RE the lack of primary extraction (which may be more prevalent on certain production runs, but can happen with ANY rem700 action, always a possibility), one of the worst things is if you get an action that doesnt want to extract eadily, and start beating bolt handle to get'er open,ITS EASY TO BREAK OFF BOLT HANDLE.
Not only did remington put handle in wrong place (sometimes), the way the handle is attached is on the weaker side (prob some variance there from bolt to bolt, some better then others). For a heavy duty rifle, a lot of people go with an aftermarket bolt handle / bolt or at least get factory handle TIGd on bc they want better primary extraction and to NOT have handle break off at bad moment.
One other thing, rem 700, esp w stock recoil lug, with heavier kicking rifles (say above 30-06), it can be harder to have bedding last long time, esp w wood stocks. The torque of firing wants to twist action to side, not a ton of stuff resisting that besides the action bolts and side of recoil lug. This is a finer point, but its an issue rem700s have versus flat bottomed actions like win70s.
Also, rem700 action isnt very stiff, there really isnt a ton of metal in action. Ive HEARD win70 was about 3 times stiffer... at least in terms of stiffness in terms of barrel flex. This stuff can be an issue when you start chasing real high accuracy with long barrels.
For the record, my main rifle / favorite rifle is an 18lb (w nightforce NXS 5.5-22X56) rem700 in aluminum sleeve, 30" krieger palma barrel, mounted in what i think was anschutz wood stock (done by prior owner) - fully adjustable stock, really nice two stage anschutz trigger. I LOVE the stock on that, fits me so perfectly (and i am shortguy with short hands, hard to get good fit). Shoots way better than i can. 30-06 ackley improved, manson/foster variant. Got rifle w a few issues, but very cheap, I have put a lot of sweat into fixing things on it, but i do love the old thing
Its got a stock bolt handle on it tho, thats one thing id like to improve long term, primary extraction is a bit weak but does work, i just know it could be better. AND the way the bolt fits the stock, the handle is kinda buried in stock, kinda hard to grab bolt knob (have plastic extender on it for now). Would like long handle tigged on in better position (for extraction) with a bigger knob too (esp for shooting when its below freezing)
Putin picture of rifle. Btw, this is kind of what a "high end hot rod" from like 30 years ago, today with all the amazing aftermarket actions (many of which have same basic footprint as rem700) + all the amazing aftermarket stocks out there, many of the chassis style, a guy could do prob do better for cheaper, and certainly far less work, so not advising anyone go this route today, but i do like the old girl.
Oh yeah, one other thing about rem700s, its not unusual for them to have a lit of play between bolt bolt and receiver. When action is cocked (like right before trigger is pulled,the pressure of sear pushes up on back of bolt, this tends to pull upper lug off its seat...then when trigger is pulled the tail of bolt falls, so just as cartridge is firing the bolt is flopping around a bit, w the lug engagement changing. With a particularly loose bolt, and somegimes pretty uneven bolt lug engagement from factory, you can end up w rifle that never shoots quite right.. maybe throws shots abit, or occasionally.
Thats why you see things like bolt sleeves, borden bumps, etc. Can be real advantage to larger dia aftermarket bolt in syock rem700 action thats been bored a bit bigger (so its really consistent in terms of inner diameter and straightness inside). Again, old school high end tuning / blueprinting ... that you see way less of now bc of all the amazing aftermarket actions that come out of the box "right" to begin with. And, this point RE bolt play, lug engagement is something that prob doesnt matter unless you are chasing benchrest accuracy ... or just happen to have a particularly bad example
So, i LIKE the rem700, but there are asterisks on that. Definitely not perfect, but has started so many careers... and life long passionate hobbes
and **** near built an industry, either perfecting the original, or building new actions that look like the original but w the flaws already fixed... and bang for the buck, rem700s were some of the best out of box best shooters out there for long time... for a rifle the average guy could afford to buy (and were in gunshops / big box stores everywhere too).
L!
