This winter I watched an older wood stocked Savage 110 languish on the Cabela's used gun rack for $229. Every time I looked at it I thought that would make a good donor rifle for a build. I'm not a Savage fan due to this same rifle of my youth. They just aren't as slick and smooth as the Remingtons or Winchesters in my mind. But I do love the lock nut barrel and the ability to swap in a new barrel fairly easily. So by the time I decide to buy this gun, it is gone.
Enter the Remington 783. Cabela's had the 783 for sale for $259, less a $40 rebate, nets $219. I quick research the thing. Barrel nut, adjustable trigger, pillar bedded, 22"magnum contour barrel, decent recoil pad, and the working parts of the clip are metal. They have one .308 left, so I take it and also buy the Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x40 BDC scope for $100 more.
The idea I had was to build a .260 or 7mm-08 my kids could shoot. Barrels are about $300 and Boyd's makes a stock now for the 783, for about $125 with the options I'd want on it. That's starting to get into real money for me, and I could just as well order a new Tikka for that. So I thought I'd see how this new gun shoots before we jump into a new stock and barrel.
I've run about 70-80 rounds through it so far and have found a very good Sierra 125 grain load my kids could use. Starting load of 41 grains IMR 4895 shot a .372" 3 shot group at 100 yards and the max load of 45.5 gr shot .472. Prior to this range outing, the best group I had come up with was .70" using H414. Most other groups were in the 1.25-1.5" range, but seemed to be getting slowly better. The barrel is broken in now I think.
I'm very happy with how this "bargain" rifle is turning out. There's nothing fancy about this rifle. But the trigger is really nice once adjusted to your liking. Is it a Timney, no. But none of my other guns have Timneys either. The bolt isn't as smooth as a 700 or my push feed M70, or my Tikka's. But it's better than expected and at least as good if not better than the Savage donor I had been looking at. All I've done to it are adjust the trigger, and follow barrel break in procedure posted by Nosler.
At this point, I will probably just trade out the somewhat flexible plastic stock for a Boyd's. Or maybe wait a bit and hope B&C make a medalist stock for it. It's well worth that modest outlay for a significant stock upgrade. I think that will be the extent of my tinkering, other than developing more loads for it.
For someone looking for a bargain build, (if there is such a thing), a spare rifle, or a kid's rifle, I'd highly encourage looking at the 783 as an option. The down side is that it doesn't have anywhere near the product support of the Savage or M700. But they are certainly worth considering. Thanks to those of you who answered my questions and helped me as I went through the process.
Bret
Enter the Remington 783. Cabela's had the 783 for sale for $259, less a $40 rebate, nets $219. I quick research the thing. Barrel nut, adjustable trigger, pillar bedded, 22"magnum contour barrel, decent recoil pad, and the working parts of the clip are metal. They have one .308 left, so I take it and also buy the Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x40 BDC scope for $100 more.
The idea I had was to build a .260 or 7mm-08 my kids could shoot. Barrels are about $300 and Boyd's makes a stock now for the 783, for about $125 with the options I'd want on it. That's starting to get into real money for me, and I could just as well order a new Tikka for that. So I thought I'd see how this new gun shoots before we jump into a new stock and barrel.
I've run about 70-80 rounds through it so far and have found a very good Sierra 125 grain load my kids could use. Starting load of 41 grains IMR 4895 shot a .372" 3 shot group at 100 yards and the max load of 45.5 gr shot .472. Prior to this range outing, the best group I had come up with was .70" using H414. Most other groups were in the 1.25-1.5" range, but seemed to be getting slowly better. The barrel is broken in now I think.
I'm very happy with how this "bargain" rifle is turning out. There's nothing fancy about this rifle. But the trigger is really nice once adjusted to your liking. Is it a Timney, no. But none of my other guns have Timneys either. The bolt isn't as smooth as a 700 or my push feed M70, or my Tikka's. But it's better than expected and at least as good if not better than the Savage donor I had been looking at. All I've done to it are adjust the trigger, and follow barrel break in procedure posted by Nosler.
At this point, I will probably just trade out the somewhat flexible plastic stock for a Boyd's. Or maybe wait a bit and hope B&C make a medalist stock for it. It's well worth that modest outlay for a significant stock upgrade. I think that will be the extent of my tinkering, other than developing more loads for it.
For someone looking for a bargain build, (if there is such a thing), a spare rifle, or a kid's rifle, I'd highly encourage looking at the 783 as an option. The down side is that it doesn't have anywhere near the product support of the Savage or M700. But they are certainly worth considering. Thanks to those of you who answered my questions and helped me as I went through the process.
Bret
