Gunsmithing looking for a gunsmith

ajwubbels

Sergeant of the Hide
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Minuteman
Apr 11, 2018
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Hello, I am looking at buying a 700 action and have a couple questions for when it comes time to chamber it. If a smith could pm me that would be greatly appreciated!
 
You'll get better results asking directly, in the forums. There are alot of great gunsmiths here.

Most are old and crusty, and have little interest in learning what a PM or a Twitter, or a Myspace is.

But, they can give great advice on rifles or build you a badass custom peashooter.
 
Hello, I am looking at buying a 700 action and have a couple questions for when it comes time to chamber it. If a smith could pm me that would be greatly appreciated!

What do you expect to pay for the 700, if you haven’t already purchased? There are some new custom actions out that are priced very nicely, such as the Bighorn origin. If you were shopping a brownells Remington action(~$500 to your door), you’d be better off doing the Bighorn.

Do some looking around. Plenty of capable smiths here. PVA, LRI, Gradous, Tooley, etc.
 
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What do you expect to pay for the 700, if you haven’t already purchased? There are some new custom actions out that are preced very nicely, such as the Bighorn origin. If you were shopping a brownells Remington action(~$500 to your door), you’d be better off doing the Bighorn.

Do some looking around. Plenty of capable smiths here. PVA, LRI, Gradous, Tooley, etc.
I agree with you. There are many other options that are nicer and better value than putting money into a 700. Do some research, unless you have something against customs
 
Yeah, even if it sets you back 6 months, wait and save up the extra money to get a custom action right out of the gate. If you don't now, you will agonize over it, sell your Remy at a disadvantage and end up going with a custom anyway. Going with a custom action now will save you money and frustration in the long run. Oh, and put a decent trigger on it.....;):cool::cool::cool:
 
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For a low cost factory type receiver, im a big fan of the Howa 1500.

I've chambered many Howas and they tend to be a good bit better than Remingtons for thread to raceway coaxiality (not sure thats a real word) and concentricity, as well as the reveiver face/thread centerline perpindicularity.

They also have a flat bottom, m16 extractor and thick integral recoil lug.

Some smiths are afraid of metric threads, though i really have no idea why. I find them no more difficult than inch threads. Ive never found a threading dial i can't use with metric threads.
 
I love the customs as much as the next guy, but there is a very well known smith in Beverly Hills CA that might just build one of the sexiest and most consistently accurate rifles in existence. If you already have the 700, truing a donor 700 isn’t all that bad, if you don’t have one, there are plenty out there that are relatively cheap.

You can spend as much as you want on an action, as well as working a regular old remmy over. At the end of the day, money is what gets in the way (for me at least) and If you have the funds to true up a remmy, but not get custom...there is nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day, that actions purpose is to guide the cartridge in its chamber. Might not be like driving the Lambo, but it will get you out shooting and doing just fine.
 
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700s aren't hard to true up.

But, older 700 receivers seem to be easier than the newer ones. Just takes time/money.

Ive worked on lots of older 700s that were badass and very very close to nominal on every toleranced feature.

Ive more recently seen lots that i could swear were of Chinese origin.

The worst ever was a new one, with the J-lock. Absolutely everything out by several thousandths, including a thread center that was several arcminutes out of coaxial with the raceway.
 
I think there is a guy selling an ARC Nucleus pre-order slot, that's an $850 action (or $900 with Barloc) and it needs $0.00 in gunsmithing, just add barrel, trigger and stock/chassis.

Along with not needing to be trued, it's also a three lug controlled feed action with Springfield style mechanical ejector, a large similar to Mauser claw style extractor, a very heavy duty bolt stop and a nice sloped Picatinny rail that indexes the recoil lug.

That's a whole lot of features you can't get in a 700 for a pretty good price.
 
I think there is a guy selling an ARC Nucleus pre-order slot, that's an $850 action (or $900 with Barloc) and it needs $0.00 in gunsmithing, just add barrel, trigger and stock/chassis.

Along with not needing to be trued, it's also a three lug controlled feed action with Springfield style mechanical ejector, a large similar to Mauser claw style extractor, a very heavy duty bolt stop and a nice sloped Picatinny rail that indexes the recoil lug.

That's a whole lot of features you can't get in a 700 for a pretty good price.
I’ve been eyeing that. It’s tempting. A custom action gets you so much more than a 700 with work done to it... put money into a 700 and you still have a plane Jane 700 when the cows come home.
 
Have you ever lost a match to someone running a plane Jane 700? :) hehehe, just giving you crap.
That's kind of like narrowly losing a drag race to a stripped out old Neon SRT4 while you're driving a brand new, loaded Cadillac CTS with the air conditioning on.

A Remington 700 shooter isn't going to win a match because his action is better, it is going to be something else.
 
Trued action and Remage barrel from Northland Shooting Supplies?

Love my Nucleus. Picking up a spot in line for 850 is a deal.