Remington 700 mountain

[Dogmann]

Anyone have a Remy700 mountain gun?


How well does it shoot with that thin barrel?


Opinions ?

[Lloyd Smale]

I had a 280 that was one of the first mountain rifles off the line back when they started making them. it had exceptional wood and shot real well. I had a few loads that went into an inch for 5 shots if i shot slow and didnt overheat the barrel. A divorce caused that one to leave the house. I sure wish i had it back.

[parkergunshop]

Lloyd,
I have worked on several Remington Model 7's with the short thin barrels in .243 and .308 Winchester and with good handloads and shooting slowly to avoid over heating the barrel they all would  shoot close to one inch groups at 100 Yds.
But personally one extra pound in weight makes little difference to me in the field.   Most of my guns have medium to heavy sporter barrels.   On the heavy recoilers the extra weight is really appreciated.
 
 

[Lloyd Smale]

Im a bit differnt. For one im alot less recoil shy then most. I do notice another lb of rifle at the end of a long day. Maybe its more in my head then anything. I know it isnt going to make the diffence in whether i make it over the next ridge or not but toward the end of the day a 9lb rifle feels like a club to me. I do have many heavier guns like what you like but most of them do there hunting duty from blinds or doing crop damage shooting where your not likely to take a 100 steps in a day. For that i like a heavier gun because its easier to hold on target when deer are way out there. but for normal whitetail season when a LONG shot is 200 yards and i do alot more walking then shooting i like my lighter guns. I think this can be taken to an extream though. I dont need a bolt gun that weights 5.5 lbs with a scope but do like them to come under 7.5. Another thing and it may make you chuckle but theres just something about a mountain rifle or a model 7, ruger ultralight, winch featherweight that makes me swoon. Kind of like a skinny bikini clad girl at the beach. Thing is at least this old man can still score at the gunshop

Lloyd,
I have worked on several Remington Model 7's with the short thin barrels in .243 and .308 Winchester and with good handloads and shooting slowly to avoid over heating the barrel they all would  shoot close to one inch groups at 100 Yds.
But personally one extra pound in weight makes little difference to me in the field.   Most of my guns have medium to heavy sporter barrels.   On the heavy recoilers the extra weight is really appreciated.

[Singleshotsam]

They're good guns for their intended purposes.  They're not going to be as inherently accurate as a heavier barreled gun, but then again, your not buying a mountain rifle for group shooting.

[charles p]

I'd buy one at a fair price any day.  I have two Mod 7 rifles plus a Rem LVSF weight varmit rifle chambered in 7mm-08.  For my purposes I only need to shoot once, and my first shot accuracy with these lighter barreled rifles is very good.  I have about ten other rifles with standard or heavy barrels, and the thin barrel rifles are my favorite for hunting.  My least favorite lightweight is a Model 70 Featherweight in 243.  Mine is not very accurate.  Probably 2" groups.

[RevJim]

 I had a .280 and later a .270 in the Mountain Rifle, both shot very well indeed. I love the slim/trim lines/feel of the rifle, and the weight is not 'too light". I recently picked up an older Mountain rifle that I am having rebarreled. It will be in 30.06 with a Lightweight 24" Shilen. I just prefer a tad longer barrel. I'm also having a Limbsaver pad added, as a 30.06 in one of these things can get your attention, ha. I don't cotton to the detachble magazine models, but they are reliable. The factory MR barrels are kind of finicky as to bullet weight/loads, but easy to find a load they like.

[quatroclick]

I have an older wood stocked mountain rifle in 257 Roberts.  It's not as accurate as my other standard and heavy barrel 700's, but capable of right around 1" groups with the right loads.  It's definitely much nicer to carry for a long hunt than anything else I own.  There is no such thing as a perfect rifle, but this one comes close.

[Buckskin]

I have a 700 stainless laminate in 7mm-08, got it last year and worked up a reasonable load for it but it really was not great past 250 yards. Great looking rifle and a very nice feel to it, but accuracy not so good.  When I took the stock off I notice that the barrel pressure point was very poorly made.  There was a big glob of glue at that point from gluing on the forend cap.  I decided to go against traditional logic and free float it. After I did that, before I even shot it I know it wouldn't work.  When I lightly slapped the barrel or the forend they hit together.  So I pillar bedded the stock and that took care of that issue, it is rock solid. I haven't shot it yet (hopefully this weekend).  If I don't get the results that I want I will bed the barrel.

[Buckskin]

An update to the above post. I finally got to run a couple ladder tests with my 7mm-08 Mountain rifle yesterday and it showed great improvement after bedding the stock and floating the barrel.  I shot them at 200 yards and I have 2 solid nodes to work with, one at the low to mid range of powder and one at the top end. No sign of pressure so I will probably load up a couple a bit higher than book and see how they shoot and for pressure signs, then try working with both nodes also.
 
This is the rifle that I wanted all along!  The only wart on it's skin now is the trigger, I can only get the x-mark down to about 4lbs and that is after voiding the warranty.  That may have to go also, haven't decided... It really is a nice trigger otherwise, breaks nice, no creep, but 4lbs is annoying. I miss the old Remington triggers....

[gunnut69]

I love light barreled hunting rigs but bad knees pretty much restrict me to blinds where rifle weight is irrelavent..  I bought a Featherweight in 6.5x55 and it shoots the 125 Partitions great and has taken several deer. My mountain rifle is a 280 (favorite caliber) with a compact Leupold 3x9 and loves 140 balistic tips. Under an inch if the firing pace is restrained. My next lightweight toy is a M7. It was the birch stock model which someone decorated with a coat of bedliner plastic. It's in 7-08 and was going to be a gift but the occasion left..so it'l be a gift to me!! So far accuracy has been mediocre but perhaps a new mannlicher stock,,,,