My 30-06 project

What model or type is your 700?
It's a 1974 model 700 ADL. I learned to hand load with this rife, and was shocked and amazed at how well this plain vanilla rifle could shoot.
 

Attachments

  • 164BD4FF-FD8A-4559-B532-290161FE5C2B.jpeg
    164BD4FF-FD8A-4559-B532-290161FE5C2B.jpeg
    300 KB · Views: 57
  • 1B06D5BD-B4A7-4E9A-8C65-41FAC00EDA38.jpeg
    1B06D5BD-B4A7-4E9A-8C65-41FAC00EDA38.jpeg
    2 MB · Views: 54
@Mitch Rapp

Already owning a Sherman have you ever thought to have it re chambered into the 300 sherman


Oh trust me, I have had those thoughts....

The thing is, I have 6 kids, so getting this in 30-06 makes it super easy to reload for, which makes it nice to be able to make a bunch of lighter loads etc for the kids to shoot. Not quite a kid friendly gun, but its a good one for the teens to play with without being punishing, or having to worry much about the brass. I was worried with the issues that Remington has had that I could get one that wasn't very accurate, and I haven't really wrung it out yet at this point. As long as its at least a 1 MOA gun, it will work for my purposes for a while.

When the time comes to re barrel the gun, I'll see what I can do to it.
 
Oh trust me, I have had those thoughts....

The thing is, I have 6 kids, so getting this in 30-06 makes it super easy to reload for, which makes it nice to be able to make a bunch of lighter loads etc for the kids to shoot. Not quite a kid friendly gun, but its a good one for the teens to play with without being punishing, or having to worry much about the brass. I was worried with the issues that Remington has had that I could get one that wasn't very accurate, and I haven't really wrung it out yet at this point. As long as its at least a 1 MOA gun, it will work for my purposes for a while.

When the time comes to re barrel the gun, I'll see what I can do to it.
I don't see where you should have any issues with the Remington or its accuracy, especially when you get into reloading. Just shoot it and enjoy it. And for what its worth, I have yet to see any of the issues in person that the guys forums speak of. Im not saying they are unfounded but I haven't seen it and I don't know any guys that have had any complaints about theirs either, other than most guys wanting an upgraded trigger. I have several newer Remingtons and some older ones, they all have been accurate / solid rifles.
 
Oh trust me, I have had those thoughts....

The thing is, I have 6 kids, so getting this in 30-06 makes it super easy to reload for, which makes it nice to be able to make a bunch of lighter loads etc for the kids to shoot. Not quite a kid friendly gun, but its a good one for the teens to play with without being punishing, or having to worry much about the brass. I was worried with the issues that Remington has had that I could get one that wasn't very accurate, and I haven't really wrung it out yet at this point. As long as its at least a 1 MOA gun, it will work for my purposes for a while.

When the time comes to re barrel the gun, I'll see what I can do to it.
Mitch the biggest problem you'll find with any mass produced rifle is poor or no bedding at all from the factory.

Second, improperly torqued action screws.

Whatever you buy, and I would not be afraid of a factory Remington these days although they aren't my choice, would be to have it floated, bedded, and at least a trigger job done on it before you even send the first round down range.

Remington has had some issues over the years with QC, I unfortunately got one of the worst they ever let out the doors back in 77 but overall they have a very good reputation and are by far the most popular bolt action rifles ever produced in the US.

There's also an endless aftermarket in Model 700 upgrades to be had.

It's also the action most used in building custom rifles today whether that's a factory Remington action or one of the many 700 clones being put out by custom manufacturers.

Any rifle you buy is going to come with a trigger set at the factory not by shooters but by liability lawyers so just keep that in mind and make sure you get buy one that can easily be replaced with an upgrade or easily adjusted and tuned by a good gunsmith.

Once that's done, don't fool with it yourself unless you really know what you're doing, that's where people can get themselves into a lot of serious troubles.

Most of the better selling branded rifles sold in the US today at least in the bolt action market are going to be capable of 1-1.5MOA right out of the box and a little tweaking and tuning in the hands of a good smith can improve on that substantially.
 
I don't see where you should have any issues with the Remington or its accuracy, especially when you get into reloading. Just shoot it and enjoy it. And for what its worth, I have yet to see any of the issues in person that the guys forums speak of. Im not saying they are unfounded but I haven't seen it and I don't know any guys that have had any complaints about theirs either, other than most guys wanting an upgraded trigger. I have several newer Remingtons and some older ones, they all have been accurate / solid rifles.
Yeah, not super worried about it, but it's in the back of my mind. It definitely needs a trigger.

My 6.5 Sherman, built by JE Custom, can shoot half MOA or better all day. (well, it seems like it can do quarter MOA, but half is what I can do most days lol) Since that has been my only bolt gun for a while, I'm not sure what to expect from a factory gun. LOL, trying to manage expectations a bit.
 
The thing is, I have 6 kids, so getting this in 30-06 makes it super easy to reload for, which makes it nice to be able to make a bunch of lighter loads etc for the kids to shoot.
Ha! Same here, the boys are going to be surprised when they shoot one of my real 180-200gn loads one day. 125gn SSTs and TB or H4895 were both plush to shoot.
 
It's a 1974 model 700 ADL. I learned to hand load with this rife, and was shocked and amazed at how well this plain vanilla rifle could shoot.
This only goes to prove my contention that one doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars for either a custom or factory rifle to get a good shooting rifle. Sometimes the cheapies will surprise you. While this does not relate to long range shooting I have always shot Remington 870's and 1100 shotguns. They always served me well and were more than affordable. But I decided as I got older that I wanted a really pretty shotgun. Bought a Browning A5 Ultimate, and yes it is pretty and I love it. Inertia recoil is nice but not that much less recoil than my 1100's. I reiterate that it is pretty, but when it comes to shooting it isn't any better or worse than my 1100's . Still have an 11-87 3 inch that I use LOL for hunting when I don't want to take the chance of banging up the A5.
 
This only goes to prove my contention that one doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars for either a custom or factory rifle to get a good shooting rifle. Sometimes the cheapies will surprise you. While this does not relate to long range shooting I have always shot Remington 870's and 1100 shotguns. They always served me well and were more than affordable. But I decided as I got older that I wanted a really pretty shotgun. Bought a Browning A5 Ultimate, and yes it is pretty and I love it. Inertia recoil is nice but not that much less recoil than my 1100's. I reiterate that it is pretty, but when it comes to shooting it isn't any better or worse than my 1100's . Still have an 11-87 3 inch that I use LOL for hunting when I don't want to take the chance of banging up the A5.
The problem is that with mass produced factory rifles it's always a crap shoot on whether you get a real shooter or not.

Most can be made to shoot very well with a little floating and bedding and maybe an aftermarket trigger but it's still a crap shoot.

My brother and I got 700bdl's literally off the same truck. His was an 06 mine a 7RM.

In all other respects they appeared to be identical. These were made circa 1976.

His was a dead shooter from day one, mine after five trips back to Remington still would not shoot and I was advised it never would by a very good gunsmith. He said I just got "the one", the one where the accumulation of tolerances produced a rifle that would never shoot no matter what we did for it and it was bored so far out of square the action was junk.

With a custom rifle you have a reasonable expectation you'll never run into those problems and with a good builder a solid MOA or better guarantee.
 
The problem is that with mass produced factory rifles it's always a crap shoot on whether you get a real shooter or not.

Most can be made to shoot very well with a little floating and bedding and maybe an aftermarket trigger but it's still a crap shoot.

My brother and I got 700bdl's literally off the same truck. His was an 06 mine a 7RM.

In all other respects they appeared to be identical. These were made circa 1976.

His was a dead shooter from day one, mine after five trips back to Remington still would not shoot and I was advised it never would by a very good gunsmith. He said I just got "the one", the one where the accumulation of tolerances produced a rifle that would never shoot no matter what we did for it and it was bored so far out of square the action was junk.

With a custom rifle you have a reasonable expectation you'll never run into those problems and with a good builder a solid MOA or better guarantee.
As mentioned many times before my first venture into a 300 WM was a disaster probably due to what you describe above. It was probably a Friday afternoon wanting to get out of work or a Monday morning hangover rifle. No matter what was done would not shoot less than 3 MOA. As they say sometimes it's the luck of the draw or simply being the unlucky one. ☹️
 
As mentioned many times before my first venture into a 300 WM was a disaster probably due to what you describe above. It was probably a Friday afternoon wanting to get out of work or a Monday morning hangover rifle. No matter what was done would not shoot less than 3 MOA. As they say sometimes it's the luck of the draw or simply being the unlucky one. ☹️
I think there's an interesting shift that has gone on as well. It used to really matter if you got a gun built on a "good day" and the guns required a real amount of craftsmanship. Now we have rifles like the Ruger American Predator, or a lot of the AR-15s out there, that are somewhat just snapped together and actually perform pretty well, and shoot consistently. The quality craftsmanship being replaced by parts made to exacting standards and so long as they are not assembled very poorly, the gun will perform. Sure there are still lemons, but the overall quality seems to be better.

I'm not knocking actual craftsmanship, but there is something to be said for easy consistency.

Now, when you take that high precision manufacturing, and combine it with high quality craftsmanship you end up with truly amazing products. Look at the fancy 1911s and 2011s being produced by Chambers Custom and other high end builders. Amazing accuracy and amazing reliability. Things that used to be considered mutually exclusive in the 1911 world.
 
I think there's an interesting shift that has gone on as well. It used to really matter if you got a gun built on a "good day" and the guns required a real amount of craftsmanship. Now we have rifles like the Ruger American Predator, or a lot of the AR-15s out there, that are somewhat just snapped together and actually perform pretty well, and shoot consistently. The quality craftsmanship being replaced by parts made to exacting standards and so long as they are not assembled very poorly, the gun will perform. Sure there are still lemons, but the overall quality seems to be better.

I'm not knocking actual craftsmanship, but there is something to be said for easy consistency.

Now, when you take that high precision manufacturing, and combine it with high quality craftsmanship you end up with truly amazing products. Look at the fancy 1911s and 2011s being produced by Chambers Custom and other high end builders. Amazing accuracy and amazing reliability. Things that used to be considered mutually exclusive in the 1911 world.
I love the 1911, but my current employment, yes I am still employed at 74 and as a security guard no less my company does not allow for any 1911 series service handguns. The company I am employed with prefers Glocks, but after having a few would not bet my life on one. (Yes might be a major point of discussion for you Glock lovers out there) We have to buy our own handguns, and I simply refused to buy a Glock. Instead I wanted a Sig M17 which has my required thumb safety. They complicated things by requiring it to be BLACK!!!! While not in current production Black was available and there are still some new ones out there labeled M17 Bravo. They however have not been made for a couple of years and those out there that have new M17 Bravo's are asking prices that are twice or three times the purchase price of a current M17 in Coyote, After doing a lot of searching found one at Frisco Arms, in Frisco Texas (Nice People) that after explaining my dilemma agreed to sell me a Bravo model with a modest markup. I bought it, had it sent to Cabelas in Sun Prairie, my former work place. I took it to the range so my training officer could check it out and see how I could shoot. While he was a 1911 fan he was also a no thumb safety fan for service pistols. We went through the standard draw, aim and shoot drill required for law enforcement officers. I was not extremely happy with the sights since they are slightly off, at least for me. Below is the training target from 50 rounds of training ammo fired into one target at 30 feet. The Sig M17 is accurate. Dropped one into the 9 ring which did not make me happy.
 

Attachments

  • thumbnail.jpg
    thumbnail.jpg
    67.7 KB · Views: 29
Top