Almost every rifle I see pictured on this site is a Remington 700.
Any reason? are they that much better? I do like them, but have an extra Match rifle in Win 70 with a kreiger and a Jewel trigger that is a good stock away from a nice HP Silhouette rifle.
Any reason not to do this?
Thanks
chuck

Winchester action weighs more...? Ck that out..

The Win action has a great flat bottom perfect for bedding. As to weight...a little milling/drilling on that bottom will get it lighter plus a carbon fiber stock negates that issue. I like the concept...plus the action is smooth and has a great extractor I also like Surgeon actions, BAT SV's and the Stolle....lock times in these are outstanding and there's very very little prep

You can find just about anything for the Rem 700 action to keep it working in good condition. Other actions, not so easy.

I have a Savage action and love it !!,,,Sold the Remington and do not regreat it...plenty of parts for them too as well as Winchester wont go wrong with your Winchester.

As to 'parts' availability for the Rem 700.....the Surgeon, Stolle, BAT etc are compatible with Rem parts. The Win has various aftermarket triggers available, firing pins, extractors...no less abundant than a Rem......Weight was always why the Rem was preferred... also the lock time on a Rem is slightly faster. that said I would still like to build on on a short action Win...(yes Virginia there are such things)

If you have a short action Win then go for it. Myself I don't think you can beat a Defiance short action (Rebel single shot) to use for hunter and standard. These things are like engineering art in my humble opinion and have all of the neat stuff left over from when they were sold as Nesika (ala Borden bumps etc).

Here's some pics from their site with option for port etc.

http://defiancemachine.com/options/

The Defiance actions are very cool...but check out http://www.batmachine.com/products/actions.htm and compare the 'weights'

Many accuracy 'smiths will tell you that they can make a 700 (or clone) shoot better easier. On the other hand, if you look at a lot of fine BR actions which have flat bottoms. The Panda is a classic.

If you don't mid carving on a Win action you can make weight. It's just not as easy. One man who used to shoot with us liked M70s and Swiss cheesed everything imaginable to make weight. (Ever see a magazine follower full of holes?) It's hard to argue with a good claw extractor though.

Edit: Some action makers are set in their ways and will not under any circumstance do some things that others do routinely. If there are any things you want done, such as a small firing pin hole in the bolt face, find out whether the action maker will do it or if is going to cost you extra to have it done afterwards if you still want their action. Talk with the 'smith you intend to use about what will be necessary to make weight and decide what you like.

Rick, think about what you wrote ...an accuracy gunsmith can make a 700 shoot.!!! So instead of buying a precision action are you advocating hot rodding a 700? The cost effective way is the custom action....even the bench rest boys have eschewed the 700 for tastier alternatives. If tinkering is your side game then a 700 is the action...I contend that the mod 70 has better features and has lots of parts now available. The beauty of the 70 is the safety and a flat bottom....A fellow can open the bolt with the safety on and the flat bottom makes for great bedding.....why there's even a short action 70. The 700 weighs about 37 oz and the short 70 about 42oz.....and a new high tech stock makes weight less of an issue. So the way I reckon I find a used short 700 for maybe $400 then it truing and straightening and a Sako extractor ...another 300-400. So I now have a used custom 700....for 900- 1100 I buy a Bat SV or a Stolle Kodiak or Panda.....custom and ready to barrel ..no muss or fuss

Run what you brung....... If you like it, I like that you like it....

I will use the 700 actions.... No.. Wait. I am running a XP100 action.....

Snake,

The BR 'smiths will tell you they can make a 700 shoot better easier than M70. The truth is the barrel does not know or care what is supporting it. It is simply that they are more accustomed to working on cylindrical actions, but they can work on anything.

I observed that the Panda is a classic...along with its flat bottom which is extolled for its greater bedding surface. Notice the contradiction yet? Nowadays it makes a lot of sense to purchase one of the many "custom" actions because they frequently cost little more than a mass produced 700 (or other) action once you have paid to have it accurized. They also tend to keep their value better.

The knock about the lack of choice of competition triggers for a M70 is not as true as it once was. The traditional M70's trigger's simplicity is one of its great virtues for a live game rifle along with the 3 position safety and claw extractor. Those things just are not as critical in a target rifle though. Would I use a M70 for a silhouette rifle? Probably not, if for no other reason than the number of triggers I already have for Remington pattern triggers (including my big bore Panda)...well, except for the actions that have been machined to take Anchutz triggers. Wait a minute! What's going on here? Umm, I tried something different.

There are a few other differences, I think you get the idea. Most any of the current actions will do just fine.

Cheers,

Rick

P.S. Don't look for me to get arid of my Mauser any time soon.

I use a Winchester M-70 rifle for HP Hunter silhouette. It's fitted in a Pharr stock and uses a Pac-Nor 3 groove 6.5 barrel in .260 Rem.. I selected such a rifle because the magazine on the M-70 short action can be lengthened to about 3.00 inches by someone who knows ho to remove the spacer at the rear of the mag box and add a little stock to both sides of the follower. Result: A rifle that will hold 5 rounds which can measure up to 3.0 inches, making it possible to reliably load and feed .260 or similar cartridges using the longer Berger, Sierra or Lapua 139 gr.+ bullets. The only problem I ran into is the fact that Jewell triggers do not have trigger blades adjustable for length of pull, so the back of the trigger guard has to be milled a little over 1/4 inch to make it fit and a trigger shoe used to bring the trigger blade back to its proper place. This is a limitation of the Jewell trigger design and not on the Winchester action. As Rick mentioned, the factory trigger can also be worked and tuned to come close to the Jewell's sear engagement and let-off weight. Oh, yes, like my other target rifles, the damned things shoots way better than I can.

A three inch magazine...sweet!

I use (past tense...haven't in a while) a Model 70 in 308 with a Jewel set at 2 lbs. Its a laminate stocked factory gun with a short (for Winchester) action and handles 190's just swell. Too bad I wasn't quicker on the draw when Karl Kenyon was still around...he made a dandy Model 70 target trigger...in the same pattern of his famous Model 700/40x triggers