First build ideas and thoughts?

BoomFlop

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
999
Location
Wisconsin
So I am looking to start collecting parts for my first build. I have it narrowed down to two options. I am looking for accuracy and not necessarily bells and whistles.

First option is to purchase a Remington action and have it trued and chambered normally.

Second option is to purchase a Big Horn Origin action and a shouldered pre-fit barrel.

What are everyone's thoughts? I am a big Remington guy. Will one shoot substantially better than the other?

Thanks all,
Steve
 
So I am looking to start collecting parts for my first build. I have it narrowed down to two options. I am looking for accuracy and not necessarily bells and whistles.

First option is to purchase a Remington action and have it trued and chambered normally.

Second option is to purchase a Big Horn Origin action and a shouldered pre-fit barrel.

What are everyone's thoughts? I am a big Remington guy. Will one shoot substantially better than the other?

Thanks all,
Steve
I have had many rifles built about 1/2 on trued up remingtons the others on custom actions the rem. shoot just as good the only down fall will be on selling them its still just a Remington and the cost savings on the rem is not very much once you have it trued up unless you have a cheap donor action
 
JMW67,

Looks like truing a Remington 700 runs around $200-$300 dollars. That would still put the 700 about $250 less than the Big Horn Origin.

What does the Big Horn offer besides side bolt release over the Remington 700 action? I want to have a great build, but also do not want to spend money that won't show on paper if that makes sense?

Thank you!
Steve
 
JMW67,

Looks like truing a Remington 700 runs around $200-$300 dollars. That would still put the 700 about $250 less than the Big Horn Origin.

What does the Big Horn offer besides side bolt release over the Remington 700 action? I want to have a great build, but also do not want to spend money that won't show on paper if that makes sense?

Thank you!
Steve
you will be able to swap bolt heads if you wanted to change to a different chambering they are a very nice action I am fond of the defiance but that's just me there is a lot of great actions being made these days do your research and have fun with it but be careful custom rifles are like crack you will get hooked
 
I will put the Defiance Tenacity on my radar as well.

What makes these actions superior to the Remington 700 in regards to function? I realize they are "custom" and with that comes some brand recognition (notably so), but what will I get buy spending more for one of these actions (other than resale)?

Steve
 
If you wanted your Remington 700 to be pretty much the samething, then you would have to redo the bolt add a similar extractor as well on top of the action trueing, the ejector is in a unique area as well. Check fit for aics mags, pin the recoil lug. Personally I think pinning the 20 moa rail is not worth debating about. Base screws work all the same with proper torq.
So, I would consider reliability is a bigger part of the bighorn more so than accuracy. You can take a rem 700 with good components and a good smith usually make it shoot all the same.
 
I will put the Defiance Tenacity on my radar as well.

What makes these actions superior to the Remington 700 in regards to function? I realize they are "custom" and with that comes some brand recognition (notably so), but what will I get buy spending more for one of these actions (other than resale)?

Steve
they will be very smooth functioning built to better tolerences truthfully your only real gain will be in the resale and don't forget the cool factor that comes with a custom
 
I will put the Defiance Tenacity on my radar as well.

What makes these actions superior to the Remington 700 in regards to function? I realize they are "custom" and with that comes some brand recognition (notably so), but what will I get buy spending more for one of these actions (other than resale)?

Steve
I can tell you that after dealing with scope mounting issues on a few factory REM and savage actions you'll be better off with a custom.
I've had receiver tops that were warped causing mount alignment issues, and had the crappy factory base threads strip out without over torquing.
Also I've had Remingtons with the receiver holes drilled off center.
By the time you try to correct all the little issues a custom action will be cheaper
 
Remington 700 is like a 350 Chevy or Ls if you like the newer motors. There are tons of aftermarket parts and you can make a 700 as custom as you want. I've been building rifles on 700s for over 30 yrs and they make a very accurate rifle. Even if you don't true one up and put a good barrel on it and get it bedded right it will shoot under 1/2 moa. I can get almost any factory barreled 700 to shoot under 1/2 moa with a little work. They are just easy to get to shoot good. Most custom actions are pretty much copy's of remington 700s with minor differences. If you can swing the extra for a custom then why not but if you just need a solid accurate rifle that won't break the bank a 700 is a nice action. Depending on the cartridge your doing the Tikka is a real nice action too. You won't find a smoother running action than the tikkas.
Shep
 
A Remington 700 is essentially Remington's budget action. It is push feed. It has their budget style extractor. The bolt stop is a bit hokey and the safety is not exactly a premium design. It is usually finished like the budget action it is. It has a recoil lug that sandwiches between the receiver and barrel rather than an integral lug. It also has bolt on scope mounts that are not necessarily aligned perfectly.

You can remedy some of that by improving a Remington action.

You can remedy a few more things with a custom action.

Last year I bought an American Rifle Company Archimedes action. It's not cheap but it is controlled round feed action with a 3 lug bolt, Mauser like claw extractor, Springfield style ejector, an integral recoil lug, a keyed scope rail, a unique system for primary extraction, dual cocking cams for smoother bolt lift, a floating, interchangeable bolt head for accuracy and the ability to change calibers without an entirely new bolt and it's all finished in very nice black oxide (anodized rail). It is also machined very precisely with toroidal geometry in the bolt lugs to self center and the threads are cut the same every time so that barrel manufacturers can cut drop-in prefit barrels that don't need shoulders turned or short chambers.

That's a pretty big list of things I got for my money. I'm probably missing a few things.

Other custom actions usually have shorter lists. Some have a feature or two that my Archimedes doesn't.

I suggest you make a list of features you want, then look at your options and see if you feel like you are getting your money's worth.

The way I look at it, a custom action pretty much always makes a more desirable rifle. A 700 will kind of disappear in a rack of guns, you have to know what it is to know what it is because 700s are so common. That's worth a little to me.
 
As to the last post. Have you ever broke a 700 bolt stop? No. In 30 yrs as a professional gunsmith I have replaced 2 extractors. One of which was on a factory new rifle that had a defect. Now if your going to shoot over pressure loads that need a mallet to open the bolt then maybe you will break an extractor. Everybody keeps talking about misaligned scope mount holes. Sure there may be a few out there but I haven't come across one. They are put in a jig and cnc drilled and tapped how far off can they be. And if you did find one Burris signature rings will fix it easily. As far as the lug being sandwiched between action and barrel. Well I guess Bordin, Nasika,Bat and all the other action that use this method suck too. And the remington safty is not an issue as long as people that don't know how to properly adjust a trigger keep their hands off of them. The safty completely disengages the fire control system and if you don't have enough return spring pressure yes it can go off when disengaged. Not a fault of the safty but of idiots who think they know how to do a trigger job. There is a reason the remington 700 is the most copied action in the world. Sure you can get some more bells and whistles on a custom. So if you need benchrest compatition accuracy build a benchrest rig. It's going to have a 700 clone on it though. But if you want a solid 1/2 minute hunting rifle without breaking the bank do a remington 700. Take the 500 bucks you save and put it towards a better scope. Being that I build rifles for a living I can use any action I want and I have and have used countless custom actions. I still hunt with remington 700s and a few remington 788s that I really like. Now I'm not telling you to go and get a 700 instead of a clone because your wallet has to decide that.
Shep
Shep
 
Big horn without a doubt of the 2 options. I have the tl3 and 3 heads. You can get shoulder prefits or savage barrels with a nut. It's a nice action for sure.
 
Look at a Defiance Tenacity action for your first build. Not much more then a trued and Blueprinted remmy action with a new lug! I've seen some of the 2019 models on clearance for $775. Still about $200 more than a BP'd remmy.
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Recent Posts

Top