Remington 700 Custom Shop M40ish ID help!

[ChiefSillyHorse]

Can anyone provide any assistance ID’ing or any knowledge about any M40ish rifles Remington’s Custom Shop built? I say this very loosely for this reason: A nice but older gentleman at a local gun show has this rifle he stated he got from the wife of his friend that passed away. He also stated that the fella that passed away waited 6+ months to order the rifle directly from Remington.

It’s an E series prefix (so definitely older), inscribed Remington 700, possibly a PTG or Badger bottom metal, smooth faced trigger, not clip slotted, fluted barrel, and a recognizable muzzle brake/suppresser host that I can’t recall. He’s calling it a M40a1, but apart from the smear stock I can’t see anything that shows it to be anything other than a custom built 700. It has badger rings and a mark 4 10x fixed scope. Condition is 10/10, fella said he didn’t think his friend fired it. Obviously there is no paperwork, just word of mouth. Any help or leads as to just what this is?!

 

[smoothy8500]

It's not a "smear" stock either, just a McMillan forest camo with texture (texture wasn't a M40A1 spec). Nice custom rifle though.

 

[ChiefSillyHorse]

It's not a "smear" stock either, just a McMillan forest camo with texture (texture wasn't a M40A1 spec). Nice custom rifle though.

Good catch…

 

[Trigger Monkey]

It's always an old guy at a gun show who got it from a dead friend's relative lol...all they have at our gun shows are safety violations.

The bottom metal isn't Badger Ordnance, PTG standard BDL bottom metal maybe but it could also just be the OEM bottom metal that's been Cerakoted. The muzzle device appears to be a GSL Tech (Gemtech) bi-lock muzzle device. It's a very pretty rifle but without paperwork then in my opinion it didn't come from the custom shop and with the late unpleasantness I doubt you'd be able to confirm if it did or didn't. Otherwise, it's just a nice customized Remington 700, the value of which is dependent on what reticle is in the Leupold, if that's a real Eagle stock pack, and possibly what that trigger is.

 

[ChiefSillyHorse]

It's always an old guy at a gun show who got it from a dead friend's relative lol...all they have at our gun shows are safety violations.

The bottom metal isn't Badger Ordnance, PTG standard BDL bottom metal maybe but it could also just be the OEM bottom metal that's been Cerakoted. The muzzle device appears to be a GSL Tech (Gemtech) bi-lock muzzle device. It's a very pretty rifle but without paperwork then in my opinion it didn't come from the custom shop and with the late unpleasantness I doubt you'd be able to confirm if it did or didn't. Otherwise, it's just a nice customized Remington 700, the value of which is dependent on what reticle is in the Leupold, if that's a real Eagle stock pack, and possibly what that trigger is.

isn’t that the truth. Good eye on the muzzle device, I knew I remembered it from somewhere but couldn’t place it. I was thinking along the same lines that Remington customer support (or lack of it) wouldn’t be much help. BM is probably a PTG, trigger might be a Jewell just judging by the shape.

Thanks for spending the time analyzing it! I do find it to be a nice looking rifle, but I wouldn’t buy it with too many unknown variables.

 

[diggler1833]

It is worth what a used factory SPS wearing a McMillan HTG in "woodland" (not forest) camo stock would bring. Uncommon muzzle devices and fluting do not inspire confidence in gunsmithing without some sort of receipt or provenance of who did the work.

I need more photos, but it does appear to be a fixed 10x Leupold with M3 turrets. I'm looking with my cell phone, but the knurling looks a touch off on the caps...I could verify in 2 seconds if I had it in my hands. I have two of these scopes...they really kind of suck, but are "collectable" to the M24 crowd. Figure somewhere between $1,100 and $1,400 for the optic if authentic Mk4...a few dollars more if M3 Ultra.

Lowball end would say $2K total. Definitely not more than $2,500. Proof of a Remington Custom Shop build might fetch up to $3K, but in reality I put more faith in a lot of other shops more. I personally wouldn't be in for more than the lowball end.

That bogus manual needs to go away as it doesn't match the rifle, and usually the cooler the story the less authentic the firearm is a good rule of thumb.

 

[longshot2000]

Can anyone provide any assistance ID’ing or any knowledge about any M40ish rifles Remington’s Custom Shop built? I say this very loosely for this reason: A nice but older gentleman at a local gun show has this rifle he stated he got from the wife of his friend that passed away.

I think you said it all. There is more to the story though. This nice older gentleman or his alledgely dead friend also has a USMC manual. We work with the later generation M40s, so not an expert on this version, but fluting does not seem to fit an older gun, and the bottom metal is unknown. Maybe Remington. not M5 Badger, and Badger started making M40 bottom metal for external mags with second generation M40A3. Did they make them before then? Maybe.