Basic info about bolt actions......

[bigkahuna04]

I don't have any bolt action rifles because I don't know much about them.

I know that Remington and Savage have a good reputation, but what about brands like Howa or Tikka?

How do they compare to the Remington and Savage?

Aftermarket modifications? .... can you use the basic action, and change calibers and barrels?

Use of the rifle will probably be for target shooting....would like to consider distances of 800-1000 yds. for later, would be happy to be comfortable out to 300-400 yards for now.

[Fjold]

You'll need a gunsmith to change barrels on everything but the Savage and you'll need some specialized tools for the Savage, just no gunsmith.

The aftermarket is huge for the Remingtons, large for the Savages and very small for the Tikka, Howa, Winchester, Mauser, Mossberg, etc.

On most of the makes you will be limited to changing to cartridges with the same case head size. The Savage has a changeable bolt head so you can change to a larger variety of cartridges with that. The Savages also has a removable bolt handle so you can change to a tactical bolt knob without cutting and welding.

[Coyotegunner]

Hit the search engine up here for rifle info.It is loaded with opinions.
The brands you mentioned are great.Look for Winchester,Sako,Weatherby as well as others.Many fine guns.
I love rifles.Kind of like art to me.
Research a caliber to fit your needs and budget.Ammo cost is high these days,and some calibers will keep a person from shooting much.Recoil can be a factor.You said target.Will you ever want to hunt with it.Most hunting rifles can be very accurate.
Optics can be a whole thing in their own to research.
Rifles that change caliber.Consider BLASER.I believe T/C has one as well.Caliber changes are somewhat expensive and the bolt face has to be common to each caliber.
Sorry,I will not compare the one's you mentioned.I own them and reload.They are all sub inch at 100yds and I love shooting golf balls at 300 with them.
Most common calibers to research will be 308 and 223.
Good luck in your hunt.PM me if you need some more help.

[NapalmCheese]

There's also a fair bit of difference between hunting guns, target guns and 'tactical' guns, though there is also quite a bit of overlap between all of them.

For target shooting, the only hunting guns you'll probably want to look at are the varmint models. Likewise, the 'tactical' guns tend to have shorter barrels which negatively impacts muzzle velocity.

Edit to add:
I think the consensus on the forum is to pick a caliber between 6mm and 7mm, pick an action length, and go shopping (keeping in mind aftermarket support if you're going to change things).

[LynnJr]

The Remington 700 has a huge advantage over the other brands because the action and the bolt are both round.

By being round anyone with a lathe and some patience can modify or work on them.

The Mauser has a built in recoil lug and is tapered below the stock line meaning you can not true up its outside dimensions and sleeve it.Likewise the bolt can not be trued up and sleeved for tighter tolerances because of its claw extractor.

The Winchester model 70 has the same issues and is therefore not used as much in the building of a competition rifles.

On a Remington double sleeving the bolt body for tighter clearances is a common upgrade.Likewise as everything is round on the bolt truing the lugs for 100% contact and truing the abutments can all be done at a reasonable price.

With the Weatherby actions some have 9 lugs and getting them all to make 100% contact would require more work.

The threads on a Remington are american and are commonly single point cut on a lathe.

The threads on a howa are metric and most gunsmiths don't want to mess with cutting metric threads.

Most custom actions built for serious competition use have round actions and round bolts designed/cloned from the Remington with minor tweaks to make them more user/purpose friendly.

Most of the flaws of the Remington 700 have been addressed and are correctable.

Having a round action also means it is easier to inlet a stock for a 700 than some of the others.A ball mill run lengthwise down a stock produces an excellent starting point for bedding of the action.

With a Mauser after you run the ball mill you need to square up the bottom which adds another step another bit and more time which all equates to higher cost.

[Tarasdad]

It all depends on what you want. If you're looking for strictly a target rifle then by all means the Rem. 700 is the way to go. There's just too much out there already for customizing one for any other rifle to compare. For hunting I go with the Win. Mod. 70 every time. I've never owned one I couldn't get to shoot well under MOA.

There's another thread in here where someone was looking for a long-range target rifle. You might look that thread up because it had some excellent suggestions as far as choice of rifle and caliber. Remington makes several models that would be good starting points for a long-range shooter.

Of course if money is no object then there is absolute no substitute for a custom built, dedicated match rifle. Sure you can buy a small car (or two) for the price of a decent custom, but this is one time where it really is true that you get what you pay for.

[Fjold]

Everything said about the Remington and round actions also applies to the Savage.

I'm not convinced that round actions are any real advantage when custom actions like the Kelby, Panda, Stolle are made with flat bottoms and the actions like Surgeon, RPA, Haverkamp all have integral recoil lugs or flats milled into them specifically to give them a flat bedding surface. The top custom built benchrest actions all seem to run flat bottomed receivers now.

[LynnJr]

BAT
Borden
Farley
Hall
Stiller
Stolle Panda
Veit
Are all used in Benchrest and are round actions.Yes some of the Benchrest actions get flats milled into them but its mainly a tool to reduce weight.Some have removable recoil lugs held in place by a slot milled into them and a screw that holds a chunk of steel but most get glued in so no real need for a recoil lug.
The big exception is the Panda originally made by Ralph Stolle and now the Kelbley family and the Stiller Viper which is just a clone of the Panda.

The Haverskamp is a Remington clone made a little larger in diameter so a bigger barrel tenon can be used.
The Surgeon is a tacticool action and probably won't be seen at most benchrest matches.

[phish]

I'm not convinced that round actions are any real advantage when custom actions like the Kelby, Panda, Stolle are made with flat bottoms and the actions like Surgeon, RPA, Haverkamp all have integral recoil lugs or flats milled into them specifically to give them a flat bedding surface. The top custom built benchrest actions all seem to run flat bottomed receivers now.

Vaughnn covered the round vs. flat bottomed actions in his book. His findings made sense, but it's mainly academic at this point. The boutique actions are so well designed and built, that any inherent design "deficiencies" are just lost in the noise.

[LynnJr]

I should have worded my first response better and I hope nobody took my responses wrong.

I was not advocating the round actions as being superior I was trying to point out the reasons for the popularity of the 700 Remington.

On custom actions made on modern cnc equipment they are all about equal but some have options more desirable for one sport verses the other.

You probably won't find a Surgeon on a benchrest rifle and You probably won't find a Veit or Panda on a tactical rifle.All three are good actions just not built for the same type of competition.

[riftol]

Aftermarket modifications? .... can you use the basic action, and change calibers and barrels?

if that's what u wanna do get a savage.

they're a good, accurate rifle.

[blockfort]

I have and love my savage 10, very accurate for the price. I'd probably get a 700 though, the aftermarket options are way better.

[kmullins]

Savage and Remington are by far the most popular bolt action rifle manufacturers. Savage offers a lot of options and features for an affordable price, as well as the ability to change barrels yourself without the use of a gunsmith. Remington offers the most successful and recognized bolt action ever created (alongside the Mauser), the Remington 700. Aftermarket support is second to none. People also love it because it's so easy to chuck up in a lathe. It's basically a piece of pipe with a bolt.

If your considering a full blown precision rifle (varmint, benchrest, tactical, etc.), then your looking at blueprinting any factory action. This can cost several hundreds of dollar and at the end of the day, you still have a mass produced receiver with much less resell value than a custom action.

In my opinion and experience, I would never use a factory action that has been blueprinted over a custom action. There's just too many custom action makers out there these days with such awesome options. The price comes so close to what you'd have in a Remington 700 that I can't justify it.

I really like Tom Haverkamp's actions and have one on order now. I also really like BAT Machine.

This is all coming from a benchrest shooting perspective.

[ar15barrels]

If your considering a full blown precision rifle, then your looking at blueprinting any factory action. This can cost several hundreds of dollar and at the end of the day, you still have a mass produced receiver with much less resell value than a custom action.

I charge $150 to blueprint a 700 action.
That, combined with a new $200 PTG one piece bolt gets you most of the benefits of a custom action in bite-sized chunks that more people can afford.

I also recommend building with a custom action IF someone can afford it all at once, but for a lot of people that already HAVE the $400 action, it's easier to upgrade it than to replace it...

[kmullins]

I charge $150 to blueprint a 700 action.
That, combined with a new $200 PTG one piece bolt gets you most of the benefits of a custom action in bite-sized chunks that more people can afford.

I also recommend building with a custom action IF someone can afford it all at once, but for a lot of people that already HAVE the $400 action, it's easier to upgrade it than to replace it...

Randall,

Your definitely one of the more affordable gunsmiths if your charge $150 to full blueprint. Weaver Rifles charges $300 for the following: install Sako style extractor, reboring the receiver, single point cut threads, square bolt face, receiver face and lapping lugs.

I definitely agree with you when you say it allows the customer to do it in steps rather than shell out the $1,000 plus in one lump sum. And yea, if you already have the action as a donor then it would be less expensive.