Keep Remington 700 that is 50 years old or sell it and buy a brand new rifle

[CB900F]

Wolverine;

I was a bit surprised at the mounting of the scope to the gun. To my mind it's further forward than most folks want to place their scopes. Also, it appears that the ring caps are not even, which means the scope may be canted a bit. That's easily checked for by stringing the scope. All you need is two plumb bobs, a paper plate, a way to secure the gun so it doesn't wiggle, and 25 yards of clear distance. A tree in the backyard works well.

But before doing that, make sure the ocular is adjusted for your eye, and the placement of the scope in the mounts is correct for you. Find a blank white wall in your home, have the gun and stand about 10 feet away from the wall. Close your eyes, put the gun to your shoulder, open the scope eye for no more than one second. Do you see a sharp, clear, reticle, centered in the scope's view? If not adjustment is needed. You don't want to have to crane your neck forward either. Get the placement of the glass fore & aft to where when you have your cheek on the buttstock, you get a full view through the scope without any little black lunettes on an edge of the view through the scope. You may have to bring the scope rearward a bit.

If you don't see a sharp, clear reticle, adjust the eyepiece till you do. However, it's critical that you just take a very short glimpse through the scope to check. When you take some time and look, your eye tries to adjust itself with it's internal muscles. You don't want that, it leads to eyestrain.

900F

 

[wolverine_173]

how do these work? My other scope does not have numbers on it. underneath the dial It has 100 and 200 on a horizontal line

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

OK, scopes are pretty easy to adjust, especially when the dials are so clearly marked.

The dial on top adjusts the vertical on the scope. Turning in the "D" direction is "Down", in the "U" direction is "Up".

The dial on the side adjusts the horizontal on the scope. Turning in the "L" direction is "Left", in the "R" direction is "Right".

The "1/4"" means "one quarter Minute of Angle". This is 1/4 inch at 100 yards and is ratioable. In other words, at 200 years, one click would be 1/2 inch, at 400 yards it would be 1 inch, etc.

How you start off adjusting your scope depends on your scope mounts and whether or not your fixed "iron" sights on the rifle are sighted in. If your iron sights are sighted in and the scope mounts allow you to sight through the scope and through the iron sights, then you have a really good starting point.

In that case, from a bench rest, simply adjust the scope to the same point the iron sights are aligned to. Then shoot a group of two or three to see where the point of impact is and then adjust the scope as required. For example, if point of impact is high and to the left of where the scope is aiming, then adjust the top in the "D" direction a few clicks and adjust the side in the "R" direction a few clicks.

If you don't have a scope mount that allows you to sight along the fixed sights, it's not much more difficult...just takes a little time for the initial sight in.

Pick a shooting distance where you can actually hit somewhere on your target when sighting through the scope. Then adjust as required to bring the point of impact in line with the aim point of the scope as above. Then move the target out to a further range and repeat. Now pretty much all you'll have to adjust will be the elevation knob on top. Maybe a little bit on the side as well.

Here's a link to read:

http://www.bushnell.com/getmedia/9a4748aa-a913-4a5d-ba8d-51bb750918ef/Banner_Riflescope.pdf?ext=.pdf

 

[wolverine_173]

I guess i should have phrased my question different. I understand how to sight it in and make adjustments. But it seems this setup is more for adjusting in the field for a long shot. A turret setup. So I sight in at 100 and then shoot at 300 and figure out where i would have to turn the adjustment so I can aim straight on at 300 yards. That way instead of just aiming high at longer distances I can just turn the knob then aim straight on. Is that how it is suppose to work? Why else would it have vertical lines on the elevation knob that start at 100 and if i turn the knob it reveals 200 and 300?

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

You can certainly do that.

Me, I've never been one to go about adjusting the scope settings for my shooting. I sight my scope in at whatever range and then leave it.

Outside the range at which I have my scope sighted in, I'll simply adjust my aim point to account for where the bullet is going to hit. For example, if I know the bullet is going to drop 6 inches as compared to the distance at which I have my scope sighted in, I'll simply aim about 6 inches high on what I'm shooting at.

Saves me from all that mucking about with the scope settings.

 

[CB900F]

Wolverine;

Here's what I do with a new set up. Particularly a used one like yours. Gently turn a scope knob till it stops moving. Then count the number of clicks, turning it in the other direction till it stops moving again. Then turn back 1/2 the number of clicks. Repeat for other scope adjustment turret. Now the reticle is centered in the scope, on the optical axis, and gives you the max adjust possible in all four directions: Up, Down, Right, Left.

Mount the gun so it doesn't easily move, a cleaning vise is good. Pull the bolt. Now we're going to string the outfit. Attach the paper plate to a tree, or something, about 25 yards away. Hang one plum bob so it's string (black string is best) goes down about the middle of the plate. Hang the other plum bob so it's string goes down the recoil pad of your gun. Now look at the rear of the gun & compare to the string. Move the gun so it isn't canted - it's straight up & down & so is the string. This is why you want to be able to have the gun so it can't easily move, you don't want to accidentally cant it from now on.

OK, gun's straight up & down, look through the bore & move gun till you can see the paper plate through the bore. Preferably the center of the plate where the string is. Now look through the scope, where's it pointed? Turn your adjustment knobs till the crosshairs are where the bore is pointed. I like the vertical crosshair just off the paper plate string, which then tells me if there's any cant to the gun.

You should now be bore sighted well enough to take the gun out & shoot it & not waste ammo trying to "find the target".

You know you can make a couple of home-made plum bobs for under five bucks, right?

900F

 

[Johnny_B_Goode]

I use a plumb bob in a similar fashion as previous posters have mentioned. I do take it one step further. After I have sighted the rifle in at 100 yards I start testing at around 300 yards. If the rifle consistently shoots to the right or left no matter which way the wind is blowing I will turn the scope just a tiny bit, so little it not noticeable. Then I check the rifle at 100 yards, if the rifle checks out good I test the rifle again at 300 yards.

Even with the best equipment it is very easy to make a tiny error when leveling the scope.

 

[Mike C2]

If you just want to throw it in a synthetic to save the wood, CDNN has 700 SPS long action stocks for $49.

 

[wolverine_173]

Are the sps and ask stocks compatible

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

You know you can make a couple of home-made plum bobs for under five bucks, right?

Heh! You can make them for nothing so long as you have string and nuts or bolts on hand!

Bore sighting and using a plumb bob is an excellent idea...I'd never given something like that any thought. Well...not entirely true. I'd considered bore sighting once, but it simply wasn't convenient because I didn't have a stable bench rest/clamp for the rifle.

Besides...shooting is fun and I'd pretty much use any excuse to shoot more! 'course...not all ammunition is cheap enough to use that tactic.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

I wouldn't agree the fit and finish are better then then now. lots of rem 700s with pressed checkering even in the bdls. But far as accuracy goes. Those old rems just shoot! Ive boughten newer ones that were nothing to write home about but there was a time that you just didn't find a 700 that didn't shoot moa. Id keep it. If its getting beat up refinish the stock, have it reblued. But keep that old girl out there killing things.

 

[Cee Zee]

I'm not reading this entire thread because it's basically the same thread as the Firearms back when vs now, designs thread over in the General Gun Discussions forum.

First I'd like to make a point. That Remington was considered to be a cheap rifle back when it was made. People compared it to the Winchester 70 and found it lacking in everything except one thing - the price. That's the same situation we have with guns now. The fact they are cheaper and use more advanced processes. (which is how Remington beat Winchester into submission and out of business). It's pretty ironic that people know look back at the early 700 as an example of great old time technology. It is but there were better rifles around but they cost considerably more. Again that's the same thing we see today.

That said I also want to say that your rifle can be of very high quality compared to a $300 rifle today. The accuracy may not be there but it may be possible to restore your rifle to it's former glory. Just be aware they weren't Winchesters and they were never on the same level except in accuracy. But the shortcuts they used look like classic designes to us because we have seen a bunch of those rifles around for the past 50 years or so. It may shoot great but it may not. There's only way to find out. Go out and shoot it.

Still if you want a durable hunting rifle I'd probably sell that Remington to someone looking to restore a great old rifle like that. There aren't making any more of those early models. It would be a shame to let that one go bad. I couldn't stand the idea that I might be killing off what could be restored but that's me. Many say if they can shoot it well then why change? You shoujld consider these things when you choose.