Why no to the rem 700?

[7MAG]

For about the same money or a little more get a Win 70 Safari Express. Proven over 100 years, totally reliable and accurate. Dg is just that --dangerous game in every sense of the word. You want the absolute most reliability you can get your hands on. Not just for yourself but for everyone in the party. I've had 700s over the years. Fine for NA except bears but I wouldn't even take one out of the safe for a safari, not even for pg.
My couple pennies.

I’ve been around enough bears I have taken them with a m700 I don’t feel as if it was unsafe or unreliable. I will add I have seen someone fairly recent almost lose their life from a grizzly because of a CRF action failure.

 

[gbflyer]

A lot of 700s have this. Remington intermittently used a hammer forging process to chamber barrels and varying thickness recoil lugs to headspace. The result could be wide variations in headspace.

I believe current ones are reamed.

I have never heard of hammer forging a chamber in a barrel. Learn something new every day.

 

[IvW]

Pos when it gets to dg....

 

[grand veneur]

I have used Remington 700 rifles several times on various hunts abroad, among others a rental rifle caliber 416 Rem Mag on a buffalo hunt in Mozambique. I didn't have any problems with it during the DG hunt, but the build of this kind of rifle doesn't feel very reliable and prone to various problems.

Anyway, the Remington 700 action is no comparable to that of a Winchester model 70 pre-64 rifle or any other rifle with an Mauser 98 action or similar, especially and above all for hunting DG. The reasons for this have already been mentioned by other members, and considering the price of a hunt for DG, the few hundred dollars more for a good and safe rifle shouldn't matter anymore. It doesn't need to be a custom rifle from Holland & Holland by far.

 

[WAB]

I had an interesting experience regarding a 700 the other day. I was in ‘need’ of a .308 bolt gun. The Bergara Ridge was actually $300 cheaper than the 700. Bergara is a much improved 700 with a great barrel and good trigger so I bought one. Another fellow in the shop would have none of that foreign crap and insisted on buying the Remington. There’s no helping some folks.

 

[baxterb]

When I worked in a gun store many moons ago we had model 700s returned where the bolt handle had popped off - they are brazed on. I’ve heard of two model 70 bolt handles come loose (one off the stud, the other just loose) and one gun maker I know pins every one that he has ever built or had come through the shop.

I think in general people trust a Mauser derivative over a model 700. Whether it’s fully justified or not.

 

[Monsai52]

In addition to all the negatives that have been said about the 700, I just have an inate dislike of it due to the fact it was one of the first actions designed not as an improvement of anything, but to be built as cheaply as possible.

Best regards,

 

[gbflyer]

When I worked in a gun store many moons ago we had model 700s returned where the bolt handle had popped off - they are brazed on. I’ve heard of two model 70 bolt handles come loose (one off the stud, the other just loose) and one gun maker I know pins every one that he has ever built or had come through the shop.

I think in general people trust a Mauser derivative over a model 700. Whether it’s fully justified or not.

They are silver soldered on. I have also seen them come off. I have never seen one get loose, never seen one with a stud. Unable to comprehend how one would be pinned, learn something new every day. The best thing I have seen is having Dan Armstrong in Alaska time and TIG weld them. He’s done 3 for me. Flawless work, interesting personality[emoji23]

 

[Puddle]

There are a small group of us that enjoy DG hunting that get together for regular practice and welcome anyone who wants to give it a go.

Picture a unequal lengths letter "V" tipped over on it's side. The timer starts the moment the loaded rifle goes up on the sticks. The first shot is always at the farthest 10" balloon. The second shot is after you come off the sticks, step to the side and swing you and your barrel at the middle balloon. The third shot, the last shot, is when you swing back in the other direction to shoot the closest balloon. Sometimes we shoot the third shot off the knee.

3 shots are to accommodate all magazines; calibers .366 and up. Generally, if you are slower than 5 - 6 seconds, then you are chipping in to buy the morning coffee.

Ignoring the operator errors, the most equipment related problems I've witnessed are magazine feeding issues with M700 factory rifles.

 

[AZDAVE]

As many have said quality control issues have plagued Remington for decades. I have owned 3 M700 in my lifetime. Had problems with 2 and the third came as part of a trade and it was traded back out to a shop in less than 48 hours.

I know people that swear by them as great rifles and those that swear at them as POS. So if you have a good one and it works for you take it and hunt with it and have fun

For me you couldn't give me one.

 

[Pondoro]

I would not for the life of me hunt DG with an M700..

 

[mdwest]

I've been fortunate with 700's.. but admittedly have never owned one in a "hunting rifle" type profile..

I've owned 3 of them.. all in .308 Win.. all custom built for precision/sniper type work.. all were incredibly reliable.. and all were sub .25 MOA rifles..

2 were "sendero" variants, the third was a 700P (police).. I had the actions trued up, timney triggers installed, McMillan stocks fitted, etc.. and they all got higher end optics mounted as well.. 2 were "play" guns that I just enjoyed shooting at the range (we had a 600 and 1000 meter range not too far from where I lived back then).. the third was my actual "duty" rifle when I served as a sniper team leader on a metro area SWAT team for a while.. I trusted my life and my teammates lives to it on more than a few occasions..

I genuinely loved shooting all of those rifles.. they were as good or better than any other "sniper" rifles I have ever seen/shot for engagements from 50-600 meters.. (there are certainly better options for engagements further out than 600)..

All that said.. I would have zero desire to take a 700 on a buff (or any DG) hunt..

While I am sure hundreds, if not thousands of DG around the world have been taken with 700's.. I guess the question would be... "why"?

If you can afford a DG hunt, you can afford a new rifle if you dont already own something suitable for DG..

And if Im buying a 700, only to have to spend another couple of hundred bucks to have an AR extractor installed, and have other work done to it.. Why wouldnt I just buy something off the shelf thats suitable as soon as I take it out of the box (Ruger 77, Win 70, etc)?

Again.. dont get me wrong... I know a 700 in 375 H&H will kill a buff just as easily as a Rigby in 375 H&H.. and I have long been an advocate for a 700 (when it doesnt have a QA/QC issue, etc) under the right conditions.. There is a reason it has been deployed by hundreds (probably more) major metro SWAT teams and by every branch of the US Military's SOF units in some of the worst possible conditions (rain, snow, heat, sand, dirt, etc) when other options were available to them..

But for me... it just doesnt make sense for a first choice for a DG rifle..

 

[The_red_Boe]

I personally would not take anything that wasn't designed, field tested, and proven to be reliable to chase any thing that could kill or maim. There are plenty of affordable mass produced rifles in "the right caliber" that do great at the range when going through the motions, but africa is different. I would rather pony up the money for a Heym or a custom than risk bringing a rifle that could fail me at the wrong time.

 

[baxterb]

They are silver soldered on. I have also seen them come off. I have never seen one get loose, never seen one with a stud. Unable to comprehend how one would be pinned, learn something new every day. The best thing I have seen is having Dan Armstrong in Alaska time and TIG weld them. He’s done 3 for me. Flawless work, interesting personality[emoji23]

the loose ones I mentioned are model 70s , stud may be an inaccurate description it’s the bolt body the bolt mounting ring (?) slides over. The pin goes through the bottom of the bolt mounting ring into the body. I’m hacking that description but it provides a mechanical block to the model 70 bolt handle from pulling off the bolt - as unlikely as that will ever be. For the record, that process came about from an off-handed remark a very well known PH made regarding a model 70 bolt he saw come off in the field.

 

[MS 9x56]

I have never owned a 700 and I live a couple of hours from Remingtons ion plant. Heard too many horror stories. I do have a model 14 and the workmanship on it is in another realm from what I have seen on some 700’s. But then it was built in 1920. If I were going to hunt dangerous game it would be with a CRF rifle. I use a CZ 550 FS in 9.3x62 for bear hunting. I. Believe the biggest issue with Remington was their management went about their business as if they were building widgets not firearms.

 

[IvW]

I have given my comments before it has so many things against it not sure I can remember all....
And yes I owned a 375 H&H M700 Classic and it is the worse rifle I have ever owned.....
Why?

Built to light for caliber(by a long margin)
Worse open sights on any big game rifle
Shit safety....
Bolt is checkered/jeweled and also not round
Bolt handle prone to breaking off
Useless mag capacity in DG calibers.....any double will get off 4 shots before you can do so with a M700....
Probably the worse rifle to top load into the mag of them all
Not sure you can even call the extractor an extractor it is a tiny thing prone to problems
The spring loaded plunger cannot eject an unfired round without tilting the rifle to the right or removing the round by hand...

I may have missed some others but the above just about sums it up and makes it a big nono for DG.

I will never own another irrespectiveof caliber....

 

[mdwest]

I do have a model 14 and the workmanship on it is in another realm from what I have seen on some 700’s. But then it was built in 1920.

+1

The only Rem rifle I currently own is a 600 in .308 (pre-mohawk).. made in the mid 1960's... and at a totally different level than anything have made since..

 

[crs]

Then there are shooters that were raised on Winchester or another brand of rifle and have no incentive to change to a Remington or any other brand.


I happily reside in that group of shooters.

 

[7MAG]

They are silver soldered on. I have also seen them come off. I have never seen one get loose, never seen one with a stud. Unable to comprehend how one would be pinned, learn something new every day. The best thing I have seen is having Dan Armstrong in Alaska time and TIG weld them. He’s done 3 for me. Flawless work, interesting personality[emoji23]

Yeah I’ve spoken with him as well….. he’s uh…….. interesting

 

[7MAG]

I had an interesting experience regarding a 700 the other day. I was in ‘need’ of a .308 bolt gun. The Bergara Ridge was actually $300 cheaper than the 700. Bergara is a much improved 700 with a great barrel and good trigger so I bought one. Another fellow in the shop would have none of that foreign crap and insisted on buying the Remington. There’s no helping some folks.

I just have a spare 700 action around