Remington 700 bolt handle

[longrifles Inc]

There can only be one:

 

[longrifles Inc]

When Remington first introduced their 7XX series starting with the 721 and 722, some folks began using them in high power competition. Their receiver bridge was milled out to make a clip guide to accept 5-round stripper clips for rapid fire matches (10 shots in a minute). And here's what folks shooting 3,000 to 4,000 rounds a year with them soon learned.

Their short bolt handle made rapid fire a bit difficult; lengthening the bolt at least 1/4th inch solved that problem.

Extractors broke a lot. They were changed somewhat in later 700's and 40X versions, but still broke too much. Modifying the bolt to accept an M16 or Sako style extractor solved this problem.

Remington actions barreled for belted magnum cartridges would sometimes end up with bent recoil lugs. Thought to be caused by softer metal that couldn't take the punishment .300 magnums produced. Some 'smiths replaced the factory recoil lug with one half an inch thick; these didn't bend

Too much torque on the rear stock screw could bend the tang. Too much on the front stock screw would sometimes split the stock in front of the magazine cutout.

When epoxy bedding was found to improve accuracy with any receiver, the 7XX round receivers would torque enough when the round was fired to twist out of their perfect fit. With .30-06 and .308 Win. cartridges, one could go a few hundred rounds then accuracy would drop off. On magnums, accuracy fell off at around 200 rounds. Rebedding solved the problem. Some 'smiths tried 1- to 2-inch long recoil lugs which helped somewhat, but didn't completely solve the problem. When epoxied in an aluminum sleeve with flat sides and bottom, the problem went away. This aside, when bullets weighing less than 160 grains were used, these round receivers held decent accuracy when epoxy bedded.

When machine rests began being used to test NRA match rifles and their ammo for accuracy, those with Remington's round receivers typically didn't do a well as those with a Winchester Model 70 action. Tests showing how much each receiver of the same length bent when subject to the same force at right angles to the bore axis clearly showed the Model 70 was stiffer and bent less. Mechanical engineering formulas using 4th order equations calculating exactly how rigid these receivers are showed the Winchester receiver to be 2.5 times stiffer than the Remington.

And the Winchester didn't have any of the other issues mentioned above, either.

Back in the 1960's when the US military folks decided to get a new sniper rifle, a few knowledgeable folks wanted the Model 70 action as the base instead of the Model 700 because they knew of Remington's shortfalls. But Winchester was in financial straits at the time and that is probably what let Remington in the door.

So I guess the fact that Remington still dominates the firing lines at Nationals and are used by guys like Norm Crawford (Palma Shooter) means they still suck then?

If a guy can build a Remington prone gun for 1K shooting, stick a 30" barrel on it, and the gun hammers the X ring like a Senior on prom night, then the action must be doing something right.

 

[Bart B.]

longrifles says:

So I guess the fact that Remington still dominates the firing lines at Nationals and are used by guys like Norm Crawford (Palma Shooter) means they still suck then?

If a guy can build a Remington prone gun for 1K shooting, stick a 30" barrel on it, and the gun hammers the X ring like a Senior on prom night, then the action must be doing something right.

I know what Palma rifles can do when built on Remington actions. Saw several when I was on and working with the Palma team. These shoot bullets weighing less than 160 grains and that's fine by me. But when Remington offered to build 20 Palma rifles for the team some years ago, the team management refused the offer. But the modern 3- and 4-lug single-shot actions do better than either 70's or 700's when new cases are used; 2-lug actions don't cut this mustard very well.

If Remmie's dominate the range at Camp Perry that doesn't mean they "suck." It only means their owners prefer them. Mid Tompkins and I along with some others had a long chat at dinnertime some years ago at the Nationals about this. We all agreed that Remington based match rifles can and do perform very well indeed. But the overall advantage goes to Winchester.

This aside, the smallest 10+ shot groups at ranges 300 yards and longer have all been shot with Winchester 70 based rifles. With full-length sized cases, too.

 

[Art Eatman]

And this is gettin well away from the issue of a bolt handle--which was repaired...