The McMillan stocks look inexpensive until you realize that price on the top of the page is NOT a drop in stock price. Even their lower end stocks run just under $1,000 when you add the full inlet for the barreled action and bottom metal, and pillar blocking. Plus the cost to have a smith bed it, or materials to do so yourself. With a drop in price of about $300, the Magpul stock is FAR less expensive than the McMillans - and converts the rifle to AICS compatible DBM.

What I might ask - which 700 model do you have? What do you intend to spend? What have you done to your other 700’s to modify your stocks and triggers to improve accuracy? Why can’t you simply replicate those modifications on this rifle? What load development have you done for this rifle? Or what factory ammo are you shooting? What size group is it shooting now? What size group can you shoot with your other rifles? Before and after your stock and trigger modifications? How many rounds down the barrel of that RUM?

The McMillan stocks are fantastic, the A3-A is one of my favorite stocks of all time - probably my top favorite really, and I REALLY enjoy the Game Warden as a hunting stock. Manners and Foundation also produce fantastic stocks. HS precision, even Bell & Carlson produce drop in ready stocks at a fraction of the cost of these 3. KRG makes a chassis which looks like a stock for about $500 drop in ready (the Bravo). XLR, MDT, MPA, and a handful of others also make great chassis’ for the 700. Boyd’s, Richards’ microfit, and Stocky’s offer various low cost stocks which can rival the Magpul for low cost, and be even more rigid - assuming you’re still comfortable doing a small amount of finish inlet fitting and block & bedding work.

The Magpul stock is fine, not on the level of the McMillan, Foundation, Manners, or MPA, but it is a very good stock. An incredible stock for the money. I used one on a 700 training rifle for part of this year, and a few friends on my precision rifle club use them. They are very stiff, and suit well for field shooting. Sexy, they are not, but for the money, they require less work than most others in their price class to deliver improvement.

I will also call out - a Saturday afternoon and about $50-75 in supplies is all I need to make a factory Remington 700 stock within about 90-95% of the precision potential of any stock that has been mentioned on this thread. Free floating the barrel, pillar blocking, and bedding the action (and stiffening the forend of the polymer factory stocks) will bring them to nearly the same performance potential as any stock on the market. In the context of hunting beanfields, I can’t tell the difference between my $100 Boyd’s stocks or my $1600 Manners or $1000 McMillan, or my $900 MPA. The groups are all small, and the fit is what I made it to be. All of the extra money has been spent for versatility and adaptability for different applications, and those features are largely lost on a rifle used for beanfield hunting - spending more doesn’t really get you any more.

Also, comparatively, if a guy buys a new stock or free floats, blocks, and beds a factory Remington and replaces the trigger, I expect a 1.25-1.5” rifle to shrink to about 3/4” - and it’ll cost about $200 to make that happen. Alternatively, you could spend a he11 of a lot of money blueprinting the action and setting back your barrel, $500-1000, and not improve your group size at all. If the crown isn’t bad, recutting it won’t fix it. If the throat is burned out in that over-bored 300RUM, lapping the bore or truing the bolt face won’t do anything to help precision - but WILL cost a couple hundred bucks.

Lapping a used factory barrel has never proven to be worth doing, for me. A broken in barrel won’t benefit nearly as much as a new barrel, and all you’re doing is opening yourself up for a shift. Leave the copper where it is, only push out carbon, and let that 300rum live the rest of its short barrel life.

I think you need to really consider what you want to do with the rifle, and what your expectations should be for precision in that application. A beanfield rifle, and 0-500yrd recreational shooter doesn’t need to waste money on a $800-1200 stock and $1000 in gunsmithing. Throw on a $250-350 stock from Magpul, Stocky’s, Boyd’s, HS precision, Bell & Carlson, etc. Free float it, pillar block it, and bed if applicable, then drop in a TriggerTech Primary trigger for $150, and live happily the rest of your life with that rifle - or at least the rest of its barrel life. You’re getting advice here for how to build a custom precision rifle for a few thousand dollars, when it sounds like all you need is a modest upgrade to a casual field rifle.