I was given a remington 700 in 7mm magnum. The rifle was obviously well used and the barrel is trash on it. The stock was stripped and whoever had it tried to refinish it, but stopped and sprayed clear lacquer on the stock and the crappiest black spraypaint on everything else. The receiver is a C prefix serial number and it is obviously a magnum bolt face.

My question is...

What should I do with this thing? I was thinking maybe an m24 clone in 300 win because of the serial number. I was also thinking more of a modern rifle in 300 prc with a more recent chassis system.

Whatever I do, I want to keep it a long action 30 caliber. I have a DTI SRSA1 with a 300 norma barrel, but changing barrels and zeroes is a pain in the ass sometimes so I'd like a more "simple" setup.

7 PRC?

7prc or 300prc.

Not a 300win

300 WM  possible
375H&H if it’s long enough (should be same bolt face)

If the action will work for .375 H&H that’s the way to go - the cartridge has been around long enough to be proven. Stay away from more modern cartridges that you won’t ever find brass for in the future.

MDT Chassis

Is there a reason you want to keep it? If you have to keep it I'd just do a Remage in the profile you want. I'd do 300 PRC if you want good factory target ammo.

7 PRC

I think every new caliber is an attempt to reinvent the wheel. Nothing created in the last 60 years has been revolutionary, in fact 5.56mm and .300 Winchester Magnum are the only two calibers of note since the late 1940's.

There, I said it. .300 Winchester with a 1:9 twist and premium heavyweight bullets from Berger/Sierra/Nosler/Hornady is very capable at long range. Installing a muzzle brake knocks the recoil in half. I have a Remington 40X short action single shot chambered in .300 WM and it has a 27.5" barrel as it came from their Custom Shop. I had it threaded by ADCO. I bedded the Bell & Carlson stock with Devcon Steel Epoxy, completely filling the interior for rigidity.

7mm Mauser
8mm Mauser
.30-06
.308
.22-250
5.56mm
7.62x39mm
6.5x55mm Swede
& .300 Winchester Magnum are all the calibers anyone would ever need.

OP, you need to decide how far and how much energy you want to reach for..anything is possible that uses a magnum bolt face, but the larger lapua(.585") bolt face is not recommended for the 700 bolt, although some smiths do use it...300prc/300wm are ballistically the same, nice not having a belted case though... 300 Weatherby is hotter but expensive, 300rum is a step above all of them, and brass is affordable and made by at least a dozen makers, making it easy to get compared to most others, all just mentioned use the magnum bolt face......Then you get into lazaroni and other hotrod customs that can out do all of them if you really want power...But man are they expensive.....

I went to 300rum when Remington released it, it is my LR/hunting rifle of choice, been out to 2000 yards with it easily(still super sonic past 2000 yards with the berger 230)I put my factory action into an MPA chassis, then a couple years later replaced the 700 action with a defiance tenacity  action which now lives in the MPA chassis...The tenacity takes pre-fit shouldered barrels so no need to ship the action off to rebarrel which is very nice..Just order a barrel and spin it on and verify headspace...barrel vice, action wrench and a set of go/no go gauges is all thats needed......Consider your wants and needs , make sure brass will be plentiful for your choice or buy a lifetimes worth now while it is available,  and have a blast with your choice...



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Having built my first chassis rifle, I'm a big fan of them. But... (and it's a big butt)...they are heavy when they are fully tricked out (large scope, bipod, magazine, etc). Heavy that is compared to other synthetic stocked hunting rifles.

You can use it for hunting, but I'd hate to haul a chassis rifle up a mountain for sheep or elk; no problem at all for a beanfield rifle or use in a stand that is only 1/2 mile into the woods. I definitely wouldn't use it on running game.

I have to assume you're a reloader given your 300 Norma rifle (great cartridge). If you make this one a chassis rifle you'll have one for the field and another for surgical use. Having 1 caliber simplifies things too. If you're not a reloader I'd go with the 300 Win Mag simply because you can go into any big box sporting goods store and purchase a box of ammo in a pinch.

Threaded (Rem 700) 300 Win mag barrels are easy to find; these can be rechambered to 300 Norma pretty simply by cutting back 2 threads on the shank and using a 300 NM finish reamer.

West Texas Ordnance makes a QD system for the Rem 700 actions that lets you change barrels using just a torx driver (you have to torque it to a specified value when you switch barrels). I have a SIG hunting rifle that's similar and I like it (my rifle isn't nearly as accurate as what the WTO does). I switch my rifle between 270 Win and 30-06 (30-06 is more accurate).

Would have to change the bolt, but this is what I did with my long action that was just hanging out taking up space

https://spotterup.com/06-ackley-ammo-drought-resistant-rifle/

MPA makes a 2.5 pound chassis complete with adjustable LOP, cheek riser, Swiss-Arca rails and left/right action, it  also comes with a built in level... you can even make it a folder at 3.1 pounds total weight...

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https://masterpiecearms.com/shop/mpa-ba-ultra-lite-chassis/

You already talked me into a 300 norma mag, don't get me wanting a 300 rum!


I really think I may try the 7 prc.... it will keep the rifle close to original, but modernized.

Just know that the 7mm will wear the barrel a little faster than a 30cal, do to the large case diameter over bullet diameter..With all the new High BC 30 cal bullets out nowadays combined with the huge amount of other weights, I would do 30 cal over 7mm, simply because of the huge choice of bullets especially the high BC bullets available now in 30 cal, plus the added barrel life...Berger alone must make at least a dozen high BC bullets just from 200 grain(.616) to 245 grain(.846) versus 7mm having 9  if you drop all the way down to a 168(.618) to a max on the 195(.755) for the heaviest......But thats just my feelings on 30 over 7mil, I am sure which ever you do will work fine and make a good setup either way....
 LOL, I went Rum when they first came out, simply because I wanted one rifle for everything..I had decided to go 30-378 Weatherby, but when I went to buy one, I just couldn't get over how expensive both the rifle and ammo was..counter guy said you should consider the brand new 300 rum, so he showed me one and that what I took home..big selling point at the time was Remington made 3 levels of ammo for the 300, 30-06 velocity for level 1, 300wm for level 2, and 300rum for level 3 and both the rifle and ammo was inexpensive........I've never used any of the lower levels but I have known guys who did, and its a neat trick to widen the use of one caliber to cover a bit more wider usage with over the counter factory ammo...I have always used level 3 factory ammo before I reloaded everything for it..Back then a case of factory ammo was pretty affordable so I stockpiled quite a pile of once fired brass, ever since I've hand loaded everything for it, weather fur bullets, big game hunting or LR stuff....It's easy to down load a cartridges performance, but hard to increase performance...so I use a big cartridge...works great for what I want/need of it...

Competitive centerfire rifle competition nullifies that statement. 6mmPPC made all other bench-rest cartridges obsolete (100-300 yard) all the way back in the mid 70s. 6.5-284 has dominated long range shooting (800-900-1000yard) for a long time. The 6mm Creedmoor has become very popular in PRS along with the 6.5 Creedmoor. The 223s are having good luck at the National Matches but mostly because of the new 80 grain bullets that have recently become available and the fact that a lot of shooters must shoot a 223 or 308 in service rifle. Before that it was custom 6mm cartridges.

I would do 6.5x284 or 300 win mag MAYBE 300 RUM.