Popularity of Remington 700?

3Crows said:

The Axis/Ruger American are approaching that as the rifles have been stripped to their bare essentials but without elegance and maybe the 700 strikes a better balance to the admirers senses.

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This was the same thing the Win 70 and Mauser fanboys used to say about the Rem 700. The 700 is stripped down, bare essentials, but lacking class and elegance. Hell, look at the janky little ejector the Rem uses, reminiscent of a ballpoint pen...

It’s a subjective bias passed down between generations, despite lacking any real objective truth. Old names are good names, that’s how they got to be old, right?

marksman13 said:

I’m not saying they won’t shoot. I know a ton of people are extremely satisfied with them. My American will run 1.25 MOA for five rounds with match ammo occasionally, but it tends to hover around 2 MOA with the best ammo and around 3 MOA with cheap stuff. Maybe I’m expecting too much out of it, but it shoots worse than any AR that I own and I expected it to shoot better than it does.

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Only time I have seen this was on a stock with a crooked channel pressing against the barrel.

Is there a rationale to the 721 and 700 model numbers Remington chose?

horsey300 said:

Only time I have seen this was on a stock with a crooked channel pressing against the barrel.

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Barrel channel has been opened up and stock has been stiffened. I don’t know if this one is ever going to be a shooter. I’ve got a buddy with a 6.5 Creedmoor that he can’t get to shoot either. Another buddy has a 6.5 Creedmoor identical to it and it shoots lights out. That’s the issue I have with lower end rifles. They are a crap-shoot.

marksman13 said:

Barrel channel has been opened up and stock has been stiffened. I don’t know if this one is ever going to be a shooter. I’ve got a buddy with a 6.5 Creedmoor that he can’t get to shoot either. Another buddy has a 6.5 Creedmoor identical to it and it shoots lights out. That’s the issue I have with lower end rifles. They are a crap-shoot.

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All rifles can be a crap shoot, I've seen a few well known and very expressive rifles go back because they didn't shoot. My Abolt which was my favorite rifle at the time was a 1.5 moa gun no matter what I did, which was fine for me. After the barr led opened up and I swapped it to .375 Ruger it dropped closer to a .75moa rifle. Thousands of barrels made, and I got a so, so, one first time out.
From the American, and the Axis, my personal experience, is that anything over 1-1.5moa is unusual. That's also what I generally expect a factory Remington 700, Winchester, or Ruger 77. My last NEW 700 (till this action in just bought) was a 2moa rifle and had a few other more annoying issues, after getting someone with more skill than I to fix those, and recutting the chamber to 7mm STW, it started shooting like I expected it to.
Again, luck of the draw and I lost.....oddly enough both were 7mm Remington's, and my least accurate American (at 1-1.25moa) was also a 7mm Remington.

Anyways, my point is simply that YES you can buy guaranteed performance, but it's WAAAAAY up the cost ladder.
Heck even my buddies Ridgeline will only do 3 shots before it walks. Course it will stack all three of those into sub 1/2moa groups.

marksman13 said:

Barrel channel has been opened up and stock has been stiffened. I don’t know if this one is ever going to be a shooter. I’ve got a buddy with a 6.5 Creedmoor that he can’t get to shoot either. Another buddy has a 6.5 Creedmoor identical to it and it shoots lights out. That’s the issue I have with lower end rifles. They are a crap-shoot.

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Oh one other thing to try if your inclined, is make sure your action screws really are torqued to 60in/lb. I had some accuracy issues when I was trying to run mine at 35 as recommend for the Boyds stocks I was using.

LoonWulf said:

Oh one other thing to try if your inclined, is make sure your action screws really are torqued to 60in/lb. I had some accuracy issues when I was trying to run mine at 35 as recommend for the Boyds stocks I was using.

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I’ll give it a try. I have them torqued at 40 ft/lbs now.

Two things I’ve heard people complain about from day one concerning the 700. The recoil lug being nothing but a washer trapped between the barrel and receiver, and the flimsy, minuscule extractor.

They do seem to work though. There are a few cost cutting measures engineered over the years that potentially or actually do enhance accuracy.

dak0ta said:

Is there a rationale to the 721 and 700 model numbers Remington chose?

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Ive never heard there was any reason behind the numbering schemes

3Crows said:

Back on the 700, what is a typical 700 weigh with a scope and empty magazine, just the bare rifle otherwise? I see that many of the 700 package rifles claim 7.5 pounds

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It's mostly dependent on stock and barrel, they can range from 6lbs or so upto14ish.
Average I'd say 7 rifle weight and 8-8.5 kitted......lucky guess on mine, just weighed it.

Between the 70, the 700, and the 77, I’ve always suspected there’s something about the number 7 which markets well.

Varminterror said:

Between the 70, the 700, and the 77, I’ve always suspected there’s something about the number 7 which markets well.

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Never thought about it until you stated it but I believe you are on to something.

The number 7 has great significance in the Bible, I know that for a fact.

Lucky number 7......

600,660 didn't do all that well for Remington......

LoonWulf said:

Lucky number 7......

600,660 didn't do all that well for Remington......

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Maybe not as popular as the 700 and I don't know much about the 660 but the 600 is very desirable and you'll pay a premium for it!

Milt1 said:

Maybe not as popular as the 700 and I don't know much about the 660 but the 600 is very desirable and you'll pay a premium for it!

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They were only made for 4 years, so there's some collectability to them. The 660 likewise only lasted for another 3-4 years.
Neat looking rifles for sure, I love the ventrib barrel.....I was too broke to buy one of the new ones when they came out.

dak0ta said:

Is there a rationale to the 721 and 700 model numbers Remington chose?

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There is often some mystery as to how and why gun makers name and number their products, but Remington's Models 721 and 722 were the logical numerical sequence of their Model 720 rifle. Which was introduced in 1940 and only about 2500 were ever made due to WWII. It was one of the most beautifully made bolt action rifles ever made anywhere at any time, and is one of the rarest and most desired of Remington's rifles..

Milt1 said:

Maybe not as popular as the 700 and I don't know much about the 660 but the 600 is very desirable and you'll pay a premium for it!

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I have a 600 in .243 that my Dad got for me when they first came out. I still use it today sometimes. My boys took their first deer with it as well. I was and still look for one in .308 but they still do go for a premium. Now if you can find one in .223 that's a rare bird as they only produced about 500 of them...

Remington has done a good job over the years at supplying affordable rifles that CAN be made in MOST cases to shoot really good. Pillar Bed the Action, float the barrel, put in a better trigger and hand load and you should be able to get better than 1 MOA accuracy, some times much better. Stock out of the box, with the exception of the trigger recall ones, find the right factory ammo for them and they have plenty of accuracy for a normal hunting rifle.

Offfhand said:

There is often some mystery as to how and why gun makers name and number their products, but Remington's Models 721 and 722 were the logical numerical sequence of their Model 720 rifle. Which was introduced in 1940 and only about 2500 were ever made due to WWII. It was one of the most beautifully made bolt action rifles ever made anywhere at any time, and is one of the rarest and most desired of Remington's rifles..View attachment 933198 View attachment 933199 View attachment 933200

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I’ve never seen a photo of a Model 720 before. Being that it’s CRF I wonder if it was made to compete with the M70?

cdb1 said:

I’ve never seen a photo of a Model 720 before. Being that it’s CRF I wonder if it was made to compete with the M70?

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Absolutely, and it would have been stiff competition for the M-70. But now we know that Remington's later models, at lower price points were even greater competition.

Offfhand said:

Absolutely, and it would have been stiff competition for the M-70.

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I bet it would have been too.

Not sure if you will still find any in stock but I picked up a 700 ADL in .223 at Walmart last Friday (actually I only bought it, they made me wait 5 days because Walmart is Walmart). But I took it home yesterday. It was on sale for $199 and I wanted something to plink with low recoil. For that price though, I’m kind of wanting to just leave it alone and do minimal upgrades so I can still say it’s a $200 rifle .