Ruger vs Remington

I am looking at replacing my current 300 mag for another on in a Remington 700 XCR or the Ruger magnum. Both are stainless and are very similarly priced. I am leaning toward the Remington because that is what I have now and I am used to it. I have hunted with the Ruger (bowwrowed from outfitter) and liked it. But the safety system is a little awkward, at least to me. Any one have any cheers or jeers for either one?

I've got a Remington model 700 Stainless Synthetic that I've had for many years, it's a great rifle that I've taken animals with from 11,500 ft to sea level. Great rifle, Baker

Remington.

I'd buy the one that fit me best.

X2

A 700 with a Timney trigger is a thing of beauty. Never really been a fan of Ruger rifles.

My sentiments as well.

Or skip both brands and buy a Tikka. Better action, great factory trigger, will shoot just as well, or better, than the Ruger or Rem.

I trade around a lot, so I have had a lot of both in the OP. All I will say now is that our Sako A7 won't be traded.

Well, bringing up a Sako in a discussion about "Ruger or Remington?" is like bringing up a Mercedes in a discussion about Korean econo-boxes.

I avoid Remingtons as there have been way too many QC issues with the company lately. - You don't know what you are going to get. Rugers are good rifles, finally past the barrel problems that they were famous for in years past. Tikkas are good for longer cartridges, but unnecessarily heavy for compact rounds.

If I were shopping for a new rifle today, it would be a toss-up between a Browning X-bolt, and a Weatherby Vanguard.

If I were choosing between a new Remington and a new Ruger, it would take me only a millisecond to go for the Ruger. It's twice the rifle for about the same money.

- But that's just me.

Will take Ruger over Remington any day unless going to spend a bunch extra with the gunsmith.

Give me a Tikka over Ruger or Remington anyday and twice on Sunday

I think you answered your own question when you said you find the Ruger safety clumsy.

I do not whatsoever claim to be a Sako expert. As a matter of fact when I bought the A7 I viewd it as their bottom of the line of Sakos, kind of like a Remington 710.

However their bottom of the line gun, that isn't much more expensive than the oringal OP's selections, isn't that much more expensive. And I think they guarantee either 3 or 5 shots in an inch at 100 yards with factory ammo.

To me that does two things, 1. it gives a gun that is a better gun than I am a shooter. And 2. I don't have to reload the ammo for that particular cartridge.

And if you saw my Glock 41 trade offer a Vanguard is in the hunt. I should have added the Tikka to that offer.

Remington with s Timmey trigger as others have suggested.

Why not just a Savage model 10 or 12?

Remington-Do those other brands win world championships? Remington's, or copies of Remington's are still, after decades, considered the go to action.

IMO, The Remmy 700 reciever is kinda like a small block Chevy V8. Starting with a 265CI in 1955, then a 283CI in 1957, to todays 5 liter....are all off the same original design, only with 65 years of tweaks and tuning tricks.

I've been told by several hundred gunsmiths - from backyard tinkerers to accomplished professionls - in my 50 years of fooling with all kinds of guns and spending 13 years in the wholesale/mfg'er side of the business...thr reason for Remmy's longevity is the simple "pipe within a pipe " design, and everything else came initially as an aftermarket upgrade. The Aftermarket toys developed for the Remmy 700 action have had the most extensive experimentation of any commercial bolt action rifle ever made in America, rivaling the 120 year old Model 98 Mauser design that set the world standard for smokeless powder bolt action rifles.

The ? was though, does that make it the "Best" reciever on the market today ?? IMO Hardly....it is however the easiest and cheapest to work on & a gunsmith's dream of a revenue producer....kinda like the old Chevy Small Block V8...and I won't go into Big Green's shoddy history of production standards & QC, or the numerous lawsuits and Recalls covering mebbe hudreds of thousands of rifles. Or, comparing a 1940's Post War era hard line dial telephone design, same time frame and technology that gave us the Remmy 700, that's been gussied up for a Post 2000 retail market's demands, to an I-Phone.

Lots better guns on the market today...keep looking, you can do better for a Off the Rack production rifle.
JMHO & YMMV
Ron

These days it's almost all good. I like r700's, Rugers and Tikkas.
Probably looking to get a Tikka next.

How lite do you want it. It's still lighter than ruger or Remington's offerings. Unnecessary or not.

Tikka < 6.5 lbs
Remington > 7 lbs
Ruger > 7 lbs

Remington. Ask yourself why are they popular for custom builds and you rarely hear of a custom based on a Ruger action. I've had both and all the Remingtons have been better shooters and better triggers out of the box.

Remington if you're wanting to do a ton of upgrades later on and you're really set on those two brands. If upgrades aren't a big deal, go with a Savage if you're on a tight budget, Tikka if you've got some financial flexibility.

Valid points but not an issue when the OP is talking about a 300 Winchester Magnum.

I have two Remington 700's left in my collection. Both have sentimental value, and I installed Timney triggers in both of them. Both were built back in the 60's and 70's and are pretty darned accurate with my hand loads.

That being said, the rest that I used to have are now gone and have been replaced with Browning X Bolts, Winchester Mod 70's (pre-'64) and Tikkas. Love the Tikka T3's, to me they are a great value for the money.

I've owned a few Ruger M77's over the years, for me they just didn't feel or shoot right. To each their own.

I'd have one of the gunsmiths on this site re-barrel, bed and install a Timney trigger to your current Remington 700 rifle. You will not regret it.

The reason why there's so many band-aids out there for Remington rifles is because they so consistently need one.

I'd rather buy a quality item that doesn't have to be worked-over and rebuilt before it is satisfactory.

That's why I've gotten to where I prefer a Browning X-bolt, or a Weatherby Vanguard.

There was a huge aftermarket for Volkswagen Beetles too - but that wasn't because they were what you would call the cream of the crop.

If you want something that is good right out of the box, then something with a big aftermarket for it is a sucker bet.

Remington, Ruger, Tee tee, I mean tikka all suk, just pick the one that feels the best. All will give you a 2MOA accuracy guarantee.

If you can live with a 3.5oz crisp trigger, get an X-Bolt, They will out shoot all the above..

Or save you $$ get the Sako 85

or keep saving and have someone build you a custom.

Oh yea, look at the Winchester M70 Extreme Weather in 7mm-08 if you can find one

Put down whatever it is you are drinking.

LOL, I was wondering how long it would take you....

I've owned both remmy 700's and rugers. For me, a ruger is a hunters rifle. I love both of the ones I have. Classic, no b.s looks, I like everything about their looks.

If I were forced to buy a new rifle tomorrow, I would buy a browning. That being said, I would not hesitate to purchase another ruger M77

Between the two I'd choose the Ruger because of Remington's slipping quality reputation and because I happen to like the 3-position safety.

I'd take a Ruger M77 before a Rem. 700. Love the Mauser type action. My biggest complaint about Ruger is that I don't feel that they have the right barrel lengths on their rifles anymore. To me, any caliber with a .30-06 parent case (or a Mauser case) should be 24"; not 22".

My "go to" rifle is my Ruger M77 Mk.II in 6.5x55mm. And it has a 24" barrel! lol

What I don't understand about the M77 is the price. For that price, you could have a Browning, Tikka, Weatherby, upper-end Savage, or a number of other rifles that are nicer. I like the Ruger, but the price makes no sense to me compared to other rifles. JMHO

A m77 is a better gun than a savage or weatherby vanguard any day of the week. As for browning, I think the a-bolt medallions are nicer but a plain old x-bolt or a-bolt is about the same league. Pros and cons to each rifle

I share your seniments about the barrel lengths. I wish they all had 24" tubes on their standard calibers

I went to my local gunsmith today and decided to upgrade my current 700 with a trigger job(has a timminy but had some creep), new hogue stock and ceracoat the entire gun for corrosion resistance. I also plan on upgrading the scope on the gun. The fire arm improvements ( not including the new scope) will run about 1/2 what I would pay for a new rifle. Thanks for the input guys. Y'all carry on.

I don't think I'll ever get the image of ruger actions needing to be straightened after casting out of my head. My other experiences with them has resulted in mediocre accuracy at best.

That being said anymore I rarely buy a rifle other than just to take apart and use the action for something particular to my taste. Remington easily offers this for me.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I like the Ruger's looks too. But it's not worth paying that much for. The Tikka Hunter is a better rifle and the same price. The Weatherby, Savage and Browning A-bolt are equal rifles for less money.

I'm not saying the Ruger isn't a nice gun. I'm just saying that I don't understand the price point. But that's true for a lot of Rugers. There's no reason a basic Mini-14 should be $700 either.

If it were me I'd go with the Ruger but not a new one, tang safety please! I love Ruger's hate their triggers but that's an easy fix. I have Remington's and Weatherby's also but there's something about the old tang safety's that just feel right.

This thread is creating some old memories, as I've never considered buying another new/used Remington, Savage or a comercial Mauser .... unless I could get into it cheap enough to do what I know I'd have to to do to get where I'd be comfortable. I'll never forget standing in Mr.Carter's Katy Store, talking to a guy taht just got off the plane from RSA, still wearing stained brush clothes and dusty boots, handing me a Remmy 700 375 H&H bolt that the handle had broken off of with another 700 7RMg bolt stuffed in his belt, and asking if my SAKO's could prevent that like the store mgr, Lynn Dickey, said they would. I explained the difference between a SAKO's machined one piece bolt & handle and his 700's...and sold him a 375 H&H Safari Grade and a 7Rmg Classic grade, and offered to order 3 more pairs for his planned family Hunt with his 3 sons later in the season.

As he walked out grinning, he told me that the Remmy 375 bolt had broken on the 2nd day of a 15 day Hunt, but that the 7Rmg bolt headspaced enough to fire the 375, and the 1st 3 rounds were with the gun tied to a tree and the trigger pulled with a long string ... and stayed tucked in his belt the rest of the Hunt & a real PIA.

Tryin' to remember the name of the 'smith who's comments I talked to at a SHOT Show one time umm I think it was in the last Houston Show I worked in the late '80's...his impression of a new Remmy 700 that was being touted, was about the same as the X-Mas toy his young son had gotten that year ... A Tinker Toy. Something that NEEDED and was EASY to tinker with, although he did admit that he made good money off of them since it was his best seller ... to keep his shop revenue stream up...that he always included a big can of WD-40 with every one he sold.

Getting really boring waiting for the Lake to drain another 6-7 feet so I can clean up the mess, get my mail at home and not have walk across my neighbors yards to get to my cars....and go find the boathouse where ever it floated off to.

PTL we did not get the house flooded, as so many others did and are in my prayers.
Ron

I have owned many models and calibers of both rifles and my opinion is......

1. Ruger for hunting- I bought my first Ruger M77 MKII stainless .270win with money from mowing lawns all summer when I was 14. Topped it with a Leupold Vari-XIII 3.5-10x40 and consider it the best money I have ever spent in my life in 17 years the integral bases and rings have never come loose and the rifle would shoot sub moa out of the box and would do so with all but one factory loaded ammo I tried in it(20+ over the years).

2. Remington for target- They may be "inherently more accurate" as some people say; and my most accurate rifle is my 700 Sendero SF in .300wby (which there is an identical one for sale in the classifieds here.)

Triggers - People rave about the triggers on Remington 700's but Ruger got a BAD rap for years because they had a "lawyer trigger" which was designed to not be modifiable by the consumer to reduce Ruger liability issues(Like Remington has suffered) since it was a family run company. When Ruger came out with the LC6 trigger system it was a night and day difference and in my opinion is an excellent hunting trigger.

Quality - I have never had a single issue with a Ruger 77, except for the time I had a drop in trigger installed by an incompetent gunsmith that screwed up so badly that I called Ruger's customer service number and asked how much it would cost to return the rifle to them and have them return it to factory condition and was amazed when they said ......."We want the rifle to be SAFE; send it in to us and we wont charge you a dime for the work." They even paid return shipping!

Remington on the other hand I have seen several quality issue with brand new guns that soured me on them like.....

1. High school buddy got a 700 CDL in 7mm Rem Mag for graduation present; we took it to the range with a brand new box of Remington Corelokt ammo and he fired one shot and was bleeding under his eye. I thought he got scoped and talked him into continuing and it happened again, so I got behind the rifle and the same thing happened to me, bleeding just to the right edge of the glasses I was wearing but I knew it wasn't the scope.

I looked at the fired casings and all of them had blown out primers; the rifle was sent back to Remington and they said it was "Head spacing out of spec".

2. Brand new 700 BDL 300win - Friends bother inlaw brought out to the ranch to sight in and would only extract the cases 1 out of 4-5 times you worked the bolt; sent it back to Remington and was told "Chamber reaming issue, burrs in the chamber and non concentric".

3. Ranch hand bought a new 700 (the one with the triangle barrel?)in .300win- This rifle would fire if you touched the trigger and then flipped the safety off, he took it back to the gun shop he bought it from and the owner refused to believe what was happening and decided it was a good idea to chamber a live round in the store and test the safety- He blew a hole straight through his own roof!

As much as I keep hearing about Remmy's "excellent out of the box Accuracy" it cracks me up...since Remmy use to use a "Hot Button" rifling system. Hot Button reamers can be outstanding for the 1st 50-100?? # of barrels...and the last 2-3-500 barrels off the Hot Button will be ...ahem.. like Friday/Monday built cars "of Less than average quality". I do see Remmy now advertising 5R rifling these days...just like Thompson Center's Venture & PacNor is using. Mebbe Big Green has seen the light...or the Bean Counters are just cutting costs again.

FWIW I Really Need to shoot the new TC Venture 270 I bought in April for mo cheaper than a Ruger American if the $%#@! rain will ever stop long enough....and have a 1 MOA Guaruntee & Lifetime Warranty. Gotta hunch Remmy'd go broke with a Lifetime Warranty.

Where's all the " you ain't got squat unless you got a cut rifling barrel" guys?

I assume Tikka is still using the same barrels as SAKO like they used to in 695's. SAKO barrels are ALL hand swaged - a Remmy custom shop feature - and cold hammer forged & and cold hammer rifled, then shot for accuracy off an electric triggered universal reciever at 100meters for 1 MOA accuracy...and cut up as scrap & not "fixed" if they fail that QC test. BTDT and seen it 1st hand at the Rihimaaki plant. Only then are the barrels finished cosmetically and attached to a reciever. The finished rifle is then fired again - I think it was 3 or 4 times, in a steel safety cabinet, for the TM'ed "Standing Lion" Export Proof marking with a sustantial overload, by a Rep from the Finnish Federal Gvt and not by the Manufacturer. Totally different set of QC Standards than a remmy 700.
Ron

SHOOO! Its getting deep

I had a 30/06 700 ADL I bought in 1973 that would shoot 1 inch 3 shot groups with factory ammo. I sold it many years ago and still regret it.

I laugh at how many people think remmy rifles are the best because they are used in a lot of custom builds for target shooters

How many model 70 actions do you see at the bench rest tables? Mark V actions? Sako 85's? Browning actions?


Saying remmy is the best because of availability is like saying a Chevy 350 is the best small block V-8 because carbs are cheap

The thing is Remington compared to their competitors made a pretty good rifle in the late 60's up to the mid 80's. Their cometitors caught up in the 80's and Remington's quality slipped in the 90's. Another thing that changed in the 80's and 90's, was accuracy standards, what had been considered good accuracy wasn't anymore, because most rifles could meet the standard.

Remington

Last rifle I bought was a savage. I have been happy with it, but have 3 remingtons that will out shoot it with factory ammo or my handloads.

I really like all my remingtons, and they all shoot pretty well off of a bench with factory ammo and even better with my loads. I have looked at some new ones and the SPS, cheap ones seem very cheap to me, but the less economy end guns still look fine and seem to have about the same fit and finish they always did. I think the whole mess about the triggers is a crock and what cost them most of their following. None of my triggers have been replaced or altered and they all work fine.

That said I don't have anything against a ruger either, my dad had a 700, chances are that's why I have several of them. I have a few savages, wby's, and Rem 700's. I feel I have been equally happy with all of them both fit and finish and how they shoot. The rem's and wby's outshoot my savage.

I think he made up his mind, close this Beech down now, its dead

But, but...there arguin' to be done here! Ain't that what a thread's all about? Geeze!

X2

He told us he made a decision and what he did... aren't we obligated to tell him how he did it wrong and how we would have handled it better!

Yes we are.

Though I prefer a Ruger 77 over a Rem. 700, I'd quickly pass them up for an older FN Supreme any day. Can't go wrong with a TRUE Mauser 98 action and "old world" craftsmanship. I'd also take a Husqvarna before both. Great rifle, but not as fancy as a FN. If you shop around you can pick them up for as cheap or cheaper than most Ruger/Rem rifles.

My FN is awesome piece of equipment but punishing to shoot. Has the original FN embossed horn but plate and adding a slip on makes the lop odd.

I don't wanna argue or read the topic so I'll just say I have one Remmy....inherited and very sweet. I'd have to stop and think about how may AWESOME Rugers I have (it's not that many) but none are rifles except a 10/22. My Remmy is an 870 so I guess I just wet the topic bed.

Check the recalls on both brands, then go get you a Ruger. Remington has been plagued the last few years with quality issues and forever with it's safety/ trigger issues. The main differenc between the two is that the Ruger will only discharge when you pull the trigger. Like I said, check the recalls. That will tell you all you need to know.

http://www.ruger.com/M77Recall/index.html

How many trigger issues has big green had in the last decade? Google Remington bolt handles breaking off. Remington has more than its fair share of issues. Rugers are good hunting rifles that are ready to go. Ruger discontinued the Hawkeye SS so there are some screaming deals on those out there. I would buy the Remington if you like to upgrade or if you want the best out of box accuracy. Buy the Ruger if you want a rugged, reliable rifle and are ok with moa accuracy.

Not long ago a rifle thst shot MOA was considered to be a special gun

A rifle that shoots MOA will be fine for 99% of hunters

I have guns that shoot sub MOA and some thst are MOA and in the field it doesn't make a lick of difference

I agree the one that fits you best. That said, I have a custom Remington 700 in .300 Weatherby and love it. Never a problem and as long as I do my part stuff dies.

I've had a lot of both and I say Ruger.

I'd pass up on all that junk and buy a Tikka, in a heartbeat.

Yup.

+1 on skip both, Savage, Tikka, CZ,