Questions for Remington 700 Long Range owners

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Hey folks:

Does anyone here have a Remington 700 Long Range? It doesn't matter what chambering you have.

https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-long-range

If you do own one of these, I would like to learn more about your experience with it.

1) How long have you owned it?
2) Overall quality: on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being poor and 10 being perfect, where would you rank this rifle? Please explain why.
3) Have you had any problems with it? If so, what was your experience with Remington customer service like?

I am interested in getting one of these because it checks all the boxes for me (26" factory heavy barrel rifle in 30-06). I haven't seen anyone else offering this configuration. However, I am reluctant to fork over the cash due to the stories I have heard/read about Remington over the past few years.

If I did get this rifle, the only potential changes I would make later would be the stock (prefer walnut and laminate stocks) and maybe a better trigger. Since I plan to customize later, would I be better off just building what I want from the get-go instead of tinkering with a factory rifle?

Thanks! :)
 
Looks nice but sorry no help from me. My 700 was made about 1960 and chambered in .308 but it does have a 26” barrel and I love it!
 
I have a US Army M24 (these were assembled at the custom shop) as well as a PSS model, both 308. I had a 5R in 308 too. All sub MOA rifles.
 
i would get the 7 mag but tho i loved remingtons i could not see myself buying one there is a list why that is longer then the owners manual. the begera rifles are very good and similar the the 700 the howa nice for the money to. i don't trust savage right now either.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. I am still on the fence about the 700LR.

There are other rifles that I like more such as the Winchester M70 Alaskan (30-06) and the Weatherby Vanguard (Deluxe or Sporter) (30-06). The only potential problem is those have hunting weight barrels. The good thing is that I don't hear too many complaints about their quality. So if I bought one, I wouldn't be losing sleep over whether I got a lemon.

I'm not sure if the barrel weight would make a difference in my situation or not. This will mainly be used for informal target shooting and maybe some informal competition. I have no intention of rapid firing this this--have an SKS and a bolt action 22LR for that. That being said, I have a fairly relaxed shooting pace (around 1 round per minute). I take my time and try to make every shot count. I can get my SKS hot, but it takes a while to get there.

So could an hunting rifle do the trick or should I stick with a heavy barrel?
 
Hunting rifle with standard barrel is more than capable of what you are wanting to do.
 
I fell into a 700SPS varmint deal in 308 about 3 years ago. I've been happy with it so far but the ranges here are 100 yards max.
Only changes I've made are a Timney trigger and Magpul magazine well. I have a Wolff firing pin spring, but so far I've been too lazy to install it.
 
I fell into a 700SPS varmint deal in 308 about 3 years ago. I've been happy with it so far but the ranges here are 100 yards max.
Only changes I've made are a Timney trigger and Magpul magazine well. I have a Wolff firing pin spring, but so far I've been too lazy to install it.

I hear good and bad about the stock trigger. Are the x-mark triggers so bad that they need to be changed out?

When I joined my range a few years ago, one of the members let me try his SPS Tactical in 308 after I was shooting my SKS for a while. The trigger pull was a night and day difference. I not sure if he had a stock trigger on it though. All I know is that you barely had to breath on it to break the sear.
 
I have a 700LR in 7mm RM.
The factory trigger, while i won't go so far as to say it's junk, definitely isn't worthy of the rifle's intentions. The bolt face has some rough machining marks that irk me a little but have no effect on function.

I fitted mine with a Timney trigger, Vortex Viper PST 4-16x50 FFP scope and started building handloads for it. A Hornady 162 ELD-M at 3.430" over H1000 at just under 3,000fps gives 3/4" 5 shot rapid fire groups at 100yd and I've hit 14" plates at 800m with it.

I have to say, for the price point I've found it pretty impressive.

Other mods have been a KRG bolt lift and Magpul AICS magazine kit. The magazine was easy to install in the B&C stock, the work of about 5 minutes with a dremel, or 15 with a small file.

0107181950.jpg

ETA: Regarding your quality scale, i'd put mine about a solid 7-8. It's no Sendero, but it's not a Mosin, either. It's a workmanlike tool, no more or less.
The stock is ugly, but works very well for the purpose.

I have had no issues with mine as far as function. The only "issue" was that i decided i wanted one the week after the big trigger recall and had to wait about a year to get it.

It's not a showpiece. But you will have a heck of a time building a custom HB target rifle to match it for anywhere near the price. Maybe using a Savage and doing all the work yourself...
 
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Yes Sir, the sweet 5R.

Yeah I like those as well. There is a youtube channel called "314299 Shooting Channel" where the guy has three 5Rs (223, 308, and 300 win mag). He was getting some pretty impressive groups with the 308 version at 300 yards with 155 grain sierra palma bullets.
 
I have a 700LR in 7mm RM.
The factory trigger, while i won't go so far as to say it's junk, definitely isn't worthy of the rifle's intentions. The bolt face has some rough machining marks that irk me a little but have no effect on function.

I fitted mine with a Timney trigger, Vortex Viper PST 4-16x50 FFP scope and started building handloads for it. A Hornady 162 ELD-M at 3.430" over H1000 at just under 3,000fps gives 3/4" 5 shot rapid fire groups at 100yd and I've hit 14" plates at 800m with it.

I have to say, for the price point I've found it pretty impressive.

Other mods have been a KRG bolt lift and Magpul AICS magazine kit. The magazine was easy to install in the B&C stock, the work of about 5 minutes with a dremel, or 15 with a small file.

View attachment 811157

ETA: Regarding your quality scale, i'd put mine about a solid 7-8. It's no Sendero, but it's not a Mosin, either. It's a workmanlike tool, no more or less.
The stock is ugly, but works very well for the purpose.

I have had no issues with mine as far as function. The only "issue" was that i decided i wanted one the week after the big trigger recall and had to wait about a year to get it.

It's not a showpiece. But you will have a heck of a time building a custom HB target rifle to match it for anywhere near the price. Maybe using a Savage and doing all the work yourself...

Thanks for posting this! It's been very helpful. Your rifle looks really sharp with the magazine kit added. It looks like it belongs on it.

Trigger: Essentially what your saying is the trigger is okay. But its flaws are not something I would notice until I am more experienced and have handled nicer rifles.

Accuracy: Judging from the results of your hand loads, this thing is plenty accurate for me.

Appearance/Stock: You say that this rifle is not pretty but does what it is supposed to do and is essentially a working man's tool. I wonder if that is what I should really be looking for. I mentioned in a previous post that I was interested in the Winchester M70 Alaskan and the Weatherby Vanguard as well. I love the walnut on them. However, I am afraid I would treat a nice walnut rifle like a brand new car (constantly worrying about it getting damaged or scratched).
 
However, I am reluctant to fork over the cash due to the stories I have heard/read about Remington over the past few years.


Buy it, Try it, Sell it..
If I listened to Online "stories" I would own ZERO guns. I prefer first hand experience to anything else. Granted *I* am still dealing with a sample of 1.

The last rifle I bought was a R700 5R. I am happy with it.
 
Thanks for posting this! It's been very helpful. Your rifle looks really sharp with the magazine kit added. It looks like it belongs on it.

Trigger: Essentially what your saying is the trigger is okay. But its flaws are not something I would notice until I am more experienced and have handled nicer rifles.

Accuracy: Judging from the results of your hand loads, this thing is plenty accurate for me.

Appearance/Stock: You say that this rifle is not pretty but does what it is supposed to do and is essentially a working man's tool. I wonder if that is what I should really be looking for. I mentioned in a previous post that I was interested in the Winchester M70 Alaskan and the Weatherby Vanguard as well. I love the walnut on them. However, I am afraid I would treat a nice walnut rifle like a brand new car (constantly worrying about it getting damaged or scratched).

That's pretty much the gist of it. When i got mine, i was looking for a 95% target, 5% hunting rifle that would give me longer "legs" than my semiauto .308, and I pretty much realized what you probably have; that a heavier barrel target rifle in a flatter caliber, that would drive tacks without breaking the bank didn't seem to exist. I was pondering buying a Howa barreled action or bare 700 receiver and building when i stumbled over the Long Range on Cabelas website for $700, and set about looking for reviews and information. I decided pretty quickly it was exactly what i was looking for. Then i decided on calibers. I was looking at the .300WM and .30-06 because i was already loading .308, but after going full nerd and poring over ballistic charts, comparing powder charges and free recoil numbers, i decided the 7mm would give me the best combo of downrange performance and shooting ergonomics. So i went to Cabelas and said, "If you have one in stock, i'd like to see a Remington 700 Long Range, please." To which they replied, "Oh. I'm sorry, we just sent ALL of our 700s back to thr factory last week. Didn't you hear about the recall?" Such is my luck...

Anyway, the trigger: as delivered, it broke at about 4lbs, with a bit of creep and a sensation of stacking. Picture drawing back against a plastic rod and that's about how it felt. The actual break was clean and predictable, but i decided it needed improving within about a week. I happened to catch a Timney on sale for $105 and got it coming. Quick and easy to install, and now it breaks like the proverbial glass rod at a squeak under 3lbs and zero creep, with no adjustments made by me. I actually make people dry fire the first time they shoot it before i let them load, because coming from about any stock rifle, it will touch off before you realize you're squeezing the trigger.

I shopped $300 magazine kits for a bit before i realized Magpul made one in a magnum length for $75 or so. It's meant for their proprietary stock, but i found a youtube tutorial about putting one in a B&C and it only requires inletting a little between the triggerwell and magwell, and a TEENY bit of opening up around the rear action bolt. I took the opportunity to glass-bed around the recoil lug and tang. Can't for sure say if it made any improvement (the B&C action block works pretty well) but it obviously hasnt hurt.

The mag kit is a definite improvement over the fiddly internal mag with it's fairly sharp feed lips. It feeds smoothly, doesn't scratch brass, and obviously makes reloads faster and simpler.

Here's some targets from my first load workups with the 162 ELD-Ms. By the time to got to the 69-71gr loads, it was approaching closing time so the barrel didn't get the cooldown between groups i would have liked.

1223171334.jpg
1223171616.jpg

Sorry for the long post.
 
Thanks for posting this! It's been very helpful. Your rifle looks really sharp with the magazine kit added. It looks like it belongs on it.

Trigger: Essentially what your saying is the trigger is okay. But its flaws are not something I would notice until I am more experienced and have handled nicer rifles.

Accuracy: Judging from the results of your hand loads, this thing is plenty accurate for me.

Appearance/Stock: You say that this rifle is not pretty but does what it is supposed to do and is essentially a working man's tool. I wonder if that is what I should really be looking for. I mentioned in a previous post that I was interested in the Winchester M70 Alaskan and the Weatherby Vanguard as well. I love the walnut on them. However, I am afraid I would treat a nice walnut rifle like a brand new car (constantly worrying about it getting damaged or scratched).

BTW, not sure what part of BC you're in, but should the opportunity to get into central Washington state avail you, PM me and I may be able to set you up to try mine out on a 1km range...
 
BTW, not sure what part of BC you're in, but should the opportunity to get into central Washington state avail you, PM me and I may be able to set you up to try mine out on a 1km range...

Thanks for writing all that out and sharing your experiences! I also appreciate the offer to let me shoot it. I'm jealous that you have access to a 1K range lol Not sure if I will be in WA any time soon. Probably won't need to though. I think I am sold on this rifle. That is really impressive performance for the price. I still think I am going to stick with 30-06 though. I really like the 7RM and its ballistics. But you sound like an experienced shooter that can take advantage of the extra performance that a 7RM offers. The only thing is that I intend to do a lot of shooting and want something that has better barrel life. Hence my leaning toward 30-06. Maybe I'll trade up to a 7RM later.
 
The aught-six is a perfectly capable all-round cartridge. Nothing wrong with it, and if i hadn't already had a good .308 i wouldn't have thought twice about it. A good .30-06 load will be more than adequate for 1km. The 7mm is (ballistically) adequate to almost 1.5...i'm just not up to it yet. Lol
 
Got quite a few R700's here. Not really a fanboy but they are my favorites.

Just honestly assess your situation..... are you going to;

"A"- handle,carry,shoot more in the field than off more formal setups

......or....

"B"- wear the barrel out shooting paper and steel plates out.... working on perfect handloads,bench technique.

"A".... snag a quality sporter. "B" ....grab a heavy barrel rig in whatever flavor that checks your boxes.

Dragging around "varmint barrels" gets old when a successful day in the field is maybe two Ghogs. Or one deer. But gotta say,sporter barrels shooting high intensity loadings without significant cooling down isn't hitting on a whole lot neither. I get 3 shot groups and the barrels are toasty. A really good sporter can RIP off a fast 5 shot group.Long strings of fire are for the more dedicated,to that endeavour..... most shoot heavy barrels.
 
I live in the flat eastern part of Washington state. We get pretty big elk out here sometimes, and the terrain in some places lets you pick a vantage point and spot herds from 4-500yds or so. Never done any hunting with my 7mm, but it's on the list.

Guy i shoot with bagged an Idaho elk last year from 903yds lasered. He uses a Browning X-bolt Fury, its lighter than mine, and shoots just as well, but for 2-3 shots at a time rather than 5-10.
 
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