Well I was looking into buying one of the new Remington 700 Long Range rifles in .30-06, but can't find them anywhere! Remington lists them on their site and I have seen them on GunBroker before but can't find any now. I am thinking of buying an old used Remington 700 ADL or BDL for around $400 and take the factory barrel off and put on a custom. Not sure what caliber I am going to make it since I'm going through all this hassle, doesn't seem like the plain old '06 would be worth it. Want to go with a 26" heavy barrel, I also want it to be a good back-up to my custom .308 Norma Mag, a good long range deer getter, and something that doesn't eat pounds of powder so it is efficient for practice and has good barrel life. I'm still leaning towards a .30-06 though, seems like it does everything I want. Just seeing what your guys' opinions are on this. Thanks
New Build or New Rifle?
- Thread starter Jud96
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MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Why not go .30-06 AI? I know you've already been thinking about it based on some of your other posts. 
Why not go .30-06 AI? I know you've already been thinking about it based on some of your other posts.
I'm really considering it to be honest. The only thing holding me back is my Dad's odd dislike for Ackley Improved cartridges. I'm the one paying for everything so I don't know what the big deal is but he still looks down on them for no apparent reason. I am fond of oddball and less common rounds and the .30-06 AI would be perfect for what I want and would fit the bill for an uncommon cartridge. I've always wanted a wildcat to be different because no one in the family has one ,besides my Uncle's 7mm-.300 Weatherby, and besides wildcats aren't found around here ever. Going with the .30-06 AI would kill two birds with one stone, do what I need it to do and be cool while doing it haha.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Why not? Look on the brightside, it'll **** your old man off, and impress him at the same time.
I've never understood how people can dislike an AI cartridge. They are called "Improved" for a reason.
And if it's YOUR money......Buy what YOU want. Screw everybody else.
That's how I felt when people kept telling me my .300 Ackley was nothing better than a .300 Wby and to just keep the barrel chambered for the .300 Wby. But it wasn't their money or extra effort to form the brass, or the expensive custom dies...It was mine. So I don't give a crap what they think. But I'm also a hard-headed opinionated a-hole who owns junky Remington 700 rifles.
I've never understood how people can dislike an AI cartridge. They are called "Improved" for a reason.
And if it's YOUR money......Buy what YOU want. Screw everybody else.
That's how I felt when people kept telling me my .300 Ackley was nothing better than a .300 Wby and to just keep the barrel chambered for the .300 Wby. But it wasn't their money or extra effort to form the brass, or the expensive custom dies...It was mine. So I don't give a crap what they think. But I'm also a hard-headed opinionated a-hole who owns junky Remington 700 rifles.
I'd be willing to bet his Dad has never owned an Ackley cartridge.
Custom barrel is always a good way to go, then you can have the action trued up at the same time.
Just because you don't see the Remington model you want on a shelf in sporting goods stores doesn't mean it's not available. A Remington dealer should be able to get you any Remington firearm if it is a current production model. Just have to ask them to special order it. Then you won't have to pay shipping or transfer fees like you would on gunbroker.
Custom barrel is always a good way to go, then you can have the action trued up at the same time.
Just because you don't see the Remington model you want on a shelf in sporting goods stores doesn't mean it's not available. A Remington dealer should be able to get you any Remington firearm if it is a current production model. Just have to ask them to special order it. Then you won't have to pay shipping or transfer fees like you would on gunbroker.
Why not? Look on the brightside, it'll **** your old man off, and impress him at the same time.
I've never understood how people can dislike an AI cartridge. They are called "Improved" for a reason.
And if it's YOUR money......Buy what YOU want. Screw everybody else.
That's how I felt when people kept telling me my .300 Ackley was nothing better than a .300 Wby and to just keep the barrel chambered for the .300 Wby. But it wasn't their money or extra effort to form the brass, or the expensive custom dies...It was mine. So I don't give a crap what they think. But I'm also a hard-headed opinionated a-hole who owns junky Remington 700 rifles.
Haha the look he'd give me when I tell him I bought a .30-06 AI reamer or rented one. Me and the old man are pretty tight and all but I would never hear the end of it until it was built and proved its worth haha. I'm thinking of keeping it simple and sticking with an ADL or BDL stock and a chrome moly match barrel. Have checked out Douglas barrels and I'm thinking of trying one of their XX Premium air-gaged barrels, they are about $100 cheaper than Harts but have heard great things about them and they're made in my home state of West Virginia.. I'm satisfied with factory Remington barrels so once that Douglas match barrel is lapped and broken in it outta shoot superb. I don't plan on going to Williamsport to compete so don't need anything more than a barrel that'll shoot under 1/2 MOA. Plan on a heavy contour though, probably a #7 or Sendero contour.
Like Mud stated about himself, I will give all a fair warning. I'm an opinionated, no nothing, ill-informed, and BSer because I own sub par rifles made by America's oldest gunmaker Remington. These are terrible so no one buy them and save them all for me, Dad, and Mud. Everything I say needs to be taken lightly because I own Model 700s. Haven't stepped up to the real deal Rugers
If you are going to put the money into having a custom barrel installed, get a good cut rifle barrel like Krieger or Brux. If you are going to waste your money on a Douglas barrel, you might as well save yourself even more money and stick with your factory Remington rifle plan.
We install our own barrels so I don't have to worry about costs. Will have about the same amount in the custom as I would the factory rifle, but the custom will have a custom barrel. I have read good stuff on Douglas. Definitely not super quality like Krieger or Hart, but nicer than factory barrels.
Yeah, I suppose if you can do the work yourself you can try it with less risk. Another good button rifle barrel for the money is McGowen. I would feel much safer using a McGowen over a Douglas. Just my opinion though.
I forgot about Shilen's prefit Remington chrome moly barrels. These would make everything a lot easier, all you have to do is headspace it and lock it into the action. Shilen makes great barrels from what my Uncle and others say.
I just put 3 shilen barrels on 3 rifles. 2 chrome moly, one stainless with ratchet rifling. The stainless ratchet rifle barrel is very nice. The chrome moly barrels are pretty ugly inside. Tooling marks everywhere because Shilen does not hand lap their chrome moly barrels. They shoot pretty good, but copper foul like crazy. Can't even get them smoothed out with a lengthy barrel break in. Probably gonna end up lapping them to reduce the fouling.
The stainlesss barrel came lapped and has no issues. All shilen SS barrels are hand lapped. If you are going to use a Shilen, I would STRONGLY recommend getting a stainless.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
If I was going aftermarket, there would be no way I'd go with a CM barrel. Stainless all the way. Plus, like DD said, they come pre hand-lapped, which saves some work.
I could just lap and break in the chrome moly barrel. I broke in my factory Remington 700 .243 varmint rifle by shooting a round, then cleaning the bore with Hoppes Benchrest solvent, a wire brush, and patches then repeated this process for ten rounds. The bore didn't look bad from the factory, actually looked like a mirror but just wanted to be on the safe side and give this barrel breaking procedure a try. So far I have only forty seven rounds down the barrel including those ten, but plan on doing a lot of shooting this summer with it. For factory barrels, Remingtons have always shot for us and this one is proving to be no exception. I figure a Shilen or even Douglas barrel would be the same or better.
I'm most likely going with a Shilen Remington 700 pre-fit barrel from Brownells that is already done just needs headspaced and mated to the action. Brownells doesn't offer a Shilen Select Match barrel that is a pre-fit only the standard chrome-moly match and stainless match. I could just get a blank, but my Uncle has a lot of projects going on right now, so his lathe is pretty much backed up so one of these prefit barrels would just be a lot easier. If I was going to buy a blank and do it all from scratch I would probably just get a Hart because that's what I'm putting on my .308 Norma. My Dad and Pap have used Harts exclusively on all of their custom builds and have had excellent results with them so I might as well continue using them since we haven't had any problems. My Uncle is a Shilen man and his track record is the same as ours with the Harts so I would feel comfortable with one of them for sure since he's used thirty or more of them.
My next option came to life today, I could skip all of this hassle and buy a Remington 700 Long Range in 7mm Remington Magnum! I really like things to be simple and stick with just a few calibers like I have now the .243, .277, and .308 but the 7mm sounds like a good idea. It can use the supply of IMR 4831 and 7828 that we already have and I can actually find this chambering in stock for this rifle. I know this isn't a unique round because a lot of guys have them, but it will do what I need done and could be a good candidate for another big 7 magnum cartridge down the road.
