Gunsmithing Remington 700 changes

[Mordamer]

It had been a couple years since I got a new Remington 700 action to do a build for a customer. I noticed a couple small changes on the action I have not observed on any previous generation Remington 700.

One change is in the front of the mag well where they notched it farther forward to clear the tips of rounds fed from an AICS mag. This used to be a common modification that I have had to do to several actions when someone dropped it into a chassis or stock using AICS mags. Looks like they finally made the change. Nice to see.


The second change is on the action face. I generally would see marks on the action face like it had been ground in a surface grinder to flatten it. Those action faces were almost never close to true and I'm guessing because their fixture in the surface grinder referenced off external dimensions rather than external. The change I noticed is radial turning marks on the face of this new action. This was like this straight out of the box from Remington (pictured). The picture is not the greatest, but if you zoom in and look close to the edges of the light glare you can clearly see turning marks. I have not checked to see if it is closer to true, but I find it interesting that a change was made in the manufacturing, hopefully for the better.

I have always said that if Remington had made incremental changes to their flagship action over time they would still be a great action to build off of. I believe they mostly sat on their reputation and now they are playing catch up to companies that innovated.

 

[supercorndogs]

How is the primary extraction?

 

[Mordamer]

How is the primary extraction?

LOL. Exactly the same. Maybe they figure it's kind of like a trade mark at this point.

 

[Mordamer]

Picture of the mag well cut. I fitted it in a stock and it looks like it's just enough to clear Magpul polymer AICS mags or steel mags with a binder plate. Looks like if a steel mag without a binder plate was used it could still catch the tips.

I am guessing they released some factory models that use AICS mags which probably drove this change.

 

[Easy_E]

Noticed this today the changes must have been pretty recent . With the action in the lathe the face and lugs were square I put the rod back in thinking it come outta square in the jig.

 

[spife7980]

I thought I saw a post from LRI about remington or remington themselves but in the last year or two supposedly they were trying to get off their butts to catch back up. Wish I could find it.

Id be interested to see how it does if you measured it.

. I have not checked to see if it is closer to true, but I find it interesting that a change was made in the manufacturing, hopefully for the better.

 

[ShooterwithNoName]

That's interesting, I just bought a new 700 action to build on. I'll have to check it out to see if it has these same changes once it arrives...

Mordamer, I'm curios how square the face is on that one you pictured? Compared to the old ones anyway. I've seen what your talking about on the older actions I've used and they were consistently unsquare on the ones I've had.

 

[Gene Poole]

The newer RR actions (with the barcode) are CNC'd with most of the operations (except threading) done in a single fixturing so most everything is pretty tight: the integral lugs, bolt raceway, face. Where they screw up is moving it to another fixture for thread-milling. I've seen them as much as 0.010 out of round from the other dimensions.

They still won't admit defeat on their bolt handles though. They screwed the pooch here; luckily it's pretty easy to re-solder the handle (or--even better--solder on a fresh new PTG handle) and make them smooth as butter.

 

[LRI]

One thing to maybe take note of here. An OEM drawing (416398 rev4) specifically defines the feedramp revision for the M700 action. This drawing is specific to the Creedmoor in 6.5mm. When given the opportunity to review this drawing I was told that the feedramp feature is exclusive to the M700 action designated for the 6.5mm CM. It's very possible that since that time it has worked its way into a "standard thing" for all .473" case head diameter short action cartridges. I don't know that for a fact though.

My only reason for bringing this up is because it would suck to go into this assuming things as a potential buyer.

C.

 

[ShooterwithNoName]

One thing to maybe take note of here. An OEM drawing (416398 rev4) specifically defines the feedramp revision for the M700 action. This drawing is specific to the Creedmoor in 6.5mm. When given the opportunity to review this drawing I was told that the feedramp feature is exclusive to the M700 action designated for the 6.5mm CM. It's very possible that since that time it has worked its way into a "standard thing" for all .473" case head diameter short action cartridges. I don't know that for a fact though.

My only reason for bringing this up is because it would suck to go into this assuming things as a potential buyer.

C.

You wouldn't happen to have a link to this this drawing? Or maybe a .pdf copy you would be willing to share? I've been trying to research it without any luck yet. I'm just curious and trying to educate myself a bit.

Was it just the feed ramp that was revised or did the feed rails get changed also?

 

[LRI]

You wouldn't happen to have a link to this this drawing? Or maybe a .pdf copy you would be willing to share? I've been trying to research it without any luck yet. I'm just curious and trying to educate myself a bit.

Was it just the feed ramp that was revised or did the feed rails get changed also?

I'm fortunate to do a tremendous amount of work for OEM's and the unwritten rule is that whenever things like this are provided to me, they stay within my house.

Sorry, I can't cut it loose to the public.

Based on the print I have, there are no details suggesting any edits to the feedlips.

 

[ShooterwithNoName]

I'm looking at my RR action I just got, it is a newer action. Beneath the front barrel trunnion area on the bottom of the receiver is an electropenciled "C" engraving.

I was curious if this was possibly a revision mark or if it is even a significant marking?

 

[ShooterwithNoName]

I'm fortunate to do a tremendous amount of work for OEM's and the unwritten rule is that whenever things like this are provided to me, they stay within my house.

Sorry, I can't cut it loose to the public.

Based on the print I have, there are no details suggesting any edits to the feedlips.

No problem at all. I understand completely, all our drawings and designs where I work, and that of our customers are secured as well. I didn't know if it was publicly available or not.

I appreciate the quick response though.

 

[iceng]

I'm looking at my RR action I just got, it is a newer action. Beneath the front barrel trunnion area on the bottom of the receiver is an electropenciled "C" engraving.

I was curious if this was possibly a revision mark or if it is even a significant marking?

View attachment 7307848

Years ago this signified "custom Shop", and was also on the bottom on the bolt handle. I've seen a few examples like this I've the years, but never in the configuration you are showing.
No idea if it's actually true, but it's been echo's to be multiple times.