I’m sure most of you have forgotten by now, but I was rifle shopping a while back and I never followed up. Well, every time I was about ready to buy, something happened.

Seems like the more money you make, the more you spend. Tuition is killing me right now! My wife has been in school off and on for the last several years I was in the Army. We get settled, she goes back to school, we PCS.

Well, I’ve been out almost three years now. We got good and settle now where we are, wife got accepted to the RN program here, I have a 6 figure job, and we are maxed out on student loans and make too much money for financial aid lol. Tuition comes out of pocket. I guess it’s our turn! Lots of other things too, I have an old King Ranch Expedition I just paid what it’s worth to fix it. Man the hits keep coming lol.

Anyway I never got around to buying that rifle. I finally got one, a really nice old Remington 700 BDL from about 1974. I inherited it from my grandfather-in-law, no he’s not passed, still with us thank God. This has been his main hunting rifle for most of his adult life, and it has killed A LOT of animals. I have a lot of questions about this old gun, and there is a story behind it.

According to my mother in law it was stolen from him a long time ago, with a bunch of other guns. He was shot in the head a little high but nearly between the eyes trying to chase down the thief, stuck his finger in the wound and kept chasing them until he passed out. I believe he was shot with a snub nose .38, still a hell of a wound though at close range no less. He did eventually get his guns back though.

This particular rifle is a 30-06 with an old Swarovski Habicht 6x42 Nova on it. It’s a perfect little rig for me and a beautiful vintage gun. Suits my tastes perfectly! I love me a old, high quality fixed power scope with what appears to be a blued steel tube.

Anyway here are some photos of the rifle. She is a beauty, and I plan to do nearly all of my big game hunting in the foreseeable future with this gun

Nice looking rifle

Congratulations. Nice looking rifle with a story behind it.

Congrats on a great looking classic with history

Congratulations. A lot of deer have no doubt been taken with a Remington Model 700.

Great vintage gun with a very good scope and a story!

Thanks guys.

Bronco- This old Swarovski really is incredible. I always wanted one of these old fixed-power steel tube scopes and now I have arguably the best one ever built. Rock solid, steel tube, set screws in the adjustments. I love it to death.

Wow. Don't mess with it. If someone tells you to change the trigger, don't. From this time period they're great. I have a .243 almost identical. Got it when I was 17, 41 years ago. We had the trigger adjusted then, been great ever since and every now and then I still shoot, and kill something with that rifle.

Nothing better than a good rifle with history. Treasure it always.

Congratulations! Nothing can quite compare to the old 30-06…

A classic for sure! Back when they were built right.

Beautiful

Light was fading fast, no time to screw around. I cleaned the bore, tightened the stock screws to 25 inch-pounds, and hit the range. I shot the berm three times to foul the bore, and went to work.

Left to right, 150 grain Winchester power points, 165 grain Winchester power points, 180 grain Remington core-lokt. I set the gun in the AC in the truck and shot spent cartridges with the pellet gun a few minutes, then put two more core-lokts in that target. Straight from the AC to the summer sun, the entire gun was covered in condensation including the scope lenses… but that old scope still doesn’t fog on the inside

I am still not sure if I can blame the last target on vertical stringing from the barrel heating up or of it was just me, or the ammo. But there’s only one outlier.

So that’s an MOA rifle with three of the cheapest and most available loads to me. And my 47 year old rig is still on for 250-300 yards I wonder if the new Remington 700’s can do that?

Here are the pictures:

Free float, pillar, bed will not change the look of the rifle at all.

It will change how it shoots though.

I am thrilled to death that she shoots this good. I had planned to send it to a pro, have it completely redone and renewed, pillar bedded and all that. Even the scope, apparently you can have these refurbished too.

Now I am afraid to touch it, for fear it won’t shoot as good.

Edit- also surprisingly pleasant to shoot. I have shot a plastic fantastic .243 that kicks harder than this gun. And my first deer rifle, another plastic .308, kicked the snot right out of me. I love this thing.

Nothing to be afraid of. It will not negatively effect it. The three mods have been around longer than that rifle has been.

Classic, my kinda style.

Cant argue the fact that a pillar job and float would help it out some, but for a purely hunting gun with the history, I wouldn't change it. It shoots more than good enough to collect some critters.

You got a winner!

Congrats and what a story.

For your use, that rifle is PERFECT !!!

Those old Remington barrel were pretty dang good

Finally something for "YOU" !!

Hope you get to break it in nice this fall !!

Great. Thanks for the update. Congrats on the job too. I think it shoots amazingly well. I would try 165 Partitions in it, not to improve accuracy but just cause i like the bullet. 3006 is my favorite.

Good looking setup. Up to you weather you do anything to it. I would not bother with some sort of scope bedding though, I've seen way more done wrong than right. Not to mention it would mess up the finish on the rifle. If the barrel isn't floated it's something to consider. bedding wouldn't hurt it either. That being said it shoots good as is, and with the right load I'm sure it would do better. Theres a whole lot to be said for a rifle like that, again good looking setup.

Thanks guys. I will try the 165 grain partition load of I can find some.

A good buddy invited me for a Colorado elk hunt next year. His family has a big old ranch out there, he told me you’re pretty much guaranteed to fill your tags out there.

So hopefully I will kill a big cow elk next year, and a couple of Colorado whitetails too I will probably stick to the 180 grain corelokt for that if I don’t find a box of partitions. I feel good about that one anyways. I could use up my stash of 150 grain powerpoints on deer here in Missouri, but it would probably take the whole rest of my life!