Remington 700 in 458 Lott

[Rrrgcy]

I’ve not shared this before, nowhere. Sniper once (and maybe not relevant but we did use M4/AR for various very tight residential missions). Used a Rem 700 308. Had to. The few pre64 Win 70’s sprinkled among us were thought to be better (no info if it was accuracy or crf reasoning) but one was lucky to have one if only because they were rarer. This said, my Rem really couldn‘t accommodate my lop, the buttstock was extended as far out as possible. My 100 yd. cold bore was where it was supposed to be, but group size ‘lousy’ if in context that consistently the successive shots were grouped together but almost an inch off cold bore. That’s near a no-go, you had to shoot between the bottom of eyebrows to the bottom of eyes on one target, and as a result every qual was close, especially after doing push-ups and running laps. When I realized it was my rifle and not me during sniper school boy was I stressed out, I actually secretly accommodated the variance which is NOT what you’re to do. I was married to that rifle. We worked hard to train and shoot much like biathletes to limit incidental variables as much as possible. Much to be said about still then stalk hunting and making more sudden free hand shots like might happen. About my Rem likely no cure short of swapping barrel and/or chassis work. Never had it rectified.

I always wondered about our training to have always opened the bolt with bottom fingers extended to knock/deflect the ejected brass down so it wouldn’t go flying elsewhere and flashing in the sun or ‘clinking‘ if it hit a solid surface. I don’t know of any other organization that trained cycling this way. Working the bolt certainly wasn’t silent. I’d never had a shell jump back into the rifle but shells sometimes would lightly ricochet back against the stock/receiver.

The Rem was good enough for my very large agency. We probably had about qty. 100 Rems nation wide, and maybe it was a cost matter….turned to a different system at the time I moved on. But for any hunting I’ll only use Mauser, Enfield and crf Win.

While ideal, practice to make that cold bore shot good and it shouldn’t matter what system is used.

 

[Rrrgcy]

… and to add to my post above, perhaps tangential to CRF or push feed, but consider our practice running the bolt, never lifting our cheeks, and using only a thumb and forefinger pinch right after bolt lift! While the Rem was fairly smooth in this regard, point being practice is critical to make your rifle cycle appropriately without a bobble in the ammo. Much of our work was prone. Standing one really has to focus to properly hold the rifle, to handle the balance, and properly leverage bolt cycling.

I haven’t big game hunted but some videos show you drop the rifle from cheek weld, cycle, and remount. But whether fixed or dropped, you gotta be strong decisive and stout on these heavier guns. I know it’s been hashed before, but for me, the believed or real probability a 2nd rd will go in trouble free is what leaves me enjoying only looking at hunting Rem 700‘s online but not buying.