Remington 700 Gen II 5-R

The Gen II guns have what Remington calls 5-R rifling. Cold hammer-forged, there are five lands/grooves, which results in less bullet deformation as the lands are not directly opposite each other. They are tapered at 110°; so, easier cleaning, as the fouling can’t build-up so much, so a potential improvement in accuracy. Locking is by twin, opposed lugs into the receiver, with a solid bolt body and cranked handle. There’s a plunger-style ejector, but the extractor is Remington’s unique C-clip type.

Controls

The safety is a 2-position rolling lever, rear/right of the action; it pushes forward to FIRE and reverses for SAFE (with bolt operation). Feed uses a toploading, floor plate magazine; on the Gen II, the bolt knob is extended for better operation and there’s a cocked action indicator plunger at the rear of the shroud. Since 2009, Remington has fitted a new trigger to all models, called the X-Mark Pro Externally Adjustable, which replaces the original Walker-type.

The X-Mark has an Allen screw set in to the top of the blade (Allen key included), which controls weight only, which can be sorted easily without having to remove anything. They come factory-set at 3.5lbs with an adjustment range of 3 to 5lbs; turn anti-clockwise to reduce and clockwise to increase.

The heavy 24-inch barrel shows three, deep, concave flutes, with a 5/8 x 24 UNEF muzzle thread with protector, all the metalwork is stainless steel but finished in Black Cerakote. The Gen II came with front and rear Weaver bases fitted! This little lot is dropped into an H.S. Precision, sand-coloured composite stock with black web. Internally, there’s a fulllength aluminum bedding block in the action void for stability and shot-to-shot consistency! The build is quite full, and the grip shows twin, ambidextrous palm swells, as well as a decent free-float on the barrel. A rubber recoil pad is fitted along with three, QD sling studs, two being under the forend. Length of pull is a short 13 3/8-inches, which became apparent in testing!

Good impressions

This is a well put together rifle that feels good, handles well and looks the business! Calibrewise, you get; 6.5 Creedmoor, 308 Win and 300 Win Mag, with 24-inch barrels, plus a 20-inch option for 308 too. I was sent the Creedmoor with the standard 1-8-inch twist rate. I fitted the Gen II up with a Night Force Zero Stop 3-15x56 scope in their 30mm rings.

Ammo consisted of some new Norma 130-grain Match hollow point and a reload; the new Hornady 143-grain ELD-X long range hunting bullet, running 45.7-grains of Ram Shot Hunter. I was quite excited, as the prospect of testing a Remy 700 again was a pleasing one and would give me chance to see how it performed compared to my old 700 LSR, even with its 22-inch sporting-weight barrel was a ½-inch rifle with the right ammo!

Testing, testing

In this day of chassis system rifles, this Gen II 700, though a good looker is a seemingly standard build. No adjustable length of pull (LOP) or comb height, but with the Nightforce in medium rings I had no problem with eye/scope alignment, though the LOP was a tad short for me! And even with the scope fully forward I had to move my head position a tad rearwards.

Trigger adjustment was easy! There’s an Allen-headed set screw in the top of the blade, which controls the weight and comes factory-set at 3.5lbs, with a total adjustment range from 3 to 5lbs. The break was okay, but the pull felt heavy and I wound it down to minimum, where it did improve a bit but still required a bit of thought to release naturally and consistently.

Depending on its final position, the adjusting screw can protrude, and you can feel it on your finger, which is a little off putting! I also found the ambidextrous pistol grip a little wide, even for my big hands and would have preferred a right hander only, as the H.S. Precision Kevlar was on my LSR.

Bug hole groups

Being a 24-inch, heavy/fluted barrel with a 1-8-inch twist rate, I was expecting some serious performance and was not disappointed. Starting with the Norma 130-grain Match, the Gen II was shooting near calibre-sized groups (around 8-9mm) at 100m; not too shabby. Speed went to 2940fps with an impressive 2505ft/lbs; Okay, this is a match load, but you get the idea, as this rifle is probably more about hunting and longer-range foxes etc., than punching holes in paper!

Having had some good success with Hornady’s 143-grain ELD X bullet in my Mauser M03, I was keen to see what the Gen II made of it! Again, the same bug hole groups as the Norma. Using 45.7-grains of Ram Shot Hunter at 2960fps it was producing an astonishing 2791ft/lbs, now that’s some energy! To put that into perspective, this bullet does not drop to 1700ft/ lbs until 440-yards, some 243 Winchester’s have a problem keeping it at 1700+ from the muzzle! That ELD X might be a bit pricey, but wow, does it shoot!

Conclusion

What I like about the Gen II, is that although not light at 8.5lbs, it’s not heavy like a chassis rifle either, but shoots as well, so easy enough to carry in the field. Okay, some of that is down to the barrel and calibre as 6.5 Creedmoor is fast becoming the must-have cartridge and possibly the new 308 Win! However, all this comes at a price right, as these Remy Varmint-types have never been cheap.? Well not anymore, as Remington have dropped the cost from £1899 to an amazing £1499, originally the 5-R barrels were built on the military production line only, meaning limited amounts for the sporting market, now they are factory standard! Great rifle and now a serious bargain!