Are Remington 40X rifles worth the premium price?

[1200 meters]

Didn't shoot that to impress. I was able to group at 1175 and 1250 meters at Ft Bragg in 1977, Only shot 1000 meters since anywhere else. also shot oranges cold shot at 300 meters. If you've never shot an ART scope you've missed a pleasure. Long range is a ZEN type experience for me.some days you are on and some days you're not. I've go two Gewehr 98s and love them. I shot 100 meters with one that is scoped and 600 meters with iron sights. I also shoot 45-110 Black powder cartridge to 1000 yards. Love long range shooting.. and am working up a 1600 meters round for 30-06 with 240 gr bullets. I can understand your doubting. Blitz

 

[1200 meters]

Didn't shoot that to impress. I was able to group at 1175 and 1250 meters at Ft Bragg in 1977, Only shot 1000 meters since anywhere else. also shot oranges cold shot at 300 meters. If you've never shot an ART scope you've missed a pleasure. Long range is a ZEN type experience for me.some days you are on and some days you're not. I've go two Gewehr 98s and love them. I shot 100 meters with one that is scoped and 600 meters with iron sights. I also shoot 45-110 Black powder cartridge to 1000 yards. Love long range shooting.. and am working up a 1600 meters round for 30-06 with 240 gr bullets. I can understand your doubting. I do physical therapy now and don't shoot nearly as much as i should. Blitz

 

[1200 meters]

sorry must have double clicked

 

[Bwana John]

As a kid I shot NRA smallbore rifle in a Jr Police Rifle club and later in a JROTC rifle team.

As my buddys dad ran the club I was issued to take home a DCM Rem 40X in .22lr, I was ~13 years old, and could barely lift it.

That rifle shot better than ANY .22 I have shot in the 30 years after I turned it back in when I turned 18.

 

[Gewehr98]

Yup, almost bought one.

It was a Savage Tactical 10FP in .308 that I talked one of my subordinates into buying. I feel bad for doing that to him, in hindsight.

It shot "ok", but I was not terribly impressed, and thought my own older 110-series Savage had better fit and finish. As I've stated before, that vaunted floating bolt head has indeed cost one competitor his chances at winning a tactical match, even if anecdotal.

I find it funny that those who say the money is better spent on a custom forget that the 40X IS a custom. You pays your money, and they build the rifle for you, it shows up about 6 months later. Much is said about needing to tweak a Remington 700 action in this thread, and to that I'll heartily agree. My own 700PSS got a bit of tweaking. The 40X, however, is NOT a 700 action, lest we forget. The tweaking happened at the Remington Custom Shop, before it even shipped to me, as opposed to me buying a Savage and basically rebuilding it.

Maybe mine's the exception, with excellent fit, finish, lug engagement, etc. So be it, but I believe it was worth every penny, and as somebody who owns several customs and also helps keep Krieger barrels awash in cash, I don't disparage Remington their 40X.

 

[jlmurphy]

Gewehr98, I agree that the finish on most modern Savage actions is nothing to brag about. I have a 110 short action from 1963 that is much better finished than the 10 series I inspected last year. When I opened the box for the Target action (right bolt, left port), I was really surprised how well this action was finished, far superior to their production actions. They obviously put more effort into this series. I haven't seen an assembled Savage F/TR rifle, so I can't comment on their quality, although from what I read, the barrels are the weak link. I have a Krieger 6.5 barrel I plan to use, with a McMillan A-5 stock.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Gewehr98, do you consider a 40X a custom in the same vein as a Kelby (or whatever) built off of a Nesika/Stolle/BAT/Stiller with a Hart/Shilen/Kreiger/Lilja barrel? (I'm curious if the 40X with the 2 oounce trigger option really uses a Jewel trigger.) 40x triggers, barrels, and actions are still Remington factory parts, No? Sure they'll glassbed a 40X, but how much is it different than a Cooper, which pretty much everybody considers a 'semi-custom'?

By the way, do you consider a 40X equal to a Cooper? Would you consider it equal to a Cooper for the money?

I'll give you the fact that the fit and finish of a 40X is better than your average Savage, and that once trued and rebarreled you could make a decent BR rifle (which I pretty much consider the standard for accuracy, even if a BR rig is usually set up for a specific purpose).

I'm just not going to consider a custom shop 40X a viable (i.e. competitive) short range benchrest rig (to pick one dicipline), nor one that could hold its value like one. If you were to post on 6mmBR.com or benchrest.com about a bone-stock custom-shop 40X being competitive against the Nesika/Stolle/BAT/Stiller-based rifles, do you think you would really get anybody to consider it an equal competitor (excluding the VarmintGuy!).

Nothing against your rifle...a .308 that shoots in the .2(s) at 200 sounds impressive, and it's good shooting. I don't think my Savage 6BR shoots any better than .4s or .5s...but I've got significantly less in it.

It's not that hard to find a used Stolle Panda for $2K that will shoot in the .2s or better, and it would leave you enough for a Weaver T36, and you could be competitive.

One last point, there are some plain 'ol factory rifles that just shoot some loads pretty well. The target below was one of my first .308 reloads in a $700 CZ550 Varmint with a 3x12 Nikon. It shoots Varget (or RL-15) and SMKs really well and is still bone stock.

That may be in the .2s (or perhaps less), but it's not as good as a true custom, with a custom action and pemium barrel. Most customs seem to shoot most reasonable reloads well. (As does my Savage.) That CZ only likes Varget and RL-15. I don't in any way consider that as good of a shooter as a real custom.

I'm happy with a bubba Savage, which with a better shooter, might keep up with your 40X, at half the price...

 

[Gewehr98]

RugerOldArmy, I hope you're just being facetious.

I say that because it sounds like you're comparing high-end benchrest actions to a non-benchrest 40X action - apples and oranges. If you intend to steer the discussion towards the benchrest game, I appreciate that, but it's not where I'm coming from.

Likewise, if you're dead-nuts serious about a benchrest rig that'll be competitive, you're looking for a Stolle Panda, Nesika Bay, BAT, or Shilen DGA, plus all the fiddly bits that go with that type of action. Your website is ostensibly www.6mmBR.com as a launching point for that particular discipline. And no, you won't find a gaggle of Savages on the leaderboards at BR matches. It doesn't mean you can't build a BR Savage, just that there are better mousetraps already out there making your BR aspirations somewhat more difficult, much akin to the little black rifle displacing the M14/M1A at Camp Perry. If you have time and money, sure. This guy did just that, tweaking a Savage to his heart's desire:

http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek040.html

I don't consider the 40X to be a benchrest rig, never have, and I guarantee you'll never find where I stated such. I doubt anybody does, it's the wrong rifle for that very specialized game. I do, however, consider the 40X to be an excellent across-the-course match rifle, an excellent target rifle, an F-Class rifle, a law enforcement rifle (common amongst sheriff's departments prior to the arrival of the 700PSS), and a damn nice rig to sit in that big gap intended for upscale rifles between the plain-vanilla Savremchestruger 700/77/70/110/10 and the seriously hardcore true benchrest rigs like Stolle, Nesika Bay, Shilen DGA, BAT, and so forth.

As such, I do consider the fit and finish of the Remington 40X to be in the league of the Cooper, Jarrett, Iron Brigade Armory, Shiloh, and other working man's customs. In other words, they're not BR rigs with metalflake paint jobs glued into their stocks and sliding on talcum powdered sandbags and vernier-adjustable front rests. (Although look at the front rest in my picture! ) I personally have no problems taking the 40X to the tree stand during deer season, and putting venison on the table, then spending a nice afternoon at the range shooting small groups to unwind.

I've built many custom target rifles, and purchased nearly the same amount. I've also had the pleasure of shooting, borrowing, and handling nearly everything that's been made or sold thanks to my decade or so of being a range safety officer and an extra ten years as competitive shooter. Some rifles leave me cold, while others really stick out as outstanding values for the dollar, including the seldom-mentioned and now discontinued Tikka 595 Master Sporter. Aesthetics don't paint the whole picture - I'll be the first to admit that. My Remington 700PSS looks rough as a cob compared to the 40X pictured above, but it also shoots darned well for the price. Heck, even my old Savage 110 in .30-06 has its moments. However, I've already learned that the 40X shoots better than the 700PSS (as it should!), and while I doubt one can extrapolate a linear metric comparing group size vs. purchase price, I don't regret the cost of the 40X at all. Likewise, the benchrest guys building Nesika Bay and Stolle Panda rifles know they're getting rifles that shoot bughole groups, and are more than happy to shell out the beaucoup clams to play the game.

I don't really have to defend my 40X purchase to anybody, honestly. The original poster wanted inputs on the 40X, and I gave an honest one. It does what I want it to do, and I paid Remington's Custom Shop the money to tweak it before they boxed it up and sent it to me. I could've bought another Remington 700 Varmint/PSS, and fiddled with it, or a Savage 10FP and done the same. But it's nice knowing that when that box arrives from Big Green, the boys at the Custom Shop got it right and the gun is ready to go, without further ado. Buy a custom gun from Kenny Jarrett, Norm & Rocky Chandler, Shiloh Sharps, or Cooper, and you'll enjoy that same feeling, right out of the box.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Gewehr, Most of the 40X(s) I've seen are the ones such as:

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/custom_shop/40-x/model_40-XBBR_KS.asp

or

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/custom_shop/40-x/model_40-XRBR_KS.asp

which strike me as a BR setup. So when you, in an earlier thread, seemed taken back that we didn't consider them a custom, I was comparing them to what I considered a custom BR rig.

Hopefully, no harm no foul!

Maybe my thinking is colored by my disappointment with my XR-100, which took some work (and parts) to get to a decent 'varmint-level' of accuracy...despite having much better glass than some of my others. The original barrel on that Remington seemed as smooth as any Shilen I've ever had...but never shot worth beans! I must have had the 'lawyers chamber reamer' and a 'Monday' factory build. But again, an XR-100 isn't a 40X...

 

[ALS]

$2600 isn't bad for a factory custom shop rifle.

Remember that $2,600 includes a 15% federal sporting tax. So actual cost without that tax is $2,250.

I'd like to know where some of you are getting all this cheap high quality custom work done on your guns ?

I will add what is coming out of Remington today is far better quality than what was being shipped out just 3 years ago.

I have never owned a 40X but I have never heard anyone that owned one ever complain about the accuracy they were getting out of the gun.

 

[Fburgtx]

Well, Brownell's had Remington 700 actions for $400-$500. Get the best barrel Shilen or others make for about $500. Then, get a great synthetic stock for $400 or less. Maybe, $200-$300 to have a gunsmith put said barrel on said action. That's $1700-$2000.

Call me crazy, but $2600 sound a little steep (at least for my tastes). I'm thinking $1500 to $2000 would be more in line......