Need help for next hunting rifle <$2000

[Sargesniper]

No need for apologies, enjoying the argument. It did give me hope for Remington though. I had pretty much disclaimed them from all the rumors I have heard lately about freedom group ruining them. I think that is the way I would like to go by trueing a 700 action. I just need to find someone to do it.

Here is another question, everyone says go buy a cheap ADL or SPS for a donor. I have an SPS it is what I am trying to find a replacement for because I hate the action on it. It is the farthest thing from smooth as you can get. My final draw was hunting this year and not being able to load a round as a deer and I are looking each other in the eyes. Not blaming it totally on the action, it is a DBM which I will blame it completely on, it is a piece of garbage. So back to my question by trueing my SPS action will it make it a butter smooth action or would it stay rough as it is now?

Thanks Quade, I appreciate it.
You stated you want a Long Action so I can rule out the Cabelas sale on the ADL varmint model I bought. Brownells sells Actions only from time to time for a reasonable price. One way to go. You could do as I just did and buy the Long Range model in 300 Win. That's the easiest way I know. Or you can go with a donor rifle and have it worked over by a Smith. This could be more costly. Any way you decide to go will be costly in the end. I personally do not have any custom rifles in the inventory.

The Long Range model comes with a very nice aluminum bedded block so you will save yourself money in that dept. My particular rifle has the smoothest bore on any Remington I have ever bought. Very little polishing was required to get the throat area smoothed out. I have not fired this rifle as of yet but will do so this week to break it in.

Nothing has been said about final cost for the complete set-up so I am going to show you my take on my rifle.

Rifle was around $810.00 total.
Picatinney Rail was $116.00
Rings will be around $100.00
Vortex 6.5x24x50mm will be $750.00
All the polishing on the bore and receiver rails I do myself so no cost except for products used.

So it adds up to $1776.00 for my complete set-up. Below your $2000.00 estimate.
I feel this is as good as you will get money wise. If you don't get a good hunting rifle with it i would be really surprised.
I have done this with 2 .308 Remington rifles and both will shoot well below MOA. I spent more than i wanted because of the high cost of Night Force Scope, Rings and Rail.

I would say that a Savage would be the next choice for me if it were not a Remington. I have no experience with any other named rifle so I can't steer you in that direction. I have a very Accurate Savage Target Action 30" barrel .260 Rem. that is a sheer pleasure to shoot (16 lbs) No hunting rifle for sure. It started out as a 6.5x284 and the barrel went at 780 rounds. A Bartlien barrel was installed and it turned into a great 300 yd. shooter.

So in the end I will tell you to think about what you want in the rifle and make up your own mind. Don't believe all the negative things you hear or read. I have heard all that stuff too but ignored it.
If you get a good shooter then mission accomplished. If not, there is always the option to re-barrel with a custom barrel. Just get one from a well known maker and enjoy.

 

[kukusya]

Here

 

[Sargesniper]

I did not like the system, and hate the noise. Still it seems to be a crude tuner that works to a certain point. I was invited by guys I knew on a dare. So of course I did, but thought the claimed group sizes were bogus. They were not, as I saw many five shot groups like that. What impressed me was when they took a box of Federal factory loads and simply dialed them in to about 5/8th" groups. I'd have bet the farm they couldn't do that!

Still kicking much to the dismay of my ex wives! Medical issues have eased up quite a bit. Demons came back for a visit in a big way while back, and I can't suppress the bastards this time. All started when all that rain came back in June. Told Gloria I was homesick, and was ready to go home. She didn't understand till she asked buddies, and now we don't talk about it. I'm Ok with that. Gloria just sent me a couple pics from Arlington; at the Tomb. As I write this she is dropping off some cans of hot Budweiser in front Panel 31W, and a rose. I told her if they were cold I'd never forgive her. I still can't go there.

Back to rifles. You guys shoot what you like and fine tune it. No one should knock you for that. I'm no longer in the Remington camp (well I really am in other venues). I don't exactly know what fits my needs anymore. Sometimes it's a Savage and other days it's a Weatherby. It's all good if your willing to make it good. I'd rather have an old 99 than just about anything, but most guys wouldn't want one in their safe. Plus we all know how I like Hi-Walls and Lo-Walls (similar to sex). Still one hasn't had any serious fun till he tries other forms of shooting. Plus I can't even see 1000 yards anymore<g>, and I have Gloria nagging me to teach her to shoot hand guns and cast a fly rod! Suicide is the only option.

sorry for all the ramblings
gary

I remember the hot buds we were given well Gary. Easiest way to get buzzed is to drink it hot. I am back at the Rockpile right now man. What memories huh? Sometimes it seems like yesterday. Can't believe that was 48 yrs. ago. It's good to be "home" once in a while I suppose. Though I would not recommend it to others. Life is much better here. Still think about the hot beer and cold "c" Rats though. Hell of a way to spend your time huh? Happy dreams to you my friend.
SEMPER FI,........... LARRY

 

[MudRunner2005]

No need for apologies, enjoying the argument. It did give me hope for Remington though. I had pretty much disclaimed them from all the rumors I have heard lately about freedom group ruining them. I think that is the way I would like to go by trueing a 700 action. I just need to find someone to do it.

Here is another question, everyone says go buy a cheap ADL or SPS for a donor. I have an SPS it is what I am trying to find a replacement for because I hate the action on it. It is the farthest thing from smooth as you can get. My final draw was hunting this year and not being able to load a round as a deer and I are looking each other in the eyes. Not blaming it totally on the action, it is a DBM which I will blame it completely on, it is a piece of garbage. So back to my question by trueing my SPS action will it make it a butter smooth action or would it stay rough as it is now?

I would convert your rifle to a BDL bottom metal setup, instead of the DBM setup. I don't care for DBM's on deer rifles (personal preference), they rattle-around and seem unstable to me...What happens if it gets bumped and drops-out when you're walking through the woods and you never notice it until you get all the way to your stand?

Your SPS would be a great donor-action to start your build off of. All you need to convert it to a BDL setup is one of these...

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-part...metals/index.htm?avs|Manufacturer_1=brownells

If you want the action to be quieter and super-smooth, the smith should be able to address this by lapping the bolt lugs and raceways. Also, if you had the bolt body jeweled it will retain a thin layer of gun oil, which will help to quiet the bolt down some. It looks flashy, but it does serve a legit purpose, while adding some "class" to the gun. Some folks think it might spook the deer because it's shiny (I've never had that happen), and others don't like it because it's not all black, so it's not tacti-cool enough.

 

[Trickymissfit]

I remember the hot buds we were given well Gary. Easiest way to get buzzed is to drink it hot. I am back at the Rockpile right now man. What memories huh? Sometimes it seems like yesterday. Can't believe that was 48 yrs. ago. It's good to be "home" once in a while I suppose. Though I would not recommend it to others. Life is much better here. Still think about the hot beer and cold "c" Rats though. Hell of a way to spend your time huh? Happy dreams to you my friend.
SEMPER FI,........... LARRY

I was headed to the Rock Pile in December 67. They took everybody's orders and tossed them in a garbage can (no matter what the MOS). Didn't even know what or where the Rock Pile was till six weeks had gone by. Many a good kid was tagged and bagged up there. Have flown over the area, but never put a boot on the ground there. I, for all practical purpose never got north of the Que Son Valley except out on the Laotian border. I did get about three or four Klicks south of the Ashau Valley on an OP with the 101st, and as far south as Kam Duc (what a garden spot!). Many of these places are just a flash in memory now. A hill number that I have zero idea why or where it is (probably a good idea).

I learned to cook with C-Rats! A steel pot, a block of C4, and your good to go. By the way I stopped by the local liquor store to get some beer, and they had good old 33 beer! I didn't buy any as I remembered that stuff all too well.

In 1968, I was tough as nails. Made of iron and bullets would bounce off me. How the hell I got home is still a mystery. My children look at photos and don't know who they are looking at, and at times I'm not sure who I see.

can't find a pancho, and it raining again
gary

 

[Sargesniper]

I was headed to the Rock Pile in December 67. They took everybody's orders and tossed them in a garbage can (no matter what the MOS). Didn't even know what or where the Rock Pile was till six weeks had gone by. Many a good kid was tagged and bagged up there. Have flown over the area, but never put a boot on the ground there. I, for all practical purpose never got north of the Que Son Valley except out on the Laotian border. I did get about three or four Klicks south of the Ashau Valley on an OP with the 101st, and as far south as Kam Duc (what a garden spot!). Many of these places are just a flash in memory now. A hill number that I have zero idea why or where it is (probably a good idea).

I learned to cook with C-Rats! A steel pot, a block of C4, and your good to go. By the way I stopped by the local liquor store to get some beer, and they had good old 33 beer! I didn't buy any as I remembered that stuff all too well.

In 1968, I was tough as nails. Made of iron and bullets would bounce off me. How the hell I got home is still a mystery. My children look at photos and don't know who they are looking at, and at times I'm not sure who I see.

can't find a pancho, and it raining again
gary

I spent Christmas of 67 at the Rockpile. We could have met if you had made it.
33 or Tiger ****. Put you on your *** in a heartbeat. I bought a lot of it from the locals before we moved to the Rockpile. There were no friendlies at the Rockpile to buy it from. That was made clear in a short. 108 82's were sent by air mail shortly after arriving.

I brought nothing home from that place, not one picture or weapons, just my young ***. It was a bad dream better left behind for me. Still don't sleep well. PTSD they call it.

 

[just country]

morning, left in 66, phu kat. intelligence.

 

[IdahoCTD]

Here is what I would do if I was in your shoes: Buy a Remington 700 Long Range first. You can shoot it or leave the barrel new and get around 150.00 for it. Personally I would yank it for a custom barrel. Next I would send the action to Long Rifles Inc (LRI) and have the action trued, new barrel installed, muzzle brake installed, and a new recoil lug. The Snipers Hide group buy has the action truing at 125.00 and the barrel chambering about 175.00. So with a 350.00 barrel your at about 850.00 for the barrel, the work, and 550.00 (700-150 for the barrel) for your initial investment your about 1400.00 total. I would definately do a Jewell trigger at about 225.00 and if you like coatings you could have LRI Cerakote the barreled action while it is there. For the whole thing you'd be 18-1900.00, with Cerakote and Jewell trigger, and you'd have a really nice gun that has a very high chance of shooting tiny little groups. You could also replace the stock at a later date for something else or sell it up front for something else.

There are several people that build good guns on this side of the state (SW Idaho) but I really only know of Dallas Lane of Lane Precision Rifles on your side of the state. He will most likely charge more than LRI though because LRI does it all on CNC equipment so it is fast for them. LRI has a large following/reputation, quick turn around, and obviously great prices.

I build my own guns and have used hundred of barrels over the last 23 years of doing so. If it was me I'd stick to cut rifled barrels. In my experience the dud rate is lower with cut rifled barrels. I just built a couple of friends 2 300 Win Mags with Bartlein barrels on Remington actions. BTW Bartlein and Kreiger would be my choice for barrels. One was a heavy MTU contour barrel. The first 12 loads tried in the gun shot .186 to .550" at 100yds. These are random loads that he threw together to try in it and is a pretty good average for 12 groups. The other was a light weight #3 contour (the same as a #4 Kreiger) that just shot a sub 1" group at 300yds with Accubonds and shot sub 1/2" at 100yds. That is what I'd expect to see from a custom barreled rifle. Many heavy factory barreled Remington's will do that kind of accuracy at shorter ranges but have a tendency to fall apart at long ranges. With my personal rifles I rarely keep a gun if it won't shoot sub 3/8" 3 shot groups and most of mine are closer to 1/4" with a few under 1/4". Remington makes good guns but anymore I only buy them for the action since I rarely use factory calibers or SAAMI chambers.

Just my .02 that was actually free.

 

[QQQQQ]

Here is what I would do if I was in your shoes: Buy a Remington 700 Long Range first. You can shoot it or leave the barrel new and get around 150.00 for it. Personally I would yank it for a custom barrel. Next I would send the action to Long Rifles Inc (LRI) and have the action trued, new barrel installed, muzzle brake installed, and a new recoil lug. The Snipers Hide group buy has the action truing at 125.00 and the barrel chambering about 175.00. So with a 350.00 barrel your at about 850.00 for the barrel, the work, and 550.00 (700-150 for the barrel) for your initial investment your about 1400.00 total. I would definately do a Jewell trigger at about 225.00 and if you like coatings you could have LRI Cerakote the barreled action while it is there. For the whole thing you'd be 18-1900.00, with Cerakote and Jewell trigger, and you'd have a really nice gun that has a very high chance of shooting tiny little groups. You could also replace the stock at a later date for something else or sell it up front for something else.

There are several people that build good guns on this side of the state (SW Idaho) but I really only know of Dallas Lane of Lane Precision Rifles on your side of the state. He will most likely charge more than LRI though because LRI does it all on CNC equipment so it is fast for them. LRI has a large following/reputation, quick turn around, and obviously great prices.

I build my own guns and have used hundred of barrels over the last 23 years of doing so. If it was me I'd stick to cut rifled barrels. In my experience the dud rate is lower with cut rifled barrels. I just built a couple of friends 2 300 Win Mags with Bartlein barrels on Remington actions. BTW Bartlein and Kreiger would be my choice for barrels. One was a heavy MTU contour barrel. The first 12 loads tried in the gun shot .186 to .550" at 100yds. These are random loads that he threw together to try in it and is a pretty good average for 12 groups. The other was a light weight #3 contour (the same as a #4 Kreiger) that just shot a sub 1" group at 300yds with Accubonds and shot sub 1/2" at 100yds. That is what I'd expect to see from a custom barreled rifle. Many heavy factory barreled Remington's will do that kind of accuracy at shorter ranges but have a tendency to fall apart at long ranges. With my personal rifles I rarely keep a gun if it won't shoot sub 3/8" 3 shot groups and most of mine are closer to 1/4" with a few under 1/4". Remington makes good guns but anymore I only buy them for the action since I rarely use factory calibers or SAAMI chambers.

Just my .02 that was actually free.

First off thanks for the info I have a actual direction to go now. If I replace the barrel and I am only using the action is there a difference between the long range action and the action off my sps, Just for cost saving would it make a difference?

 

[IdahoCTD]

The benefit to a Long Range is you get a decent stock in the B&C M-40 stock. The standard SPS is a piece of crap stock that MIGHT be worth 20.00 to someone. I have tons of them around here so if you find someone that needs some let me know. If you want to pick your own stock you can start with a SPS and still sell the barrel new for something. Just know that for less than 150.00 difference in the cost of the two you get a stock that sells for 250.00 on Stocky's Stocks. BTW you can buy the 700 Long range guns for 650ish, if you pay by cash or check, from Buds guns. You would have to pay a FFL transfer but you get out of paying sales tax. In the end it is still cheaper and they have a 35 or 40 dollar rebate on them.

Sorry I missed that you had a SPS. I thought you were starting from scratch. I read that after I typed the info above. Using your action would knock roughly 550.00 of the final number but you'd still need a stock. If you used the 550.00 for a stock you could end up with a pretty nice stock like a Mcmillan or Manners stock but they would need to be bedded, ie more $$$. The Long Range stock has a aluminum bedding block that doesn't "need" bedding but it's a good idea to skim bed it.

 

[B-P-UU]

Take IdahoCTD's advice on the rem 700 group buy over on sniper's hide - Give Long Rifles inc a call. I would use your rem action for the build. depending on your preference of stock and how heavy of barrel contour you want to go, either get a less expensive Bell & Carlson or HS precision stock from stocky's stocks, or if you're going a bit heavier build, take a look at the greybull precision stocks (made for a varmint contour barrel).

Option #2 - off the shelf in your price range, I'd look at Legendary Arms Works:
Legendary Arms Works - Handcrafted Custom Hunting Rifles - Closer, The Professional, The Big Five

 

[Trickymissfit]

I spent Christmas of 67 at the Rockpile. We could have met if you had made it.
33 or Tiger ****. Put you on your *** in a heartbeat. I bought a lot of it from the locals before we moved to the Rockpile. There were no friendlies at the Rockpile to buy it from. That was made clear in a short. 108 82's were sent by air mail shortly after arriving.

I brought nothing home from that place, not one picture or weapons, just my young ***. It was a bad dream better left behind for me. Still don't sleep well. PTSD they call it.

when I was posted a little south of Chu Lai, we'd get three or four mortar rounds a week and was terrified. Three months later we'd get a hundred and laugh it off.

We used to flow back to Chu Lai in between ops way out west. First thing you did was to head over to the PX, and it was like Moses parting the waves. We stunk that bad! Walk in there looking like Mexican bandits with belts and weapons hanging all over us. They had a great big MP at the door making everybody clear their weapons. I made the guy's eyeballs look like silver dollars once when I cleared a shotgun, and a buckshot round went bouncing around. Simply picked it up and reloaded it. First Sargent laughed and we went on. They burned our clothes! They'd get a doctor and a nurse to fix all the ring worm and boot sores. Get some teeth fixed, and get in a handful of FNG's. 72 hours later we could see Laos, and your stuff best be right.

when I returned thru Seattle (Ft. Lewis), we all had to go thru customs. I had two bags, and the guy chalked the "X" on the first one. Opened the second one and pulled out three large stacks on pictures. Set them aside and closed the bag. I could have brought home an AK and they didn't care!
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

morning, left in 66, phu kat. intelligence.

welcome home brother
gary

 

[Sargesniper]

welcome home brother
gary

No place like home! Thanks Gary.