for accuracy and the 783 is better feeding. Or do you think the 783 will feed better and have the same accuracy potential as the savage.
 

The Surgeon may have a small accuracy advantage, but for all practical purposes it doesn't make a difference.

Keep in mind that when I say "tight fitting custom action", I'm not referring to the Surgeon/Defiance/GAP/Etc... actions people are running in PRS matches. These would be considered loose actions by many people shooting F-Class. There are other actions out there that are available as repeaters that are just as tight as the single shot actions that the F-Class shooters really like. Some of these these actions have a reputation for the bolt binding when you try and run them fast...
 
Hi Jerry. Do you believe the savage action 10/110 is a better action for accuracy and the 783 is better feeding. Or do you think the 783 will feed better and have the same accuracy potential as the savage.

Given what I have seen in the machining of the Rem783, and the floating bolt head, I don't see any real difference in accuracy potential between this and the Savage. I still use a Stevens for my F TR rifle and accuracy is as good as anything else on the line. I have removed the ejector so I take the empty off the bolt.

Savage ejection can be problematic and since we can't get parts easily, this is a negative.

Remember there is very little in accuracy difference between all properly set up actions. Why you will see just about everything on an F class line up. If one action actually offered a tangible advantage, it would dominate. The key is setting it up so that you can extract all the potential out of the barrel as available. As this is very slow fire, alot of benefits of "fast" running bolts is negated in F class so has little value.

Where the 783 betters the Savage is the ease to install AICS mags (and this is a big deal), and camming for extraction and ejection. Where speed is paramount, this bolt set up is simply faster. There are other really nice features of the action that I will get into with my article. Some very positive features you can't find in many other custom actions.

It's a good one...

Jerry
 
Makes sense. I enjoy your articles and reviews. Being a relatively new shooter its easy to be led down the rabbit hole of rifle "fashion" ($$) shooting is not cheap and it is nice to find gear that works without emptying the kids university fund lol. Looking forward to your review of this action! (as I always found the savage a clumsy feeder)
 
Given what I have seen in the machining of the Rem783, and the floating bolt head, I don't see any real difference in accuracy potential between this and the Savage. I still use a Stevens for my F TR rifle and accuracy is as good as anything else on the line. I have removed the ejector so I take the empty off the bolt.

Savage ejection can be problematic and since we can't get parts easily, this is a negative.

Remember there is very little in accuracy difference between all properly set up actions. Why you will see just about everything on an F class line up. If one action actually offered a tangible advantage, it would dominate. The key is setting it up so that you can extract all the potential out of the barrel as available. As this is very slow fire, alot of benefits of "fast" running bolts is negated in F class so has little value.

Where the 783 betters the Savage is the ease to install AICS mags (and this is a big deal), and camming for extraction and ejection. Where speed is paramount, this bolt set up is simply faster. There are other really nice features of the action that I will get into with my article. Some very positive features you can't find in many other custom actions.

It's a good one...

Jerry

Jerry, I've been thinking about buying one of these but I've read reviews that talk about stiff bolt lift, bolt handles breaking off and feeding issues. What do you make of these issues? Anomalies? Growing pains on early production????
 
Jerry, I've been thinking about buying one of these but I've read reviews that talk about stiff bolt lift, bolt handles breaking off and feeding issues. What do you make of these issues? Anomalies? Growing pains on early production????

No idea... I only have 2 samples to look at and both are excellent. I am not using it as a factory hunting rifle and feeding in my set up has been great.

Rem QC has varied like crazy so maybe there are lemons out there... but I am very happy with mine.

Jerry
 
The Surgeon may have a small accuracy advantage, but for all practical purposes it doesn't make a difference.

Keep in mind that when I say "tight fitting custom action", I'm not referring to the Surgeon/Defiance/GAP/Etc... actions people are running in PRS matches. These would be considered loose actions by many people shooting F-Class. There are other actions out there that are available as repeaters that are just as tight as the single shot actions that the F-Class shooters really like. Some of these these actions have a reputation for the bolt binding when you try and run them fast...

This is a very typical problem with many modern actions... solve one problem and cause another. That is why I am very excited about the floating bolt head used in the 783. Like the Savage, it offers solid lock up but "wobble' to cycle fast and smooth.

Not easy to do in a solid bolt receiver. And yes, there are a number of "custom" actions that will bind or stick when run fast and dirty.

The floating bolt head action is kind of like having your cake and eating it too....

Jerry
 
Why not the Savage Axis Jerry? Similar closed top action, floating bolt head design. After all, the 783 really is just a copy of the Axis anyways. Are there any significant improvements to consider? At least you can get a Rifle Basix for the Axis.
We just did a 6.5x284 build of an Axis. Removed the barrel nut, put in a real recoil lug and did up a little nice budget built. Here is a customer pic we got back. Not a PRS rig, more of a bench or varmint rig.

 
The 783 takes a lot of ideas from the Axis. BUT the Axis doesn't have the type of camming, and firing pin set up I want in a long term, high rd count action.

It is a great hunting action and will do great in the role you have above, but I would run the PRS style rifle through alot of rds and the Axis isn't going to stand up.

Or at least the actions I had didn't impress me that way.

Also, the action opening isn't as open and I don't think it will be as easy to set up with AICS mags.

Jerry
 
Thanks for the detailed review. So, this 'appears' to be a great action for me to start with for my compact rifle project. Think? I had settled on doing something in 6.5 creedmoor so what are the chances of getting noob-friendly barrel upgrades?

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree now but with that kind of savings, I could put a few extra bucks into optics.
 
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