Thread: The Glory Days of Big Green (Old Remington)

Greetings All,
I have 3 M700 rifles here and none of them are going anywhere. All shoot well and have given no trouble. The first, a .308 ADL arrived in about 1977, my fists new centre fire rifle. Later in 2004 and 2005 more disposable income allowed a Sendero 7mm Rem SAUM and .223 VSSFII to join the ranks. I would have liked a faster than 12 inch twist but the only other option was the Ruger Target model which did not appeal. I do wish that this rifle had a faster twist but Remington was slow to react to demand. They probably found it hard to dump the outdated ideas about fast twist barrels. US rifle makers tend to pander to ignorance of the buying public rather than educate. I think that this and declining quality has been the kiss of death for Remington. Just the other day I saw an add for a Winchester .223 touting its 11 inch twist as being compatible with 55 grain projectiles. What crap, the 55 grain projectile shoot great in my 8 inch twist.
2011 rolled around and I was looking for a lighter hunting rifle. My old .308 had gained weight and the hills become steeper for some reason. I had a long standing yen for something 6.5mm. Remington did not offer anything that appealed and when I found out that Tikka offered their T3 Lite in 6.5 x 55 the deal was done. In 2016 I was thinking about what my grandson could use when he came over from OZ. The answer was obvious Tikka T3* in .223 with an 8 inch twist. He shot it and was most impressed. Covid has delayed his next trip and he will be 16 by the time I see him again. I expect I will have to hand him the 6.5. Good thing I still have the M700 .308.
Regards Grandpamac.