What's it worth?

[Bobert0989]

I just picked up a like-new Remington 700 chambered in .223 on trade. It has a 26" bull barrel, free floated Hogue stock, and a small (6") Harris bi-pod on it. Also came with Remington scope rings. It appears unfired. I also got the original Camo polymer stock and hardware with it, and a nice sling, but no name on it.

What's it worth as it sits in today's market? I'm hoping I didn't get burned on it...

Thanks for any input...

Bobby

[Icculus]

Well a new one probably sells in the $600-$625 range without the Hogue stock, bipod or rings. So if looks unfired and you did better than that I'd say you did pretty good. The other stuff is probably adds up to a couple hundred-ish

[orkan]

Can buy that rifle for less than $600 all day around here. The addition of a bipod helps its value a bit. The hogue stock is junk, so they are in great supply.

New, never fired, yeah its worth about $650 with the bipod depending on what model it is.

[Bobert0989]

That's good news... Thanks! For what I have in it, I'm tempted to keep it and build it a bit... If it was in .308 I wouldn't hesitate to keep it...

Thanks guys!

Bobby

[orkan]

Originally Posted by Bobert0989

That's good news... Thanks! For what I have in it, I'm tempted to keep it and build it a bit... If it was in .308 I wouldn't hesitate to keep it...

Thanks guys!

Bobby

Rebarrel it. Thread on whatever you want. Call up manners and get a proper stock for it while you are at it.

[Bobert0989]

Originally Posted by orkan

Rebarrel it. Thread on whatever you want. Call up manners and get a proper stock for it while you are at it.

I'm fairly ignorant to bolt-guns, but can I have this rifle rebarreled in .308 using the same action? If so, what would that amount of work cost me? I'd prefer a barrel around 20" for a .308, and maybe threaded?

Also, what is an inexpensive but decent stock with adjustable cheek-weld and LOP? I like the McMillan stocks, but again, I'm fairly ignorant to precision-rifle building... And don't want to end up spending more converting this one than it would cost to buy a new one...

Thanks again,

Bobby

[RyanB]

You can open the bolt face and put on a new barrel, and thats a fine option if you were going to build a custom gun anyway. But not worth it if a factory barrel is fine by you.

[orkan]

Originally Posted by Bobert0989

can I have this rifle rebarreled in .308 using the same action?

Yes, you can.

Cost would depend upon what you wanted done, and who did it. You could get a remington take-off from someone for around $75-$100. You could have a smith spin it on for around the same.

Then you may as well get a PTG bolt.

You'll be into a bit of money, but not much. If you wanted to go the custom barrel route, then you'll be looking at about $500-$750 for the barrel depending on the pedigree of barrel and what your smith charges for chambering/crowning/threading.

Cost goes up if you want to true the action, and bed it in your choice of stock.

For stocks, in order of my opinion on quality:
Bell & Carlson
HS Precision
mcmillan
manners - Better service and shorter wait times than mcmillan, with better product in my opinion.

There are chassis out there as well, in no particular order:
AICS
XLR
Mcree
and many many others.

[Skintop911]

What do you want to do with it? Building or smithing on it may not be as cost or time efficient as simply selling or trading it on what you want/need.

[Bobert0989]

I've just always wanted a good, straight-shooting .308 bolt-gun. I don't really have the terrain here in central KY for extremely long shooting, and wouldn't expect to need anything beyond 300 yards. Most shots around here for me would fall in the 150-200 yard range, actually.

I'd like a setup not too heavy to drag into a tree stand and hunt with, but want it to look nice as well. If I want to drag it out west and shoot with some buddies, I want it to perform. I'd be fine with a take-off barrel I think, as long as it will hold sub-3" groups. If it will do that, it will kill a deer... I'm not a huge fan of the Hogue stock, but it is free-floated. The original SPS stock was not. I have it as well, but I do like a free-floated barrel. For a typical hunting rifle, all I currently use have wood stocks. Is there any company that produces nice aftermarket wooden stocks?

And how short of a barrel can I go with on a .308 and maintain accuracy as needed? 18"... 20"? What profile if I went with a Remington take-off?

Thanks for all the help, I really like learning about new guns and platforms. I can build an AR ground-up now, mostly thanks to the experienced help from members on this forum. Four years ago, I had no clue that an upper and a lower could be taken apart, lol.

Much appreciated,

Bobby

[orkan]

Boyds and Richards both make good quality wood stocks for 700's. Not sure why you'd go that route for a hunting rifle instead of a nice light composite.

That hogue stock is a piece of shit. I've personally seen rifles with the hogue stock shift POI as much as 6" at 100yds by varying the amount of pressure on the bipod slightly. Replace it. Don't think about it... just replace it.

Manners MCS-TA would be a great all-purpose stock for you if you are looking for a hunting/tactical crossover rifle.

As for barrel contour, you can go pretty thick if you keep it short. If you are looking for a take-off, you should be able to find some 20" tubes that are pulled from SPS Tactical rifles. Most shoot quite well. They closely resemble a "sendero" profile if memory serves. They are not a "bull" barrel or "heavy varmint" but kind of a mid point between heavy varmint and sporter. Of the couple dozen SPS tactical's I've set up, all shot at least 1" at 100yds or better with match ammo or handloads.

I ran an 18" 308 for several years as my primary match rifle. Out to 600yds, it was a show stopper. Past that, the weaknesses of the 308 come to light. You can get a 175SMK going about 2550 out of an 18" tube. Not much faster. My current 22" rig pushes them 2700fps. Much more capable at range. At your distances at home, you'll be just fine with an 18" but if you plan to run it out to 1000yds, don't expect to compete with the longer barrels if the wind is blowing. If the wind is 8mph or less, and steady... it will perform. If windy, at 800-1000yds, you'll wish you had more barrel.

Short barrels are more accurate than long barrels of the same contour. This is due to the increased stiffness. I ran a Krieger #17 in 308 at 18" and it was an absolute laser. A ladder test from 41gr to 45gr of varget had less than 3" of vertical spread at 300yds. Short thick barrels are extremely forgiving. They just lose velocity and thus don't pick up as much at distance. The wind is where they suffer the most.

[taliv]

Originally Posted by orkan

I ran an 18" 308 for several years as my primary match rifle.

which matches?

[orkan]

Originally Posted by taliv

which matches?

Local South Dakota Matches. Never made it to too many, but did well in the ones I attended.

[anthony1]

lf you just want a 308 to shoot out to 300yds and is deer accurate, almost any basic hunting rifle will do.

l wouldnt bother with trying to custum a gun for what you wanna do. l'd sell what you have and get a basic ready to shoot rifle. For a basic hunting rifle l'm not gonna l'm not gonna add any upgrades to l really like tikka lites. Theres alot of options. Even an old used rem700 or savage110 would work for that, l've seen them from 350-400$. Unless youre ready to spend a decent chunk of money this is what you should do in my opinion. You can have a decent setup with just a basic hunting rifle and decent glass, for 300yds something like a zeiss 3x9 would work. It'll probably even holsd decent groups if you find a load it likes and keep the barrel cool.

Figure out a budget and go from there. For a beginner precision rifle, even a no frills basic precision rig is gonna be around 1k at the very cheapest more like 1500 and thats just for a very basic rig you'll need a scope too, theres another 1k atleast. l'm not trying to talk you out of this but you really dont need any of this for what you wanna do.