Help selecting barreled action upgrade for factory REM 700

[sobercajun]

New to this forum thing but thought I could get some valued input from the experts. I have been shooting a factory Remington 700 chambered in 7mm REM for the last several years & have a good hunting load developed & been successful taking several whitetails with it. However I believe I've taken all it is capable of giving accuracy wise with the factory tube. Best I can get out of it is about 1.5MOA. Have a few extra coin & am looking to upgrade the rifle with a quality barrel & action. Been shooting Berger 168gr VLD hunting pills & would like to stick with the 7REM cartridge. Factory barreled action is bedded in a McMillan A5 Sporter stock & have upgraded to a Jewel trigger early in this process...... I know I should have started out with a custom but have had a lot of fun & good trigger time.

Any suggestions on a quality barreled action.

 

[MudRunner2005]

New to this forum thing but thought I could get some valued input from the experts. I have been shooting a factory Remington 700 chambered in 7mm REM for the last several years & have a good hunting load developed & been successful taking several whitetails with it. However I believe I've taken all it is capable of giving accuracy wise with the factory tube. Best I can get out of it is about 1.5MOA. Have a few extra coin & am looking to upgrade the rifle with a quality barrel & action. Been shooting Berger 168gr VLD hunting pills & would like to stick with the 7REM cartridge. Factory barreled action is bedded in a McMillan A5 Sporter stock & have upgraded to a Jewel trigger early in this process...... I know I should have started out with a custom but have had a lot of fun & good trigger time.

Any suggestions on a quality barreled action.

The 7mm RemMag is one of my all-time favorites. Been hunting deer with one for 15 years.

Your 700 action is perfectly fine, a lot of folks underestimate them. Just have a gunsmith blueprint it and your action will be just as square as an aftermarket custom action. Keep your Jewell trigger, as that's already the top of the line.

As for barrels, Bartlein, Brux, Krieger, Hart, Proof Research, Obermeyer, Rock Creek, Pac-Nor, Douglass, Shilen...Pretty much any of the big name brands should treat you right. My personal favorites are Bartlein, Proof Research, and Rock Creek.

To shoot just the 168 VLD, you will only need a 1:9 twist, BUT if you want to ever step it up for longer ranges or heavier bullets (like the Berger 180 Hybrid or 195 Elite Hunter) you will want to go with a 1:8 twist barrel.

Personally, I like the Bartlein Sendero/Rem Varmint contour barrels. They're the best combination of LR accuracy and portability.

 

[sobercajun]

My smith has trued & lapped lugs, all he could do w/o barrel removal, Remington XCRII has a 1:9.25 twist 26" barrel & smith put one of his breaks on it. I have done some work with the 180VLD's but found a good load with the 168's so I quit. Was thinking on going with a 1:8 with new barrel to shoot the heavier Hybrids & Elite Berger's.Gun shoots good but my experience/skill is progressing to the point where I may improve a little with a more quality barreled action.
Thanks for your experienced opnion

 

[MudRunner2005]

My smith has trued & lapped lugs, all he could do w/o barrel removal, Remington XCRII has a 1:9.25 twist 26" barrel & smith put one of his breaks on it. I have done some work with the 180VLD's but found a good load with the 168's so I quit. Was thinking on going with a 1:8 with new barrel to shoot the heavier Hybrids & Elite Berger's.Gun shoots good but my experience/skill is progressing to the point where I may improve a little with a more quality barreled action.
Thanks for your experienced opnion

Just truing and lapping the lugs is not a full blueprinting of the action. You will also need to square up the bolt, check the raceways, square up bolt face, and square up the receiver face, which centers the barrel to the center of the action and bolt (in all axes ), which allows for proper seating and alignment of cartridges in the chamber...Which is important for accuracy. But the barrel has to be removed for all this to be done.

You won't need a better action, is what I'm saying. Your action, once fully blueprinted, will be just as good as a custom action. You don't need to replace the action, unless you just want to.

 

[sobercajun]

Thanks for your valued input MudRunner.
I'm confident to 300yds with this setup. Don't compete in any PRS competitions but would like to stretch out comfort range to 5-600yds. Here in South LA that's Extreme LR "Hunting"shot but will keep me challenged to improve shooting ability. The range I shoot at is extending from 300 to 600yds & will be able to get good drop data on new barrel.

 

[junior71]

We have a 7 with a 1:9 twist that loves the 168s. A 3 to 4" group at 500 is the norm.
Funny yet weird story. It never shot that well until we started with jump. On the lands it was a 1.5"@100yrd gun, but backed up 030 she would go under a 1". Backed up 060 it would dam near shoot the same hole @ 100. Problem was at 060 the 300 yrd groups suffered, vs 030! and the further out the better the 030, where the 060 got worse! Weird!

 

[MudRunner2005]

Thanks for your valued input MudRunner.
I'm confident to 300yds with this setup. Don't compete in any PRS competitions but would like to stretch out comfort range to 5-600yds. Here in South LA that's Extreme LR "Hunting"shot but will keep me challenged to improve shooting ability. The range I shoot at is extending from 300 to 600yds & will be able to get good drop data on new barrel.

What's funny is that you mentioned "long range" being 300 yards. It's the same here in Alabama. Your average hunter thinks a "long shot" is 200-300 yards. People from other areas of the country don't understand how hunting is down here.

Personally everywhere I hunt, I ask them where the longest shots are available. They look at me funny, but I always come back with a deer, and when I tell them how far the shot was, they're usually shocked or don't believe me, because to them anything over 300 meters must have had voodoo involved.

 

[snox801]

Same here in Michigan except everyone think 150 yards is 450. Very few spots to shoot long range. My longest kill in Michigan is 486. I here people I know say they shoot 600 all the time and drop deer in tracks. Yet they rarely shoot have crappy rifles not crappy because cost because they are crap. And they never an hit my 8" steel at 300 yards. Everyone always thinks it much longer than it is and rarely does anyone here use range finders.
Mud is right on the action but if you feel the need I would Check out pierce engineering they are doin one for me currently in ti. Pick any barrel out of the ones already listed.

 

[elkaholic]

Same here in Michigan except everyone think 150 yards is 450. Very few spots to shoot long range. My longest kill in Michigan is 486. I here people I know say they shoot 600 all the time and drop deer in tracks. Yet they rarely shoot have crappy rifles not crappy because cost because they are crap. And they never an hit my 8" steel at 300 yards. Everyone always thinks it much longer than it is and rarely does anyone here use range finders.
Mud is right on the action but if you feel the need I would Check out pierce engineering they are doin one for me currently in ti. Pick any barrel out of the ones already listed.

I have to chuckle because I grew up in Michigan where everyone had a "Tirty Tirty"
I would have thought things might have changed by now. I bought a 25-06 when they first came out in 1970 and actually did shoot deer at 600 yards on a RR r-o-w. Everybody thought I was nuts when I bought it and said it wouldn't kill anything.
Back to the thread: I agree with just truing the Remington 700 and the Barrels mentioned should get you what you want. My favorites are Krieger and Bartlein but I also like Brux, and I have heard some really good things about Rock Creek. Good luck......Rich

 

[pikeman]

I have to chuckle because I grew up in Michigan where everyone had a "Tirty Tirty"
I would have thought things might have changed by now. I bought a 25-06 when they first came out in 1970 and actually did shoot deer at 600 yards on a RR r-o-w. Everybody thought I was nuts when I bought it and said it wouldn't kill anything.
Back to the thread: I agree with just truing the Remington 700 and the Barrels mentioned should get you what you want. My favorites are Krieger and Bartlein but I also like Brux, and I have heard some really good things about Rock Creek. Good luck......Rich

Man, I don't know what part of Michigan you guys live in. But up here in the U.P lots of people shoot 7mms and bigger at distance. I hunt on 160 acres and can shoot out to 1200 yards.

Take your trigger off and send your action and barrel to a good barrel maker. Thats what I did.

 

[elkaholic]

Man, I don't know what part of Michigan you guys live in. But up here in the U.P lots of people shoot 7mms and bigger at distance. I hunt on 160 acres and can shoot out to 1200 yards.

Take your trigger off and send your action and barrel to a good barrel maker. Thats what I did.

Hey, good to hear! I use to live in the eastern U.P. until '75.........Rich

 

[youngtrout]

Good advise above about barrel makers, but I'd also source a smith, other than the barrel maker. Lots of good outfits out there.

Spending more of your money, but the more I do this, the more I like to have my own reamer. I know how many cuts its made. But more specifically its better when a barrel goes south.

I had a 300wsm, loved it, built another one. the chamber differences between the 2 is great. One just has a more generous chamber. May as well have 2 different calibers, can't really share components,

 

[hemiford]

Cajun,
Since you are buying a barrel, you might consider getting longer than 26",
in fact get one as long as you are comfortable carrying.
I have a 7RM project that I'm installing a 32" barrel. That sounds extremely
long but in reality, while mocking it up, it doesn't look very long.

 

[sobercajun]

Well....after all the valued input & shopping custom action prices I think I can save some $ on action replacement & divert to a quality barrel & blueprint factory 700 action during barrel replacement. Now the choice of barrel?? Have been researching availability(some 5-6months out) from the majors, Krieger, Hart, Bartlein, Brux, Rock Creek...... & distributers. Limited in stock barrels with faster twist than 1:9 in 7mm. Have found a PROOF Research barrel available with 1:8.27 twist, "Sendero Contour" that should deliver the Berger 180-195 Elite pills. Bryan Litz has a study in Volume II of his book that looks @ Carbon wrapped barrels vs other barrel contours & am reading it now.
Does anyone have any experience with the Carbon wrapped barrels & can help me understand "Barrel Contours" for accuracy in "Hunting" application. Don't mind spend the additional cost for "Carbon" barrel if its money well spent.
Thanks again for all the valued input