Advice on Rem 700 223

[Hutch]

I just bought a Remington 700 at a decent price from the estate of a fellow club member. Another friend of mine was helping the widow dispose of the unwanted firearms. It was an Ooooooold Rem 700 (metal butt-plat, 6x,xxx sn kind of old) with cheap 6x24 BSA scope mounted. The rifle had been rebarreled, but there are absolutely NO distinguishing marks on the 26" matte stainless heavy contour, slightly tapered barrel. The caliber is obviously .22, and a .223 fits the chamber, as far as I could tell by closing the bolt on an empty case. I thought it was dead-solid perfect for my wants, but I then got it home and checked the twist rate. 1 in 14. DAMMIT!!! I want a rifle to shoot 75 - 77 gr bullets, or at least the 69 gr SMK. I have several choices.

1) I have right of refusal, and can turn it back over to the seller for a refund.

2) I can have it rebarreled AGAIN, with another barrel that will (hopefully) fit the barrel channel in the stock

3) If the original seller so chooses, I can try to sell it on the open market. What d'ye think such an artifact might fetch? It has a very, very nice trigger, and appears to be glass-bedded in the original stock. This is pre-BDL, blind magazine model with a plain walnut, pressed checkering stock that has been seriously relieved for the heavy barrel. I'd BET it will shoot 52-53gr match bullets right well, but I can't test that out. It's not my interest, anyway.

What would all y'all do?

 

[gotime242]

Maybe sell it and buy one that you want?

Yeah thats too bad, i cant undertand where you are coming from. Thats a pretty slow twist... but if it was bought from a friend id avoid the drama of a return.

 

[Jim Watson]

I would hand it back and get something I really wanted unless it was so cheap as to allow replacing the barrel (and probably the scope) at a reasonable total price. Duplicating barrel contour to avoid scraping out the barrel channel will only add to the cost.

Just because it will chamber a .223 does not mean that is what it is. Might be a .222 Magnum or a wildcat on the same casehead. Curses on a gunsmith that did not mark the caliber.

Resale value will be low, especially since the caliber is not known with certainty.

 

[deacon8]

Yeah, I agree completely with Mr. Watson. Find out, with absolute certainty, what the gun is chambered for, before attempting to shoot it. There are A LOT of .22 caliber cartridges out there.