Remington 700 Progress Thread

Well, as this will be my first dip into anything moderately custom, I thought I would make a thread to follow along. A synopsis of what has occurred thus far:

Ordered a Remington 700 LH SPS Youth .243 with a 20" barrel. This is to be the base on which I build up my "walking varminter"/truck gun/woods bumming rifle/deer rifle. This is a niche I have wanted to fill for many years, but didn't have a very good idea on how to do it. Then, the other day, I was looking at my old man's gun collection, and he had a Ruger m77 International in .308, and I found a Ruger factory brown laminate SA stock. With the removal of 4 screws (3 action screws and the forend tip screw), and the installation of 3 screws, the rifle was completely transformed. It has to be one of the fastest handling beasts I have ever used. I wanted one badly, so I went hunting around. I already have a perfectly good .30-06, so I wanted a smaller caliber, but still reasonably versatile. The only rifles that really fit what I wanted to do do were the CZ 527, the Tikka T3, and the Remington 700. I know Ruger makes short actions now, but I also wanted something different. I don't like the direction the safety goes on the CZ, I didn't like that the T3 is only available in a long action, and it is blocked for smaller calibers, so that left one, the Remington. It should be here Wednesday or Thursday.

The next step in the process was the stock. I wanted something weather resistant, that can take a beating and not make me want to cry like pretty walnut does, so it has to be some sort of synthetic. I hate the feel of chintzy plastic stocks, so the B&Cs and Remington factory stocks were out. I poked around on the web, and went to a site I hadn't been to in years, that being McMillans. I have handled a few McMillan stocks, and they are very far from chintzy. Perfect. I looked through all the options, did some frantic web surfing, and ended up calling McMillan yesterday. There was a stock that was on their internet specials page that would have been perfect, but alas, by the time I called someone else had snapped it up, so I had to order a custom stock. Here is the breakdown of my order:
 
1a. Stock Pattern: Remington Compact
       1b. Select Stock Orientation: LEFT-HANDED
       1c. Construction/Fill Weight: Fiberglass/Standard Fill
       2a. Action Inlet: Remington 700 short action
       2b. Select Action Orientation: LEFT-HANDED
       2c. Bottom Metal Inlet: Factory BDL
       2d. Barrel Channel Inlet: Remington factory sporter
       3a. Rifle Caliber: .243
       4a. Recoil Pad: 1/2-inch Pachmayr Decelerator
       4b. Length of Pull: 13 1/2 (STANDARD)
       5a. Finish: Custom Molded-In Colors (ENTER BELOW)
               50% forest green; 50% white
       5c. Sling Studs: Blued Studs
       8.  Pillar Installation: Factory-Installed Machined Pillars

So, the next step in the process is glass. I have a Leupold VX-1 and a VX-2, both 2-7x33s. These scopes have been very good to me, but after looking through the VX-2, it shows the lower quality of the VX-1. I did some hard thinking, and realized that every critter I have shot with the .30-06, the 2-7 has been set on 4x. So, right now I am trying to either trade my Nikon Monarch 3-9x40 towards an FX-2 4x33, or sell it and put the proceeds towards such. Then the 4x will go on the .30-06, and the VX-2 will go on the .243 unless it just doesn't work for what I want to do.

This is where I am thus far. I may end up realizing I need a better trigger for the Remmy, in which case a Timney will be installed when I build the play funds back up. If the Remington barrel just won't shoot, then I will save up the play funds some more and have a better barrel threaded on, probably in a different caliber, just for the sake of diversity. This rifle is going to be an ongoing experiment, since it is cheapest to get aftermarket parts for the 700, so if I don't like something, I can always buy used and get my money back, or buy new and pay a small penalty.

As a small update, NH still has 2' of snow, and I ordered the Micky a month ago, and haven't heard anything yet. The SPS stock is rattle canned a lovely mix of green and brown krylon, and in the next couple weeks I should be able to give her a decent workout with .243 ammo.

CB, though the .257 Roberts is rather interesting, the .250 Savage is even more interesting, though the .22-250 is starting to blip on my radar as well. If I didn't have this danged versatile .30-06 this would be much more fun

NH;

Why not go the last step if a hot .22 centerfire is of interest.  Mr. Swift is FUN!  I've got one on a Ruger #1V with a 6X18 Nikon.

900F

A 58gr .243 V-Max out of the 20" barrel will be better than any .22 centerfire. You'd have to go longer on the barrel with .22's, then the "walking" part of the gun would start to suffer.

 

DD