700 Long Action - what can I do?

[Big Bubba Mike]

I don't know why you would replace the barrel and rechamber to a 308 The 30-06 will do anything the 308 can do and more. More importantly it will handle heavier bullets better.

If you are set on something else then you must consider ammunition availability of you reload then I agree with a 6.5-06 or even a 6mm-06. If not then a 25-06 may be what you want. the 280 remington is another good choice. Your options are limitless really.

If you want a shorter barrel 18 to 20 inches then the 308, 260, 243, or even a round based on the mauser like a 7mm mauser, 6mm remingtion or 257 roberts. Your options are limitless with the standard length action.

One thing to remember tho. When I was in the army I was sent to sniper school then was part of the rifle team. An instructor once told me that it really didn't matter what caliber of rifle one used as most rifles can shoot much further than the average shooter can accurately shoot them. I watched this instructer repeatedly hit a 36 inch bull at 400 meters with a ruger number 3 rifle in 47-70.

So my advice is pick your poison. I don't see where you can go wrong with whatever you decide

[tuck]

If you don't really want to turn it into an "uber tacticool sniper rifle" perhaps you could have the barrel cut down to 22" and put a nice laminate stock on it. Maybe a little trigger work as well, and you would have a good looking, handy rifle.

[Big Bubba Mike]

that's a good idea you can get a decent lamanate stock from boydsgunstocks.com spend around a hundred bucks for a thumbhole or classic they look good They also have benchrest and target style stocks. You could even put a bipod on the rifle to give it a more tactical style look

You are definately not missing out on anything having the rifle in 30-06 and you can make it look like you want a lot cheaper than rebarrelling and rechambering

[August]

I'll bet if you asked a hundred guys "what would you build if you had a Rem 700 Standard Long action?" that 95 of 'em would say a 30-06. Four would say a .280 Remington. And, one would recommend a .270 Winchester.

They all recommend a medium-heavy barrel with 1/10 or 1/8 twist. They'd say don't build it with a barrel shorter than 26" and that 30" is better.

Do you really want to put 600 bucks in a rifle that's already what you'd end up with????

[MistWolf]

If you want to go with an 18" barrel or shorter, you're better off trading the long action for a short action. Calibers appropriate for a long action are more efficient with barrel lengths around 22". The exception would be something like the 35 Whelen.

One option I'd give serious consideration is cutting the barrel to 20-22 inches, removing the scope and installing a post or ramp front sight and a large aperture rear and make it a lightweight, rugged, walkabout rifle