Back Country LR Rifle Advise- need help!

[Texan in Oregon]

Im new to the LR thing. Been hunting for years and missed to many opportunities on nice game at 500-700 yards since moving out west! Looking to build a semi-custom 7mm RM. It need to be both accurate and on the lighter side as I like to back pack hunt in the Hells Canyon area of Oregon.

I know nothing about gunsmithing etc.. I was thinking about a Rem 700? The sendero is just to heavy. Any suggestions would be great. What model, what alterations etc..., should i make. I would like to keep the Gun cost under ~$1800.00. Bedding, float, triggers, stocks, mods etc.. I know I'm asking a lot but I've got to stare somewhere.

Thanks

 

[rogue savage]

I'd buy a rem 700 bdl, new or from a pawn shop. Buy a B&C Alaskan II stock, jewell trigger and the scope of your choice. Then spend some time working up a load and you should be good to go!

I just bought a stainless bdl 7mag sporter with leupold rings (almost new) from a pawn shop for $450. Bought a slightly used Nikon buckmasters 4.5-14x40 for $150. Tore it apart and cleaned it up, although it was not really needed. Spent 30 min throwing 4 different loads together with 168gr bergers and headed off to the range. Factory stock and heavy factory trigger gave me .40in group at 2955fps! I had planned on taking it to my smith and having the action blueprinted but..... if I get any improvement with the b&c alaskan II stock, bedding and jewell trigger I have on order I'll just call it good to go.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I'd buy a rem 700 bdl, new or from a pawn shop. Buy a B&C Alaskan II stock, jewell trigger and the scope of your choice. Then spend some time working up a load and you should be good to go!

I just bought a stainless bdl 7mag sporter with leupold rings (almost new) from a pawn shop for $450. Bought a slightly used Nikon buckmasters 4.5-14x40 for $150. Tore it apart and cleaned it up, although it was not really needed. Spent 30 min throwing 4 different loads together with 168gr bergers and headed off to the range. Factory stock and heavy factory trigger gave me .40in group at 2955fps! I had planned on taking it to my smith and having the action blueprinted but..... if I get any improvement with the b&c alaskan II stock, bedding and jewell trigger I have on order I'll just call it good to go.

I'd see how how those other parts work out first. If it's shooting that good without truing and blueprinting the action/barrel, I'd leave it alone until you have to rebarrel it.

Just my $0.02.

 

[angus-5024]

Win Model 70 Coyote Lite in 270 WSM or Tikka T3 Varmint in 7 Rem Mag. Any quality mount and put a 2.5-10x44 Vortex PST or if you have the coin a 2.5-10x50? Nightforce NXS compact.
Both of these combos are about as light as I would go for true precision and able to take game at 1k. You can go a little bigger Mag range with the scope, but I find that bulky optics on a mountain rifle are as bad or worse than an extra few pounds.

 

[The Oregonian]

Check Cooper rifles as well...they are about $2k depending on the model, but you could probably find one for around your price.

Caveat...I have never owned or shot a Cooper but have heard many people speak highly of them.

 

[davkrat]

I have quite a Frankenstein 7mm Rem Mag. Started life as a 700 ADL in .270 Win that I bought decades ago. A few years back I bought a gutted magnum bolt from someone on here. Last year I finally got around to buying a take off 7mm Rem Mag barrel again from someone on here. I picked up a barrel vise and action wrench and cobbled the whole thing together. Parts of 3 different Remington 700's spanning several decades of manufacture and it shoots well enough to kill any north American big game animal out to 600+ yards. Sub MOA at that distance. I have a Nikon 4-16X50 which is perfect for those ranges and also intend to put it in a B&C Medalist soon to shed a few ounces. The 1980's ADL walnut stock is looking a little dated but fits right in with the 3 different finishes on the metal. Stainless barrel, SPS style bead blasted bolt and a old school Remington hogh gloss blued receiver LOL!

 

[BrentM]

If you want to build a light rifle then I would go 1 or 2 ways personally.
Remington or Savage action.
Proof Research Barrel or fluted stainless
Synthetic stock with pillars and bedded. You could go hollow butt or carbon fiber web.

On that note I would go Short action and go with a 7 SAUM or 6.5 Sherman. Short action is a just ounces lighter but why not do it if you want light weight.

Since you are near my area you could call me. Ed Sweet is my prefered local smith. He does some impressive work, but it is not cheap. Ed has some super light weight rifles he has put together.

For the distance you talking about scope and barrel length options are quite high. You could go 20-22" barrel and something like a 3.5-15 x 50mm scope.

I use a 4.5-14 Leupold on my 204 out to 700 and it works very well for hunting. My LR rifles are running Night Force and Sightron 5-25 type power. Big and heavy scopes but they work great for shots past 1000.

 

[4bycamper]

My favorite hunting rifle is in 7 saum. It's good out to 700 or so.
Certainly minute of elk or better.
We built this one on a Browning action.
But lately the factory Savages are shooting darned impressive.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

I always recommend Ruger M77 mk2 rifles. But have never had one in 7 mag. I did have a Remington M700 SS years ago that I bought used at Great Northern Guns in Anchorage for 400$ . It had the factory synthetic stock . Bought a set of rings and bases and a used Burris fixed 4 x scope at the same time. My first trip to the range in Anchorage I shot a 5/8"×1 5/8" 3 shot group at 300 yards with 150 gr Federal red box soft points. . Everything was stock and my rest was a bag of new socks and long jons I bought on the same town trip. The rifle continued to shoot like that until I cleaned it real well with a good copper solvent and stood it in the corner for a couple months. That was before it was common knowledge what copper solvent would do to stainless steel .
The rifle was pretty light and I only had about 540$ into it. It also liked original X bullets.

So there are several ways to get a great rifle without going above your $$$$ limit. I would put a SWFA SS 3-15 on that rifle nowadays but they weren't even a gleam in someones eye back then.

 

[COBrad]

Someone suggested a Cooper Rifle. I've had 5 and they are shooters. You should be able to find an Excalibur on Gunsamerica.com or Gunbroker.com for around $1800, but it won't be a magnum and it won't be a feather weight, but it should shoot. I used my last Cooper .270 to kill numerous marmots as far as 750 yards.
Another option, as mentioned, is get a donor action and start building.
Sometimes you can get a factory rifle that will shoot sub MOA, but they are the exception.
Get a good scope with a reputation for accurate and repeatable turrets. I have used a NF 2.5-10x32 out to almost 1100 yards. They work... as do a few others, but like factory rifles, some moderately priced scopes will be up to the task of long range shooting, but most won't, IME. YMMV

 

[Texan in Oregon]

Thanks for all the input. Im still concidering options but looking at: Buying a Rem 700 sps 7mm Rem replacing stock with Mcmillan Game scout, tally rings, timney trigger, huskama 5-20x50. we will se to many choices for a novice to concider...

 

[DPO]

Look at the Kimber mountain ascent 280AI

 

[COBrad]

If I didn't already have a pretty light .270 WSM I'd be looking at that Kimber .280 Imp myself. I've had 3 Montana's and two were sub-MOA. Good triggers too.

 

[BrentM]

Thanks for all the input. Im still concidering options but looking at: Buying a Rem 700 sps 7mm Rem replacing stock with Mcmillan Game scout, tally rings, timney trigger, huskama 5-20x50. we will se to many choices for a novice to concider...

That should work nicely. I prefer the Remington but have 5 savage now in my safe. All shot less than .5 moa. I think factory rifles have potential in any brand.