remington 700 quality question
 

Somewhere in recent months I saw a comment(don't recall where I saw it) that the quality of remington 700's is not what it used to be, not as good.
Would like to hear some comments from those who would know as I am considering buying a 700 CDL. Thanks.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I never realized the quality difference before I bought a slew of 700's from an Estate sale. These were bascially NIB 700's from the 70's and early 80's. The ones I kept, was extremely accurate guns, and in fact the most accurate I got. Even more than some custombuilt guns. And barrels didn't copper foul at all. Bluing was deep blue, and looked like a custom finish. You couldn't see any brush marks. Trigger was a nice 3.5lbs with no creep.

Compared it against some newer early 2000 model BDL's. Wasn't no comparison. my new ones have the roughest barrels I ever seen. Blueing is just ok at best. And not even. Triggers have to make their way to the gunsmith. And usually takes me mroe than 3 trips to the range to find a ok SubMOA load and sometimes that finicky with weather changes.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

All I can do is tell you what I have expierenced. I have been buying a Remington 700 or two about every year since 1970. The last one I bought was about six months ago. From time to time I get one that has a few cosmetic flaws in finish. However without exception, I have had not one problem with any of them that required any repair. Every one without exception has shot as good or better than I expected and I have not seen one that once broke in and once its best load is found, that won't shoot one inch groups. And I am not a real good group shooter.

Quality control is probably not as good as it once was but thats not a Remington thing and I have seen guns from all gun makers slipping a bit in that department. I was looking at some Tikka and Vanguard rifles a few weeks ago and many of them had ballels that were not even close to being centered in the stocks barrel channel.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I have a CDL in 7mm-08 I think is every bit as good or a little better than the older Remingtons looks good, shoots excellent and is reasonably priced. I hope this helps chad

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

Yea, I can't believe what they did to Tikka. The whitetail and continential were fine guns.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I don't know how they would shoot but that sure jumped out at me. Abouit three out of five of them were that way.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

My 2003 Model 700 and my 96 Model 700 shoot better groups than my 83, 86, and 89 700's. All shoot very well but the 2003 in 7-08 is a tad better. For what its worth the 83 and the 89 have the best finishes. The best part is...nary a problem with any of the above. I would like to get into some of the older ones to compare a little farther back though.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

My reply is the exact same as that of "chma".

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I purchased a 700 BDL in 223 recently. It would barely chamber a round. It was an extractor problem. It should never have left the factory. I had warranty work done on it, and got the trigger adjusted. It is shooting OK now, but not as good as an old ADL I had in 222.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I believe Rem. is not spending the money on quality control (inspection) that they used to spend. But neither is anyone else who makes firearms!

Now that USRAC is defunct, there's even less incentive for any maker to produce quality work, as the competition is dwindling!

The best buys today are oldies but goodies off of used gun racks and the auction sites!

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

Wow, I feel priveledged. Everybody coming on to debunk my theory that the older 700's were better than the newer CDL. Too bad, I doubt I will find out again.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

The last 700 I bought, about 5 or 6 years ago, was probably the single worst firearm I've ever owned. I haven't bought another since.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

The new stainless SPS's seem to be good shooters - at least in the five I have messed with in various calibers over the past year or so.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

Thanks for all the replies. The interesting thing is the different experiences with accuracy. Some say the older ones shoot better, others say the new ones shoot just as good. I would like to find a 6mm 700 Classic made 1978-1985 in excellent condition. Thanks again.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I hate to do it but I have to agree with you. My bud is a Rem nut and the last few years he just hasnt had the same quality gunss. He replaces barrels, Jewels Bolts all kinds of stuff to each of his 700's and he and his gunsmith have been very disapointed at how uneven some of the boltfaces havent been even. He said it seems like alot of their tolerances just arent what they used to be.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

I can't speak to the "older" Remingtons as I have never owned one or even shot one for that matter. I bought my first Remington last spring. It's a Rem 700 Mtn LSS in 7mm-08. When I bought the gun I was planning to replace the trigger and have it free floated and pillar bedded. I didn't have to do any of that!

Fit and finish were great and I adjusted the trigger myself. The first handloads I tried, Sierra 140 Grn SBT's shot sub MOA. Since then I've developed loads for 154 Hdy RN, 145 Grn Speer SP, 140 Grn Nosler Accubond, 139 Hornady SP, 150 Grn Nosler BT, 140 Grn Nosler BT and last but not least 100 Grn Sierra HP. All of these have shot sub MOA with the exception of the two Nosler BT's and even they grouped just a little over an inch. (Don't know why it doesn't like BT's) Over all, groups from this gun average between 3/4"-1" with a few 1/2"-3/4" groups thrown in now and again just to keep it interesting.

Just a couple of days ago I shot the best groups ever with this rifle using the 100 Grn Sierra HP's on top of RE15. The groups came in at 0.242" and 0.345".



Sorry for the long post, but I've got absolutely nothing to complain about where my Remington 700 is concerned. Maybe I'm just lucky and got one of the good ones!

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

Edit: corrected spelling

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

Your results are similar to mine first. Shooting is believing.

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

Very pleased with my 700 XCR.:)

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

Reddog, could you please tell me about your XCR. I am very interested in this model for my next purchase. Not many people seem to know much about them. I don't want to hijack this thread, so you could email me if you would like, or just pm me.

Thanks,
Fat-Arrow

RE: remington 700 quality question
 

the ADL's are magniforus. i had one in a .243 and shot a 1/4" 2 shot group at 100 yrds with it. exceptional accuracy. the most accurate gun ive ever owned probably. the bullets were almost one hole in the target. for the other models i dont really know but i can definatley vouch for the ADL.