Remington 700 quality

[Greyfox]

I bought my first Remington rifle late last fall. I don't know if this qualifies exactly in this discussion (hey, I'm a newbie), but it's a 5R Milspec in.308. It has just a crummy piece of glass on it right now and I've only gotten it sighted in at 100 yards.

But.. it is sub MOA for both myself and a buddy of mine. For me, a 7 shot group in an approx. .7" group. My friend put 3 shots into a .75" group. Just my 2 cents...

Bill

I think the 5r's get special attention. I got a milspec a couple of years ago(my third)that is a sub .5 MOA shooter. They can make them right if they try I guess.

 

[Trickymissfit]

There certainly seems to be a huge variation in the quality of the Remington Barrels, which includes the chamber and throat. It sounds like a tap is used to cut the threads in the receiver, instead of cutting them with a single point tool on the lathe.

On mine, the 8mm fouls noticeably quicker than my 223. When cleaning the 223 which at 26" is the longest barrel I own, it has very low friction and needs very few patches before they come out clean and with no change in resistance. The 8mm typically needs a bore mop first, then some copper remover, then some more #9 and finally some Remoil followed by a dry patch. My one DPMS is similar to the 8mm barrel in that it needs more work to clean and then with the operating system, there are a lot more components that have to be stripped and cleaned and re-lubed.

I think the Remington 223 and the DPMS in 7.62x39 will be getting sold shortly. I already have a superior replacement for the Remington bolt gun and the DPMS in 7.62x39 will be getting replaced with an SKS. In reality the "functional equivalent" of the DPMS will be my Galil in 223 which I should shortly have sorted out. I have to say that with the poor quality receivers and shoddy assembly methods in use at Century Arms, you really have to love to Golani to put up with what it takes to make one of those misfits work. They make Remington look like saints.... On my rifle, they parkerized the inside of the bore, since they forgot to "plug" it when they parked the barrel / receiver. Then the receiver was out of spec, forcing the barrel out of position with a too shallow chamber, so they ground the back of the bolt lugs to make it fit, instead of fixing the chamber or receiver.

When I had the barrel replaced, it needed a replacement bolt, which came out of the surplus bin (at a smith that specializes in Galils). As we later found out, that bolt had been machined on the face that contacts the cartridge by 40-50 thou, altering the relationship of the round to the extractor... With the result that my rifle cannot eject its brass... So now, on the 3rd bolt, it looks like the extraction and ejection will work, but I may have to fix the chamber again.... As I say, they make Remington look like saints...

if you look at the female threads in the reciever under a strong light and magnifier, you'll probably see at least one line running lengthwise, and usually two to three. Those lines are cause by the chips being broken off when the tap is reversed. When this happens all backlash in the spindline is reversed causing error. You can tap threads accurately, but it's usually a one up deal. When you use a tap in a machine (in this case a machine center), you add into the fact any error in machine alingnment, spindle bears, and error in the spindle itself. When you do the samething with a boring bar in a decient lathe you only take in the error of the bed of the machine and quality of the spindle bearings (not much of a factor here). The one otherway to cut the female thread, and also a little more accurately is with a thread mill. The operation is a little slower than the other two, but the thread form is far more accurate. The slower the operation the more money is involved in the part.
gary

 

[tim j]

hey guys, I'm a newbie to this site and I have to say it looks pretty cool.. as to the question of 700 quality I picked up a 270 adl at wally world afew years back.. it has mossy oak synthetic stock and a leupold rifleman scope on it.. the scope was the only thing I changed on it and it shoots 1 inch groups out 200yds. I love this rifle just the way it is and I'm not changing anything about it.. I also picked up the rem 700 aac 308 with flash hider already installed in the houge stock.. I'm putting a bell and carlson tactical stock on it right away and maybe the DBM conversion kit.. groups with the houge stock were about 1 1/2 inches let you know how it works out..

 

[birddog67]

I have owned 3 rem 700 and 1 sendaro must have been lucky all where sub MOA shooters sendaro shoot .45 with hand loads all day long if I do my part .

 

[chuckshoots]

I'd say many companies are catching up but that 700s are still definitely not junk. Though some of the stocks they slap on their rifles can be, but in a way that allows them to bring the cost down so you can have a shootable rifle at an affordable price, and for those of us who almost immediately took the factory stock we can do some more custom set ups.
I have an sps var and the factory stock was definitely crappy and I put a McMillan a3-5 on it. The factory stock would have shot fine but its just not a stock you could hope to maximize accuracy and such with.

 

[WapitiBob]

I got my 700 SPS back from Rem today. They replaced the barrel. Said the rifling was mis cut and damaged. They put 40 rounds thru it too.
We'll see this weekend how it does.

 

[7stw]

I got my 700 SPS back from Rem today. They replaced the barrel. Said the rifling was mis cut and damaged. They put 40 rounds thru it too.
We'll see this weekend how it does.

How long were you without it? I was told some people are waiting 4-6 months!

 

[WapitiBob]

A week to get there, 2 weeks to get fixed and a week to get it back. I specified factory repair only and had them send me a shipping label to their facility rather than a service center.

 

[brentc]

I've got an older J lock generation stainless BDL in 7mm Rem that is not as nicely machined as my 5R that was built last year. The older BDL receiver needed a bit more attention to clean up and the scope base required bedding.

Aside from the machining, the J lock rifle's bolt handle fell off a couple weeks ago while safety testing a new trigger. I've always heard of it happening, but the only time I've seen it is when a friend of mine over pressured a 300 RUM Sendero.

So, for me, the QC is actually better now than it was 10 or so years ago. At least when comparing these two rifles.

 

[Trickymissfit]

I've got an older J lock generation stainless BDL in 7mm Rem that is not as nicely machined as my 5R that was built last year. The older BDL receiver needed a bit more attention to clean up and the scope base required bedding.

Aside from the machining, the J lock rifle's bolt handle fell off a couple weeks ago while safety testing a new trigger. I've always heard of it happening, but the only time I've seen it is when a friend of mine over pressured a 300 RUM Sendero.

So, for me, the QC is actually better now than it was 10 or so years ago. At least when comparing these two rifles.

you know I've heard from several sources about the bolt handle literally falling off from time to time, but have never really witnessed it myself. Now I could see a guy bear hunting, and wanting to make a second shot while filling his shorts! I did actually have a barrel come loose on a Colt Match Target pistol once. I kept adjusting the rear sight not reallizing the barrel was loose.
gary

 

[Barstooler]

I will never buy another Rem 700. I had 2 that shot great (338 RUM and 22-250) so over a year ago I bought a new Rem 700 BDL in 243 Win. What a piece of crap that was. Tried bullets from 70gr to 105gr, different match primers, different cases, different powders and it would not shoot inside 3.5" at 100 yards. (Yes I checked the scope).

Drove me to buy the first box of factory ammo since I started reloading in the early 1960s and still the same result. I called Remington and they said that the rifle was "within factory specifications for accuracy." Essentially they told me to pound sand.

I freefloated the barrel and glass bedded the action and the accuracy came under 3" but was essentially still crappy.

I had a fundamental choice to sell the rifle (and stick some other sucker with it) or do something with it and decided on the latter. Took it to a gunsmith and had him true the action, lapp the lugs, put on a new barrel chamber in 243 AI, and then do a custom rebed. That fixed the problem, but I will never buy another new Rem and then risk having to spend another $750 to get it to shoot good again. Heck, I will spend that kind of money rebuilding an old Mauser or an old 1903 Springfield.... or ... just buy a new Ruger Hawkeye!!

Barstooler

 

[Mike 338]

I had a fundamental choice to sell the rifle (and stick some other sucker with it) or do something with it and decided on the latter. Took it to a gunsmith and had him true the action, lapp the lugs, put on a new barrel chamber in 243 AI, and then do a custom rebed. That fixed the problem, but I will never buy another new Rem and then risk having to spend another $750 to get it to shoot good again. Heck, I will spend that kind of money rebuilding an old Mauser or an old 1903 Springfield.... or ... just buy a new Ruger Hawkeye!!
Barstooler

Feel free to put a price on the aggravation as well. Making up hand loads to find one that works, changing scopes, trips to the range, purchasing different components when the first one should of worked, break-in period, frustrating phone calls to the manufacturer, your time ($$$$), drive time and finally, the time and money you spent to to have your gunsmith turn your "$750 blob of metal", into a rifle that shoots pretty good.

To calculate the value of your time, take what you would make per hour at your job and multiply it times the hours you spent chasing your tail trying to fix your new rifle + all the ancillary expenses including the purchase price. That's what owning a Remington has cost you.
Here's a link...Centerfire Rifle - Model 700 BDL - Remington Centerfire Rifles

If what they say doesn't line up with what you got, then you've got a legitimate gripe.

 

[Trickymissfit]

I will never buy another Rem 700. I had 2 that shot great (338 RUM and 22-250) so over a year ago I bought a new Rem 700 BDL in 243 Win. What a piece of crap that was. Tried bullets from 70gr to 105gr, different match primers, different cases, different powders and it would not shoot inside 3.5" at 100 yards. (Yes I checked the scope).

Drove me to buy the first box of factory ammo since I started reloading in the early 1960s and still the same result. I called Remington and they said that the rifle was "within factory specifications for accuracy." Essentially they told me to pound sand.

I freefloated the barrel and glass bedded the action and the accuracy came under 3" but was essentially still crappy.

I had a fundamental choice to sell the rifle (and stick some other sucker with it) or do something with it and decided on the latter. Took it to a gunsmith and had him true the action, lapp the lugs, put on a new barrel chamber in 243 AI, and then do a custom rebed. That fixed the problem, but I will never buy another new Rem and then risk having to spend another $750 to get it to shoot good again. Heck, I will spend that kind of money rebuilding an old Mauser or an old 1903 Springfield.... or ... just buy a new Ruger Hawkeye!!

Barstooler

welcome to my world! I was lucky in that I had access to all the best machine tools in the world, and knew where cigar boxes full of reamers were that I could borrow. I did not mess with the trigger or the bedding much on mine. I simply removed all that forend aluminum that got in the way, and pillar bedded it. Then rebedded the the reciever and recoil lug. My barrel was junk (and really still is). Went thru a couple trigger jobs, and finally traded it for a well done 1978 trigger that Mr. Pendel had laying around (still sadly missed). My factory chamber was about seven thousandths off center and roughly at a seven degree angle. Barrel was so rough that it actually tore up patches! It shot 5" groups with Federal Supreme ammo and about 4.25" with hand loads, so you got a better one than I got! It now shoots sub half inch groups, and has dipped into the very high threes on occassion. I like the rifle now, and it's my favorite coyote gun
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

Feel free to put a price on the aggravation as well. Making up hand loads to find one that works, changing scopes, trips to the range, purchasing different components when the first one should of worked, break-in period, frustrating phone calls to the manufacturer, your time ($$$$), drive time and finally, the time and money you spent to to have your gunsmith turn your "$750 blob of metal", into a rifle that shoots pretty good.

To calculate the value of your time, take what you would make per hour at your job and multiply it times the hours you spent chasing your tail trying to fix your new rifle + all the ancillary expenses including the purchase price. That's what owning a Remington has cost you.
Here's a link...Centerfire Rifle - Model 700 BDL - Remington Centerfire Rifles

If what they say doesn't line up with what you got, then you've got a legitimate gripe.

Add the $750 to whatever the cost of the rifle was, and you no longer have a bargin. It cost me about $200 in parts and things I farmed out to be done. I never counted time involved, but spent several days working till five in the morning fixing issues with it.
gary