The majority of my bolt actions are Howa’s. Most with aftermarket barrels. I’ve got a couple of older Remington 788’s. I grew up shooting a 788 so they have a sweet spot. I do have a Bergara HMR pro which I believe is a 700 clone. But no 700’s. But I have an itch for a 700. Will probably get sent to Beanland.
Do I need a 700 in my arsenal.
- Thread starter mheimer_45
- Start date
If you have the itch, it will most likely get scratched. You want an honest REM 700 or custom clone? Idea of what caliber you need to punish what ever needs killing?
No idea of caliber. Have 308’s 6.5 creeds, 223’s, 22-250, 22 and 6 arc’s. Maybe a .243. I just sold a .243 Ruger American varmint I never shot.
Everyone needs to have at least one, or have had one. I am sure there are faster ways to go mad, but probably not much ( I only have 2 
)
)I would prefer a varmint contour barrel. 20-22”. Would stock aics mag sticking out the bottom. Who is my go too?
I wouldn’t get an actual REM 700 especially with the good custom actions out now that will take shouldered prefit barrels and be able to change barrels and bolt faces at home. If you are already talking about sending it out to get the turd polished then save yourself some hassle and buy a different action.
Then who do you suggest? I’ve looked at the CDG but at twice the price of a factory remmy action. I’ve got no interest to change barrels or bolts.
Yeah I know but they sell a ton of them. But cool, Origen action and check out Bugholes, TS Custom, PVA or one of the fine supporters here, pick your barrel and get what you want fairly quick.
You think it’s twice the price until you take that $450 factory 700 and send it to a smith to have it trued, recoil lug pinned, bolt handle done and scope base holes trued and opened and then you are another $400 into the turd to make it $850 when you could have bought a custom for $900. Your money but buying a 700 now and putting any money into it is a big mistake IMHO.
If you don’t have a need to change barrels or bolt faces then you must not shoot a lot as if you do you will want to and it will save you money down the road. It will also save you money if you wanted to try a new caliber you just need to change the barrel and maybe a bolt face and not get a new scope and rifle. It’s more of a long term way to look at it.
You want a 700 action, but are going to limit yourself to just one barrel at a time that needs gunsmith fitting?
Not a problem. But... by the time you work a factory 700 into something that feels good and is worth the investment of a good, aftermarket barrel - you will be out as much as a lot of the 700 clone actions cost, and without as many features.
If you just want a factory 700 rifle, then just get one. Usually with bedding and a trigger upgrade they'll shoot pretty decently. However, a pinnacle of modern factory firearms it is not.
This ^^^^^
If you want to scratch an itch and stay factory then tikka CTR all day
Otherwise no way I’d buy a R700 factory rifle especially if I was planning to send to custom shop anyways
Scratch that itch back to 2005 where it belongs
Do you really need a standard 700 in your arsenal if you already have other basic bolt guns that do the same thing? Especially since it sounds like you don't even know what specific role it is meant to fill..
Idk, sounds like this itch might be an STD.
Idk, sounds like this itch might be an STD.
Mike uses factory receivers because he trusts them and knows how to make them Great. He totally overhauls them. Money is not a factor in his decision.
Comparing an off the shelf R700 to a tac ops is like buying a Chevy impala because you see a Chevy symbol while watching nascar
Then you don't need a 700. I have 5 m70/spr rifles and never had the itch for a 700. I think the spr is a much superior rifle. I'll buy it off you if you don't want it lol.
If you really want a 700, get one. And then after shooting it, tinkering and so on, report back. You'll eventually either send it to Tac OP's or GAP and love it upon return, or go down a rabbit hole chasing accuracy, consistency and parts and start wondering why you're throwing money at it.
If it was 2005 I would say get one, you'll love it out of the box. But 20 years later, I honestly cannot recommend one unless you're planning a full custom of some variety. And even then, the custom actions we have today open up more possibilities and long term cost savings.
All of that said, I understand having an itch for a new rifle and no matter what anyone tells you, nothing will scratch the itch until you throw down the cash and get it.
If it was 2005 I would say get one, you'll love it out of the box. But 20 years later, I honestly cannot recommend one unless you're planning a full custom of some variety. And even then, the custom actions we have today open up more possibilities and long term cost savings.
All of that said, I understand having an itch for a new rifle and no matter what anyone tells you, nothing will scratch the itch until you throw down the cash and get it.
Are you interesting in taking the good advice provided in this thread? Or are you just going to keep arguing with everyone?
I have 5 700 rifles and one built on an origin action.
Does the origin do anything better than my 700's?
No.
Can I buy rem-age barrels if I wanted to for my remingtons?
Yes.
Is a shouldered prefit more accurate then an adjustable shoulder barrel ( rem-age).
No.
Is my origin a better action than my 700's?
Yes, without a doubt.
All of my 700's are trued, side bolt release and tac knobs installed.
Cheaper to get the origin, the machining, fit and finish are better.
If you want to pinch pennies, get a Weatherby 307 action. 700 footprint, 700 tenon specs, side bolt release and m16 style extractor.
Does the origin do anything better than my 700's?
No.
Can I buy rem-age barrels if I wanted to for my remingtons?
Yes.
Is a shouldered prefit more accurate then an adjustable shoulder barrel ( rem-age).
No.
Is my origin a better action than my 700's?
Yes, without a doubt.
All of my 700's are trued, side bolt release and tac knobs installed.
Cheaper to get the origin, the machining, fit and finish are better.
If you want to pinch pennies, get a Weatherby 307 action. 700 footprint, 700 tenon specs, side bolt release and m16 style extractor.
I have 5 700 rifles and one built on an origin action.
Does the origin do anything better than my 700's?
No.
Does the origin do anything better than my 700's?
No.
You’re right I don’t shoot a lot. I’ve got 2 dozen bolt actions and maybe shoot 1 a year.
Easy barrel switching for the win, even if you don't shoot much. Nice to have the option of prefits etc.
Rob is right on.
Rob is right on.
So I guess that means he has at least 11 howas...maybe more if you factor in his 788s.
Damn...no wonder they're out of stock
Because his main clients are LE, which in a lot of cases require the use of the R700 action.
But Mike does an incredible amount of work to that R700 action, it's not at all comparable to an off the shelf R700 at all.
Poorly written on my part, I have 5 rifles built on 700 actions and 1 rifle built on an origin action. Didn't think it would be that hard to understand.
I am guessing he was trying to quote fdkay’s post to try and make a point against my post. If that was the intent he missed the point completely.
- Nov 3, 2010
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Yes I screwed that up majorly. I’m more of a half assed collector than anything. So all you guys posting have had 700’s and thought they had problems? Besides the nut behind the bolt. What about the Remington custom shop 700’s. Are they any better?
It’s not that they had problems that couldn’t be worked out by a smith but there lies the extra cost. In today’s market it’s like buying a beater car with 50s tech and expecting it to be as good as a new one. Can you make it work? Sure. I wouldn’t recommend one to someone wanting to use the rifle but if you want to just collect then that’s up to you.
I have had multiple 700s over the years and have only one now as it’s my original I bought and used in matches for years and it’s on its 9th .308 barrel. I keep it for sentimental reasons only. When I go to buy a new action I wouldn’t even think about a 700 unless you just want a cheap beater.
The title of you post “Do I NEED…” everyone is trying to tell you no. There are far superior 700 clone actions out there, especially if you're going to send it off to Beanland. You'd be money way ahead if you went with any of the affordable options on the market today.
Now if you WANT one, go nuts. We don't give a fuck how you spend your money.
The exception is something special, like Tac-ops, but those aren’t really 700’s anymore after Mike puts his special sauce into one.
A factory 700 isn’t any better than your current howa 1500s. Aside from aftermarket options, one could make a compelling case that the howa is a superior action to a rem700.
Both become less appealing than starting with a solid custom action though if you are going to be changing parts away from factory anyways. It’s the foundation of your build, make it solid. A factory rem700 that likely doesn’t have any primary extraction and a ton of cock on close is not what I would consider a solid foundation.
This. I currently have 3. One is my first BR gun worked over and tuned by master br smith Speedy Gonzales. Second is my TacOps worked over by Master Smith Mike. And Factory stock 308 piece of crap that sits in the back of my safe as it won’t shoot a 5” group at 100yrds.
Just saying they can be made to be excellent but it takes more money on average than they are worth.
Just saying they can be made to be excellent but it takes more money on average than they are worth.
Classic AF! Probably have one just to have one. If it's a 1 rifle collection I'd probably pass. Some of my smoothest actions are 700s. Several barrels have been on it so don't expect that from the start
I can't help but feel like some tape and a sharpie would solve OP's issue here.
Maybe a label maker if he is feeling classy.
The only reason I can see for a R700 with all the options available today is if you are building an M40 or M24 clone. That's what I did and its the only reason I own one. Even kept the OEM trigger. I thought the M700 was the pinnacle of bolt action rifles because of the venerable old M40A1. Then I shot an FN SPR and thought: this is what the M40 should have be built on.
Or unless you have nostalgia for a classic deer rifle like a Remington 700 BDL. I love it's classic looks, but I'll never buy one unless it's a vintage make, a deal that I cannot pass up and just falls into my lap. I will not go shop for or pursue one.
As a basis for a modern, custom build, no.
AG
Or unless you have nostalgia for a classic deer rifle like a Remington 700 BDL. I love it's classic looks, but I'll never buy one unless it's a vintage make, a deal that I cannot pass up and just falls into my lap. I will not go shop for or pursue one.
As a basis for a modern, custom build, no.
AG
I've trued a bunch of 700s over the past 20yrs - quite a few for myself, the rest for customers. But when custom clone actions became available for under $900, my attitude changed. The last bare 700 action I bought sat in the safe for about 3yrs, and by the time I'd made up my mind what I was going to build on it, Remington had gone tits-up, and I couldn't even find the bolt stop or sping.
I'd ordered in a custom bolt with a 223 boltface, spec'd body dia at .700", mini 16 extractor, and .061" firing pin hole, so bought a complete striker assembly for it. The lack of a bolt stop was still an issue, but when I found that LRI had developed their own custom bolt stop, I decided to take the easy way out and just send the action to Chad.
While I was talking with the LRI sales person on the phone, I asked about dealer pricing for the full action truing and bolt fitting - I'd watched the video online of Chad's new 5-axis machine doing the whole job, and was fascinated with it. Since I had pretty well decided that this was going to be the last 700 action for myself, I decided why not have them do the truing, as well as fitting the custom bolt (after spiral fluting it)? So when the action came back, I spent a good deal of time just enjoying looking at it, and all the work they'd done to it. Yes, the custom side-mounted bolt stop works pretty slick & looks at least as nice as any I've seen on many different custom actions. But they also asked if I was going to CeraKote the action & bolt while taking the order for the work, so they could adjust the bolt bore of the action to make sure it would work well with the coating. And after I'd gotten the bbl done for it, and then CeraKoted the complete bbl'd action with Armor Black, it ran very slick. So now, it's one of my favorite rifles, with a 1-9tw Bartlein 20cal bbl that I chambered in 20 Tactical, in a McMillan Game Scout stock in McWoody gel coat finish. This was more-or-less a special rifle that I put together for myself, and I had a great time placing the order for the machine work on the action & bolt, as well as a great time admiring that machine work when it came back - just a treat for myself, with no need to justify spending as much on it as if I'd bought a Zermatt Origin instead (which is what I did the next time I did a rifle project for myself).
And today, if a customer walked in with a request for a rifle build, I'd definitely recommend a custom action. And if the guy (or gal) had a 700 action that he or she wanted to build the rifle on, I'd just tell them that it was going to be sent off to LRI for most of the work, and that it was going to wind up costing them as much as an Origin or other 700 clone. Of course, they can always decide just to have me put a custom barrel on the action without truing it....
I'd ordered in a custom bolt with a 223 boltface, spec'd body dia at .700", mini 16 extractor, and .061" firing pin hole, so bought a complete striker assembly for it. The lack of a bolt stop was still an issue, but when I found that LRI had developed their own custom bolt stop, I decided to take the easy way out and just send the action to Chad.
While I was talking with the LRI sales person on the phone, I asked about dealer pricing for the full action truing and bolt fitting - I'd watched the video online of Chad's new 5-axis machine doing the whole job, and was fascinated with it. Since I had pretty well decided that this was going to be the last 700 action for myself, I decided why not have them do the truing, as well as fitting the custom bolt (after spiral fluting it)? So when the action came back, I spent a good deal of time just enjoying looking at it, and all the work they'd done to it. Yes, the custom side-mounted bolt stop works pretty slick & looks at least as nice as any I've seen on many different custom actions. But they also asked if I was going to CeraKote the action & bolt while taking the order for the work, so they could adjust the bolt bore of the action to make sure it would work well with the coating. And after I'd gotten the bbl done for it, and then CeraKoted the complete bbl'd action with Armor Black, it ran very slick. So now, it's one of my favorite rifles, with a 1-9tw Bartlein 20cal bbl that I chambered in 20 Tactical, in a McMillan Game Scout stock in McWoody gel coat finish. This was more-or-less a special rifle that I put together for myself, and I had a great time placing the order for the machine work on the action & bolt, as well as a great time admiring that machine work when it came back - just a treat for myself, with no need to justify spending as much on it as if I'd bought a Zermatt Origin instead (which is what I did the next time I did a rifle project for myself).
And today, if a customer walked in with a request for a rifle build, I'd definitely recommend a custom action. And if the guy (or gal) had a 700 action that he or she wanted to build the rifle on, I'd just tell them that it was going to be sent off to LRI for most of the work, and that it was going to wind up costing them as much as an Origin or other 700 clone. Of course, they can always decide just to have me put a custom barrel on the action without truing it....
