Budget build

[Tex_Hunter]

Thoughts on 700 action from sportsman guide with X-mark pro external adjustable trigger for budget build ?

With all the really good entry level custom actions with reasonable prices out there... why?

Buying a factory Remington action For the purpose of building it, budget or otherwise is what's called tripping over a dollar to pick up a dime.

If you don't have it trued you save what? $200-300? Even on a budget build that's not a lot of money and then you have to live with all the other corners Remington cut. If you have it trued/blueprinted then you are basically spending the same amount of money as you would for a mid level custom action by the time you add a rail bolt knob etc.

Years ago when your only options were spending $1100+ for a Stiller, Defiance, or Surgeon... yeah this might have made more sense, but there are dozens of excellent R700 clone entry level customs on the market now, only reason I'd build a factory action would be if you already own the rifle and it has some sort of sentimental value to you.

 

[VLD Pilot]

Appeared pretty standard , but big question for me was the trigger ? I know it's a matter of preference but if it's on par with savage accutrigger I would be pleased with it. But if I'd have to replace it then my "budget build " might be better starting elsewhere.

It's not

 

[Deputy819]

Northland Shooters Supply has trued actions for sale for not much more than what Sportsmans Guide is listing them. I'd personally go that route but it's up to you.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^This all the way! ^^^^^^^^^

 

[archangel485]

Mack Bro's Evo SS with 20MOA rail & recoil lug is $575. No reason to buy an R700 or any other factory action with this deal.

I would look at this really hard. Visited a bit with one of the owners at a match, stellar guy. By the time you buy a recoil lug and a decent scope rail yours will be 500 and you haven't even trued it yet. Even the origin makes it pretty hard to justify buying an r700 IMO and it's 250 more than the evo.

And yeah, x marks aren't any better than the old rem triggers IMO, maybe worse.

 

[Ftothfadd]

Tex Hunter, could you please list some of these more economical custom actions?

 

[archangel485]

@Tex_Hunter may know of some others but I'll take a stab at this. These are all <$1000. All of the ones in the list include the scope rail and recoil lug.

Mack Bro's Evo ($575, even their titanium action is only as much as some of the stainless actions)
Bighorn Origin (About $825)
Defiance Tenacity (About $885, $1000 for nitrided)
Kelbly Atlas (About $999)
ARC nucleus (About $999)

Stiller has some that are just over $1k by the time you add a scope rail, and Curtis Axiom I believe is about $1100 so you're starting to get into the next step up at that point, great action though.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Archangel covered all the ones worth mentioning in the post immediately after yours. Prices listed were MSRP I think (at least for the Kelbly and ARC)... either way all of those are good actions that can be had for under $1000, some even take pre-fits so you dont have to pay a smith to put it together for you.

There are a few others that are escaping me right now, google is your friend here.

$800+ for the action alone seems like a lot until you add up all the machine time required to make a box stock Rem700 comparable to one of those:

- True/Blueprint: $300
- M16/Sako extractor: $100-150
- Open scope base holes up of #8-40 (this is usually needed because the factory Remington holes frequently dont line up with the center line of the action): $100
- new recoil lug: $50+
- 20 MOA rail: $75-100
- Oversized bolt knob: $100+

Thats $700-800 worth of machine work before you even add in the cost of buying a donro R700 action. You can obviously skip some of those steps, but then you no longer have something comparable to what you get on even the cheapest custom action.

For my money, I'd go with either the Big Horn Origin or the Defiance Tenacity. Those look like they are the best value/features combo.

I just had a rifle built on a Stiller Tac-30, and other than being $150 more expensive than the Tenacity and having a slightly different ejection port, there's literally nothing different between the two. Both come with a one piece fluted bolt with a side bolt release, extended/oversized bolt knob, M16/Sako style extractor, 20 MOA rail with shear pins and #8-40 screws and a pinned oversized recoil lug.

 

[ATH]

I've built some rifles on non trued factory actions. Shoot just fine. If this is truly a budget build and you are trying to save dollars I wouldn't hesitate. I just bought another of the classifieds here. You'll want a different trigger though, even for a budget build.

 

[Okie Whitetail Hunter]

Here are my 156 berger reloads at 100 with plain jane rem 700 action build. H1000 58.5 grains. 5 shot group.

 

[Ftothfadd]

Anyone has any opinions on the gunwerks action based on first hand experience?