What is wrong with Remington Rifles? If anything.

[BC_bush_man]

I'm looking at alot of rifle recommendations and comments and I don't think I have seen one recommendation for a Remington rifle.

Is there a reason for this?
Everyone talks about: CZ, Savage, Browning, Marlin etc...but very few comments about Remingtons.

I looked at some of their rifles and they look really nice. I like the BDL 700. Their prices seem to be higher than alot of other manufacturers: maybe that is why?

Are they good rifles?

Thanks.

 

[ocabj]

The Remington 700 series is still the baseline bolt action by which all other mass production bolt actions are compared. If the 700 BDL works for you, then get it.

Personally, I like the Savage 10/110 design better, since it allows for easy barrel and cartridge swaps.

 

[270Win]

The 700 is my favorite bolt-action. Simply peerless!

 

[ec-10]

I have heard that the claw extractor on the 700 is prone to failure. My 700 LTR is too new to judge if this is true or not. The type on my rifle just clips in (no rivet) and is very easy to replace.

 

[Karbon]

Disclaimer...I'm not trying to blast the 700 or cause a war but...

The thing that I disliked about my 700 was the sloppy bolt, bad trigger and it's accuracy. Yes I know they could be fixed with the aftermarket offerings, but the Savage and Tikkas were just better out of the box for me.

The bolt was the biggest issue. The Tikka bolt is so slick and has none of the sloppy frustrations that the 700 had.


My 02.

 

[Lonestar.45]

I always recommend Remingtons above just about anything else. My .270 BDL is my favorite go-to deer rifle.

I've seen some folks say Remington's quality has slipped. I haven't seen it. My BDL was new in '87 and perfect. I picked up a NIB .270 ADL recently that had never been shot, it's a 2001 or 2002 model. and it is perfect also. The first three shots out of the gun off the bench resulted in one ragged hole at 100 yds exactly 1" above the bull (this after just mounting the scope and doing no adjustments whatsoever). It shoots GREAT.

I think the Tikka, CZ, and others are great too. I think Remington has just been around so long that lots of people want something different. Even with Winchester out of the picture, there still seems to be a lot more competition now than before. It used to be just Remington, Winchester, and Ruger more or less. Now, Savage has really come around quality wise, and Weatherbys, which used to mostly high end pricey guns, has now geared themselves toward the lower and mid price ranges now. Tikaa, CZ, Sako, and others are all in the right price and quality range now too.

 

[MCgunner]

I own a Savage M110 and two Remingtons, an old M722 and a little M7. I've also owned 700s. Remingtons are accurate, smooth, elegant, and they work. That's why I own 'em. I don't care to spend any more on a Browning A bolt or Weatherby or any imported eurotrash. Nope, the Remington gets the job done as good or better than most. Built quality is miles above my Savage. The Savage is a crude, but effective bolt gun who's primary virtue is its low bargain price and the accuracy attainable at that price. It's a good gun, but no Remington 700, JMHO. My Remingtons are more consistently accurate from load to load and finding a 1MOA load or less was much easier than for the Savage. Just one Savage sample there, though, and I have a couple of MOA loads for the Savage. It does shoot well when it likes a load. I free floated it, which helped, with a better stock.

Anyway, I'm always looking for the most for my money. Yeah, the Savage is cheaper than a Remington, but I don't think it gives the most for your money. The Remington is much more refined, a more elegant rifle, smoother action, better trigger. The details are higher quality and even the bluing is better, which doesn't matter if you're getting a stainless gun I guess. The Remington, IMHO, is as good as anything built on the world market and cost less than most. That's probably why they sell one heck of a lot more rifles than the euro brands put together. I'm not sure I know of a hunting household that doesn't own at least one Remington centerfire rifle. My M7 has been my favorite for near 10 years now, handy little rifle, accurate, light, easy to carry, and packs a punch in .308 Winchester. It's all I need for hunting, really.

 

[trainwreck100]

I think over-pricededness (pretty sure that's not a word, but you get the idea) is their main problem-you can buy a Savage or Ruger that will do the same thing for less money.

Greg

 

[Karbon]

imported eurotrash

That's just plain funny.

 

[ZeSpectre]

One of my all time favorite rifles is the Remington 760 (now the 7600).
A pump action rifle is a hell of a thing!

My friend loves to tease me because I want one in .243 Winchester

 

[hoghunting]

imported eurotrash

So Remington guarantees 1" groups at 100 yards like Tikka and Sako?

What about the eurotrash that Remington is producing with the Mauser actions?

 

[MCgunner]

Note, as to the spring ring extractor in the 700, it's the same as my M722 which is 50 years old and never had a problem, still puttin' 'em into 3/4" at 100 yards. As to comparing Savage guns BETTER quality, oh, paaalleeeeease... There is no Savage I've ever handled that was as smooth a bolt or as good a trigger as a 700. You have to ADJUST the trigger, but the 700's adjustable trigger is so much better than the older Savage trigger, it's just no comparison. The Savage is adequate for hunting, though. I got mine down to about 3 lbs, where I like it, but it would NOT go any lower. The Remingtons can measure in ounces if you're a bench rest shooter. The 700's bolt's feel is like gliding on bearings. The Savage 110's bolt feels like it's draggin' on sand paper. It still works, but it's not as refined. The bolt is designed to be cheaply manufactured as a primary virtue, same for the rest of the rifle. That's why it's got that gawd awful barrel nut, ease of machining/setting head space. That does make it easier to swap barrels on even if it's an eye sore, I guess.

I ain't sayin' the Savage don't work, but there's just no comparison for me in quality of design and build compared to a M700. I've not had the feeding problems with the Remingtons that I have with that Savage either. It feeds fine so long as you don't try to load a round in the chamber with a full magazine. If you do that, that first round is going to nose dive into the magazine every time and I've heard similar complaints about 110s. Maybe they've gotten better since I bought mine about 15 years ago, but it's not of the quality of the Remington IMHO.

Some folks have a thing for controlled round feeding, something the 700 lacks, but I've never had a feeding problem with a Remington rifle. I fail to see the advantage. I don't hunt in Africa. Many quote the dangerous game thing, "positive feeding", but if it works, it works, and Remingtons work.

 

[YodaVader]

In the past 10 years I have owned 4 Rem 700s. All were fantastic shooting rifles. Although mine were the heavy barrel varmint/tactical versions. My current Remington is a 700 LTR with the 20" barrel in .223.

Not long ago I bought my first Savage after hearing and reading so much about them. It is a very nice varmint style rifle also in .223. I like this new Savage quite a lot and it does not take too much to convert to another caliber. The out of the box trigger is much better than the 700s I have owned - the AccuTrigger measured right at 2.25lbs.

 

[DogBonz]

Nothing wrong with them

when I was in the market to buy my first rifle (well my second, Dad and Gramps gave me my first) I looked at the Rem 700 and the Win 70. I went with the Win 70 Featherweight Classic. For me, It just seemed to fit better, and was, over all, a nicer rifle.

 

[Karbon]

smooth a bolt or as good a trigger as a 700

Two things I would never associate with a FACTORY 700.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

My favorite rem 700 is my 30-06 BDL. Slick, smooth bolt, good trigger and very pretty wood.

The best part: It will put groups of 3 plain jane 165 core lockt ammo into 1 single 40ish caliber hole at 100 yards. The ONLY things I did was relieve the front of the stock enough to float the barrel, and glass bedded the action.

 

[Detritus]

Two things I would never associate with a FACTORY 700.

Thank god someone gets it!

Even though a large number don't wanna hear it, even back in '97 when savages were still kinda rough. the trigger was as good and sometimes better than factory remington, and unless you went custom the savage was WAY better in accuracy.

i keep looking at remington thinking that one day i'll actually buy a 700, but frankly they cost too &@$# much for what you actually get. i buy rifles not rollmarks!

 

[Karbon]

I was a big Remmy fan. Loved my old 870, 1100, and 7400 meat guns. But when I wanted a bolt gun for longer range hunting, I could not convince myself to stick with the brand I grew up with. It couldn't hold up with some other brands out there. I looked at them all and besides the $1500 and up crowd, I feel I got the best rifle that fit my needs. Others may not agree, but I'm completly satisfied with my choice.

Since then I have stayed away from Remington completly. Tikka and Benelli have been my last three gun purchases, and in each case (sad to say) they blew the Remmy offerings away.

I'm just glad I was informed here about other brands/models/calibers to consider. Damn glad I visited THR back then.

 

[cracked butt]

Remington 700s come with a very good trigger right out of the factory, the only problem is that they are set by hamfisted lawyers. It takes a mechanical aptitude slightly higher than that of a chimp to adjust the trigger to a light crisp break.

I'm not going to knock savage rifles- they are good shooting rifles and are a good bargain, but they are not as smooth or refined as a remington regardless of what a few posters here say.

 

[ArmedBear]

It takes a mechanical aptitude slightly higher than that of a chimp to adjust the trigger to a light crisp break.

Weatherby (VERY similar design) tells you how. Remington says an authorized service center is supposed to do it. Liability concerns, I think. But it's no harder to adjust. A chimp could easily do it, if he wasn't too busy throwing feces. That reminds me of, well, a lot of us here at THR.



Here's how:
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/RemingtonTriggers.asp

I like to disassemble a rifle when I get it, anyway. I'll probably shoot it first, but after that I want to make sure it's not going to rust inside the stock, so I clean the metal parts with Rusthunter or CLP. While you have it out of the stock, you can adjust the trigger. You DO have snap caps, right?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

My problem with Remington is that they addressed the problem of the gun going off when the safety is released (whether it did that or not isn't the question) by eliminating the bolt hold-down feature of the safety. This means you can inadvertantly brush the bolt handle while hunting, and when the elk jumps up, hear a sickening "click" because the rifle won't fire with the bolt partly raised.

If Remington ever comes out with an honest 3-position safety, I'll buy one.

 

[mpmarty]

I've had Remington 721s, 700s, and whatever the autoloading 30:06 was years ago. All were good workmanlike rifles but the 721 in 270 winchester was one of the nastiest kicking smokepoles I've ever shot. I've had 375 H&H bolt guns that were milder kickers. The 700s were fine, just nothing special. The autoloader was fine until it malfunctioned on me on a follow up shot on an elk. Sold it the next week. My bolt gun is now a Howa (asianjunk?) 1500 in a custom stock with a Hart stainless barrel in 7mm Rem. Mag. It works, I like it, I have no desire to change anything about it at all. I also have a few Schmidt Rubin K31s and of course AKs, Marlin 1895 45/70 and miscellaneous 22s but for long shots at anything I really want to put down the Howa is my go to gun.

 

[ArmedBear]

the Howa is my go to gun.

My Howa action (Weatherby rifle) felt like crap, too, when I got it.

Then I adjusted the trigger and sprayed it with Bullfrog. One advantage, though, over Remington, is that they TELL you to adjust it to your liking, and there's no warranty penalty for doing it.

WRT newer Remingtons: do they not lock the bolt down when "on safe"?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

WRT newer Remingtons: do they not lock the bolt down when "on safe"?

Nope. Plagued by lawsuits filed by idiots who claimed their rifles went off and shot their relatives when they released the safety to unload the rifle, Remington removed the bold hold-down feature. Now you can unload a Remington with the safety on. And you can inadvertantly lift the bolt handle when hunting.

 

[ArmedBear]

Ah. I'm glad I got the Howa action instead. It's still got the bolt hold-down feature.

That's a significant complaint.

Why didn't they just add a third position?