Reminton BDL 30.06?????

[S.F.S]

I was in a local gun shop today and came across a used Remington BDL 30.06 wood stock. The rifle was sold to them by someone who won it in a card game and didn't want it, it is NIB never fired, they want $400.00 for it.

I am just getting into shooting rifles and am picking up a Savage 110 .243 next weekend and was considering getting this one for the future. What do you guys think of this caliper? And would you consider this a good deal? I don't know much about rifles. I have been into pistols untill now, unless you want to count .22 rifles.
Also what is the recoil like on this caliper? I have fired several rifle calipers this is not one of them though.
Does the 30.06 tend to be an accurate round?
Thanks for the advice.
Scott

[labgrade]

Rems are great (enough) rifles, BDLs are Rem's (kinda) high-end model & .30-06 will do anything on the continent (although, The Big Bears want to be shot with bigger stuff so they don't have to bite you a lot ).

Haven't priced a BDL in quite a while but that does seem to be a pretty fair price. I'd make certain that it IS NIB & not just new-looking w/a box. Still may be a really fair price but if you're buying as NIB, it oughta be ...

.30-06' recoil is not too bad, 'specially with the lighter rounds. I can shoot 165s on down pretty much all day but get sick of the 180s+ pretty quick.

Accuracy is plenty good for any hunting application. If you're looking for a bench-rest quality cailBer, there's others that will do that just a bit better, but, you can have many pleasant days at the range and/or hunting with the '06. You could certainly do worse.

[WiFAL]

Presuming its a BDL and NIB $400 is a good price. Rock bottom price on a new BDL in SE Wisconsin is $489. Everyday price is $529.

When I decided to move up from the "brush gun" calibers so many are fond of around here, I chose the 30-06. Ten years later I think a 7mm Mag would have been a better choice but not enough difference to make me dump the 06. Its a very versatile cartridge. The only deer cartridge cheaper to shoot is a 30-30 and you can find 06 ammo anywhere.

[S.F.S]

Wifal,
Is the 30.06 an accurate cartridge?
It is definatly a BDL... I also checked on some prices in this area on new BDL's and the lowest I was able to find was $518.00 and typically they were running around $550.00-$575.00.
Im just not sure if I want to let this deal go by or not?????? Cause like I mentioned Im just getting into the hipowered rifle scene
Scott

[4V50 Gary]

It is not whether the 30-06 per se is an accurate round, but whether the rifle and barrel are capable of delivering the bullet accurately. The 30-06 is a great bullet. Suggest reading Hatcher's Notebook for insights into the 30-06.

BTW, the Remington 700 is noted as an accurate rifle. With factory ammo, my 30-06 Rem 700 got a nickel size group at 100 yards.

[Art Eatman]

Well, being an '06 afficianado for going on 51 years, and figuring $400 is cheaper than $500, if it wuz me I'd buy it. A BDL at $400 ain't gonna be around that store very long.

The .243 and the '06 make the nucleus of a great selection of cartridges. Next, I'd suggest a bolt-action .223 for general plinking and varminting--lightweight gun; cheap ammo.

Have fun,

Art

[BIGR]

Sounds like a great price for a Remington in the 30.06 caliber. I would buy it for that price any day. Of course I own 3 rifles chambered in 30.06 but would buy a fourth one if the right deal like that came along. I don't think you will be disapointed in that caliber at all. Good luck and happy shooting.

[Wild Romanian]

If you decide to buy a rifle ask yourself the question, "What am I really going to use this rifle for. The average American uses the average rifle for weekend pleasure. He fires a few rounds off of sand bags then goes home and colapes on the couch and falls in to a deep coma like sleep. Many rifles are ok for this type of recreation but if you are really planning to go out into the wilds for a big game hunt my all means buy a reliable and safe rifle. This means a Model 98 mauser or Winchester Model 70. Both are know for their reliablity and safety. The new Winchesters contrary to popular belief are probably the best Wichester rifles ever made, their workmanship far surpases the average pre-64 Winchester model 70 and you can buy them for a lot less money. The stocks have better wood in them, the blueing is better and they are on average more accurate. The conrolled feed is much more reliable than the Model 700 Remington and the extractor seldom breaks. If have seen personally so many Remingtons break extractors that I have lost count. The Wingchester has a three postion safety that allows safe unloading of the chambered round, contrast this to the Remingtons two postion safety. When you flip off the safety of a Remington you had better make damn sure it is pointed in a safe direction. I have seen a lot of them fire because the triggers were set to light. The trigger on the Model 70 is of the naked variety. The dirt and crude will actually fall away when the trigger is operated, contrast this with the enclosed box trigger of the Remington that acturally traps dirt , crude and moisture. Under sever conditions the Remington has proven to be an unliable weapn. On the target range I have seen a lot of live rounds pop out of magazines if the rifle was not operated in the horizontal positon. The Remington is a very accurate rifle and a good value for the weekend sandbag shooter but as a hunting rifle it just has never cut the mustard. W.R.

[S.F.S]

I have heard alot of good things about the Winchester model 70 but for some reason several dealers I have spoke with are unable to get that many model 70's they are few and far between around here. I am not sure why? But the only one's that I have found is .270 and 30.06 the rfle I am looking to learn on is a .243 for its versatility I will mainly be using it right now for plinkin and varmints and possibly after I gain more experience with rifle shooting i will go deer hunting with it.
The '06 I mentioned would be something I would hold onto for deer hunting and other big game. It is a custom delux BDL and is NIB.
I never did get the Savage I changed my mind. I want to get something of better quality. I have to go look at a Remington ADL today in .243 its the synthetic stock but it will give me the basics I need to practice on for now.
And its of better quality than the Savage. Its about the same price as the Savage but minus the scope but it has open sites so I wont even need a scope right now. I can get good wih open sites first and get a quality scope later. I also am aware that Ruger has controlled feed like the Winchester and is a 3 position safty also. But what I hear is its not as accurate as its competitors.
I myself really like the Winchester's stock better than the Remington BDL. What is the difference between pre 64 model 70 Winchesters and the current?
Thanks for your input and will hopefully down the road be able to get a model 70.
Scott

[Paul B.]

W.R. If the Remington 700 BDL was so unreliable, then why do the Marine and Army snipers use them on combat? Now that question was not intended as a flame, OK? I have three remington 700's at this time, and Remington 660 as well. I recently had to replace the extractor on the rifle because it just plain wore out. Almost 10,000 rounds of ammo will do that. (Mostly cast lead loads of relatively low power.) Remington made a change in the extractor, from what I understand, which was prone to breakage. I also understand they went back to the original system when they found out there was a problem.
With all that said, I do prefer the Winchester over the Remington. Let's compare apples and apples though. Even now, not all Winchesters are "controlled feed". Only the more expensive models. So let's compare the "push feed" Winchester with the Remington, as it is push feed also. The Remington is more accurate. That's debatable. I have a few Mod. 70 pushers that outshoot my Remingtons. The Winchester push feeds have a much better extractor IMHO.
Is controlled feed absolutely necessary? For most hunting, not really. For potentially dangerous game, and dangerous game. I would be happier with controlled feed, but I've seen them jam as well. Some controlled feed cannot be single loaded, unless you feed it from the magazine. I have Mausers that will jam if you try to chamber a round without first placing the round in the magazine. I just got into the habit of feeding single rounds from the magazine in all my rifles.
Anyway, the question put forth was whether or not that Rem. 700 was a good buy or not? It was, and is if the rifle is still available. Makes darn good trading material, if nothing else.
As far as the 30-06 goes? The late Col. Townsend Whelan said it very well. "The 30-06 is never a mistake." I agree.
Paul B.

[Wild Romanian]

To Paul B.
Unfortunately Paul the people who procure military wepons have proven time and time again they know little or nothing about the weapons that they procure for our fighting men and women. The Remington had a poor track record in Vietnam while the pre-64 Winchester had a very good record. Once a weapon is in the Military system it usually stayes their for years especially when we are talking about small arms. The idiots who decided to adopt the Remington had heard rumors that the new model 70 Winchester was not any good and from those rumors they decided to go with the Remington. In Vietnam the Remingtons had a lot of problems with the triggers if not kept very clean and free of burnt power or dust and dirt. Their stocks warped under the constant rain. Remington still had not perfected their poor extractor. Just last week a friend of mine had his brand new Remington break an extractor.
Weapons are also adpoted by the Military for purely political reasons. The Berretta 92 was adpoted because Italy threatened to pull our nuclear missles out of Itlay. Wasn't that a great reason to adopt a pistol that is much to big in the grip area for many male soldiers and way to big for most female soldiers. Not that I am knocking the Berretta as a fairly good pistol but lets face it their are better all round weapons that the average soldier would have been better off with but I do not want to start a discussion about pistols on the rifle page. W.R.

[Wild Romanian]

To SFS,
Their is very little differece between the pre-64 Winchester and the new controlled feed Winchests , they are often called the post 94's. There is a minor difference in the bolt body, the new Winchester does not have a hump on the bolt body that aided in the smoothness of the bolt throw but it was replaced by a groove in the bolt lug that actually works a hell of a lot better in making the bolt travel very smooth indeed. Also the old model firing pin could be completely dissassembled by hand including taking the firing pin spring off of the firing pin. On the new model you can still get the firing pin out of the bolt in about 4 seconds but if you want to take off the spring you have to remove a c-clip which usually is a bit more difficult than the old interrupted thread of the old model. The new model has a stock designed for scope use whereas the old model had a comprise stock that could be used for iron sights or scope use. Contrary to popular belief the workmanship was actually worse in the pre-64's. The pre WWII model 70' were not bad but even they were never equal to the outstanding workmanship of say an FN commercial mauser action of the same time period. I own all of these rifles so I am not just giving you a lot of hot air about them. W.R.

[ninenot]

A friend sold me his father's WWII souvenir--originally a German mountain-troops gun (8mm Mauser 98,) the dad had it re-chambered and barreled to .30-06. Got the thing for $50.00, had it checked by a smith. Put a scope on the top. Took it to the range. Places 3 rounds inside a US Mint quarter, (100 yards,) never fails (bipod support.) After three rounds, you replace your shoulder at the local hospital and go back to the range. That's OK. 3 rounds in 2 minutes heats up the barrel pretty good, and accuracy can diminish. IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE -06, think seriously about getting a shoulder pad. REAL MEN KEEP THEIR SHOULDERS INTACT. Enough power to throw a 200 lb. man about 30 feet if you shoot him close range (a Milwaukee cop died that way--story related by a fellow officer.) Mine is strictly for national defense. I don't hunt, but you never know when you may need an exceptionally accurate and powerful weapon which will be lethal at up to 300 yards.

[WiFAL]

S.F.S. Some will tell you that a 270 or 308 is more accurate than an 30-06. I have a Remington 7400 in 30-06 and it shoots about 1.00 inch groups at 100 yds. using Remington's cheap green box ammunition. A bolt action rifle should do better. Higher quality anmmunition would also improve accuracy but this is good enough for me.

The 700 is one of five firearms Remington manufactures that has exceeded 1 million sales. If the 700 was as bad as some here would have you believe I doubt that so many would have been sold initially or that their resale value would be so high.

[slabsides]

If it were my choice to make, I'd cancel the order on the .243 and snap up the .30-06. Reasons: the .243 is a varmint and very *light* big-game rifle. available bullets run from just under 60 gr. to 105 gr. The .30-06 can be loaded with varmint-type bullets of 110 grains, or big-game sluggers that are twice as heavy, and good for anything that walks in North America and most of the world. The '06 is just plain more versatile than the .243. Of course, with some of the heavier game loads, it has more recoil. But you won't have to shoot those for fun, will you?
Accuracy is a toss-up, essentially equal depending on the particular gun.
A good .30-06 is all you'll ever really NEED in a rifle.
You can depend on it, Remingtons are fine rifles. No better or worse than Winchesters from rifle to rifle, and with some advantages, such as the easily adjusted trigger, argueably the best factory trigger design available. If you had a line on a good recent Winchester I'd advise you the same: choose the '06. But you don't need to avoid the Remington because of any alleged design faults.

[S.F.S]

Well I went ahead and put a deposit on that 30'06. I couldn't pass up that deal it was just to good of a buy.
Thanks again,

[David Scott]

Glad you snapped it up. It's a good price on a great gun. I used a Remington 700 in .30-06 when I used to hunt mule deer in West Texas. The Rem is a very well built bit of hardware, and the .30-06 is a versatile cartridge.

Now all you need is a good variable power scope (mine was 3x - 9x) and you can take just about any 4 legged creature around.

[Paul B.]

W.R. I did not realize that the Remington 700's did so poorly in "Nam". They weren't used there until after I left. I know of one sniper that used a customized 1917 Enfield in 30-06 in 62-63 that made some really fine long range shots.
If you've read any of my posts over the time I've been in TFL, You'll note that of all the types, my favorite in bolt guns is a well tuned 98 Mauser. Most of the Winchesters I've played with are all push feed models. I have one pre-64, but even though I consider it a second place rifle, it is way below the esteem in which I hold my Mausers. My Remingtons are even lower on the list, actually in last place. Still, they shoot well enough for me.
I think the big reason they got so far ahead of the post 64 Mod. 70 is the post 64 mod 70 was about six shades of butt-ugly. It even looked cheaper than the remington 721-722 series. The Big W really shot themselves in the foot on that one. (pun intended)
Paul B.