TTAG is gearing-up for the 2013 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Our quintessential quintet of blogging bad boys—myself, Dan, Nick, Chris and Joe Grine—will bring you wall-to-wall coverage of new products, live fire demos and industry buzz. With the occasional booth babe sighting thrown in just for fun. What with assault weapons under assault, ammunition mags looking at limits and the Great Gun Buying Panic of 2012 extending into the New Year, SHOT 2013 will have a very different vibe than years past. For example, I wonder what it’s like for Remington’s marketing mavens to launch a new rifle in the middle of the anti-gun zeitgeist, with The Freedom Group working to ditch the brand, take the money and run. We shall see. Meanwhile, a replacement for the 700? Stranger things have happened. Recently.

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27 COMMENTS

  3. Remington introducing a new, improved 700? I’m gonna go with yes, and here’s why:

    I have this track record in my life of getting in on things right before they go to hell, or get replaced by something better.

    A couple examples:
    * Getting a job that I love, mainly because of the people I work with, and then having every single coworker that made it a fun place to work leave within the next 6-8 months.
    * Discovering a great restaurant (that’s been there for years and years), only to have the place close due to a death within a few months of my discovery.

    So, based on my track record, and the fact that I finally got a 700 about a month ago, I’m gonna go with yeah, the superwhamodyne version is a likely prospect, if only to perpetuate my trend.

  4. It is a shame that all this anti-firearm rhetoric will truly kill innovation and investment. I predict Stoeger will come out with a few more tactical double barrels though.

    • Well…. maybe.

      I will say this: The ’94 AWB “ban” resulted in a huge leap forward in the level of technology and quality in 1911’s. Before the AWB, the 1911 looked to be old news, a pistol that only old guys used.

      Then when there was a 10-round limit placed on new pistol capacities for non-LEO’s, suddenly the 8-round 1911 didn’t look so handicapped as it looked when up against a 15 or 19 round double-stack Glock. 1911 development really flowered during that time, resulting in 1911’s that were far, far beyond the prior state of the art.

  5. I am wondering what they will improve upon?
    I could see potential changes to trigger design to make it safer better?
    Perhaps they manufacturing process has gotten better, so there is the potential for some bolt and extractor changes, which would make it more reliable, and accurate.
    Perhaps a slight change to the body, i.e. make various options for finish, types of cammo. Maybe a pre-packaged scope, rifle combo to attract new shooters?

    • A better trigger is one area they could really improve. I’d go for a two-stage trigger so that if someone wanted a 1lb trigger pull, it could be accomplished with nothing more than adjustment and the trigger would still be safe.

      They could improve the extractor design they’re using. I don’t like the Rem700 extractor, and the common solution of installing a Sako extractor isn’t that suave, IMO. If I were designing a “clean sheet” bolt gun today, I’d be looking very hard at the post-68 Winchester model 70 as my starting point. The extractor in the post-64 Win70 was actually what Mauser originally intended for the Model 98 rifle. It was the German armaments board that insisted on what became known as the “Mauser claw extractor.”

      I’d also copy the Win70 three-position wing safety, so that the rifle could be unloaded with the firing pin retained rearward in the bolt. I’ve never liked the trigger/sear blocks as a safety on bolt guns. I like the way the Mauser, Springfield, Win70 all block the firing pin in the bolt much better.

      Integrated sight bases on the receiver would solve lots of issues for shooters. If they’re not going to ship a rifle with iron sights on the barrel, then quit leaving the issue of scope bases up to the aftermarket. Machine them directly onto the receiver.

      For accuracy, I’d work on the firing pin, cocking piece and the interior of the bolt to make them slick as greased weasel snot. I’d have a firing pin of about 0.065 diameter and it would just barely fit through the hole in the front of the bolt. I’d have a one-piece bolt (or at most a two-piece – bolt body and handle) and thereby dispense with the three-part bolt that Remington currently has on the 700.

      Last issue I’d address in a new 700 would be gas routing in the event of case head failure. I’d pull in some of the ideas of Mauser in this area.

  7. *fingers crossed*
    Hopefully this change will be positive improvements rather than change for the sake of change, as has been most of my experiences with Corp decision making.

  8. A blog posted the image above stating it had something to do with a new AR and people then pointed out the .30-06 notation. Simpler, pre-owned (used), and proven guns are looking better and better.

  9. If the @sswipes at The Freedom Group have anything whatsoever to do with the “new” Remmy 700, I’m sure that it will turn out to be an absolute, complete and total POS.

  10. Their picture looks like more than 5 shots were fired, and the group looks bigger .725″. And are those groups that impressive these days? At 100 yards indoors cant you get the same accuracy with something like a GAP AR-10?

    • Most people posting groups post 3-shot groups. I could bore people to tears with statistical math why this is something of a mis-direction and how a two-minute rifle will, upon reasonable occasion, throw down very nice three-shot groups.

      A five-shot group under 1.0″ at 100 yards from a factory rifle, with a factory barrel, using non-match grade ammo is pretty good. A 10 shot group under 1.0 inch with the same conditions is actually quite impressive from where I sit.

      • I aware of the whole group counting. But as I said, semi-autos can do better than what Remington is claiming. And I’m sure Remington was using match ammo when they made the above claim, I doubt they’re using M2 surplus.

        .5 MOA 5 shot groups @ 100 yards and @ 1000 yards outdoors from a GAP-10:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoH0IytAFXw

        • OK, I didn’t watch the entire video. I got as far as the explanation of their barrel from Bartlein – and that’s it, folks. That’s all I need to know right there. Bartleins are single-point cut barrels – in other words, they’re a barrel maker that is at the top of the heap in barrels. They’re up there with Krieger, Obermeyer, etc.

          Remington’s barrels are hammer forged. Most mass production barrels now are cold hammer forged. I don’t know if Savage still button broaches their rifling or not.

          In other words, you’re not comparing apples to apples. You’re comparing a semi-auto with a top-of-the-line custom barrel vs…. a rifle with what’s basically a steel tube with a hole through it.

          Put a good (ie, “tight”) chamber in a Bartlein, do a good job on the crown, extension and the bolt and you’ve done about as much as you can do to the core accuracy of that rifle.

          Put a Bartlein barrel on a Rem 700 that’s been tuned up and you’ll do better than the semi-auto.

        • I watched the whole video, and now I want that rifle. Or one like it. And someone that I can pay to wave a magic wand and make me shoot like that.

      • And they tend to over emphasize the smallest group as if it was a regular occurence, and if you actually observe the shooting take place, those tiny groups don’t seem to happen.

  11. Reliable as the 870s produced in the last 3 years, microgroove barrel from Marlin, Accustock knockoff from Savage, Bushmaster lines, and incompatible with all aftermarket 700 parts. A real winner! (sarcasm included with purchase)

  14. there’s still going to be a shot show????????

    just kidding, looking forward to your coverage of shot show 2013.

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