Trued vs off the shelf Rem 700 Action

You have to keep in mind that what makes factory actions "inferior" to custom actions is quality control. Remington cranks out such a high volume of products compared to boutque custom rifle makers that they simply cannot build to such high tolerances and keep their prices low. That does not mean that a good portion of their products are not on the higher end of that curve. Here is where you may have to do the homework. Yes if you have the money and are sending the action out to a competent smith who does such things you may as well have him true the action while he is at it. If you are on a budget and trying to avoid such measures...IF the action is coming on a donor gun, take it out and shoot it, maybe even work up a hand load up for it if it makes sense for you, see what it can do. You may find the action is capable of the kind of accuracy you want already without having to be worked, many are. You may not be able to get it to shoot in which case you are out the cost of ammo and a range day but hey you got something out of the practice right?

A number of years ago I stumbled over a great deal on a model 700 at walmart, I still think they had it priced wrong. I jumped on it and bought the rifle planing to do a full custom build when I had the money. In the mean time I dropped it in a new stock and glass bedded it for the practice and wouldn't you know it the darn thing shot an easy half moa with hand loads. Factory everything but stock and scope. For the cost of the gun there just wasn't any incentive left to break it apart to build a full custom. My father has several factory model 700s that he built custom stocks for when he was in gunsmithing school and never bothered to do action work or rebarrel because they shot too well to put in the effort.
 
You have to keep in mind that what makes factory actions "inferior" to custom actions is quality control. Remington cranks out such a high volume of products compared to boutque custom rifle makers that they simply cannot build to such high tolerances and keep their prices low. That does not mean that a good portion of their products are not on the higher end of that curve. Here is where you may have to do the homework. Yes if you have the money and are sending the action out to a competent smith who does such things you may as well have him true the action while he is at it. If you are on a budget and trying to avoid such measures...IF the action is coming on a donor gun, take it out and shoot it, maybe even work up a hand load up for it if it makes sense for you, see what it can do. You may find the action is capable of the kind of accuracy you want already without having to be worked, many are. You may not be able to get it to shoot in which case you are out the cost of ammo and a range day but hey you got something out of the practice right?

A number of years ago I stumbled over a great deal on a model 700 at walmart, I still think they had it priced wrong. I jumped on it and bought the rifle planing to do a full custom build when I had the money. In the mean time I dropped it in a new stock and glass bedded it for the practice and wouldn't you know it the darn thing shot an easy half moa with hand loads. Factory everything but stock and scope. For the cost of the gun there just wasn't any incentive left to break it apart to build a full custom. My father has several factory model 700s that he built custom stocks for when he was in gunsmithing school and never bothered to do action work or rebarrel because they shot too well to put in the effort.
I had a Stiller action with a pacnor 300 win mag barrel on it. It shot my handloads into 1/2-3/4 inch clusters which I figured were good enough for my max distance of 600 yards. I've since then put a 338 edge barrel on the stiller which shoots 1/4" or less. I didn't like the pa nor laying on top of the safe so I ordered a stainless rem700 action for it. Assembled it into a B&C Alaskan ti stock. With the same exact handloads left over it's shooting 1 hole 1/4" groups I didn't even bother to bed it. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least!!!!
 
With the price of the cheaper custom actions it's not worth Truing up a remmy. If you can buy a custom for 700 to 750 it's the same cost of a trued remmy. When the only customs were 1200 to 1400 bucks a trued remmy made sense. Good news is if you have a remmy 700 just put a good barrel on it and it will shoot great. But the new actions in the 700 dollar range are a good deal. I'm using a gunwerks lower cost action now and it is nice for the 650 I paid for it. I bought it on the promo when they first came out. I really like the bordins but I can personally build 3 remmys for the same cost.
Shep
 
Every option is $675 plus the cost of your M700 action. Still cheaper than a TL3 but I don't know if it would be as good? Between that and a Orgin it's a no brainer, Orgin!
 
Brant,

Seeing you are going to use the Remage barrel nut approach you will be able to headspace easily. Why not shoot it without blueprinting and then have the action blueprinted and report back to us with the results?
 
Brant,

Seeing you are going to use the Remage barrel nut approach you will be able to headspace easily. Why not shoot it without blueprinting and then have the action blueprinted and report back to us with the results?
This sounds like a good plan. Depending on work and if I get to continue to work from home in May. Will be at least then before I can buy anything.
 
You have to keep in mind that what makes factory actions "inferior" to custom actions is quality control. Remington cranks out such a high volume of products compared to boutque custom rifle makers that they simply cannot build to such high tolerances and keep their prices low. That does not mean that a good portion of their products are not on the higher end of that curve. Here is where you may have to do the homework. Yes if you have the money and are sending the action out to a competent smith who does such things you may as well have him true the action while he is at it. If you are on a budget and trying to avoid such measures...IF the action is coming on a donor gun, take it out and shoot it, maybe even work up a hand load up for it if it makes sense for you, see what it can do. You may find the action is capable of the kind of accuracy you want already without having to be worked, many are. You may not be able to get it to shoot in which case you are out the cost of ammo and a range day but hey you got something out of the practice right?

A number of years ago I stumbled over a great deal on a model 700 at walmart, I still think they had it priced wrong. I jumped on it and bought the rifle planing to do a full custom build when I had the money. In the mean time I dropped it in a new stock and glass bedded it for the practice and wouldn't you know it the darn thing shot an easy half moa with hand loads. Factory everything but stock and scope. For the cost of the gun there just wasn't any incentive left to break it apart to build a full custom. My father has several factory model 700s that he built custom stocks for when he was in gunsmithing school and never bothered to do action work or rebarrel because they shot too well to put in the effort.
I've tried several M700 actions and I have found that older actions needed more work than the newer ones. Some of the older bolt lugs would sometimes take more than 45 minutes to lap into the reciever, where as I could lap a new action in less than 15 minutes. Also the reciever faces need very little the be machined off, as on the older actions much more. Quality control has definately improved.
 
Some would definitely argue that qc at remington sucks. I still love 700s but I like the older ones with the 2 screws in side of receiver best.
Shep
 
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