Re: custom action over bluprinted remington 700?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 300sniper</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RyanScott</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The metallurgy/hardening is better, and you don't have to cut through the surface of the action to work on it, because it is already done.
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really? do you have some proof of this? i'd bet many, if not all of the aftermarket action manufactures rough out the receiver, then heat treat and then do the final machining. remington 700's aren't case hardened. when truing one, you aren't doing anything that an aftermarket action manufacture isn't doing on finish machining. </div></div>
I do, actually. Here's what I have from running the metallurgy tests on Remington steels, talking to manufacturers making the customs, touring the Remington plant and watching the raws in a couple of the shops actually making the custom actions.
1) Remingtons are thru hardened, not cased
2) Remingtons are completely machined and then heat treated. This is telltale from the fact that many are U shaped.
3) The "crookedness" of the Remington's is due to the process and how to make the rifle in an economical manner. I've heard the comment from an extremely good rifle smith say "The Remington is a K-mart version of the Mauser 98." I'm going to leave his name out of it, however his work is known on this site and many others. I don't disagree with him.
4) I've seen where a number of the custom actions come from when touring a couple of shops. The material is pre-hard almost exclusively. With modern equipment and carbide tooling it is not only more effective to put out a higher quality product cutting things one time as well as not difficult to cut the steels associated with rifle actions using such carbide tooling.
Exceptions to this come in the form of certain case hardening materials that once hardened require diamond or abrasive methods (grinding) to cut them. The applications of the certain materials that I have in mind, and which are used sparingly in the custom action world happens on small parts and things that are easily setup for post work in small/fast CNC equipment.
My feeling is this:
The Remington action as a base action is good to start with. If you have it already and you don't want to sell it off for whatever reason you will still have an excellent rifle to work with.
Taking that action, with an avg. market value of appx. $400 and then truing it (~$200), adding a side bolt release (~$100), pinning the recoil lug (~$75), truing and oversizing the scope base holes (~$75), upgrading the extractor (~$100) and retiming the handle and welding on a new threaded handle/knob (~$125) and adding an aftermarket recoil lug (~$25-35) puts you at over $1000 invested in the action. Let's skip the fluted bolts for now since that's usually an option for custom makers.
It is now slicked up and has many of the features that other custom makers advertise. It will also shoot extraordinarily well and you'll have a rifle to be proud of.
Down the road you attempt to sell it. All that extra work that you paid $600+ for is worth $0.50 on the dollar give or take a little.
If you are considering going "whole hog" on the truing and upgrades then just sell the Remington to someone who isn't going to do all that and save your pennies to buy a custom action with all the bells and whistles at the start.
If you just want the tenon and bolt head trued with a new barrel installed then it is still worth it to stick with the Remington (or just about any other factory action for that matter).
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i don't think you proved anything that he stated is true. when we put our tooling to a remington 700 to true it up, we aren't doing anything that an aftermarket action manufacture isn't doing on final finish machining. it doesn't really matter if a aftermarket action manufacture starts with pre-hard or not.