I may have an opportunity to go to Africa in 2016. I don't have an appropriate rifle now but I have always wanted to pick up a Rem 700. Why not one of the models in .300 or .338 mag?

Remingtons have a long history of failure and the people who hunt in Africa prefer a big claw extractor. Look for a Model 70.

Oddly enough, remingtons have gone to war for almost four decades now with minimal issues.

Remingtons are some of the finest hunting rifles made.

I've hunted Africa several times and took 2 Remingtons - One in 375 H&H and the other in .416 Remington.

Both performed flawlessly during all trips.

Didn't stop Larry and I would think he knows a thing or two about guns.

Friend of mine who was issued an M40 won't have a Remington. Says he had more than one bolt handle come off. They also have a shit extractor, and can't tolerate freezing rain. The latter is an issue more in Alaska of course. The ejector doesn't make me terribly comfortable either.

Then you have triggers that fire themselves.

I'm not opposed to push feeds in general--I love my AI AW--but I won't have a Remington.

Lcpl network I wager. Oddly enough they dont have issues during rough handling or the cold chamber. You have to remember your average e3 can brake a bowling ball. Ive seen banding popped with the barrel of an m16.

He was a gunsmith/machinist before he enlisted, served six years and left as a 2111 or 2112, I forget which.

I have two 700 BDL's that were purchased in 1976.

I have used them for hunting extensively over the years and without a failure.

I have heard there may be an issue with the newer ones, but that would not amount to a " long history " ..... would it?

There are more reasons than nostalgia for a claw extractor to be the preference of African hunters. Even the push feed Winchester is a better option.

And yes current Remingtons are the roughest ever made. A guy who posted in this thread recently saw a 280 with a 270 chamber or vice versa.

Thought long and hard about bringing my remigton to Africa. But in the end it came down to a claw and tradition. But that being said my Remington is my go to for everything else, put a sako extractor in it this year.

Controlled feed and 'claw' extraction was the standard in safari's years ago.  One could argue that modern manufacturing methods have made push feed more reliable.





Having a controlled feed action such as a Mauser or a Sako extractor, while maybe not 100% necessary, isn't a bad thing to have.

 

Depends on the push feed. AI AW yes, Remington no.

One of the problems on Safari is rifles that won't feed with the muzzle up if you run the bolt while jogging. Weatherbys and Remingtons have a bad rep for no feeding in this position.

What type of game are you going after? If you are just going after plains game it is less critical, in my opinion, to have the improvements the model 70 offers. With that said, I do feel that they are improvements and I would not take a 700 on a dangerous game hunt.

My dad took a Remington 700 in .300 winmag on his first safari 2 years ago and it served him well. On the plane home he started planning the trip we just got back from and bought a Winchester Model 70 in .416 remmag within 2 months of being home. I brought a Browning X-bolt in .375H&H and loved it. The detachable magazine was awesome for loading/unloading and the stock is extremely comfortable.

There are a lot of options out there. The Reminton 700 would probably be more than adequate for your needs, but there are better rifles out there in the same price range.

You look old enough to recommend a Hart barrel.

Why,yes.I'm quite fond of Hart barrels..........

Old!

No dangerous game, more like a budget hunt, mid size plains antelope and such. I would take 3 maybe 4 animals max. Kudu, Bleesbok, Hartebeast. I would take a baboon if I had the opportunity.

I also get a significant discount on Remingtons.

I have done 3 safaris with a total of 34 animals in the salt.  All but a couple of my animals have been killed with Sauer rifles which are also a push feed. I own a number of 700's including a 416 and would not hesitate to take it after dangerous game.

The need for CRF actions is mostly gun writers hype. In fact I am or easy planning my next trip which hopefully includes buffalo several species of pains game.

S far my batter will consist of either my 470 NE or my 416 Taylor which is on a 700 action.

My light rifle will be one of the following, 257 ACKLEY improved, 30/06, 338/06 Ackley Improved, or a 9.3x62 and every offense is on a 700 action.

All these supposed shortcomings are mostly anecdotal fros On my way! Guy who know someone's wife's cousin that heard.........or gun write hype.


Thousands of 700 go to Africa and elsewhere every year with nary a problem.

Sceptic aloof the factory trigger? Fine replace it Jewell and Rimney woud love your business.

Tink the extractor is an issue and I have never personally known of or see an issue with them, have it replaced with a Sako if it worries you the much.

Bottom line is they a fine rifles.

And FYI I own CRF rifles i7 Musr, 275 Rigby Improved 30/06', 338/06' 9.3x62' 375 H&H, and 458 WM. so please don't think for a second that I simply don't use or like them..

I do wonder how many of those poniptofocatig in this thread have been tomAfrica or hunted anything larger than a deer or elk.

I prefer high end rifles to economy rifles like the 700 but when I hang out at my gunsmiths shop I get to see the rifles other people break. He gets 3 detached bolt knobs a year and more broken extractors.

ETA I've hunted Alaska four times and killed 15 animals in Africa.

Since you are doing a plains game hunt I wouldn't shy away from a 700 that you trust. Just make sure to bring enough gun. African game tends to be tougher than what we are used to and I would not want to be stuck paying a trophy fee for an animal I wounded but was unable to recover. I was really impressed with the performance of the .375H&H and made two shots that were over 300 yards with it. I just don't feel like the smaller .30 caliber rounds are the right choice for an animal such as a kudu. Plenty have been taken with great shot placement out of 7mm magnums, but I would not recommend one.

For some anecdotal evidence, the only animal that was not recovered by my group was a gemsbok that was slightly quartering away. It was shot with a 7mm mag at 300 yards by a guy who is a great marksman. The PH's best guess on what happened is that the bullet glanced of bone in the the shoulder, exited, and hit the animal's jaw which sent it running with just enough blood trail to keep them looking for too long with no results. A heavier bullet most likely would have destroyed the shoulder and hit the front of the heart/lung and been an ethical kill shot.

I recommend the following books: Ask the Namibian Guides and The Perfect Shot II. These gave me some good insight before my trip and have some interesting information on caliber selection. Also, pick up The Perfect Shot mini-edition to bring with you for quick reference.

Are you having a stroke right now?

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_49/427567_Remington_700_bolt_handle_broken.html

Little side note here-
Just from recent experience, if you want to go on a budget hunt, the difference in a 3-4 hunt and a 5-7 animal hunt is only a couple hundred bucks. Dont go over there for the bare minimum.  If you want 3-4 key animals thats great and concentrate on those, but springboks jackals baboons and warthogs are great animals to have and hell some PHs give them away. Just my .02

Cull hunts can be cheap too. If I could do it again I wouldn't get so much taxidermy done.

Hell im going for 9 animals this march. European mount? Yes please lol

Thanks for the back and forth, I appreciate the info and opinions.

I will most likely take a Remington 700 and maybe a good used 2nd rifle if I happen on a good deal between now and then. As far as calibers I am leaning toward one rifle in 30-06 and the other in 300 or 338 win mag.

Is there a source or site that condenses the firearms rules for the African countries? So far I have gleaned that pistols and auto semi-auto are no go. I also saw one site mention that multiple rifles in the same caliber are no good either. Don't see the sense in that one....

These days same caliber to them means same bore diameter so an 06 and a 300 are the same caliber to them.

For what you are doing one rifle,will be fine and you can only carry one at a time anyway.

If you really want to take a second gun a 243 or 22/140 for small puppy gym antelope is the ticket. A 338 is not really needed for plains game except possibly for an eland.

My last trip to RSA I took my 30-06 and a 12 gauge shotgun. I have been before with bigger guns, .375 and 300WSM, but I was hunting blesbok, springbok, and gemsbok primarily. Took a nice zebra, impala, and a warthog with the '06 as well. Used 180 grain Nosler Partitions and never looked back, every animal dropped and stayed down except the gemsbok which are notoriously tough, had to shoot him twice. Took the shotgun for klipspringer and some wing shooting. We couldn't get close enough to the klipspringer for the shotgun, damn those rascals are quick!

Decided on the Remington 700BDL in 30-06 and its on the way.

Also have contract incoming for a safari in SA in 2016. Barring anything that is different that what I have discussed with the outfitter, I am gtg.

I did enough taxidermy my first trip, too.

I went last October with a Tikka 30'06 and it a dropped a kudu, zebra and a gemsbok with one shot.  I used barnes ttsx's in 168 gr., just right expansion.  The bullets we have to choose from today make it really hard to go wrong as long as the person has a little common sense.  It worked fine on impala and wort hawg, just zipped right through them though.  For common game 300 and 338 are over kill, atleast for me.  Have fun and roll with the flow, great people watching over there.

Leopard I would do a full body mount. No interest in lions.

I would do a full body cat as well.

 

Lion will be closed before I could ever afford one.

I want a full body mount of a baboon.

Here's my baboon in process:

Though, I had more of a vision of using him as a coat hanger.

Bring cubic dollars.

Of course. As with anything relating to Africa.

Oh, and to keep the thread on target, I shot him with a Rem 700 in 350 Rem Mag.

Specific to baboons. Killing a baboon is cheap. The labor to skin one for a full mount is probably $1000, and the full mount itself I think over twice that.

Skinning was part of the hunt. But yeah, the lifesize mount is going to run a bit over $2k with the open mouth.

I think the controlled feed thing is more or less required for dangerous game hunting. If OP is doing a planes games hunt pretty much anything will work. If OP's going after a Cape Buffalo I'd recommend he look for a control feed.

 

It's funny, when you think about it.  Before 1964, the M70 Winchester rifle was THE rifle to own, aka the rifleman's rifle.  Remington's M700 was just another bolt rifle out there.   Then the bean counters stepped in and made the M70 cheaper to make, a lot like a Remington.  Remington now, is a lot like a Chevy.  Everyone and their brother owns one, and since they sell so many, they have to be the best.  They fall into the hype of how accurate the M700 is.  How many issues has the M700 had now with the trigger?  What about the extractor conversion they were doing on the M700?  You also will hear about critics of the 416 Remington and excessive pressures, failures to extract, etc back when it came out.  What were those rifles chambered in?  Guns with weak designed extractors, and you'll probably see Remington on those rifle's actions.  You also hear about how the military uses the Remington rifle to make sniper rifles, for umpteen years.  

Now with that said, how many world powers used pushfeed actions as the main infantry rifle?  How many countries used the mauser style action in various incarnations for infantry weapons?  Do the people who mention the Remington sniper rifles realize that the military goes thru those things and basically builds them from the ground up?  A stock M700 would never cut the mustard in service, for accuracy.  The M700 is an ok rifle, but really does not offer anything that stands out.  For a long time you had to actually take the safety off to empty the action.  Now they fixed it where the action is unlocked with the safety on, and can pop open while being carried.  M70 rifles have a three position safety to cure that issue.  CRF M70 rifles don't have issues extracting a case that was over pressured, and has a solid fixed ejector.  For critters that bite back, charge and gore, etc, you want something that was designed for reliability from the get go.  That has it's heritage tied to military reliability.  That is a cousin to not one, but two military service rifles that served in two world wars.  Remington simply doesn't have that.  It's cheap to make, and at one time was a cheap rifle to buy, and had aggressive marketing.  The only way to make the gun cheaper, is to go the route of Savage with the barrel nuts.  Why does Winchester sell M70 Safari models, as regular production, while Remington, it's only a custom shop option?

In reality it all boils down to what you have confidence in, what you shoot good, and what works good for you.  For some, that's Remington, Sako, etc with pushfeed actions.  Others want mauser style actions, and go with CZ, Winchester, Zastava, etc.  Then there's the rich guys with doubles.  For game that doesn't qualify as dangerous game, pushfeed is fine really, being able to do your part of the job is paramount.  For dangerous game, I would at least send your pushfeed in for reliability work by a gunsmith that specializes in dangerous game rifles.  You'll have a guide with a big gun, and probably others as well, so if something does go wrong, you'll have help.  Won't mean you don't soil yourself in the process though.

My AI is push feed and I'm not bothered by it. But it's no Remington.

I couldnt begin to count the head of game Ive taken with my M-700.

I would never take a trip like that without a backup. My last one I took my M-70 375 HH and my .338 WM but I have taken a 3006 to Africa a few times. I wouldnt hesitate to take it again.

My 700 bdl .243 is accurate as hell, but feeding from the detatchable mag is totally unreliable. My dads 700 with fixed internal mag seems better. I certainly would not have a detachable version in a dangerous game scenario at the very least.

I haven't hunted dangerous game. Not much interest, but I've hunted enough impala, warthog, baboon and kudu to tell you that you don't need a massive extractor, crf or express,sights to hunt them. Yes, the animals are slightly tougher than a whitetail, but not THAT much! .308 or 30-06 will serve you well. I can count the amount of,times I used anything larger than a 308 on one hand. Enjoy your trip and remember, RSA is all about YOLO

For a client, action type is 99.999% irrelevant, esp for PG.

CRF (thanks Paul Mauser) is more tradition now than necessity.




But that .001% is what made me take CRF rifles to Africa.  




In the end, take what you want; after all, you are paying for it.