Remington 700 ADL in 243
#23
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 255
I found a 1974 Remington 700 .243 wood stock, shorter (youth?) barrel. It was rusting in my inlaws farm closet in a heavy canvas case for 2 decades. It was rusted to pieces and had a similar vintage leupold 3x9 scope. I took the rifle to a gunsmith and brought it back to life and sent the scope to Leopold. They regassed the scope and completely removed the "smoke" from the lenses. You have to love good customer service and a lifetime warranty. The rifle is beautiful and I just dropped a 140 lb VA 6 point buck at 130 yards where it stood with that rifle. Hornady 95 gr. SST's. The 100 Core Lokt shoot ok from the gun as well. I will shoot the Hornady's though, just because that deer dropped where it stood. I killed a doe year before last with the core lokt 100 gr. and it ran 50 yards but still expired. A great shooter, and an ideal whitetail gun
#24
I know this is an old post, but...
My mom just picked up a 700ADL yesterday from Walmart for $377 in .243win and brought it to me to have me "get it ready" for her significant other for Christmas. He's not a gun guy, so she just wanted a decent rifle for him to haul around for opportunity shots on coyotes. I'm going to lap the locking lugs, bed it into a new Boyd's stock (purple & grey lam - Go Cats!), and do a bit of factory ammo testing with it to find a load it likes for him and get it sighted in. Turn key solution. If it doesn't pass muster after just bedding and lapping the lugs, I'll do a more intense blueprint to true up the bolt, receiver, and threads then set the barrel back, but I'll assume it'll be a 1-1.5MOA shooter out of the box.
My mom just picked up a 700ADL yesterday from Walmart for $377 in .243win and brought it to me to have me "get it ready" for her significant other for Christmas. He's not a gun guy, so she just wanted a decent rifle for him to haul around for opportunity shots on coyotes. I'm going to lap the locking lugs, bed it into a new Boyd's stock (purple & grey lam - Go Cats!), and do a bit of factory ammo testing with it to find a load it likes for him and get it sighted in. Turn key solution. If it doesn't pass muster after just bedding and lapping the lugs, I'll do a more intense blueprint to true up the bolt, receiver, and threads then set the barrel back, but I'll assume it'll be a 1-1.5MOA shooter out of the box.
#26
Trigger job, yes. Mom's beau isn't a shooter, and this is a "hey, look! A coyote" rifle, so I will leave it at a nice 3.5-4lb set weight. I'll work what I can to get it as crisp and clean as possible with no over travel. Shouldn't need anything but elbow grease to get there though, so no jewel in his future. Not by me right now at least.
It's getting a Boyd's laminate stock, which will get pillars and bedded, 100% free floated since this is a light barrel (short chamber support only).
I don't believe that I'll lap the barrel on this one. Hand lapping is a pain, and this is a $380 rifle. If it doesn't shoot for squat, I'll scavenge the action and build a lightweight 7-08 and go buy a savage for mom's SO. It'll get a break in procedure as I search for a load it likes, but if it's not accurate, the answer would be a better barrel, in my mind. But I do fully expect it will shoot 1-1.5moa as it is already. My lead furnace is in storage so I have to have a pretty desperate need to dig it out, and making laps ain't it! Haha!
Since he'll be shooting factory ammo, from a factory barrel, I can't let myself get too carried away, but if it doesn't shoot, I'll blue print it and see if that helps it shoot for his barrel. If not, then I'll know it's the tube and I'll stick a shilen on it, more than doubling the price of the gun. That'll be over the "Christmas rifle budget" so it'd be mine, and I'd grab a savage 11 trophy hunter for him to replace it.
It's getting a Boyd's laminate stock, which will get pillars and bedded, 100% free floated since this is a light barrel (short chamber support only).
I don't believe that I'll lap the barrel on this one. Hand lapping is a pain, and this is a $380 rifle. If it doesn't shoot for squat, I'll scavenge the action and build a lightweight 7-08 and go buy a savage for mom's SO. It'll get a break in procedure as I search for a load it likes, but if it's not accurate, the answer would be a better barrel, in my mind. But I do fully expect it will shoot 1-1.5moa as it is already. My lead furnace is in storage so I have to have a pretty desperate need to dig it out, and making laps ain't it! Haha!
Since he'll be shooting factory ammo, from a factory barrel, I can't let myself get too carried away, but if it doesn't shoot, I'll blue print it and see if that helps it shoot for his barrel. If not, then I'll know it's the tube and I'll stick a shilen on it, more than doubling the price of the gun. That'll be over the "Christmas rifle budget" so it'd be mine, and I'd grab a savage 11 trophy hunter for him to replace it.
#27
Those two (trigger job & lapping the barrel) I have always believed to be the two "best/easiest/least expensive" ways to improve the accuracy of a production rifle.
That is other than finding the ammo that the gun likes the best.
That is other than finding the ammo that the gun likes the best.
#28
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,227
My late father used a 700 ADL in .243 for pronghorn. As expected, it worked well. I personally use a 700 Classic in 6.5x55 Swedish for most of my pronghorn hunting since I like a little more bullet weight than I can get in a 6mm.
#29
IMO Remmys either shoot good or are horrible. But the 700 in any configuration seems to be good shooters as a whole. They do have problems with their less expensive models but not 700s. Lately I prefer Brownings or Tikkas
#30
My dad has a 700 ADL in .270 that shoots MOA with factory ammo. All he had done was the trigger lightened up. His handloads have shot groups around 1/2", which is very impressive for basically a factory rifle.