Bolt Action Rifle Build Advice Sought

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444

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I have a Remington 700 ADL in .30-06 that I bought at Walmart 20 years ago or so. It shot OK, far from great. It has a flimsy factory synthetic stock. I shot a cow elk with it and a mule deer. I haven't fired it in probably 15 years. As the saying goes, only accurate rifles are interesting and I have very little interest in hunting. To illustrate how little I currently care about this rifle, I am out of room in my safe and have this rifle sitting in a closet.

So, I was thinking about maybe having it built into something more interesting to me. I don't really have a definite purpose for it other than recreational shooting. Again, I have virtually no interest in hunting. I am sort of interested in long range matches out to 1000 yards. A buddy of mine is into that and it sounds like fun.

So, what should I do with this Remington 700 ADL long action ?

Blueprint the action
Rebarrel it with a good barrel (what cartridge ?)
Put a good stock on it.
Who should I send it to ?
Scope mount with built in elevation

Give me your thoughts.
 
6.5x06

Do all of the things you listed send to whoever you think would do the best work me I'd send it to GAP
 
With the quality and cheaper prices of "factory" long range rifles from Ruger, Savage, Remington, etc.a custom doesn't make sense any more unless you go "all the way", like Robar or Surgeon.
 
6.5-06 is a great suggestion, but you would be better served starting over. On a rifle like your describing, I would look for a replacement barrel if I wanted something I didn't already have, or if I couldn't find anything to my liking I would sell it and move on.
 
The .30-'06 never fails. It had anchored everything on the North American continent and has for 110 years. How can you go wrong with that?

If you go to one of the great gunsmiths and have a 24" barreled '06 built upon a custom action, you'll be set for life.
 
Put a Timney trigger on it and a McMillan stock. Have a gunsmith look it over and tune it up. I bet it will put 3 shots into 1/2" with good ammo in the factory barrel. In fact I'd bet money it will do it in the factory stock.
 
Ok
I am not trying to be rude, but.....................

I am going to have this action built into a custom rifle.
That is the information I would like to get suggestions about.

I am not going to sell it.
I am not going to buy another rifle.
I don't even care what it may or may not do now or whether it makes any sense to anyone else.

I want to have a custom rifle built on this action just because I want to. I have never had it done, and I want to. I have thought about this for 30 years and now is the time.

What got me going on this tonight is that I was watching some YouTube videos on how this stuff is done and I thought briefly about trying to do some of this myself just as a project. Then I came to my senses and decided I needed to send it to someone that actually knows what they are doing.
 
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Do you want a classic hunting rifle?
Do you want "tacti-cool"
Will you compete
How far will you shoot
Do you reload

Just a few of the questions you should look to answer.

If this is to be a range/bench rifle and you want superb accuracy, look to do a short action caliber. Fed one at a time you will be able to load the bullets as long as you like with no restrictions to get them where they need to be in the lands.

If a hunting rifle, you choice of barrel profile and stock will be significantly different from someone looking to run and gun on a PRS course.

If you don't reload, stick with something you can buy at every shop in town in case the supply starts to dwindle.

I know I would send my action to either Tier1 Defense in Mountainside, NJ or Robert Vestal in VA for truing and barrel work.

Good luck.
 
Just my take.

If you want a long range rifle you have the basics for it. The 700 action. Have a GOOD Smith rebarrel it chambered for the 6.5 of your choice, have him true the bolt face, intall a timney trigger and set it in a good pillar bedded stock. Jmr 's McMillan would work great.

I would choose the Creedmoor or the 260 Rem over the 6.5-06. With the long action you could seat your bullets out to the lands with no problem.
 
I contemplated the same thing, I ended up using a Bartlein barrel, xlr industries element chassis, timney Calvin elite trigger, and nightforce accessories with a vortex razor scope. I chose the 6.5-06 and it has been a pleasure to shoot. My local range goes out to 810yds and I regularly shoot it to that distance. I took a whitetail doe this past hunting season at 875yds and she was drt. The only other I would consider is the .280 Ackley, I am really looking at one of these!
 
In a long action, you're probably looking a 6.5-284 as the most common long range cartridge. If you want to go with a mangum, 7mm mag or .264 winchester mangum are reasonable. 6.5x55 is sort of a dark horse option.

Short action cartridges (6.5 Creedmoor, 6 Creedmoor, .260, .243 Winchester etc.) in a long action are also an option. It gives you a rifle that's heavier than it needs to be, but you can load over-length with heavy bullets if you want.

In terms of stocks, I strongly recommend you try various options before you choose. There's no way for us to tell you what's going to fit you.
 
444;

Been there, done that, and most assuredly paid for the T-shirt. My action was a left hand Tikka. Dave Young at Young's Gunsmithing in Tracy Montana did the metal work. My intent was to have an accurate hunting rifle in 6.5 X 55mm Swedish Mauser. Dave trued the action, added a Remington type recoil lug, which you have, and fit a Lilja 22" medium weight sporter barrel. That barrel's chamber was then reamed to a dummy cartridge I supplied him with.

I chose the Swede because of the hands-on experience I'd had with it reloading & viewing the results of my son's gun. I wanted a standard length action and magazine to work with also. The gun will consistently shoot low .500's & .400's from the bench at 100 yards. The very best group has been a .261" three-shot at 100 yards. The dummy cartridge was based on the reloading experience I'd had with the Swede and as far as I'm concerned the results have more than justified going that route. The metal is in a Rob Smith custom walnut stock & the scope is a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10X with their mil-dot reticle in Talley rings.

I hunt elk every year with this rig & am not in the least worried about being under-gunned. I'll also state that IMHO there are only about 150 people in the USA who shoot well enough in competition to actually have the short action make a real difference in their scores. For Joe average, it doesn't matter a hill of beans. Great marketing ploy though.

PM me if you wish to.

900F
 
I'd be tempted to get a new stock, barrel, and trigger, and get it set up a lot like the 700 Long Range model. In 30-06.
 
QUOTE: "... I am out of room in my safe and have this rifle sitting in a closet..."

Get a new safe, keep (or sell) the Remington and buy another rifle already set-up the way you want. It'd be cheaper than modifying the Model 700 in the ways you proposed and another safe would give you a good excuse for buying more rifles. :cool:
 
If you are dead set on building then have at it. Just give us periodic reports. Depending on where your budget is and where you spend the big bucks you can end up with literally anything from a plain old 700 to a true masterpiece. The question on whether you reload or not is a very important question at this point. If you do then you can build your loads to your rifle and really accomplish a lot simply with a good load. Add a better barrel, good trigger, good stock, and optics to suit the gun and the rifle can shoot better than a dream.
 
So you have a Remington 700 Long Action which opens the door for a good line of cartridges including the 6.5 - 06. I like the Remington 700 Actions, likely because I was tooled to work on them years ago. Find yourself a good smith with the needed tooling and fixtures to work the action. I would start with, as was mentioned, having it trued. Start thinking caliber and if you want to run with a pre threaded short chambered barrel or have a chamber cut? Find a good stock, I like the full length aluminum bedded flavors but there are plenty to consider.

Would it be cheaper to just go out and buy a Savage or Ruger off the shelf? Likely but I am in the group that would not hesitate to have something custom built. I have an old Remington Short Action custom 6 PPC I built and broke the bolt on. I need to get a bolt and resurrect that rifle. :)

Best of luck with the project.

Ron
 
444, Nothing wrong with using Rem action and if your looking at LR depending type you want their be some known gunsmith for that.

IBS/NBRSA is group and F-Class is score and if you plan on any type match shooting you might be best that you attend one/two and see if it's something you might like.

Good thing about Rem long action is you can seat bullets past SAAMI spec OAL and still feed from magazine. I have 284 on a long action and that let me seat bullets out to 3.300" which is close to 6.5x284 Norma OAL at 3.228". I also have 280AI,35 WhelenAI and 30-06 on Rem actions and I seat those out to 3.500" and some of that depend on what bullet and how far of the lands.

I'm a hunter and no reason you can't have accurate build. My 284 has 27" barrel which is good for paper.
 
For an excellent long distance round that won't burn out your barrel in 1,500 rounds, you want to consider the 6.5x55 SE. The bolt face in your rifle will work just fine with the brass, the 6.5x55 is a long action round, that will allow you to seat the bullets farther out to reduce their jump, and the round is often used in 900-meter European matches. It is easy to hand load and, with a trued action and a good barrel, will outshoot you. The 6.5x55 can be loaded to be ballistically equivalent to a 6.5 Creedmor or .260 Rem for a modern action and barrel, both wonderful long distance rounds (I have a .260 Rem precision rifle and a 6.5x55 SE hunting rifle for which I can use the same bullets, primers and powders).

As to other mods, I have put together a few wonderful shooters with Rem actions, Timney triggers, Bell and Carlson stocks (one in an M40 stock and one in an A5 stock) (skim-bedding the bedding block/action interface) and adding decent glass. They're nice <0.75 MOA shooters for not a lot of money.

Good luck,

Harry
 
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The only part of the rifle that is any good for a precision rifle build is the action. And a Remmington action is very good for that purpose. You just need to find a gun smith that knows what he is doing.

I have done it several times, starting with an off the shelf BDL and turning it into a custom precision rifle. It takes time to get all the components and it cost some money. Here is what I would suggest based on your original question:

Cartridge/caliber: 6.5 x 284 Norma
Action: your Rem blue printed and trued to the barrel.
Barrel: Shilen Select Match, Kreiger, Bartlien, Hart, etc, any match grade in a medium contour.
Stock: McMillan Tactical Hunter or similar profile glass bedded to action, free floated barrel. Custom LOP.
Trigger: Jewell HVR 1.5 lb.
Bottom Metal: Stiller, Badger Ordnance, etc,
Scope: Something to target out to 1000 yards will cost $3000 and up but the are many choices.

There you go. Simple!

Cheers,
Woolly

Edit: if you really plan to shoot out to 1000 yards, you will want to go with a heavier barrel and stock. Most people don't have land or a range that goes that far but maybe you do.
 
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