Re: Good Beginner's rifle
Ok, perhaps I worded it a bit harshly.
1) Remingtons QC has fell quite badly over the last 10 years or so. Honestly, ask any good gun smith. They will usually tell you that if you already own a 700, fine lets do it. If you do not own one already, and plan to build Some Thing For LR, please consider any one of a number of custom actions.
2) Another fact is I HAVE seen 1 remington bolt hand break off (they are silver soldered onto the bolt) when A guy was shooting factory ammo on a very hot day, he tried to forcefully open the bolt and eject the case. I swore them off That Day.
3) It is a fact that the Military sniper systems based off Remington are NOT the same as we can buy. You can have made similar, but not the same. Just take a look at the new 300wm Mil Spec ammo, the specified COAL is longer than a standard Rem LA will allow. Now, the new bolts are a 1 piece forged unit provided by PT&G, I talked to Dave Kiff one day and it happened to come up.
I am not a fanboi of any kind, unless you count Longish Range shooting itself. Who MFG a stick counts less for me than how well it performs, and how durable it will be under long term field usage. When Remingtons QC comes up, I will reconsider, if that includes a forged or other wise rugedized bolt, then I will seriously re-consider.
In the mean time, if I want Remington TYPE, it will be a custom action that comes with a forged 1 piece bolt tyvm. I have pounded the ever lovin shit out of my Savage a couple times when I got stoopid trying out MagPro powder on a DAMN hot day, when I left my ammo in the sun too long. I didn't get the case out when the bolt came open, but I did not break my bolt handle off either!
Savage is better than Remington in my humble opinion, and American Made. If you look on here and other reputable site's you will see a whole lot of folks beginning to shoot savage, or already shooting them. Are they perfect? NOPE! But by design they are meant to shoot good, and be reasonably durable.
I also Really Like the FN series. Those are some durable sticks, that shoot pretty dang good! Then again, you pay for that upfront too. Hey, quality don't come cheap.
Now, if you look up Roedale Precision you will see a GS that is well regarded here, and he will tell you straight up he prefers Howa. Are they perfect? NOPE! But they do have a solid 1 piece bolt that wont break off on you! They also have quite a few other design choices / features that make them better by desgin than your average Remington. Facts.
Have a good one,
Gary