RE: Long time 700 owners
Right now I have 2 700BDLs in my safe. One a 30-06 (my son's) and a .270. The '06 must be about 50 years old. I picked it up used really cheap (for like $100). The trigger was absoultely horrible and the previous owner said it wouldn't shoot. I found out why. When I got it home I took the action out of the stock. Apparently the prev. owner never did this and just kept oiling the gun. The bedding area around the barrel lug was like a sponge. I dug the soft wood out with my pocket knife and a dremel tool until I hit solid wood. the trigger was full of rust. I soaked it in a can of kerosene for a couple of days then took it apart and scrubbed it good with an old toothbrush. Treated the action with a release agent and filled the stock with fiberglass bedding and put it back together.
Rifle is a pretty good shooter now and the trigger is almost perfect.
My 270 is about as accurate a production rifle as you can getwith the right load). Its about 40 or so years old and has never let me down. I've carried it on a lot of hunt in a lot of states. I've taken animals from literally spitting distance to 'way out there'. I've been playing, quite sucessfully, with other newer rifles so this old girl has been setting back in the safe and not seeing much action. But I don't think I will ever get rid of her.