Trued Rem 700 or Go Custom?

[dkhunt14]

I wouldn't do a rem without a Sako Extractor. If I am on an expensive trip away from home I want to know it is going to work. Second off most gunsmiths I know charge 200 to 300 just to bed. Your prices I believe are too low. Of course I don't build a gun unless it is pillar bedded. Also prefer a wood laminated stock. You can't count bedding anyhow in the price of an action. I build all my guns to benchrest specs. If you price a used gun in a Rem actioned custom I can buy for 800 and up. If you buy a Bat actioned gun or other custom it will be from 2200 and up. Which one held its value better for money invested. There isn't 1400 hundred dollar difference in the action. But most of my guns will shoot 10 shots at 1000 yards in 4 to 5 inches. Matt

 

[AZShooter]

Mudrunner and I are doing the similar things. I have found that most factory Remingtons shoot very accurately with minimal work.

Last year a friend sold me a new BDL in 300 win mag that his friend won as a NRA door prize. I got it for $300! I pulled that barrel and put on a takeoff 7 rem mag barrel instead. The Tupperware stock had to go and as I was doing this one as inexpensively as possible I bought a Boyd's tacticool stock for $125 shipped. I didn't even bed it just torqued the stock to 35 in/lb rear and 40 in/lb front and fully floated the barrel. Unfortunately the extractor didn't work properly (it was mentioned many of the magnum bolt faces have issues) had a sako extractor installed. Also added a timney as the original trigger was a recall. I put a picatinny on it with a Leupold. It shoots very accurately. In fact I shot it the last three weeks with just a few shots per visit. All three groups placed on top of one another are under 1/2 MOA.

I found a SA BDL 700 on sale at Walmart two years ago. With the scope it was $349. Sold the scope for $20. I pulled the 7-08 barrel and replaced it with a 243 takeoff I rechambered to 6mm-284. It shot tiny clusters at 100 in the factory injection molded stock after barrel was full floated. I liked the tacticool stock so much that I got one for this package. No bedding and barrel full floated.

I spent $575 on the LA magnum and $515 on the SA without the cost of the scopes. Sure I did my own barrel swaps as well as any chambering. This is inexpensive yet quite accurate. I will be hunting coues wt with the 7 mag this year.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

I agree with dkhunt

Sako extractor is a big +, i also really like the side bolt release offered on most custom actions. Plus their timing and ease of battery, custom actions are well worth the money.

Like i said earlier my accuracy with both is pretty equal, and if i had a rem action laying around, or a win mod 70 i would definitely true it up and use it. I would also have a sako extractor put in and have the bolt face bushed.

If i were gonna buy an action from scratch it would be a custom, unless maybe i knew someone who would sell them to me real cheap like mudrunner. That would maybe be enough to sway me.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I wouldn't do a rem without a Sako Extractor. If I am on an expensive trip away from home I want to know it is going to work. Second off most gunsmiths I know charge 200 to 300 just to bed. Your prices I believe are too low. Of course I don't build a gun unless it is pillar bedded. Also prefer a wood laminated stock. You can't count bedding anyhow in the price of an action. I build all my guns to benchrest specs. If you price a used gun in a Rem actioned custom I can buy for 800 and up. If you buy a Bat actioned gun or other custom it will be from 2200 and up. Which one held its value better for money invested. There isn't 1400 hundred dollar difference in the action. But most of my guns will shoot 10 shots at 1000 yards in 4 to 5 inches. Matt

I have a factory Remington 700 5R Milspec .308 that shoots .3 MOA groups with my handloads and Berger 210 VLD's.... I paid $1,100 for it brand new and have never done anything but a recent trigger swap and tune. It's not even bedded. It also has a cheap Konus M-30 8.5-32x52 scope on top of it.

The point of my story, is that you don't have to have $6,500+ in a custom-built rifle & NF/SB/March scope combo that will shoot lights-out.

And retail value doesn't mean crap to people like me, who actually COLLECT guns, instead of selling them when we're done with them...

 

[bigngreen]

I have a factory Remington 700 5R Milspec .308 that shoots .3 MOA groups with my handloads and Berger 210 VLD's....

At what range?

 

[MudRunner2005]

At what range?

100 yards. It's the only range I have remotely near my house. We don't have a 500 or 1K range around here for the public to use. I have to travel to go shoot 1K, or setup my own at my buddy's land. But we rarely get to go out there, especially now with deer season around the corner...Which, unfortunately for me, is when I like shooting, if I i'm not in the woods hunting, because it's not hot. Summertime here is entirely too miserable to do anything outside, that is unnecessary.

The local police do, I might can see if I can roll out there with one of my buddies that are cops and see if I can test it out at 1K.

 

[dkhunt14]

If somebody asks the question, which is better a trued Rem, or a custom. All I did was answer the truth. I told the reasons the custom is better. You can't count the scope in the price. Besides I get most of my Nightforces free. I don't have any where near that kind of money in my guns. If you read and saw the pictures of my hunting gun you would see how much money I have in some. I would like to see them 10 shot groups under .3 MOA. I have shot a lot of 5 shot groups at 100 in the .080 to .100 range. I am not here to fight, I just told the facts. I have trued Rems. and none of them shoot like my Bats. Matt

 

[MudRunner2005]

If somebody asks the question, which is better a trued Rem, or a custom. All I did was answer the truth. I told the reasons the custom is better. You can't count the scope in the price. Besides I get most of my Nightforces free. I don't have any where near that kind of money in my guns. If you read and saw the pictures of my hunting gun you would see how much money I have in some. I would like to see them 10 shot groups under .3 MOA. I have shot a lot of 5 shot groups at 100 in the .080 to .100 range. I am not here to fight, I just told the facts. I have trued Rems. and none of them shoot like my Bats. Matt

I never said 10-shot .3" groups... So let's not put words in my mouth.

But I do have a 24-shot 1.281" group at 100 that was a hot-lap with no breaks...Oh, and with several witnesses.

Not everyone can afford BATs, and not everyone can afford NF's. Some of us just do what we can, with what we can get.

 

[waspocrew]

I definitely appreciate all of the great responses! Plenty of food for thought, that's for sure. I'd like to be able to hang on to all my rifles, but don't have the funds to keep adding on to my collection, so I'm willing to let a couple go, so I can go forward with the build (and stay a married man haha). For me, the 6.5 Sherman would be a do all rifle - hunting and long range targets.

Sounds like I've got some more thinking to do!

 

[brentc]

If this was the case the 1000 yard Br guys would do it. Almost all the actions are custom even the heavy guns where the barrel is glued in a block and not supported by an action. The bolt opening and closing is a lot better with most customs. Not to mention they don't have the big opening cut into the top of them so they have a lot more support to hang a barrel on. Matt

Not arguing. Rem 700s have a list of down sides that you don't have to deal with on a custom. I was just throwing it out there because a lot of guys have excellent success with minimal or no truing.

I'm not arguing in favor of Remington here, I'm just pointing out the facts. Barrel quality carries the majority of accuracy potential in a rifle no matter what action it's attached to. Thousands can attest to this, even the benchrest crowd. Some of the most reputable long range hunting rifles ever developed were based off Remington actions with premium barrels attached to them.

 

[Korhil78]

Its pretty simple. If you don't have the money to go custom and you already have an action sitting around, use that action.

If you don't have an action already, I would go custom. I did and it is a sweet shooting rig.

There is no doubt that when you go with a custom action that pound for pound the custom action is going to win out everytime.

 

[HarryN]

I have never sold a gun, but if I were buying a used rifle built on:
a) Factory action - but fixed up by a smith
b) Brand name after market action

I would personally feel better about buying the after market action version for a premium price, but I would not pay a premium for a fixed up Remington. It is like over improving your house in a neighborhood. It is great you, but don't expect the resale market to support it.

If it were a Weatherby Mark V, that might be different.

I might be the wrong person to ask about lookie-loo wood. I was very happy when I bought what (in my eyes) was a really nice gun + stock. After about 4 -5 trips I managed to slide down a hillside in OR and it now has scratches that match the scars on my arms. Still shoots the same as far as I can tell. I still like to look at a rifle with a pretty wood stock, but I would be afraid to carry artwork into the woods.