Best Precision Production Rifle

[JDT]

Thanks again for the further replies, I think I am in fact leaning towards the Remington 700 route and just get whatever gunsmith work I can afford initially (maybe action blueprint) and then customise it over time with trigger, stock and barrel as and when I feel is right to do so with smaller levels of investment over a longer time frame. That way I'll have the range experience to know what I feel needs upgrading as a priority.

saddler - wanted to say thanks for the particularly lengthy reply which helped me out there. It's funny you mention that because when I saw your location I was actually going to ask you where in Durham / County Durham you lived and where you shoot, which clubs you're a member of etc. I'm from Seaham.

As I said in my OP, it's typical that I was literally about to have my first intro club shoots the weekend after this all went down! I'm absolutely dying to get started. The plus side is that I should be able to save more money to put into it in the coming months because I have no work fuel costs or meals and drinks out to pay for (if I can stop myself spending it all on boredom booze...)!

[Scotch_egg]

A blue printed action isn’t something that you can really just get done to a standard rifle. It should involve re-cutting the action threads which in turn would be oversize for the factory barrel and as such a new barrel would need fitting. A true blue print would be very costly and  after all the work the action would still be a remmington and not be worth the investment.
 

 I replied to your question  “best precision production rifle” with Accuracy International AT. It’s expensive but an excellent rifle. They can be had for about £2000 secondhand when they come up. A worthwhile purchase I can attest.  
 

For a have the price you can get a new Tikka T3X varmint for about £1100. I shot one in .308 for a few years and have to say it was excellent. It’s now wearing a custom barrel in .22-250 and going strong. 

There are plenty of accessories for the T3 and the trigger is excellent only needing a replacement spring for £10 rather than a £200 trigger that the remmington needs. 
 

 

[Popsbengo]

If you want a good rifle, buy a good rifle: don't waste money on making an ordinary one into a good one - money thrown away IMHO

 

[JDT]

57 minutes ago, Scotch_egg said:

A blue printed action isn’t something that you can really just get done to a standard rifle. It should involve re-cutting the action threads which in turn would be oversize for the factory barrel and as such a new barrel would need fitting. A true blue print would be very costly and  after all the work the action would still be a remmington and not be worth the investment.
 

 I replied to your question  “best precision production rifle” with Accuracy International AT. It’s expensive but an excellent rifle. They can be had for about £2000 secondhand when they come up. A worthwhile purchase I can attest.  
 

For a have the price you can get a new Tikka T3X varmint for about £1100. I shot one in .308 for a few years and have to say it was excellent. It’s now wearing a custom barrel in .22-250 and going strong. 

There are plenty of accessories for the T3 and the trigger is excellent only needing a replacement spring for £10 rather than a £200 trigger that the remmington needs. 
 

 

Fair point and always good to hear the counter-point as mentioned just above too. I'll keep my eye out for an AI AT for £2000 but that's my absolute highest initial budget. I also have the added annoyance of needing a left-handed one to come up as well which immediately culls about 90% of the market. The Tikka Tac or T3X is still in the running definitely. And all things considered this thread has done exactly what I wanted - sound advice and debate from experienced people on which to base my decision, so thank you all for the input  

[Woodlander]

Now you just have to pick a scope......😀  more decisions

 

 

[SchmidtP3]

Remington 700 Police/PSS comes with a 40X trigger. No need for mods. Sub MOA accuracy. Just add optics. 👍

[gazzarM1]

Lefty quality rifles second hand do come up from time to time. I missed the boat a couple of times until finally grabbing an AI AT at around 2.5 k for a folder but worth the wait ,pushed the budget as I already had the glass to go with it.

Only adverse comment upon reflection is that I have yet to achieve a similar level of accuracy(308) as I have to date with my HSPrecision HTR.....that said I have just bought a 260 barrel to sit on the AT and had limited testing before the lockdown and initial results are very satisfying at .5 moa without getting serious....l had a Tikka T3x CTR in 260 but moved it on as the lighter weight made it skittish under recoil and more difficult to see your own fall of shot. The AT is superb ...having a lefty makes it more considerably so

[gazzarM1]

With reference to Remingtons I had a 308 Varmint shooting .5 moa all week long put about 7000 rounds down range before any noticeable accuracy reduction.Then got her rebarreled for another lease of life.

[SchmidtP3]

9 hours ago, saddler said:

NEITHER of my Police/PSS models came with anything other than a factory Walker trigger
The first was so bad, with a 14-lb pull weight from the factory, that I thought it was broken - took all of about 20 minutes to adjust it to a very good let off, and it needed no further tuning/adjustment for the next 2 decades

 

Sounds about right, I only mention the 40X as it is what now comes on the Police model, the other 700s typically come with the X Mark Pro trigger (smooth shoe with an adjustment screw in the shoe).

[JDT]

On 4/25/2020 at 11:37 PM, SchmidtP3 said:

Remington 700 Police/PSS comes with a 40X trigger. No need for mods. Sub MOA accuracy. Just add optics. 👍

Been having a look around and as far as I can tell this particular 700 model doesn't come in left handed unless I'm missing it, so unfortunately rules it out for me. So second hand AI AT or Tikka Tac are probably still front-runners.

Optics-wise I was probably going to go for  Vortex Viper PST Gen II 5-25 x 50.

[gunnery]

you can get a Remington 700 Police 5R Barrel LTR model in 24" in left hand bolt little bit more expensive about £1400

[gunnery]

you can also get a trued up action and Barrel from Mik Dolphin Rifles for £1600 put your own stock on it or complete with a Magpull stock £1800