Tell me about Remington 700 action

[Cobracutter]

Man this post really shook the hornets nest. Isn't it funny. Like they saying goes "even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while". There is nothing wrong with your acorn, I like Tikka rifles too. I just don't have any customers bringing them to the shop asking for complete rebuilds. Unfortunately they are like the example that I gave about the Pinto. After several thousands of dollars to build one up and lets say it shoots in the same hole all day long, at the end of the day "its still a Tikka". I had an old Remington 600 Mohawk in 243 that came from a pawn shop that would cut holes at 100 yards with Hornady 95 gr bullets with absolutely no work done to it w/a cheap pawn shop special Tasco pronghorn scope that the owner threw in with the gun and the same with a savage 110 and yes I have a Tikka in a 7mag that will shoot awesome with factory loads, and it is great for hunting and wouldn't take anything for it but neither the Tikka or my Savage or Rem 600 speak for or represent every factory rifle that has left the factory. The Marine Corps is up to the M40A5 6 7 8 9 thousand or something crazy now and it is as easy as this. If your home town has a county fair or festival and there is a 5k run and you have a kid that runs like a deer and you just know he could beat every one in town at the 5k run BUT doesn't enter the race you cant get mad cause your guy didn't even show up. Tikka didn't come to the race. Doesn't matter if they are not American, the military contracts state that if you can have an office here and manufacture your weapons here then you can come and enter your pig in the race. FN did it, (FNH USA) McLean Virginia, Fredericksburg VA, Columbia SC. Hints the name as the saying goes and I think it would be safe to say that they are probably the largest supplier of small arms weapons to the U.S. military. FN played by the rules and entered their pig. As far as needing to do a lot of work to make the Rem 700 shoot, nothing could be furthest from the truth. People just have it done because it doesn't make since not to when you start from a stripped down receiver. Either way every one has their favorites and opinions. The truth is sure there are some good rifles that leave the factory and shoot better than perfect but when a contract gets awarded then there are some requirements that have to be met by the contractor or weapons shop that is following a build procedure because somewhere in a lost private office there are some guys that sit around and draw out a weapon system that has to meet or exceed requirements that were surveyed throughout the land thru actual hands on combat experiences and tests back in the rear with the gear on some range and these guys said ' hey lets improve the system we have now by doing or adding or modifying this or that according to the reports that we received from the field. It just so happens that Remington has been the forerunner for a while. Look if it will make you feel better, Remington didn't win the FBI contract back in early 2002, 3ish time frame, FNH USA and HS Precision did. Doesn't make them the top dogs now but my point is they brought their dog to the fight. Hey the race is about to begin, has anyone seen Tikka, if you do tell them we are about to start the race. WHAT! What did you say, What do you mean they are not coming, OK then! They cant win if they don't show up......... Don't be mad at me, I'm going hunting this morning with my Tikka 7mag.

The "700" the Marines use is as much a remington as a NASCAR being a Chevy/Ford/ect.

They are completley rebuilt and the marines would be MUCH better off logisticaly and financialy to start with a custom action from the get go. Or just run a AI/Sako factory gun , or Buy GAP/Surgeons.

They would save a TON of money including AD billets and CIVPERS funding, along with a good chunk of O&M.

FN also makes a fantastic rifle that would be a great starting point for a M40 type build without the need to and expense of machining a 700 right.

Finnally, gov procurements mean little in the way of what's best or what the shooters want. It is a combination of fraud/bribes (in weapon procurement atleast) coupled with the competetor who can meet the MIN standard , the cheapest. While they are supposed to be purchasing based on value, it is almost ALWAYS based on price, all things being equal.

 

[MoBoost]

I still haven't found a decent deal on Remington 700 rifle or action. For some reason used market asking prices are higher than retail.

You see deals on brand new Savages like this: New Savage Model 111FXP3 17670 270 Win 111 : Bolt Action Rifles at GunBroker.com
and then I really wonder about my own sanity for even considering Remington.

 

[carp]

Mboost
After reading through all of the replies, I went back and looked at your original post. Is a stock 700 action any better than a stock Savage action? Who knows. It seems that Is at the seat of this debate. But in your original post you said you have built several savages and were getting a bit bored. For that reason alone, I would vote for a 700 action.

Good Luck

 

[Sierra-one]

A shitload? Really? Care to share your definition of a shitload?

Trueing the action , lapping the lugs,
Putting in a decent extractor and boltrelease... There is your shitload that you dont have to do to a tikka action... And if you look at the remington action vs the tikka ... The tikka isnt raw like a remmington is

 

[Sierra-one]

The "700" the Marines use is as much a remington as a NASCAR being a Chevy/Ford/ect.

They are completley rebuilt and the marines would be MUCH better off logisticaly and financialy to start with a custom action from the get go. Or just run a AI/Sako factory gun , or Buy GAP/Surgeons.

They would save a TON of money including AD billets and CIVPERS funding, along with a good chunk of O&M.

FN also makes a fantastic rifle that would be a great starting point for a M40 type build without the need to and expense of machining a 700 right.

Finnally, gov procurements mean little in the way of what's best or what the shooters want. It is a combination of fraud/bribes (in weapon procurement atleast) coupled with the competetor who can meet the MIN standard , the cheapest. While they are supposed to be purchasing based on value, it is almost ALWAYS based on price, all things being equal.

Im missing a like button on this forum?

 

[Graham]

Tell me about Remington 700 action

Im missing a like button on this forum?

Liking an unsourced accusation of fraud/bribes in weapons procurement?! Seriously?!

 

[my human host]

The naysayers are correct. Never buy another Remington and trade off the ones you do have, especially if it's a long action with a standard boltface. I have an itch to build a 30-06 and I'm tired of paying 400 bucks for actions.

 

[MoBoost]

The naysayers are correct. Never buy another Remington and trade off the ones you do have, especially if it's a long action with a standard boltface. I have an itch to build a 30-06 and I'm tired of paying 400 bucks for actions.

Shop for 270s ... apparently the bird is out that the cartridge is worthless. I have been having very good luck getting donor guns way under value just because it was a 270win.
REMINGTON 700 SPS .270 WIN AS NEW [NR] : Bolt Action Rifles at GunBroker.com

Unlike 270, 7mm-08 is a fantastic little cartridge but for some reason the guns don't bring premium either.

 

[338RUM runner]

Nobody wants a LH 270 either, by far the most sold LA Rem.

 

[300sniper]

Trueing the action , lapping the lugs,
Putting in a decent extractor and boltrelease... There is your shitload that you dont have to do to a tikka action... And if you look at the remington action vs the tikka ... The tikka isnt raw like a remmington is

Remington extractor is fine and ejects in the correct location. Not something I'd change just to change. I've seen FAR more "custom" bolt stops break than I have OEM Remingtons fail. Truing a 700 action, is it "needed"? Maybe. Maybe not. Gives me a warm fuzzy. I don't consider chasing threads a "shitload" of work though. Lapping lugs? You are trying pretty hard to make it sound like more work than it is. Lapping lugs is just a few swipes with some extra fine compound to qualify the truing job. Have you measured the thread concentricity and alignment of your Tikka? Have you measured the trueness of your receiver face in relation to the threads on your Tikka? What were your findings? How did you take those measurements? I bet it was a "shitload" of work to take those measurements.

 

[jbjh]

OP, last week I saw a Remington group buy with truing for about $450 (can't remember which right now), and I think that Brownells is having a Black Friday deal on un-trued actions as well.

And no need to put your wrenches away - plenty of barrel makers do 'Remage/Savington' barrels that use a Savage style nut. You'd just have to get the stock opened a bit.

Myself, I'd put your new barrel on a Bighorn. From what I've seen, a out as nice a custom action as you can get AND floating bolt head (I just finished building my first Savage too)

 

[mallrat]

Well shit, try Mountaineer Metal Works on Facebook for 80% model 700 receivers. Long action, short action, a couple different choices for material, etc. Worth a look IMO.

 

[A300fe1]

Hmmmm, we could have a whole other discussion on Remington extractors. Maybe there already is one on this site? I have never had nor known anyone who ever had a problem with a Remington extractor however, I do have a friend who had a Sako style extractor put on his bolt and it broke on him. I don't understand why anyone would put that on their bolt or put an AR style extractor on their bolt. Ok guys, start throwing punches, I'm ready!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Let's all give thanks for all the men and women who are serving their country on this day and can't be with their families!

 

[Sierra-one]

Liking an unsourced accusation of fraud/bribes in weapons procurement?! Seriously?!

No im liking that cobracutter agrees with me that if something is used by the government that its not always a good product

 

[280nosler]

Thanks for all the replies.

I pretty much made up my mind - I'll be watching out for a deal on Remington 700 action. The barrel I got is already threaded for Remington so it will be simple chamber and go.

I'm still on the fence about spending all the money on either truing or aftermarket Remington-style action VS Savage Target action - after trigger, bolt, recoil lug, bottom metal we are talking about 2x or 3x the price, with very questionable (at this point) gains.

Please, keep the thread alive if you have more input.

I'm surprised it has not been mentioned, but a Remington action when trued, typically has the threading recut for the barrel, meaning you would not be able to use the barrel you have. Some times the barrel threading is already true, sometimes not, buy it is checked to be within 1-1.5 thousands, and if it is more than that, it is typically recut. Part of the problem is the blades used to cut the original threads and if they are sharp or not. I have seen barrel when threaded in 6-7 rotations have quite a bit of play, and some are stiff as a piece of uncut steel. Time will tell, and only a qualified gunsmith will tell if you could reuse the action without trueing.

 

[my human host]

Hmmmm, we could have a whole other discussion on Remington extractors. Maybe there already is one on this site? I have never had nor known anyone who ever had a problem with a Remington extractor however, I do have a friend who had a Sako style extractor put on his bolt and it broke on him. I don't understand why anyone would put that on their bolt or put an AR style extractor on their bolt. Ok guys, start throwing punches, I'm ready!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Let's all give thanks for all the men and women who are serving their country on this day and can't be with their families!

They do break on occasion. I recently replaced one for a friend that was in a SA with a 223 bolt face. The side of the rear of the action was drilled and tapped for sights, which I think Remington stopped doing to the majority of their rifles sometime around 1980. The extractor was the riveted type.

The more common problems with extractor occur when people have a highpressure event and have to force the action open.

Many of the problem with the extractors come from improper installation, either from Remington or a second party. It is possible to bend them out shape when installing them. Another common problem is burrs on the extractor itself, or the recess cut into the boltface, which prevents the extractor from moving freely like it needs to do it's job. I've "fixed" a few by removing them and taking a Dremel with a sanding disc and deburring everything except the actual claw that does the work.

I would add that timing the bolt handle for optimum extraction has pretty much eliminated any issues with extractors in my rifles, some of which see a lot of shooting. I wish I had an explanation as to why, but I don't. I must admit there is a chance that it's entirely a coincidence.

 

[LeoC8541/2112]

That's the good thing about living in America boys, we all get to have our opinions. Tikka, Savage, Weatherby, Howa, Remington, Winchester, FN, Savage whatever; Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Toyota whatever again. We have choices. The bottom line is they didn't show up for the race. Remington did and it set the standard. That doesn't make them the greatest. Sure all these actions can be trued up or tweaked a little and they all will shoot good. Every factory has a dumb nephew that works at the plant and the plant manager promised his dying sister he would take care of little Johnny and he could care less about his job and a bad apple slips thru the cracks, they are known as Friday or Monday rifles just like cars. There is always preventive maintenance that can be done to alleviate these problems that have been mentioned, you either do it or you don't. All the years at Quantico and Dahlgren NSWC building and testing weapons you see a lot of these issues but I NEVER had an extractor or bolt handle break, NEVER. Yes other armorers have and yes it will happen, just because its new and you unwrapped it from the package doesn't mean its going to be good. Goes back to the dumb nephew theory. Stuff just happens. Some one mentioned earlier if the Marines would just use this action or done this or that then they could save a lot of money. Lets be for real here, we all know that the Government has no business or interest in saving money, if they were a business they would have filed for bankruptcy years and years ago. It almost happened last month remember. These ideas don't ever work because your trying to make sense. It was funny though...... It doesn't take me any longer to true up a Remington as it does a Savage, Tikka, Winchester or any of the others, If you start with a stripped down receiver you might as well do all the work while you have it in that condition. No trouble at all. I do it mainly so I can know that I know that I know it was done and if something goes wrong at the bench I can go thru the process of elimination and look back and say without a doubt that it was done and narrow things down to a specific issue. It breaks down to not relying on what someone else did in the process and just verifying that it was done, .001-.004 thousandths is the difference between a tack driver and a grenade in your face. Bottom line is not every one has money to buy all the Guru parts or Have the so called Guru name rifle builders build their rifles which is another Jerry Springer Show for later around the camp fire, even the Guru's make mistakes it just depends if they will admit it or not. Buy decent components, put it together right and put good optics on it and it will shoot. I build smokeless powder muzzle loaders on Remington 700 that will shoot MOA out to 700 yards so I know it can be done with modern day rifles and cartridges of any brand of action, stock, barrels etc., etc. Buy good parts put them together right and tight and it will shoot. Billy Dixon was awarded the Medal of Honor at Adobe Walls after shooting an Indian at 1538 yard with a Sharps I believe with a 6-700 grain cast lead bullets and black powder and it wasn't built by this guru or that one, it wasn't glass bedded, didn't have a fancy name brand trigger, scope or stainless steel match barrel or 10-20-30 moa rail. Practice, practice, practice with what you got boys. Quit sending the hate mail and keep this in mind and you wont be so uptight about things. An old friend told me one time in his deep load voice, "If it wears a skirt or runs off of gun powder it is unpredictable" then said, you can build ten rifles with all identical components to the same tolerances and no two rifles will shoot the same. Skirts and gunpowder boys, skirts and gunpowder. Remember that and you will be calm enough to shoot good groups. Well I gotta go work on my M40A1 Muzzle loader some before I go eat enough to make myself sick. Happy Thanksgiving boys and girls.

 

[krummarine]

That's the good thing about living in America boys, we all get to have our opinions. Tikka, Savage, Weatherby, Howa, Remington, Winchester, FN, Savage whatever; Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Toyota whatever again. We have choices. The bottom line is they didn't show up for the race. Remington did and it set the standard. That doesn't make them the greatest. Sure all these actions can be trued up or tweaked a little and they all will shoot good. Every factory has a dumb nephew that works at the plant and the plant manager promised his dying sister he would take care of little Johnny and he could care less about his job and a bad apple slips thru the cracks, they are known as Friday or Monday rifles just like cars. There is always preventive maintenance that can be done to alleviate these problems that have been mentioned, you either do it or you don't. All the years at Quantico and Dahlgren NSWC building and testing weapons you see a lot of these issues but I NEVER had an extractor or bolt handle break, NEVER. Yes other armorers have and yes it will happen, just because its new and you unwrapped it from the package doesn't mean its going to be good. Goes back to the dumb nephew theory. Stuff just happens. Some one mentioned earlier if the Marines would just use this action or done this or that then they could save a lot of money. Lets be for real here, we all know that the Government has no business or interest in saving money, if they were a business they would have filed for bankruptcy years and years ago. It almost happened last month remember. These ideas don't ever work because your trying to make sense. It was funny though...... It doesn't take me any longer to true up a Remington as it does a Savage, Tikka, Winchester or any of the others, If you start with a stripped down receiver you might as well do all the work while you have it in that condition. No trouble at all. I do it mainly so I can know that I know that I know it was done and if something goes wrong at the bench I can go thru the process of elimination and look back and say without a doubt that it was done and narrow things down to a specific issue. It breaks down to not relying on what someone else did in the process and just verifying that it was done, .001-.004 thousandths is the difference between a tack driver and a grenade in your face. Bottom line is not every one has money to buy all the Guru parts or Have the so called Guru name rifle builders build their rifles which is another Jerry Springer Show for later around the camp fire, even the Guru's make mistakes it just depends if they will admit it or not. Buy decent components, put it together right and put good optics on it and it will shoot. I build smokeless powder muzzle loaders on Remington 700 that will shoot MOA out to 700 yards so I know it can be done with modern day rifles and cartridges of any brand of action, stock, barrels etc., etc. Buy good parts put them together right and tight and it will shoot. Billy Dixon was awarded the Medal of Honor at Adobe Walls after shooting an Indian at 1538 yard with a Sharps I believe with a 6-700 grain cast lead bullets and black powder and it wasn't built by this guru or that one, it wasn't glass bedded, didn't have a fancy name brand trigger, scope or stainless steel match barrel or 10-20-30 moa rail. Practice, practice, practice with what you got boys. Quit sending the hate mail and keep this in mind and you wont be so uptight about things. An old friend told me one time in his deep load voice, "If it wears a skirt or runs off of gun powder it is unpredictable" then said, you can build ten rifles with all identical components to the same tolerances and no two rifles will shoot the same. Skirts and gunpowder boys, skirts and gunpowder. Remember that and you will be calm enough to shoot good groups. Well I gotta go work on my M40A1 Muzzle loader some before I go eat enough to make myself sick. Happy Thanksgiving boys and girls.

Best post of the day.

 

[Graham]

Best post of the day.

It sure gets the paragraphing award.

 

[Cobracutter]

Liking an unsourced accusation of fraud/bribes in weapons procurement?! Seriously?!

Trying a little hard aren't you? You haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking about. You really want to get into a pissing match and challenge me in my area of expertise and profession?

 

[Cobracutter]

Remington extractor is fine and ejects in the correct location. Not something I'd change just to change. I've seen FAR more "custom" bolt stops break than I have OEM Remingtons fail. Truing a 700 action, is it "needed"? Maybe. Maybe not. Gives me a warm fuzzy. I don't consider chasing threads a "shitload" of work though. Lapping lugs? You are trying pretty hard to make it sound like more work than it is. Lapping lugs is just a few swipes with some extra fine compound to qualify the truing job. Have you measured the thread concentricity and alignment of your Tikka? Have you measured the trueness of your receiver face in relation to the threads on your Tikka? What were your findings? How did you take those measurements? I bet it was a "shitload" of work to take those measurements.

And that has nothing to do with how a tikka shoots and its reliability...... try reading more and posting less.

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...tion-rifles/215552-does-tikka-need-trued.html

Both Chad Dixon and Mark Gordon would say your full of shit as well.

 

[Graham]

Tell me about Remington 700 action

You haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking about. You really want to get into a pissing match and challenge me in my area of expertise and profession?

That could be true, except that I am not the one doing the talking: You posted that the weapons we get are the result of bribery and fraud.

I didn't challenge you, I questioned someone else 'liking' an unsourced and unsubstantiated fraud allegation that you represented as being the truth.

If weapons procurement is indeed your profession, and you care to prove your expertise, I don't intend to try to stop you: Go ahead and post your evidence of bribery, fraud, waste or abuse in the weapons procurement process. I will be happy to read it.

 

[300sniper]

And that has nothing to do with how a tikka shoots and its reliability...... try reading more and posting less.

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...tion-rifles/215552-does-tikka-need-trued.html

Both Chad Dixon and Mark Gordon would say your full of shit as well.

They'd say I'm full of shit about what? Maybe you should take your own advice.

 

[scatsob]

I work in government acquisition, not weapons but the same rules apply. Please enlighten us .

 

[E. Bryant]

And that has nothing to do with how a tikka shoots and its reliability...... try reading more and posting less.

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...tion-rifles/215552-does-tikka-need-trued.html

Both Chad Dixon and Mark Gordon would say your full of shit as well.

Since you provided the link, let's see what it contains:

The last two we did, were not that bad. We did square up the action face mainly to increase shoulder contact, but otherwise it was same/better than a Remington 700. These were just two actions, I do not know how the others fair.

I will give it to the TRG actions, they shoot really well, however.... Their action faces have been the worse and most coarse surfaces we have ever measured.

Emphasis provided for your benefit; as you suggest, trying reading more and saying less.

While Mark seems to be saying some decent things about them, I don't exactly take these words as suggesting that these actions are the end-all-be-all and require no work. Furthermore, Chad's comment in the same thread seems to suggest that the integral recoil lug may only be suitable for light-recoiling calibers, which is why we see several gunsmiths fitting these rifles with Remington-style recoil lugs. Oh, and then there is this statement from KRG's Tikka document "The Case For And Against The Tikka T3 V2":

The word is that the T3 actions are generally less out of spec than other commercial actions. Some gunsmiths don’t even do a full blueprint on them.

Once again, emphasis added for your benefit. While those words suggest that these rifles are indeed machined more precisely than the Remington, it does not let me jump to the conclusion that Tikkas require no truing for maximum performance.

If you really wanted to play the role of an expert, you'd establish some tolerances for various action dimensions that would be guaranteed to provide some acceptable level of accuracy, and then you'd actually chuck 'em up in a lathe or set 'em up on a CMM to take your own measurements. That would mean a hell of a lot more than just some repeated appeals to authority and logical non sequiturs, but then again you seem more interested in beating your opponents into the ground with profanity and insults than you do in engaging in proper rhetoric.

Oh, and I don't care how many weapons happen to sit down the hall from your desk. 300sniper has actually left some chips on a shop floor, which means a hell of a lot more in the context of this discussion.

 

[garandman]

Trying a little hard aren't you? You haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking about. You really want to get into a pissing match and challenge me in my area of expertise and profession?

I'd agreed. Never try to out-piss cobracutter. Dude's a pro-fessional pisser.

 

[JeffLebowski]

I'd agreed. Never try to out-piss cobracutter. Dude's a pro-fessional pisser.

He's like a Tier One Delta/SEAL/Ranger/Recon acquisitions operator and professional thread shitter.

 

[MoBoost]

Ordered one of these:
Remington 700 SPS Tactical 308win $488.00 SHIPS FREE

 

[MoBoost]

Looks like I got myself a real shooter!
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...on-6group-30round-shootout-2.html#post2856049

 

[Clark]

0.218"?

I have never got one of those.
Some butterfly always sneezes on the other side of the earth.

 

[Equus]

Looks like I got myself a real shooter!
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...on-6group-30round-shootout-2.html#post2856049

I just picked up a M700 SPS Varmint today. I sure hope I get results like this. Factory or reloads?

 

[MoBoost]

I haven't shoot factory ammo (other than 22LR) in 10 years.

168 SMK, 43.0 Varget, FC processed brass, CCI primer
1.890 COL = .010" jump - yup, this thing like to deep throat.

 

[flylo]

Just bought a new Rem 700 Tactical with a threaded 20" heavy barrel & a gille green houge stock for $499/ shipped. Also a Savage model 10 with the same specs except the stock. I have the both sitting here comparing them right now.
I like everything one the Savage better except the stock. Out of the box the trigger pull on the Sav is 2.25#, the Rem 4.5#, I like the 3 position safety on the Sav & the big bolt handle & the drop box mag & the threaded barrel nut & the Sav has dual sling swivels up front. We'll see how they both shoot when the weather is better. I don't think you should have to buy a rifle called "tactical" & have to have it rebuilt to shoot. That's why I own SIG SSG 3000s. They shoot like they should out of the box & gunsmiths hate them because of the modular design you can do everything yourself including changing the barrel in 2 minutes. I wanted something shorter & lighter to carry. So we'll see which shoots the best & report back. Also there is a $40 rebate on the Rem bringing it to $459/shipped. I bought it from Kentucky Gun 502-348-3594 & the tag on the box read $669.99 so it was a good deal if your looking for one call them. The style # is RMN-84203, Good luck!

I still haven't found a decent deal on Remington 700 rifle or action. For some reason used market asking prices are higher than retail.

You see deals on brand new Savages like this: New Savage Model 111FXP3 17670 270 Win 111 : Bolt Action Rifles at GunBroker.com
and then I really wonder about my own sanity for even considering Remington.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

My savage brings all the boys to the yard and they're like, it's better than yours, damn right, it's better than yours...

 

[fmsniper]

Stiller and savage actions are my go to no reason to work on a remington when you can get a stiller

 

[Equus]

I haven't shoot factory ammo (other than 22LR) in 10 years.

168 SMK, 43.0 Varget, FC processed brass, CCI primer
1.890 COL = .010" jump - yup, this thing like to deep throat.

Is your COL that short? Wow!

 

[MoBoost]

Is your COL that short? Wow!

You know what I meant .. 2.890

 

[Equus]

You know what I meant .. 2.890

I was hoping it was a typo. After those groups I was thinking about trying it

 

[mcfred]

Or do I just need to look into aftemarket actions all together?

I would do this. I've worked on remmys and quickly went to customs. Unless you just like projects, it's easier to start with something closer to what you want. If you consider it an investment, the customs resell better too.

 

[5RWill]

I get all confused when people talk about how much money you sink into a Rem 700 action for it to shoot good...it's not true. In fact, a trued Rem 700 action with the factory bolt configuration will hold its own in many cases at a fraction of the cost as long as YOU do your part.

FACTORY NEW PARTS (JUST THE ACTION AND GA Precision SMITH WORK):
Remington Action at Brownells... $389.00 : REMINGTON 700 RECEIVER | Brownells
Chamber and true the action and bolt and crown muzzle on customers rifle: $350
***[Chamber a rifle previously action-trued by G.A. Precision: $250]***

Add $25 for the Badger lug and $315 for a barrel and you're money....Paint, better trigger, bolt knob, bolt release, barrel threading, muzzle brake and (arguably) PTG bolt are all cosmetic surgery and do not make it shoot better no matter how much multicam you put on it.

The stock is a whole other conversation. lol

To clarify - If GAP has never touched the action before, you're only spending $100 more on the Rem 700....Total spent: $489.00. EASILY half of the price of custom actions, if not more.
You're going to spend the $250 to chamber and install the barrel on the action regardless of the action you have....After it's trued...it's trued...you save $100 on the next rebarrel at GAP.

In the end, you're out the door with a barreled action for potentially ($389 + $350 + $25 + $315) = $1079

Don't get me wrong....I wouldn't turn down a new Templar V2 or Surgeon or Stiller or Badger or AI......I'm just sayin' that you don't have to spend a fortune to have a gun that will take you a lifetime to learn to out shoot it.

It's a whole other story if you feel the need to get all the extras put onto the action....in that case, yes, go custom.

Agreed. Doesn't even account for the 700 actions that do shoot that are just factory actions with a decent barrel. Less you have a dud of an action, accuracy will lie in the barrel and shooter IMO. That's not to say someone shouldn't true their 700 hell i most definitely am, but in a sport so fickle to human error i think we all strive to remove any mechanical/equiptment error out of the equation, thus reassuring it's us, not the rifle. Or this is how i've always seen it. As it stands currently my 5R factory barreled action runs circles around my capability as a shooter. Other than being bedded into an McM A5 there has been no accurizing of any kind.
I'm certain if i handed my rifle to any great shooter like some on this site it would look better as well.
5-shots