Trued vs off the shelf Rem 700 Action

[Coues110]

Remington model 700 rifles have always shot sub MOA with reloads for me and my friends that I have helped. That is with a good stock and bedding job on about 10 rifles. I've only had one blue printed 7mm rem mag and it didn't do any better than stock and it had a light varmint barrel. The fun part to me is getting a factory rifle to shoot very accurate by truing bolt lugs (if needed) and bedding. I've had great luck using HS Precision stocks.

 

[25WSM]

9 out of 10 remmy 700s with the factory barrel will shoot 1/2 moa if you bed it properly and work up a good load. It's not rocket science. Basic reloading skills and drone who knows how to shoot is usually all it takes. I've been shooting benchrest of some sort for 30 yrs so getting accuracy out of a rifle is just not hard. I teach guys at my shop all the time and they are amazed how good their rifles really shoot.
Shep

 

[Mark carter]

Only takes a few minutes to measure an action. Takes 3 hours for me to fully blueprint one. Give me the worst spec 700 receiver you have and I can put a custom barrel on it and bed it properly and it will shoot 1/2 moa with reloads.
So depending on how accurate you want your rifle to be is up to you. Yes custom actions are nice and have a few better features but if 1/2 moa is good enough then it's your money. I've built guys rifles on just about every custom action out there and many more remingtons and I can say that on a hunting type rifle you won't see much difference in group size. The barrel is definitely the biggest factor in the accuracy. Followed by bedding and loads.
Shep

Shep you sound like a man with experience well done

 

[25WSM]

30 years now. I meant I can take a crappy 700 as is and it will shoot 1/2 moa. With a custom barrel pretty much any action will shoot that good. I normally only true them up for guys building varmint rifles in calibers that can shoot 1/4 moa or better. I've done 700s in 6br or 6bra that shoot under 1/4. Like I said it's not rocket science and anyone can do it. Ask any of my customers and they will tell you they don't get their gun till I show them 1/2 moa. Now wether or not they can shoot like that is a different story. I can coach most guys to shoot pretty good real quick. Some guys should just practice stalking more and get real close. Doesn't matter what gun you give them.
Shep

 

[25WSM]

Hey Don did you ever live in ElPaso

 

[6MM06AI]

I like truing the Rem 700's to remove any unknown variables. So if I build a rifle for a customer and it doesn't shoot less than .5 moa I know it wasn't because I didn't do my part.

 

[floyd kittrell]

Yes and glass bed and an Arnold Jewell trigger

 

[Pa Grizz]

I am a big fan of Remington 700's.I have a 25-06,.270,.280,30-06,300 RUM,338 Win and a 35 Whelen ..All will shoot sub MOA .All are factory

 

[loaders_loft]

Simple question. Do you want to spend the money on parts or service? 6 in one, half dozen in the other. The end result is about the same unless you get a specialty action that has super high end features not available in a blue printed Remington. Joel Russo's terminus actions come to mind...

 

[loaders_loft]

I have one surgeon action and three blue printed 700's. After each one, I ran the numbers and I spent more on the 700 2 out of 3 times. On the one that stayed under the cost of my surgeon, I didn't get all the bells and whistles. Mini m16 extractor, time& tig, side bolt release, feed ramp cuts, 8-40 scope mount holes, pinned lug, etc... however the accuracy is still very good.

For apples to apples its probably the same or less to buy a custom but for a bit more you can get super high end features that go beyond accuracy.

 

[excaliber]

Should you true a Rem 700 action? That depends on a couple things. If you have a donor action and you want to build a better rifle then truing it is a no brainer. That's what I had done with my 700 LA and it shoots awesome. Granted it has a Bartlein #3 5R barrel on it.

If you are going to buy a Rem 700 action and then have it trued you might be better off spending more to buy a custom action depending on what you paid for it. There is nothing wrong with Remington actions. They are the benchmark that was used for most of the custom actions today.

 

[Scott E Ames]

I own trued 700's and Bighorn's. Get the Bighorn. It will put a smile on your face every time you use it. You will never have to worry if you got a good or great 700. You can really feel the quality of a custom action. The more you pay the better they feel. You might get lucky and shoot screamers all day long with an "off the rack" but it is probably unlikely. Listen to the rifle smiths here they are the cream of the crop!

 

[arch408]

I've taken apart M700 rifles, trued the reciever face, lapped the bolt recoil lugs to the reciever, and re-head spaced the barrel and turned them into tack drivers. Some rifles were re-headspaced by surface grinding the recoil lug. Custom reciever afficiodos will scoff at this, but I'm a firm believer that trueing does work.

 

[Coldfinger]

If you do all that to a remington then yes you will be better to buy a custom. But you don't need to do any of that to build a 1/2 minute rifle. I've proved it way to many times. Same with model 70s and savages and howas and even 98 mausers. Put a good barrel on them and they will shoot 1/2 moa. If you need better than that or aren't satisfied with a run of the mill action then get the custom. The customs are generally a better action but don't generally shoot any better.
Shep
Shep

Very true, I had a lowly 96 Mauser chambered in 257 Roberts. The best I could understand at the time was the threads in the receiver were crooked beyond repair. That Midway barrel was like $45 but the rifle shot 1/2" groups all day long. If I remember right I could walk faster than the firing pin strike speed!