Upgrading my 700P

[alexzeph142]

I am curious about action/receiver truing. What is the life expectancy of a 700P bolt/action, should it last me for a very long time, or do parts go bad on it? Do you remove the bluing from the action/bolt and recoat it with something better? Is there a better action to get from Remington, not referring to M2008 or Templar/Surgeon etc... I want to have it trued, but am worried I'll just be wasting money and something will break down the road. Is a barrel swap as simple as having a good smith unscrew it, remove the old barrel, and replace with a new barrel, or do you have to re-true it and cut deeper into the material? I have a stock 26" 700P barrel, but after I get better I want to move to a 18" Bartlein 5R, I think, as of now. Will that get me the same accuracy at roughly 800m? Do you true/smooth/lap Badger rings and scope base to clean it up and mount it nicely on the receiver? I am wanting to replace the stock Xmark with a better trigger, but have heard Jewells break quite a bit. The rifle won't be abused, but it would endure some field conditions. What do you recommend?

Also, here is some of the work I am wanting to have done possibly sooner than later depending on finances, and results.

Badger Bolt knob installed
McMillan A4 or A5 with good bedding, I think marinetex? not sure here What's the major differences in the A4 or A5? What bedding would you recommend?
Badger M5 DBM installed
Barrel fluted and threaded for flash suppressor and sound suppressor
Trigger lightened

That's most of my questions right now, thanks in advance.

 

[Wild_Bill]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

Ok you are ont he right track.

To have a rem action trued the barrel is unscrewed and the action body is machined so the threads are true to the centre line of the bolt raceway, the face of the action is squared and the bolt lug abutments are also squared. at this time you would also benifite from a ground recoil lug. after the action body has been worked you can work on the bolt have the face squared and the lugs squared then some have the bolt shimmed but i believe if you do that much to a rem bolt you are better off havine a Pacific tool bolt fitted that is the corect diameter to the bolt raceway. also have the timing checked this is how the primary extraction works.

Now once this has been done correctly you dont have to do it again. the action can wear but many tens of thousands of rounds until it will be worn out so dont wory about that. as for the triggers i use jewell and they are excelant if you break one the rifle will likley have more issues as it is inside the stock and protected by the trigger guard. They can however start to play up if filled with dirt so if you look after it and dont throw it into sand dirt or a river it will be great and you will love then.

As for the finish the face of the action is the only place you will have removed the factory finish but it is pretty useless so i would have the barreled action refinished in Gun Kote, CeraKote, Dura Kote or Birdsong by your smith or he can get it dont. the accesories you have chosen are great make sure the rifle is bedded correctly marine tex is good as are many other special application epoxies. I would talk to your smith when you have all of the parts organised then drop everything in to him and ask he trues the action fits your 18" barrel and beds the finished rifle then re finishes the barreled action in the color of your choice and you will be good to go.

 

[alexzeph142]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

Should I upgrade the bolt to a PTG one and ream out the action?

 

[sniperdude]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

what area do you live in? as this may help to point you to a good gunsmith in your area.

 

[Jerry m]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

How does the rifle shoot now? See what it can do before you rebuild it. Many shoot pretty well with match ammo.

Good Luck

Jerry

 

[alexzeph142]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

It shoots well, I am going to test it out to 1k next week, I'm sure it will do fine. I am not going to upgrade any time soon, but I will eventually, so I want to know a good route to take.

 

[Wild_Bill]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

i usualy dont worry about the bolt clearence they shoot realy well withthe bolt lapped to the trued action.

I would only get the work done when your barrel is work out or you are ready to upgrade barrels as the new thread is usualy 10 thou larger and fitting the factory barrel is not the best.

Also a thing to consider is the cost of the machining if you throw a new bolt into the mix all that will be off the old rifle is the action body so you would be better off just selling that remington and building it on a Stillar Tac or a Lawton 7000 you could actualy be up for less money after the reimbursment from the rem 700 you have.


If you are getting the action trued that would be OK but if you are replacing the following

trigger
stock
barrel
recoil lug
and then the bolt tube there is not much less of the donor rifle

So realy look at what you want to achieve from this build if you want it as accurate as possible you might be better with a custom action the other costs will be the same. Just a thought.

 

[alexzeph142]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

Well I realize it may be more expensive in the long run, but as my shooting progresses, I would like to mod the rifle as well. Kind of like updating an old car, you could buy a new one for cheaper, but your proud of what you've done to the old one.

 

[alexzeph142]

Re: Upgrading my 700P

Any more ideas?