Pros and Cons of the Remington Sendero

[MikeMurf0505]

I have to seat my bullets really deep into the case to be off the lanes and grooves in my barrel.
Maybe I got lucky on that one? I just wish I didnt have to make so many experimental loads to fing the proper seating depth.
My gun will shoot one hole groups at only ONE seating depth - I MEAN EXACTLY ONE DEPTH.
It is different for each projectile, but once I have it located......

 

[freebird63]

The sendero's are not a bad gun, I have a 300RUM. I have had it bedded, barrel full floated and a brake put on it, that was all done by a gunsmith. I have put in the wyatt extended box magazine, a jewell trigger and hope to put a nightforce rail and nightforce rings on it soon..."I hope", My gun shot awesome at 100 yards, take it out to 200 yards and its not so awesome then, am working on that problem now. If I can ever find a job I plan on a new longer barrel, maybe a nightforce scope and have been thinking about the removeable magazine. Will probably convert it to a 338 Lapua magnum. Airgunner has shot my gun. I have my trigger set real low, alot lower then most would set it. The new sendero's have the palm swell, some like it and most hate it. I am still on the fence with that one. The original sendero's came in the 338 RUM. My gunsmith builds one very sweet 300RUM, when I first seen it I was trying to get him to trade me. Ya Right.
The X-Mark pro trigger are a *** in my opinion, thats why i got a jewell. I also had the simms recoil pad put on mine. They are not bad guns, but you need to figure out what all you want to do with it and then decide from there.
As soon as I win the lottery I will be on the FBI's most watched list for the amount of guns I will own. 338 Edge, 338 Lapua mag, 338 Norma mag, 375 snipetech, 408 cheytac, 50 BMG. I am sure there are several hundred others I left off.

 

[Teh Wicked]

I love my Sendero 7mm Mag, easily my favorite rifle to shoot at the range or at ground hogs out past 300 yrds. I have the older version as well. Spider web HS stock with aluminum block bedding, all black finish. But I must say the new model Sendero rifles with the stainless fluted barrels and extreamly nice looking.

My only problem with it now is the barrel is just about gone. The only thing I done to mine was add a removeable stainless break on the end. Adjusted the trigger to 3.5lbs and added decent glass. Konus M30 25x with mil-dot reticle.

Rifle easily shoots a sub 1 inch 10 shot group at 100 yrds. After about 4-5 shots, they are all in the same hole. Cant ask for a better out of the box rifle honestly...

I like it so much im going to turn it into a 338 Ultra Mag next year. Add a stainless barrel of some sorts and a few other things, my goal is for it to shoot 1/2 MOA or better. Then 500 yrd hunting shots will be where the true purpose of the rifle will be used.

 

[BillR]

I have two custom built from the ground up Remington 700's. A 25-06AI and a .300 RUM, now both were built by a very reputable gunsmith. Both shoot lights out and better than I can shoot by far.
I have two more Rem 700's that are factory guns. One is totally stock and is a 700 VS that is a .223 that also shoots lights out and I mean roughly 1/4" groups all day long and so far its taken prairie dogs out past 625 yds and does it consistently with 50 gr NBT's. The other is a 700 VSF .308 with the adjustable comb and butt H-S Precision stock that will shoot every bit as good as the .223.

All that said I wanted a .338 Edge and started looking for an action or gun to build on. I bought a number of Remington actions to build with but one day I ran across a Sendero with the older blued action and barrel and H-S Precision stock that the barrel had been badly neglected and the barrel was totally worthless. Rust in the bore and muzzle but still had a good H-S stock and a worked over trigger and a good action. All its really going to get is a new barrel and lap the lugs and square it up and a new barrel. The cost on the wore out Sendero was a few dollars over $400 and a new barrel is going to be around $700 to have all the work done to it. When done it should be one heck of a shooter and at a price I can afford. Deals like this are out there you just have to find them. I dumped all my 700 actions and used the money to buy this rifle and am well on the way to buying the barrel.
Lately I picked up a NIB 700 Sendero at $900 in 7MM Rem Mag. Couldn't pass it up and I want to see what I can make it do without much in changes other than a trigger job. I think it will do well.

Now all that said I will say this. My first two custom guns shoot great. But all my other shoot close enough to them that for the money I saved with a factory gun they don't shoot enough better to warrant me doing another custom job. It just takes some patience searching is all. That and working hard on your reloads.

 

[MikeMurf0505]

raight factory (a mistake in my opinion) you will definitely need to fire lap the barrel.
Shoot it and see what it can throw on paper - if you get .5" groups out of the box, use the 3 lightest abrasives. If it is over .5 at 100, use all 5 abrasives.

This will remove the tool marks and provide no disruption to the projectile as it goes down the barrel.
I have no doubt I would NOT be shooting one hole at 200 yards without using the Tubbs Firelapping System.

I still think buying a used remington with a good action, then having it barreled and trued up is the best, most cost effective/time saving way to go.

If I had it to do over again, that is what I would do.

 

[Teh Wicked]

Just found some photos of my Sendero out of the box shooting with the Konus scope installed and nothing else. Stock trigger, factory ammo... I was a terrible shot at the time too. This was when I first got into accurate rifle shooting, before then I was just happy if they was sorta close together after 1-2 shots and I took it hunting, which worked fine. I have since installed a timney trigger on the rifle set at 3.5lbs, hand loaded ammo with Hornady 162gr A-max match bullets. And the results are .5" groups at 100 yards without much trying.

Soon the rifle will be cconverted to a 338 Ultra mag, I will be expecting touching holes in the paper...

3 shot group

3 shot group, 2 extra holes outside the circle was from another rifle.

 

[Mike6158]

Until I shot my .338 Edge from Defensive Edge yesterday my Sendero SFII in 7mm Rem Mag was my best shooter. It loads a little long (like others have mentioned) but at 300 yards it will shoot 1" groups with the right load. I installed a Jewell trigger set @1.25 pounds. I also had a KDF Accuracy muzzle break installed and that's what made it the most, second most now, accurate rifle that I own. A friend of mine has one and he shot a very impressive 1,000 yard group. I highly recommend the installation of a muzzle break and Jewell trigger. The muzzle break lightens recoil so much that I let a 10 year old put about 20 rounds through it and he had no problems shooting sub-moa groups at 300 yards.

 

[MikeMurf0505]

Those two steps are my last things I need for my gun.
The Jewel is a bit pricy, but it is worth it. Muzzle breaks are another matter - I need to shoot out what I have loaded before I can change the harmonics of my barrel.

Good shooting, congrats.

 

[MikeMurf0505]

Oh yeah, I forgot to include that the X Mark pro trigger is a piece of JUNK.
It is hard to adjust, has trouble HOLDING that adjustment, and in my opinion NEEDS replacing right off the bat, if you can afford it.

 

[.300 RUM Guy]

In order to touch my lands I'd have to be 1/2 inch over max COAL witch, is impractical and the bullet would hardly be held in the case....

Anybody else have crazy deep lands with the Sendero barrel?

Does the round still fit in the magazine ok with the projectile sticking that far out?

I have a Ruger Hawkeye in .300 Win Mag calibre that shoots about 3" at 100 yards (that's with handloads) and I can't get my projectile anywhere near the lanes (we call them 'Lands' over here in New Zealand) because I'm restricted by the magazine length.

My Ruger MK11 in .30-06 Cal. went from between 2 1/2 - 3" groups at 100 yards, down to less than 1 1/2" 5 shot groups "consistently" at 100 yards "merely" by being able to move the projectile to within .005" off the lands. (Still not that impressive but none-the-less quite a major tightening at any rate)

I'm considering selling the Hawkeye and, sticking with the same calibre (.300 Win Mag) buying a Sendero, cause I heard they were pretty good, however, does anyone know if the Sendero's magazine well will accommodate a .300 Win Mag round with a particularly long projectile that can touch the lands/Lanes, or will I be plagued with the same problem?

 

[ultraedge]

What is the o.a.l. of the loaded cartridge that you wish to use? That length will determine what needs to be done. Gary

 

[Beluebow]

Does the round still fit in the magazine ok with the projectile sticking that far out?

I have a Ruger Hawkeye in .300 Win Mag calibre that shoots about 3" at 100 yards (that's with handloads) and I can't get my projectile anywhere near the lanes (we call them 'Lands' over here in New Zealand) because I'm restricted by the magazine length.

My Ruger MK11 in .30-06 Cal. went from between 2 1/2 - 3" groups at 100 yards, down to less than 1 1/2" 5 shot groups "consistently" at 100 yards "merely" by being able to move the projectile to within .005" off the lands. (Still not that impressive but none-the-less quite a major tightening at any rate)

I'm considering selling the Hawkeye and, sticking with the same calibre (.300 Win Mag) buying a Sendero, cause I heard they were pretty good, however, does anyone know if the Sendero's magazine well will accommodate a .300 Win Mag round with a particularly long projectile that can touch the lands/Lanes, or will I be plagued with the same problem?

Depends on how long that "particularly long projectile" is.The distance to the lands in a factory rifle is luck of the draw or crap shoot whichever way you want to look at it,, and every rifle is different.

 

[.300 RUM Guy]

What is the o.a.l. of the loaded cartridge that you wish to use? That length will determine what needs to be done. Gary

Hi Gary,

I don't quite understand the question, is this referring to my Ruger Hawkeye? It's 3.570" for the Hawkeye for 180 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips to touch the lands, however, a new problem I noticed was that, at that length, the OAL was so long that the rifle wouldn't eject it because the very tip got caught up on the front of the ejector port, preventing both the dummy round and the bolt from being removed. Only brute-force was able to overcome that one!

So, if I did manage to somehow sort the magazine out (which I can assure you, to the best of my knowledge, there isn't a gunsmith competent enough here in New Zealand to perform such a task) I'd still have the above situation limiting me from getting the projectile near the lands!

Now, if you're referring to the Sendero, I think that the throat length of the Sendero is gonna determine the OAL of the round, and unfortunately, I don't have one of those (Sendero's) in front of me to determine that, that's what I'd actually like to know! Morgan

 

[ultraedge]

I was referring to the Sendero. You can have an extended length magazine box installed that will hold a cartridge nearly 4 inches long. I have seven rifles set up this way. Call me for details. Gary 478-957-5213