Remington 700 PSS - Customizations Help

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mmike87

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I have a Remington 700 PSS that I am considering doing/having some work done to.

This is what I would like to do or have done:

1) Jewell Trigger Installation
2) "Tactical" bolt handle (not because it says tactical, it's just bigger!)
3) Steel trigger guard - maybe a detachable box magazine
4) Extractor enhancements? I see references to a "Sako type" extractor. Is this necessary, desired, or worth it?
5) Thread barrel for flash surpressor or muzzle brake

Any suggestions on a good riflesmith to do this sort of work? If it were somewhere I could actually drive to from Central Virginia that would be even better.

Suggestions welcome. Thanks.
 
1- the trigger: good idea, and also easy to do yourself. just do it. pay attention to the safety position when you are tapping pins out - don't want to try and drive a pin thru the safety arm.

2- bolt handle: nifty. any 'smith should be able to handle that. also, to complete the 'heavy-duty' look, go ahead and have the bolt handle drilled and tapped w/ 10-40 screws into the bolt body. nifty look, and any 'smith should be able to handle it.

3- williams bottom metal will be nice. i wouldn't do the detach mag thing, personally... also check out hs precision for bottom.

4- don't do it. sako-style extractors are usually done when opening up the bolt head to a very large diameter (for bolt head size) cartridge, and the remington system plus new diameter needed won't fit.

5- any 'smith should be able to handle that as well...

other things: consider having the bolt fluted and ceramic-coated. does nothing for functionality, but looks nice, and is 1-off from most people.

do you have a j-lock? remove it. lightweight firing pin? put one in. just like the trigger, these are d-i-y items.

how is your scope held in place? have a look at badger bases and rings. have your receiver (and bases) opened up for 10-40 screws, bolt on some badger max-50 rings, have the stock glassed and pillared... list can go on and on...

that's my thoughts on it, anyway.
 
OK, I think I'll try the trigge rmyself. I read some on it and it looks pretty straightforward, and Midway has some in stock and ready to ship. :)

I'll check out Iron Brigade as well.

I am using a Leupold Mark 4 one piece base and Burris Signature Zee rings to mount my Zeiss Conquest scope. The setup seems pretty solid overall - albeit not as much as the Badger rings. The Badger rings with the adapters for the 1" Zeiss tube ended up having a very, very, very high price - so I passed on those at this point in time.

Thanks, all.
 
dakotasin pretty much hit the nail on the head. You didn't mention how much you have to spend, but I've heard nothing but superlatives about the work done by the guys at GA Precision. the forums at snipershide.com are a very good source of info for rifle gunsmithing.
 
I have apx. $1000 to spend right now. The price of the trigger guard floors me ... seems like such a simple part.

I cannot believe that no one makes a trigger guard dimensionlly identical to the factory one except of steel. I don't want fancy ... just steel.

Spending nearly $400 for a trigger guard just seems a little absurd to me.
 
yeah, i'd wait on the bottom metal, myself. that money can be better spent elsewhere - but some folks like it all at any price - more power to 'em.

the trigger really is easy. pay attention to the safety, and remember where and how the bolt release part goes in. its a 20 minute job for a first-timer.

look into glass bedding your rifle, if it isn't already. glass the rifle, jewell trigger, and pillars and you will have the most bang for your buck. short of changing the barrel and going custom, you will be awfully close to maximizing the rifle's performance w/o having to spend real money... the trigger is expensive, but worth it. bedding is easy enough, and inexpensive, and pillars are even more so.

take your time - you'll be fine.

after you replace the factory trigger, use it for practice... study the trigger a bit, stone the mating surfaces, re-spring it... you'll be pleasantly surprised at how good a factory remington trigger can be. then, your next rifle will have a tuned trigger ready to drop in. if it goes bad, and you alter the sear angle or something else dramatic happens, no biggie - it was just a practice trigger, and you'll know precisely how to do the trigger on your next rifle.
 
Larry at ERG/ State Arms gun co. specializes in custon .50BMG rifles, but he also makes an aluminum stock for the 700. He also makes a Steel or aluminum trigger guard for it. Here is a link to his site http://statearms.com/eliminator.html

His work is top notch. I have an aluminum stock on my 50 and love it. I also seen the one for the Rem. while I was at his shop, It looked very nice. I am going to buy a Rem for med/ long range work. His stock will go on it.


good luck, and have fun
 
dakotasin - the HS Precision stock has the full-length aluminum bedding block. When properly torqued to 65 inch pounds, HS claims that no additional bedding is needed. Is futher bedding really necessary at all?
 
I put a thin layer of Acraglas between the action and bedding block on my 700PSS.

Then I torqued the whole thing to 65 inch pounds. The H-S Precision stock is plenty stable, I just wanted to fill in any gaps between action and aluminum bedding block.

As for the bottom metal, your money's better spent elsewhere. You're not going to bend or break the aluminum trigger guard and floorplate assembly of that Remington.

I do recommend a lightweight striker and higher weight spring replacement, several come to mind, although I used the Gre-Tan version.

As for triggers, if you can't adjust the factory trigger down to what you want, then by all means get an aftermarket version. My own PSS dialed down nicely to 2 lbs, but that doesn't mean they all will. Another Remington 700 of mine wouldn't, so I installed a Shilen replacement, very crisp and clean without the extravagant cost of the Jewell triggers.

The small (read: inobtrusive) B-Square bubble level that mounts on the scope base is a nice touch, especially when shooting out there towards 800 yards. You won't believe how much cant you can impart to the bullet trajectory without trying.

Skip the detachable box magazine. That'll force you to use ammo that's not optimal for barrel throat length. It's bad enough Remington has long throats in their barrels, and seating the bullets out far enough to just clear the rifling is well-nigh impossible with the factory internal magazine. Imagine how a DBM would fare.

I did, however, get the ArmsTech floorplate replacement, which allows 8 rounds of .308 and 10 rounds of .223 on rifles so chambered.

magextender3.gif
 
Where are folks finding the 65 inch pound torque wrenches at? I've seen the one at HS Precision for like $130 or something ... there has to be a less expensive option!

I think I am going to go with the Jewell trigger. I also really want the tactical bolt knob ... working the bolt is a two-fingered operation to get around the scope.
 
I'd like to find a reasonably priced inch-lb toque wrench too. I guess I have plenty of time to look though, since I'm only about 4 weeks into the 16-20 week wait on my HS precision stock:banghead:
 
Gewehr98 - I checked out this:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/st...ON+700+LITE+FIRING+PIN+&+SPRING&s=46512#46512

I'm not familiar with tinkering with this rifle. Is this an easy part to install?

My 700 is only safe at about 3 1/2 pounds or so - it's crisp with little creep or overtravel but is not as consistant as I'd like. I'd also like to get it down to 2 1/2 pounds or so, hence the Jewell.

When I went lower than 3 1/2 pounds it failed the bump test - and no combination I tried seemed to consistantly get me below 3 1/2 safely.
 
The wrenches are out there, and not too expensive, either.

Somebody, of course, is going to grouse about them being Communist-manufactured. Then again, so is darned near everything else in the lower-end Sears/Craftsman and Harbor Freight Tools inventory.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=2696

02696.gif


Also available here:

http://centralonlinesales.com/show_Product.asp?ID=221


Here:

http://www.wholesalerscatalog.com/proddetail.php?prod=jc221_hs

And here:

http://www.bostonindustrial.com/21drcltowr.html
 
Something I forgot to mention...

If you switch to a lightweight striker and heavy striker spring assembly, be prepared to re-adjust your trigger. The heavier spring will make its presence known the first day at the range, trust me. :eek:
 
The tool you posted above serves a different function.

It just allows removal of the bolt body from the striker and shroud assembly.

To disassemble the striker from the sear tailpiece, you still need to compress the spring and drift out the crosspin holding the two pieces together.
 
So I guess I'll get both tools then ... what's $50 to save frustration. I also picked the Gre-Tan lite firing pin as well.

Gewehr98 - thanks for answering all my questions. You have been very helpful and it's appreciated.
 
A follow up -

My parts came in. My bolt is off getting the tactical kbob installed.

I examined the Jewell trigger. It looks like a very well built piece of precision machinery (it outght to be!).

However, I don't see any installation insturctions. There are instructions on adjustment and various options, however I am not a gunsmith by any definition and could really use some instructions.

Does anyone know of any instructions for installation of this trigger in a Rem. 700 rifle?

Thanks.
 
It's probably the same procedure as R&R of the original Remington trigger.

Namely, two drift pins and all the fiddly bits, safety lever, etc. Not too intimidating, I've done it several times, most recently installing a Shilen unit in a 700 BDL Custom Deluxe of mine.

In-depth procedure here:

http://www.snipercountry.com/InReviews/JewellHVR.asp
 
OK, everything went very well. The fellow at R&D Precision did a great job of installing the tactical knob - one week total turnaround including shipping both ways for $75 - can't beat that.

I installed the Jewell Trigger and adjusted it to about 1 1/2 pounds. I will play with the weight some more going forward since it's so easy to adjust. It passed the "hit the butt on the ground" test numerous times. The stock Remington trigger would fail that test at anything less than 3 pounds.

I also installed the lightweight firing pin. The bolt and firing pin tools from Brownells didn't come with any instructions, but were easy to figure out and made the entire operation very simple once I determined the procedure.

Same for the installation of the extended magazine floorplate. It was also very easy and came with good instructions.

Now that I confirmed the Jewell trigger works, I am left with the stainless finish safety and trigger that doesn't match the rifle.

I was thinking of removing the trigger and Duracoating the safety and Trigger - I would tape off everything but the above and hit it with the Duracoat. Any other suggestions? It doesn't look bad the way it is, but eventually I'd like it all black.
 
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