First timer questions- Remington 700 30-06

[H2901]

Hey guys, first time posting.

I just joined the site because I shot my deer rifle at steel for the first time recently and now, unfortunately, I'm hooked. I have a 1976 Remington 700 30-06 with a cheapo Nikon buckmaster 3-9 scope. The whole thing came from a pawnshop and was a birthday present from my dad when I was a kid. It's old but it does have a decent Timney trigger that's set fairly light. With this set up though I was able to play around and hit steel out to 375 yds by holding the crosshairs a little high.

So my question for y'all is, can or should I build around this ancient action/barrel/trigger combo to make a decent long range/hunting rifle? And my hunting rifle i mostly mean that it isn't crazy heavy.

My funds are limited, so if I can dabble in the long range game with some of what I already have, that would be great.

Give me your honest thoughts on this. Thanks!!

 

[b6graham]

with the current custom options i wouldnt mess with it. leave it as is and build something new

zermatt origin long action
krg bravo
300PRC or 6.5PRC prefit barrel
trigger of choice

$2k for a custom is hard to beat

if you're set on using that for other reasons or budget, throw a remage criterion barrel on it in something like 280AI that will use the same boltface as 30-06 and isn't too long that you have to do work to the receiver

 

[Steel head]

Hell yes.
There is a lot of decent affordable scopes now and some great lower cost stock/chassis options.

remage system makes barrel swaps easy.

If I had to only have one rifle for hunting and steel of of a 700.
4x16, 3x18 or a DMRII scope with a simple tree reticle.
KRG bravo or XLR element chassis.
Remage barrel in 280AI because 1 mile capability(for steel)is important to me.
30-06 with proper bullets is no slouch through.

 

[NovaHunter]

You certainly can build around your current action. It depends on what you want to do. You can get a remage barrel nut set up with a decent barrel for $600, plus a couole hundred for tools. A decent stock like the KRG Bravo runs about $350. Then, you will need a scope.

If you are going to true your action, get a custom shouldered barrel, etc.... your costs will approach $2k very quickly just to upgrade the old rifle. At that point I'd just do what b6graham said and build a custom rifle with an Origin or Nucleus action.

30-06 is a capable round, but if you end up shooting alot of steel you'll appreciate the less recoil and lower cost of a 6.5mm or 6mm such as the Creedmoors.

 

[spife7980]

If all you want to do is dabble then I would just add a scope and go play.

For around 300 you could get a swfa ss 12x or an athlon argos btr and download a simple ballistics app. Oh and a slip on limbsaver recoil pad just for comfort. You can have a lot of fun before you decide if you want to jump down the rabbit hole.

 

[H2901]

Awesome thank you guys for the input. It sounds like maybe my best option right now is to buy one of the budget scopes listed by spife7980 and get my feet wet. Then down the road start on a custom in a 6.5 or 6.5 PRC. Even then I could swap scopes so I would have some capable glass to put on the custom rifle as a meantime scope until I can afford something more suiting.

One questions I have about my current rifle though, will I need to pretty much accept the fact that I need to wait for the barrel to cool between every shot to get consistent results when hunting?

 

[b6graham]

3 rounds should be fine. 10 would be a no no

do some testing at various temps and see how it does

 

[Hobo Hilton]

I've been taking a one man poll (non scientific) in my area during hunting season. There is more big game harvested with a 30-06 than with all the other caliber's combined. A more expensive / powerful scope depends on your budget and environment.

Hobo

 

[Chickentoast]

Advice re: cheap scopes - you will want better glass later. If you can't spend it now, Brownells offers the forever guarantee - buy the el cheapo, and when you want to upgrade, send the old one back and get full credit towards the new one. I talked to their customer service and specifically asked if I could treat the guarantee like an upgrade program - lady said absolutely. Call again to verify, but seemed like a great option to me.

And, maybe you can just set back your existing barrel... https://shermanwildcatcartridges.com/300-sherman

 

[Steel head]

One questions I have about my current rifle though, will I need to pretty much accept the fact that I need to wait for the barrel to cool between every shot to get consistent results when hunting?

you might be surprised.
I’ve seen plenty factory barrels shoot a string of 5 quickly with no problems.

 

[spife7980]

Ive seen factory barrels string and Ive seen them not but more than anything when shooting a light weight hunting rifle in 3006 the shooter is the one I think that really start to string. The slip on limbsaver is more of a necessity if youre going to shoot 20 rounds in a sitting with a big round in a light gun, youll feel it.

When Im on my own I like to wait 3-4 minutes between shots, if you can feel the heat in your hand when you place the palm on the barrel in front of the scope and its not comfortable you should let it cool. But if its zeroed and your ammo shoots good just shoot a 10 shot group and make note of what it does with each shot, see for yourself.
Then the next trip do that but with lots of time in between and see if it does it again or if it was you that strung it.
But with a factory barrel Id also be more likely to hammer and abuse it since its nothing nice.

 

[Shawn1492]

Start with a nice scope that you can dial for elevation and a reloading press. If you stick with the sport you can transfer the scope to your next rifle. Same with the reloading press. Next get a rangefinder and a few steel targets. With the mighty 06 you won’t be pulling the trigger as much as the mouse farters but you’ll have fun and can take time studying the wind between shots. Next hunting season you’ll have great confidence in your shooting ability.

 

[Maxduty]

shoot it for a while, then sell that rifle to someone who'll use it. All you need is a short action.

 

[wrightjr]

I'd keep the 06' as is and add a limbsaver to add shooter comfort while saving up for one of the budget rifles such as a Ruger American or a 700 in a short action caliber. I have an wood 700 ADL in 06' from that same era and I faced the same dilema but I just kept mine as it was for sentimental reasons and got a new range toy. Check the pawns shops too, hunting season is ending soon so deals will be popping up.

 

[H2901]

The limbsaver is a great idea. After 20 or so rounds I stuffed a coat between the butt and my shoulder and it helped a ton. Do you all have any recommendations for a reloading press that I should start out on. I've always been interested in loading my own hunting rounds for my dad and myself, but there are so many "beginner packages" out there I'm not sure which one to go with.

 

[spife7980]

I would skip a kit and just get decent equipment right off the bat. Most kits aren’t even really complete anyways. Any press will do fine, I have a cadillac coax but to say it produces a product better than an rcbs special5 would be untrue, it’s just nicer to work with.

More important imo if you intend to do any reasonable amount of shooting is to automate where possible. 250 for a chargemaster 1500 over an electronic pocket scale or a beam scale will pay you back rapidly in time savings as it can be dispensing powder while you seat a bullet removing virtually all of the time it takes to do that step of meticulously weighing. Same story on a drill mounted 3 way cutting trimmer/chamfer/deburr, touching each piece of brass once removes 66% of the time spent on it and doing it with a drill removes another 66% of what time you would be spending cranking them by hand.

 

[wrightjr]

I have a basic RCBS kit that is probably 30 years old. My dad passed it down to me so I could get my feet wet in reloading since he does not shoot much nowadays. This kit is hardly precision or fast, but it allows me to make my own bullets which I enjoy. I think this kit is about $350 nowadays. Any of the kits (brands) would be fine I feel.

 

[Another Casual]

30-06 may not be the new hotness, but the classics never go out of style. I'd get a pic rail, new rings and scope and run with that. If you find yourself enjoying that, maybe take up reloading or something. But I wouldn't sell the gun and I wouldn't dump a ton of money into it to make a custom. Love it for what it is and if you decide you want to spend more, start from scratch, take your time and piece it together with exactly what you want on it. You'll still have your great hunting rifle, the sentimental value, and a new rifle setup exactly how you want. You'll be happier that way.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Why the .30-'06 continues to march on...

Seen from a different angle, the .30-'06 is probably the absolutely best excuse to own an M1 Garand rifle (BUT the M1 cannot stand up to the forces generated by modern hunting ammo). As long as ammunition designed for the M1 is used in it exclusively, it's more fun to own and shoot than a barrel full of shaved monkeys...

If you have a .30-'06 and it shoots well, keep it and make it a family heirloom.

Greg

 

[DJL2]

I have been working to keep my armory small - did sown downsizing this past year. During that time period, I grabbed a Winchester M70 in .30-06 to step in for several other rifles. In full disclosure, I've got a nice 6.5 CM and several AR that I can use to bang targets. That being said, that M70 is a "do it all" rifle.

You said you were on a budget, I'd tell you to keep the .30-06 for the same reasons I bought one:

1. You can shoot .30-06 on the cheap with M1 spec FMJ ammo. It's not new, sexy or aerodynamic, but it will certainly slap steel and reactive targets around out to 500 or 600 yards with no problem. For most people, most of the time, that's probably more than adequate - and, if you take things seriously, you can get some decent training value out of trying to read wind for that block of a bullet.

2. If you load your own, the .30-06 won't have any problem keeping up with the 6.5 CM (albeit with more expense/recoil). The 195-208 grain ELD family from Hornady might launch at modest velocity (2500-2700 fps is a pretty reasonable expectation depending on the bullet and how hot you load it), but they are sleek. The 178 grain ELD-X is a pretty decent over the counter option that handles a wide range of tasks.

3. Versatility. There's a bullet for just about every purpose you could want. This is implied in the two previous points.

4. Efficiency/Cost. Can you get a custom gun for 2k? Sure. That's anywhere between 1000 and 4000 rounds of ammo, depending on your tastes. Save the 2k on a custom gun, upgrade your stock and your optic, get your reloading step going and have money left over for several hundred rounds of loaded ammo or their components.

The worst case to keeping what you have is that you a.) determine you enjoy long range shooting b.) you'd like to put together a dedicated long range gun c.) you build a long range rig and d.) you keep an upgraded hunting rig with which you are more confident and competent than ever before in a caliber that will lay down anything in North America.

That's a win-win-win-win.

 

[CHADPEZZLE]

30-06 may not be the new hotness, but the classics never go out of style. I'd get a pic rail, new rings and scope and run with that. If you find yourself enjoying that, maybe take up reloading or something. But I wouldn't sell the gun and I wouldn't dump a ton of money into it to make a custom. Love it for what it is and if you decide you want to spend more, start from scratch, take your time and piece it together with exactly what you want on it. You'll still have your great hunting rifle, the sentimental value, and a new rifle setup exactly how you want. You'll be happier that way.

This is basically exactly what I did. Started out with the same rifle as you, once I started shooting past 300 yards I realized the duplex reticle scope wasn't going to cut it.

Add the best scope and you can afford and invest in reloading equipment.

Maybe an intermediate step before going full custom could be a new remage barrel setup. A lot of guys have success with these and it doesn't break the bank like building a full custom rifle might.

Maybe posting what you can budget right now could help guys point you in the right direction of where to start. Everyone's budgets are different. When I was young kid starting out, $300 for a scope was a lot of coin for me to scratch up.

 

[Cfshooter]

I started with about the same thing. Used my 700 ADL hunting rifle with a sporter barrel. I added an EGW rail, threaded the barrel and slapped on a Little Bastard brake, Harris bipod, and topped it with an Athlon Argos 6x24. I tried about 10-15 types of factory ammo until I found one that could shoot consistent moa or better with 4 shot groups (Hornady 165g Superformance). Any more than 4 shots the barrel would get too hot and groups would always open up. Was fine dinging steel out to 600 yards with that set up, but ended up buying a 6.5CM. I needed to get my 30-06 back to hunting weight and there were just many more options for sub moa ammo (and cheaper) for the 6.5(heavy barrel). I ended up putting about $550 into the parts on the '06, and then just transferred everything to the 6.5 later.

 

[pmclaine]

The fact your Dad bought it for you makes that a special rifle.

Its 1976 pedigree at least puts it being built in an era when people complain less about Remington quality.

Amongst the general population here you will not find love for 30-06 when it comes to "precision".

but.......

Among posters here.....

30-06 still relevant?

This might be a stupid question but this is the correct place for it I guess. Is the 30-06 even a thing in the long range community anymore? I see .300 Win Mag, 6.5 CRD, .260, and .308 a lot but I don’t see anyone using a 30-06. I just figured with the use of the 30-06 in WW2 and it’s good BC...

www.snipershide.com

you will discover much love. Read the Air Force report at the end I posted yesterday and get an appreciation for your "antique" caliber.

If you read further realize I am the guy that champions shit like 1911s over Glock, Remington 700 (old ones) over "Boutique, loves '03s and spends shit tons of money "modernizing" old reliables.

Guessing you are on the younger edge of the population here.

Problem with this sport is that it is expensive - When you have the eyesight to help you do it well you likely don't have the surplus income and when you have the surplus income you are quickly losing your eyesight.

What you have is perfectly capable.

Don't let anyone speak to you in absolutes.

Determine what the realistic range distances are that you have available to shoot at and what your goals for the rifle are......are you limited to 300 yards and you need to use the rifle for both hunting and precision.

A scope/stck change is going to give you utility but a properly fit quality barrel is going to give you your desired goal.

Don't go getting down on the rifle your Dad gave you. For that one reason alone its special.

Some will say you should keep it as bought to memorialize that, I might say the receiver is the heart of the awesome gift and go ahead build on that. Others will say sell it and put the money toward what they think is appropriate.

Lots of posts on here lately discussing what is the best pistol or what is the best action and they all become big beds of angst due to the emotional feelings toward personal firearms. Issue/work guns don't really generate the same emotions as guns you design for your own use.

Take your time and get what you want.

You will know what you want because that gear and that gear alone makes your mouth water, you involuntarily swallow, and you feel something akin to hunger in the pit of your stomach. Im serious these are real physical reactions, and you will only be satisfied by obtaining that which satisfies those physical reactions.

Read, save your money, and practice with what you have for now. Nothing good comes from rushing. You rush buy something you will only be spending more money later to get what you really want. That does not mean don't settle for "something less" until such time that you have the money to get what you really want. If you do that make sure you get "something less" that retains some value for you to resell it to someone else and make some money back. Lots of good used gear here in the PX.

As an aside - I have contact for a party selling Federal Gold Medal Match 30-06, 168 SMK, match ammo, shipped at $185/case of 200. If your barrel is in good enough condition to take advantage of match ammo give me a PM and Ill PM back his contact info. Don't consider match ammo though if you think your barrel incapable of reaching its potential, just keep shooting and practicing with what is cheap until you can save money for a barrel.

Good luck.

 

[H2901]

To be honest I have no idea what the condition of the barrel is. And for everyone's reference I'm 26, just bought a house and am saving for a ring so I need to keep my investment here around or under $500 in the next 6 months or so. I can also get 180 grain corelokts for about $14 a box which was what I was shooting out to 375 with my shitty scope.

No matter what route I decide to take, as most of you have recommended, I intend to keep the rifle. I am not familiar with the remage process that some of you mentioned so I'll do a little research on that.

My first step is going to be one of the scopes that has been mentioned on here, and I'm leaning towards the athlon argos. I'm no expert but I think I can get the scope mounted on there properly. After that, I'm a little clueless. I've always sighted in my own rifle and I've never had a problem ear-holing hogs with it, but I've never had groups touching eachother. That could very well be me though, so I guess I need to start with the scope and go from there.

 

[Shawn1492]

To be honest I have no idea what the condition of the barrel is. And for everyone's reference I'm 26, just bought a house and am saving for a ring so I need to keep my investment here around or under $500 in the next 6 months or so. I can also get 180 grain corelokts for about $14 a box which was what I was shooting out to 375 with my shitty scope.

No matter what route I decide to take, as most of you have recommended, I intend to keep the rifle. I am not familiar with the remage process that some of you mentioned so I'll do a little research on that.

My first step is going to be one of the scopes that has been mentioned on here, and I'm leaning towards the athlon argos. I'm no expert but I think I can get the scope mounted on there properly. After that, I'm a little clueless. I've always sighted in my own rifle and I've never had a problem ear-holing hogs with it, but I've never had groups touching eachother. That could very well be me though, so I guess I need to start with the scope and go from there.

You probably won’t get very good groups with the 180 core lokts. Save the brass and load 165 Sierra GameKing with 4350. Your old RCBS can probably make a great reload.

 

[rockn30809]

You probably won’t get very good groups with the 180 core lokts. Save the brass and load 165 Sierra GameKing with 4350. Your old RCBS can probably make a great reload.

165gr SMK over 57.5gr of IMR 4350 is one of the most accurate loads I've ever shot out of my 30-06.

 

[JMGlasgow]

Grayboe makes a nice hunting stock, and pick a scope that's within your budget and shoot.

My hunting rifle is a Rem700 CDL in 30-06 topped with a Vortex Viper PST 4-16. With Berger 185 VLD hunting bullets and 58gr of Ramshot Hunter powder it easily shoots under 1moa, sometimes I can shoot a 3/8" 3 shot group. This rifle is 100% factory parts in a nice walnut stock and I had the muzzle threaded for a suppressor.

I have been wanting to try IMR4350 with the 165 bullets I have too.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

IMHO, the best thing to do with a .30-'06 action would be to build a .280AI on it.

...If I was going to make any changes at all...

Greg

 

[Chickentoast]

^^That funky monkey! Nice