Remington 700 quality

Would you buy a Rem 700

  • Yes

    Votes: 555 74.5%
  • No

    Votes: 190 25.5%

  • Total voters
    745

wasgas

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
228
What has happened to the Remington 700? Are they junk, has their quality gone down, or has everyone else become better?



I have always considered the 700 to be my favorite rifle but the last few years I don't see to many that I would buy or even like. My last few rifles have been Savage and Browning, I hope Remington gets it together before it's to late. I have shopped and looked at many of their rifles, the only current models I seem to like are the CDL, most of them seem to have cheap stocks, and even the floor plates dont line up.
 
I wouldn't say that the Rem's are junk but for me I always seem to be spending money to upgrade them into custom rifles. So I am at a point where I will just start with a custom action and build from there.
 
I would never say Remington's are junk. They have a long history of quality over the years. Anytime you have competition in any industry, that requires the manufactures to either step up their game or be left behind. I think that's what you see in the firearm industry. Remington, Browning, Savage and all the others are pushing to be the best, and the competition is fierce. The good part of all of this is that the customer almost always wins in these situations. We see the end results and get to have fun shooting them.

As for your question about purchasing a Remington. The last three bolt guns have been Remington 700's. The VS in .308, SPS in .243 and BDL in 30-06.

Jim
 
I have a small fleet of 700's. Most of them made in the last 5 years. I would disagree with "junk". I have noted that all manufacturers are are, while making great rifles, are cheaping out in certain areas. My SPS and VSF had the "tupperware" stocks on them, that part of those rifles were junk. That being said, the stock on my LSS is amazing, fits nice and feels great. I just switched out the stocks on the others. My buddy just bought a vanguard, same cheap stock.
 
All i own is Remington. I do have one Ruger 77/17 which doesn't shoot that well. I will keep buying Remington's or their actions for a custom builds.

Jason
 
I think a lot of what you see as well is all of the manufacuers trying to get the most bang for your buck, so yeah they are going to put the most cost effective components on the gun that they can get away with. It's all about them making money, and to make money, they have to sell guns. To sell them, they have to make them affordable.
 
Bought my 1st 700 in 1968. Today my rifle collection contains Weatherby's, Sako's Savage, Winchester's and Remington's. I have over 20 Remingtons in this collection. They are still my goto rifle's unless I am comp. shooting and then a go to my customs. By the way. I still have that 1st Remmy. It's a 700 BDL 7mm Mag. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I do not buy Remington Rifles, their quality does not fit my standards and getting a mass produced rifle trued and fitted with a custom barrel and high quality stock costs about the same as getting a rifle build by my prefered gunsmith.
But with a SPS selling for about 1000$ and a Sendero II selling for 2500$, this is no surprise.
 
Heck! I have a few Remingtons from WW2 and they just work fine.
I have more Remingtons than any rifles in my safe.
I just finised a 03A3 Remington built in 1945 I have a new barrel and tricked it out
My Brother took it north to one of the farmes we hunt and was killing cans at 400 yard,
He also made orange discks on a piece of rebar and was killing them at 500 yards.
 
I have owned more rifles than I can recall over the years, I guess a gun has to be very exceptional for me to get all sappy and develope an emotional attatchment to it. No remington that I have ever owned was up to the task in the accuracy department and I even tried the senderos and the light varmint rifles. Every Remington that I have ever fired was at best a one MOA rifle after bedding, trigger work, etc.
The best rifle that I have ever owned was a winchester in .300 win. right out of the box it was a consistent half MOA rifle. The second best was a savage laminate stocked .270. Again it was a half MOA rifle, but it just didn't have the feel that the winchester had.
I just cannot bring myself to buy another remington when I have always been left with buyers remorse after shooting them.
 
I have yet to find a remington 700 that shoots as good as its price point. I have even had senderos and light varmints and none of them shot under 1 MOA with handloads, bedding, trigger work, etc.. I have had winchesters and savage rifles that would shoot half MOA right out of the box using factory ammunition.

I just cannot bring myself to buy another remington after having been so thoroughly disappointed so many times before. The last one I bought was $1050 for the gun and after topping it with quality glass and having about another $1000 in work performed on it, it would shoot fair (right at one MOA), but it would not feed the last round into the chamber and no one could figure it out.
 
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The last four 700's I bought over the years were specials. Three Mil Spects, and the commemorative M40 Scout Sniper rifle, Viet Nam era. One of the Mil Specs wouldn't shoot, the other two were excellent. I was going to just keep the M40 as a collector, but couldn't resist the temptation to shoot it. What a surprise. It consistently keeps 5 shots under an inch at 300 yards with 168 SMK's. They must have paid some attention to the barrel. I suspect it was made in the custom shop. The steel butt plate will kill you. I bought it when you could get them for $900. Now you can't touch them for under $2500. It's plain as hell, but with a period 3-9 Redfield on it, it's my favorite Remington. Generally, the new 700's are not as nice as the older ones. I wouldn't buy a new one. I would stick a barrel on an older action.
 
My experience with Remington rifles and shotguns extends to those I have owned in my lifetime; more than 20 now. Most were bought new; the first an 870 in 1978. Several were second hand; two of these being 700's early to mid 60's vintage and one is a 1950's model 760. I have bought 3 700's in the past 4 years; a CDL in 3006, a 7mm Mag SPS, and the newest, a VSSF II chambered in .223. More on these 3 in a bit. Additionally, I cannot count how many I've helped mount a scope on and/or sight in.

The problem with today's Remington product is they spend waaaaay too much time on how the outside looks and almost nothing on what you cannot see inside. They spend a small fortune on marketing and gimmicks. By marketing i'm talking about their TV adds and the like. By gimmicks I'm talking about stuff like that triangled barrel they put on some of their 700's. How many of the gun builders here on LRH build their custom guns with a triangle barrel. I would think it is between slim and none. .... and slim just ran out the door. None of this stuff actually contributes anything to the performance of the product.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Remington like so many other companys is now part of some conglomerate. To make a long story short, the accountants and lawyers run the show today. They only look to turn a profit for the stockholders and stay out of court. Cuts here and there will save X amount of money this quarter and we'll worry about side steping the consequences next quarter. The engineers, tool and die makes, the gunsmiths and machinists who still work there are probably made to feel lucky to have a job at all. Those are the guys that have x amount of time to produce a part or produce an assembly. The accountants and lawyers haven't a clue about the product - they just appease the stockholders.

As for those 3 model 700's I mentioned earlier, my experience with them and one in particular, may offer some proof to my earlier statement about external looks vs internal quality. The 3006 and the 7mm were nothing spectacular. The CDL has a pretty piece of wood fo a stock. My wife liked it in the store. It'll shoot just under a MOA in the best conditions. The 7mm was bought for the action and has since been reworked. More on this gun another time. The .223 VSSF II according to their advertising was supposed to be one of their top quality rifles. It was not.

It wouldn't hold 1 MOA at 100yds with Remington ammo out of the box. My reloads were only slightly better. The bolt and firing pin had fit issues. I debated with myself on whether or not to return it to the factory. I didn't. Instead, a local smith made repairs at a modest price. I didn't want to waste the time shipping it back and forth just to have them tell me nothing was wrong and replace the trigger because I adjusted it. Fixing the bolt got me to just under 1 MOA. Then, just for giggles, I had a Tubb Shooting Systems firelapping kit. Oh heck, it's not like I'm going to hurt it. I firelapped the barrel. That made the difference - sub 1/2 MOA. The target in my signature below is 6 rounds at 125 yards. The first round is high. then 4 more that I couldn't see in the black so I held on the left edge. I'm not a machinist and only a half fast home gunsmith. I had to do the kind of work that should have been done at the factory. The gun is stock except for the firing pin and spring were replaced with aftermarket and I put one of my Jewell triggers in. Do you think a 7 1/2 pound factory Xmark trigger is too much? It felt like it was full of sand too. In spite of all this, today, it is one of my favorite rifles to shoot.


Sorry for ranting and rambling but Remington needs to look in the mirror. I'll probably not buy their guns again. At least not new. But now I'll go into it knowing what to expect. Those older rifles and shotguns have their issues too but for the most part, that is on the outside. That 870 and the 760 are the smoothest pump actions I have. Age and lots of use may be a factor. That 1963 model 700 has never been to a gunsmith and has the smoothest bolt that locks up square. Those old guns just have lots of character now and they put the first shot on target every time.

If one want's to see how a gun company can turn around, just look at Savage. If someone on here on LRH works for Remington, take this back to your boardroom. They won't care until they learn about losing customers faster than they gain them. They're just looking to turn a profit that beats last quarter.
 
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