Remington has returned with higher-quality rifles than ever before, and the Model 700 Long Range HS has the accuracy to back it.
The Model 700 is one of the most popular American hunting rifles of all time. Other sporting rifles may be better made, but few are more accurate. It first appeared in 1962 and is highly regarded by hunters all over the world.
Among American-made bolt-actions, only the much-lauded Winchester Model 70 can equal its sales appeal.
The high-tech Model 700 Long Range HS is a distinctive rifle featuring an H-S Precision stock with moulded-in aluminium bedding block.
It is easy to see that this rifle was designed for long-range shooting, but what really puts the 700 Long Range in a class of its own is its 66cm (26”) hammer-forged carbon steel barrel which tapers to 21mm (.820”) at its dished muzzle.
The barrel has a fast 1:8” rifling twist rather than the 1:9 twist that’s standard for the majority of 7mm magnums. The faster twist is needed to stabilise new .284 longsters such as Hornady’s 180gn ELD-X Match, designed primarily for serious long-distance competition.
H-S is a pioneer in synthetic stocks, including woven Kevlar and fibreglass cloth with a uni-directional carbon-fibre base. Along with this, additional construction techniques include an epoxy-based gel coat and a laminating resin all put together by reaction injection-moulded polyurethane foam.
H-S was the first to have an interior aluminium bedding block that fits into a hand-laid composite structure. The 700 Long Range has a smart bedding arrangement, which, though round-bottomed, has the front screw directly under the locking lugs, with a lot of stock support forward of the hole.
The advantage of an H-S stock is that you can take the barrelled action out of the stock and replace it as many times as you like without any variation in the point of impact. Another advantage is that every component — action, trigger, recoil lug and floorplate — will be a close fit for the life of the stock.
The Model 700’s target-style stock has a nearly vertical pistol gip and a high, straight comb with a drop at the nose of 32mm (1¼”) and at heel of 38mm (1½”). The flat-bottomed forend extends 29cm (11½”) ahead of the magazine and swells out ahead of the front guard screw to gain a width of 5.8cm (2.27”).
There is no cheekpiece, and with its 34cm (13⅜”) length of pull, the rifle not only closely fits my build, but my eye also lines up perfectly with the reticle in the Leupold VX-5HD scope. It is well-designed for prone shooting, with plenty of stability when shooting over a rest.
The stock is grey with a black-and-white webbed pattern, its surface a moderately rough texture due to its final non-glare, baked-on urethane coating that makes chequering unnecessary. It is finished off with twin sling-swivel studs and a 25mm (1”) black recoil pad complemented with a black spacer.
The alloy bottom metal is perfectly inletted to the base of the stock. The magazine release is located inside the trigger guard and the floorplate and follower drop out easily to empty the magazine. With the long action, magazine capacity is three magnum rounds.
The receiver, barrel and bottom metal have a bead-blasted matte finish, so the outfit won’t give off any reflections, even in bright sunlight.
The Model 700 action is famous for the right reasons. With the bolt inside the receiver, the mechanical unit is little more than a tube within a tube. Not only is it cheap to make, but exceedingly strong — one of the strongest turn-bolt actions of any.
This tube-within-a-tube arrangement creates a highly concentric receiver, bolt, cartridge and barrel configuration which has a positive effect on accuracy. This is the reason why the action is so eagerly sought after for building benchrest rifles and a major reason why the Model 700 has been widely copied.
The bolt handle is swept back, has an oval knob chequered on top and bottom, is blued and engine-turned giving a more refined, quality look to the whole action. The root of the bolt handle enters a receiver notch to serve as a backup. Powerful hardened cams on bolt and receiver perform all operating functions smoothly as the bolt handle is raised and lowered.
Remington has now gone back to a riveted extractor, which was dropped in 1998. This tiny hook arrangement is contained in a groove inside the bolt face, which permits a solid left locking lug of identical dimensions to the right lug, providing perfectly balanced support for the breech. The lugs are set behind the bolt rim, leaving a protruding nose to fit in the barrel’s counterbore.
This is one of the strongest locking patterns ever employed on a sporting arm. The lugs turn 90 degrees to vertical as the bolt locks and have a combined area of 2.77 square centimetres (.430 square inches), making for an extremely strong, safe locking system.
The Model 700 adopted a spring-loaded plunger-type ejector, now very common on bolt-action rifles. The bolt face is recessed a full 3.8mm (.150”) and because the ejector and extractor are contained entirely within the counterbored bolt face, the surrounding rim is unbroken. This closed bolt nose is critical because it can obturate and seal off the breech, thus confining case head failures and limiting the amount of gas that can escape back along the receiver.
Firing pin travel is short — just 5.4mm (.213”) at impact — resulting in very fast locktime of about 3 milliseconds for the long action and 2.6 for the short action. This is an important factor in obtaining the kind of consistently fine accuracy the Model 700 has become renowned for.
The safety is a two-position sear type. It is a U-shaped stamping pivoted to the trigger housing. On the right side, it works exceptionally easily and is silent in operation.
The trigger on my test gun was among the last of the X-Mark Pro units fitted before Remington changed to a Timney trigger. It let off at 1.8kg (4lb) as it came from the factory. My attempt to lighten the pull to 1.3kg (3lb) via an adjustment screw set in the top of the trigger shoe was unsuccessful, so I used it as was.
The chamber is cut to SAAMI minimum dimensions with a throat diameter of 0.2846”, only 0.006” larger than nominal bullet diameter, and the minimum neck diameter is 0.318in. These close tolerances ensure precise alignment of the bullet to the bore axis, something necessary for obtaining match-winning accuracy.
Accuracy is enhanced by having the action uniformly supported on the stock’s aluminium bedding block. This system, which is precision-machined on the V-block principle to self-align with the 700’s tubular receiver, was introduced on the Model 700 VS in 1992 and leaves the barrel free-floating in the forend.
Unlike actions that are bedded on epoxy surfaces in fibreglass stocks, the Model 700 Long Range mates metal to metal so that there is no give whatsoever and pressure exerted by the guard screws remains unvaryingly uniform. Bedding, therefore, is stable with no change in the barrel’s vibration harmonics.
The magazine is a Mauser staggered-column type, of sheet metal construction throughout with the exception of a cast stainless steel follower introduced in 1974. Feed is positive and foolproof.
The bolt release is a small flat lever halfway between the floorplate release and the trigger. By pressing this lever upward, the bolt-stop is pivoted down, allowing the bolt to be withdrawn.
The rifle was tested with two factory loads and some reloads I had been hoarding for a number of years. Some of the powders are no longer available, but they did confirm the fine accuracy obtainable from the Model 700 Long Range.
The Remington Model 700 is alive and kicking after more than 60 years in production. Like all successful and enduring designs it has prospered because it handles such a wide range of needs, everything from varmints and big game to long-range targets.
Remington is still on the mark with its rifle design and peerless match-grade barrels and there seems no doubt that the Remington 700 has already earned a place in the bolt-action Hall of Fame.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Manufacturer: Remington Arms Co, USA
- Type: Turn-bolt repeater
- Calibres: 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, .270 Win, 7mm PRC, 7mm Rem Mag (tested), .30-06, .300 Win Mag
- Barrel: Carbon steel, 66cm (26”), 1:8” R/H twist
- Magazine capacity: Magnum calibres, 3; standard, 4
- Trigger: X-Mark Pro single-stage (see text)
- Sights: None; drilled and tapped for scope.
- Stock: H-S Precision composite synthetic with aluminium bedding block
- Drop at comb, 32mm (1¼”); drop at heel, 38mm (1½”); LOP, 34cm (13⅜”)
- Length: 116cm (45¾”)
- Weight: 3.85kg (8½lb)
- Price: Approx. $2300-$2400
- Distributor: NIOA
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