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***Just noticed this should have been under bolt action. My bad!

So I have been looking to get a Remington 700 recently after reading about one in a Guns & Ammo magazine.

What options might I want to look at for a budget rifle that I can swap some nicer parts into down the road if I wanted? Preferably chambered in 308 around $500.

I'm doing my google-fu research but I wanna see if anyone on here has some suggestions!
 
Do yourself a favor and get a tikka.
Shoots sub moa out of the box with a great trigger.
Getting to be lots of aftermarket support as well if you decide to upgrade stock.
 
At that price range, you are probably looking at like the ADLs or the SPSs. Buds gun shop has a ton of options to check out.

If you are wanting to switch out stuff anyway, you could look at barreled actions and save money on stuff that will end up in the parts bin.
 
The 700 is the small-block V8 of bolt guns. You can start pretty basic and upgrade parts until you have a semi-custom rifle. Just remember the factory detachable box magazine "DBM" has a different cut to the bottom of the receiver. If you want the most flexibility, avoid the factory DBM. Any ADL (blind magazine) or BDL (hinged floor plate) can be converted to anything.
 
Heed No_Regerts, or you may end up having regerts.

Buy a used rifle. You'll often see them here on the forums or in guns shops, and the reality is that most people will never shoot a rifle nearly enough to approach wearing it out. That way, you'll save yourself some money for fun mods (like a chassis [DO IT DO IT DO IT]) or ammo, and get just as good of a rifle. Also, take a look at Remage barrels. Once you decide that the stock barrel is insufficient, or you want a cool caliber, you can do the swap and headspacing yourself. You could feasibly have multiple barrels for the same gun if you wanted to. Remages have all the barrel-swap advantages of the Savage (confession - my centerfire fun gun is a long action Savage in a McRee chassis) and the massive aftermarket of the Remington.
 
The 700 is the small-block V8 of bolt guns. You can start pretty basic and upgrade parts until you have a semi-custom rifle. Just remember the factory detachable box magazine "DBM" has a different cut to the bottom of the receiver. If you want the most flexibility, avoid the factory DBM. Any ADL (blind magazine) or BDL (hinged floor plate) can be converted to anything.
This ^^^
 
Another quick tip, the 700 long action is actually magnum length, not 30-06 length. It will swallow any standard long action cartridge and give you lots of latitude in overall length. I never have a hard time getting a long action 700 to shoot.

The short 700 action is pretty short compared to others. I haven't had this be any issue except on 260s and WSM cases. The 260 uses up all the magazine space in an OEM box. Thats why I think the 6.5 creed could be the death of the 260. WSMs and 700 actions can be a pain to time the feed lips. This can cause the case to release at the wrong time causing the steep case shoulder to bounce off the feed ramp and get stuck in the top of the receiver ring. Especially when the bolt is cycled quickly.
 
One thing to be mindful on the newer 700's is the cast pot metal parts and the abysmal trigger assembly. Remmy isn't building to the quality standards they were once known for! That said, I would find a good used ADL in what ever flavor you are looking for, and build from there. Most parts and options are pretty easy to find, EXCEPT bolt handle and knob options, which require the services of a good Gunsmith who knows his way around the 700 and it's quirks! Form there, the sky is the only limits! OR...........you could join the Barrel Nut Tribe and get a Savage and not have so much to worry about in build quality and after market options!
 
One thing to be mindful on the newer 700's is the cast pot metal parts and the abysmal trigger assembly. Remmy isn't building to the quality standards they were once known for! That said, I would find a good used ADL in what ever flavor you are looking for, and build from there. Most parts and options are pretty easy to find, EXCEPT bolt handle and knob options, which require the services of a good Gunsmith who knows his way around the 700 and it's quirks! Form there, the sky is the only limits! OR...........you could join the Barrel Nut Tribe and get a Savage and not have so much to worry about in build quality and after market options!

I'd slum a Salvage....;)

For any 700, I generally replace bottom metal with PT&G stuff. Always replace the stock. There is a whole bunch of aftermarket stocks to fit your flavor.​
 
If you want a new 24" Remington 700 SPS in .308 for $500 I will help you out, no need to mess with the entry level stuff. You are still going to need optics, PM me if you want to discuss further.

Jeremy
 
In my opinion the Remington 700 is one of the most customizable guns ever. Magpul, McMillian, and Macon all make stocks for the 700. Hart makes barrels for most guns, Jewel and Timney make triggers, etc. There are so many options for the 700 you can practically make it into a totally different gun.
 
I love my 700's. My newest is a 700P (Police) 308 carbine. It has a fluted barrel, a Mcmillian stock, an XB 40 trigger. It shoots 100 yard dime groups the same as my ex military M24 does. It is left handed.......1000.00 even though it is over your 500.00 entry, you can't duplicate it for anywhere near that. There is a reason most custom rifle manufactures use the 700 as a base to build on.
 
I would buy an older rifle. If you look around you can likely find a nice 700 with a good scope for that amount. It's a buyers market right now. IMO the older guns were built better.
 
ive heard this many times "cannot go wrong with a remington 700"

sportsmans always has sales on the ADL. very basic of the basic. at a low price you might have room to work with your budget and can always add your choice of stock, bottom metal and nice scope.

some guys like to put custom triggers(timney,jewel and the like) in them after or when theyre sent off to be "trued" or "accurized"
 
im definately "pro-savage"
I have looked at and studied the Savage for at last 55 years. Being left handed, they made rifles for me before anyone else. I know the newer ones are supposed to be good and have a good trigger but traditionally they have been so cheep, tin trigger guards and floor plates, the poorest quality stocks on the market, long lock times. Off course, they are cheep to buy but not cheep enough to make a difference to me. The best bolt action rifles I have ever owned or handled were Sakos for newer rifles, my wife's Husqvarna is very good, my Steyrs and antique Mausers are very high quality. The Remington 700 is just a great workhorse. It was derived from the Enfield P14/17 rifles made for WW1 that liberated design features from Paul Mausers masterpiece 1898. The Savage design is substandard because they were afraid to infringe on established patents. I know that the modern Savage rifles are some of the best they ever built but that is not saying a lot. A rifle is a lifetime investment, few of us ever wear one out. It is like the guy that inherits guns from his grandfather......some of us got Harrington Richardsons but if we were lucky we got Colts. One of the best most accurate actions built was the inexpensive Remington 788, it has incredible lock times and has been used as the base for many bench rest rifles as has the 700. I don't think I have ever seen a Savage in a serious bench rest competition.
 
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What I remember of Savage rifles was hefting/evaluating them at the hardware store way back when. They were clunky, blocky, heavy, cheap stock, horrible checkering, etc. Not for me compared to either my ADLs or BDLs. Just couldn't go that way at any price. Did buy a Ruger 77 in 7mm Magnum but the straight stock had a bit of a sharp whack. Shot a Savage 99 in 243 that wasn't too bad, didn't kick near as hard as a Model 94 in 30/30, which kicked me like a mule!!!
 
I have looked at and studied the Savage for at last 55 years. Being left handed, they made rifles for me before anyone else. I know the newer ones are supposed to be good and have a good trigger but traditionally they have been so cheep, tin trigger guards and floor plates, the poorest quality stocks on the market, long lock times. Off course, they are cheep to buy but not cheep enough to make a difference to me. The best bolt action rifles I have ever owned or handled were Sakos for newer rifles, my wife's Husqvarna is very good, my Steyrs and antique Mausers are very high quality. The Remington 700 is just a great workhorse. It was derived from the Enfield P14/17 rifles made for WW1 that liberated design features from Paul Mausers masterpiece 1898. The Savage design is substandard because they were afraid to infringe on established patents. I know that the modern Savage rifles are some of the best they ever built but that is not saying a lot. A rifle is a lifetime investment, few of us ever wear one out. It is like the guy that inherits guns from his grandfather......some of us got Harrington Richardsons but if we were lucky we got Colts. One of the best most accurate actions built was the inexpensive Remington 788, it has incredible lock times and has been used as the base for many bench rest rifles as has the 700. I don't think I have ever seen a Savage in a serious bench rest competition.

yeah, lots of people think of the "old" savage rifles when they hear "savage"thrown around. not that there's anything wrong with that but, i can tell you that both of my savage rifles, my brothers and 4 of my buddies savages are all good shooters. ya, one of mine has a plastic trigger guard and the other is metal. they both serve their purpose very well as inexpensive, yet accurate hunting rifles... for me.

im no bench shooter and dont pretend to be by anymeans... LOL. just a dude that likes to hunt and occasionally stretch my rifles legs at 5-600yrd.

@Goosebrown may be able to chime in as after having a convo with him he seems to be happy with his savage thats set up for long range. IIRC.

like i said tho, ive heard MANYYYY times "you cannot go wrong with a rem 700"

maybe if you do decide on something you could do a build thread with results!!??:D
 
A lot of game has been taken with a Savage rifle, a M99 is an absolute work of art and one of my favorite guns of all time is my (valmet) Savage 2400 12 gauge 308 combination gun. They built great military arms during both wars so, there is nothing wrong with the name.
 

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