Why the Model 700 action for customs?

• May 5, 2007

• #1

Dub

Senior Member

Please don't misunderstand...I love my Model 700's, but I was simply wondering why many custom rifle builders used these actions as opposed to say.....a Browing A-Bolt or a Savage action.


What are your thoughts on this?

 

• May 5, 2007

• #2

L

Larry Rooks

Senior Member

The Remington mod 700 has always been considered the premium action without spending 1000.00 bucks on a custom one. Remingtons trigger has always been the best and easiest to adjust too, that is uintil they screwed with the safety some and had em going off It is not to say that you could not build a fine and accurate rifle on a
Browning action, or a Win mod 70 and I do love the mod 70 action (My preference) I have some of both and one want outshoot the other. Both the Rem 700 action and Win 70 actions are strong and well suited for custom work.
I do not like the old mauser actions as a nasis for cutom guns but I have seen some that would shoot, man would they shoot, but a lot more custom tuning had to be done to make them perform with the 700's etc

 

• May 8, 2007

• #3

bollman85

Senior Member

The Remington action is considered to be very strong and reliable. However, they have had some safety problems as of late. The savage action used to have a weak link in the trigger setup. The first thing one would do when buying a savage/savage action was to replace the trigger because it was the weakest part of the design. Now that the accu-trigger has come of age, that is no longer true.

BTW-I shoot a Savage in the civilian world and a Remington in the Army. I love them both and would be more than happy with either. I have a slight preference for the savage action over the reminton due to the accu-trigger. I just love it. It works for me, what may work for you may be something else. The most important thing is that its YOURS.

 

• May 8, 2007

• #4

Dub

Senior Member

Yeah...the Savage company really set a benchmark with the Accutrigger. Wasn't but a coulple of years and Big Green and Ruger made changes as well.

What Savage do you shoot?

 

• May 9, 2007

• #5

sureshot375

Senior Member

I just like the 700. I started shooting a model 7 when i was 10. the i shot my dads 700 270. and now all of my custom guns are 700. a good gunsmith will build on whatever action you want.

 

• May 9, 2007

• #6

C

csam

Senior Member

The rem 700 is the easiest platform out of all the affordable actions to make true. Very easy to true the face and threads to the the bore.

Savages aren't considered pretty enough for customs, but I think pretty is in the groups. I have several savages and growing.

 

• May 9, 2007

• #7

rayjay

Senior Member

They used to use the 700 and the 40X in top level BR competition back in the 70's so there is a large number of gunsmiths with experience working on them. Also they typically actually need the truing work whereas the Savage will do fine right from the box due to various design features.

There is a lot of elitism in shooting sports and this is a classic example. The guy doing his own caliber changes, installing triggers, changing the bolt handle, etc on a Savage gets looked down on by the fellow spending hundreds of dollars on labor getting a Rem to shoot as good as the Savage did box stock.

If you take pride in working with your hands and being rewarded by the fruits of your labor then the Savage makes more sense.

 

• May 9, 2007

• #8

Dub

Senior Member

I hear ya on the Savages. Spent a few minutes (okay, a little more than that) over at Savage Shooters yesterday...wow is all I can say.

Highly versatile guns. One guy had some type of barn burning .308 magnum...don't remember which...he used it for the 1,000 yard stuff. Someone critizized him on how quickly the throat would errode....his reply was classic...."so it only last 800 rounds...big deal...I mail order a new barrel and install it myself...headspace it and get it back into action...it's no sweat."

 

• May 10, 2007

• #9

rayjay

Senior Member

Dub said:

Highly versatile guns.."

Click to expand...

The 110 I have in the FS forum right now started out as a 30-06, then a 223 with a sporter bbl, then a 223 heavy bbl and now it's a 22-250 sporter. Try that with a 700 and you will spend hundreds on new bolts and gunsmith labor.

rj

 

• May 10, 2007

• #10

cddogfan1

Senior Member

Rem Action is cylindrical in shape making it stronger from what I have been told.

 

• May 10, 2007

• #11

rayjay

Senior Member

cddogfan1 said:

Rem Action is cylindrical in shape making it stronger from what I have been told.

Click to expand...

The 700 [ introduced in 62 ] copied that from the Savage 110 [ introduced in Jan 58 ]. Even the diameter of the receiver is the same. The trigger layout and firing pin aspects of the Remington are superior.

 

• May 11, 2007

• #12

C

Chute270

Member

Re Rem. 700

I think another reason may be because of the exceptionally fast lock time of the Remington 700 action. Something like 3.0 milliseconds if I remember correctly. This has always complimented the inherent accuracy of the Remington model 700, making it a fine platform for custom work. My only beef with Remington is that you always have to spend so much extra money tuning them up in order to reach the full potential these rifles can be capable of. I've owned many, and have yet to see one come from the box that didn't need work.

 

• May 11, 2007

• #13

Laman

Senior Member

700 origin

I am fairly certain that the Model 700 is a modification of the Remington Model 722 which was introduced in 1948 with the round receiver, definitely not copied from the Savage.

 

• May 15, 2007

• #14

jfinch

Senior Member

I have always heard that the 700 was the most popular becuase it is easy to true the action up. Since the action is a round tube it is easier to get it chucked and running true in a lathe. Custom work on mod 70's, Mauser's and other actions is usually a little more expensive becuase of the extra setup time required to make the cuts required to true the action. Savage is also a tube but with its floating bolt head and barrel nut having everything on the action perfectly square is not as important. The Savage is probably the most popular with the hobby gunsmith crowd that do not own lathes. You can put together a very accurate semi custom rifle with just a few tools in your garage.