Hey everyone! For those of you thinking of buying a Remington 799, I recently purchased one of these rifles in 7.62 x 39, and haven't found much online info about them. Well, here are my thoughts on the rifle.
A little background: This rifle is produced by Zastava for Remington, upon import the barreled action is mounted in a Remington stock and sold under their name. It is sometimes referred to as the "mini-mauser", as it is an almost-direct copy of a Mauser 98 action shrunk in the wash, the only significant change being the extractor claw. That being said, push the bolt IN as you push it forwards or it ain't goin nowhere.
The stock is indeed the first thing you'll notice about this rifle. It's typical Remington quality, a nice brown laminate, gracefully shaped with a monte carlo cheek piece and checkered on the grip and forearm, and nicely finished with the Remington "R" embossed on the pommel....a nice touch! The stock shoulders beautifully, and the gun balances nicely between the hands.
On to the metalwork....The bluing is VERY nice, and at first glance the gun is quite impressive, finished by nice rifling. The action, however, is a bit rough, so my first act upon getting it home was to lightly sand out the tracks in the bolt and reciever.....the improvement was significant.
The magazine is integral, and the rifle must be loaded from the top. It is advertised as a 5-shot, but that 5th shell is so tight the bolt won't pick it up, at least in 7.62....perhaps the thinner .223 will allow for a full mag....but if you get the Russian cartridge, be ready to settle for a 4-shot mag, no biggie, right?
Anyway, upon loading the first cartridge, the rifle jammed. The shell wedged between the follower and the reciever wall and wouldn't go anywhere. After several attempts I proceeded to remove the follower spring and compress it a little, also bending it to allow for more tension at the back of the mag than at the front. The gun now cycles very nicely, no more jams.
The trigger is descently light, just over 3 pounds, but it does have some creep to it, something I'll soon be seeing to.
Well, that's all fine and dandy, but how's it shoot? Well, mine is fitted with a Burris 3-9 x 40, and today I fired it for the first time. The results were, well, surprising. All I had was some of those cheap, corrosive, "only-meant-to-be-fired-through-an-SKS" rounds. The gun spat the stuff into a slightly-more-than-moa group at 100 yards, and reduced more than one tennis-ball sized rock to pebbles for me at the same distance. I can't wait to see what this little rifle will do with home loads!
Overall impressions are good, I would buy this gun again and I would recommend it to a friend. After a couple of simple issues are dealt with, you are left with a nice bush gun that will drop a deer and kicks light enough for a younger or smaller shooter to enjoy. It's not as silky-smooth as a Browning or a Sako, but then it's also not as expensive. Granted, I got mine on sale, but I paid $400 for it...Hard to argue!
Anyway, hope this was helpful!
A little background: This rifle is produced by Zastava for Remington, upon import the barreled action is mounted in a Remington stock and sold under their name. It is sometimes referred to as the "mini-mauser", as it is an almost-direct copy of a Mauser 98 action shrunk in the wash, the only significant change being the extractor claw. That being said, push the bolt IN as you push it forwards or it ain't goin nowhere.
The stock is indeed the first thing you'll notice about this rifle. It's typical Remington quality, a nice brown laminate, gracefully shaped with a monte carlo cheek piece and checkered on the grip and forearm, and nicely finished with the Remington "R" embossed on the pommel....a nice touch! The stock shoulders beautifully, and the gun balances nicely between the hands.
On to the metalwork....The bluing is VERY nice, and at first glance the gun is quite impressive, finished by nice rifling. The action, however, is a bit rough, so my first act upon getting it home was to lightly sand out the tracks in the bolt and reciever.....the improvement was significant.
The magazine is integral, and the rifle must be loaded from the top. It is advertised as a 5-shot, but that 5th shell is so tight the bolt won't pick it up, at least in 7.62....perhaps the thinner .223 will allow for a full mag....but if you get the Russian cartridge, be ready to settle for a 4-shot mag, no biggie, right?
Anyway, upon loading the first cartridge, the rifle jammed. The shell wedged between the follower and the reciever wall and wouldn't go anywhere. After several attempts I proceeded to remove the follower spring and compress it a little, also bending it to allow for more tension at the back of the mag than at the front. The gun now cycles very nicely, no more jams.
The trigger is descently light, just over 3 pounds, but it does have some creep to it, something I'll soon be seeing to.
Well, that's all fine and dandy, but how's it shoot? Well, mine is fitted with a Burris 3-9 x 40, and today I fired it for the first time. The results were, well, surprising. All I had was some of those cheap, corrosive, "only-meant-to-be-fired-through-an-SKS" rounds. The gun spat the stuff into a slightly-more-than-moa group at 100 yards, and reduced more than one tennis-ball sized rock to pebbles for me at the same distance. I can't wait to see what this little rifle will do with home loads!
Overall impressions are good, I would buy this gun again and I would recommend it to a friend. After a couple of simple issues are dealt with, you are left with a nice bush gun that will drop a deer and kicks light enough for a younger or smaller shooter to enjoy. It's not as silky-smooth as a Browning or a Sako, but then it's also not as expensive. Granted, I got mine on sale, but I paid $400 for it...Hard to argue!
Anyway, hope this was helpful!
