Building a Remington 700?

[eastwood44mag]

Toying with the above notion. I need a hobby, and building an AR isn't an option right now, but I would like to have an accurate rifle that I built myself.

I know there has to be at least one person on here who has done this before, so I'm asking for help. I have more general use tools than most, but my lathe is several hours away (long story), so I can't do anything too complicated.

Anyone care to offer advice/input/suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Strongbad]

Without access to a lathe it's going to be pretty tough. It all depends on what you have to start with though. Your action should already be threaded. Then you could buy a pre-threaded/chambered barrel, but you'd still need a lathe to finish the threads on the barrel for proper headspace, and you'd need to probably have to run a finish reamer into the chamber as well. The chamber reaming can be done by hand if you're careful, but as for the threading, unless you've got a lathe it's going to be tough.

If you don't have access to a lathe, I'd buy a gun that's already got a good barrel on it like a Sendero or some other heavy barreled Remington, then put on all of the bolt-ons you can, like triggers, bolt handles, custom stocks, bedding, etc. That'd be much easier. Anyway, that's my $.02 Good luck.

You might also want to hit the gunsmithing section over on Accurate Reloading. There's a wealth of info to be gleaned from some of those folks.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

Well since your building a bolt action, why not get something like a Mauser action while your at it?

Model 700's are nice, but common. And there are after market barrels for the K98 Mauser action.

 

[eastwood44mag]

Deer Hunter-

Already have my fair share of Mausers, and would feel guilty tearing up a K98. Besides, the Remington safety is easier for me to use, and IIRC, parts are easier to interchange.

 

[streetstang67]

Well I'm no expert gunsmith, but I started with a Remington 700 SPS DM in .30-06. This is a bottom of the line model 700, but it works for me. Its accurate out of the box, but a few easy things will help a lot...glass bedding the stock, adjusting the trigger, and I've heard good things of Tubb's Final Finish system (polishes barrel). So, for under $100, thats 3 easy things to increase the accuracy. I don't think you can go wrong with a 700.

Just my 2 cents

 

[OK-gobbler]

I am in the process of converting a savage 30-06 that I picked up for about$250 into a 35 whelen. I ordered a A&B barrel from midway for $129 and a Boyd's JRS peppered laminate stock. The stock won't be ready until Sept or Oct. I'll have about $500 in this project with my recoil pad, bedding compound, etc. I am hoping for a hunting gun that will shoot around 1 1/2 to 2" @100.

A 700 action will cost you as much as the whole gun. A savage 110 or stevens 200 can be found for around $250. Good Luck, have fun, and take your time.