Sometimes a gun can surprise you.

by Jared, Thursday, September 05, 2013, 20:55 (4040 days ago)
edited by Jared, Thursday, September 05, 2013, 20:58

About 10-11 years ago I won a Remington 710 in .270 with a $5 raffle ticket at the local fire men's frolic. Right after I got it, I shot it just enough to get it zeroed. the scope was mounted so far back it was hitting me in the head. A few days later I moved the scope forward but when I tightened down the cheap rings that came with it the broke. I put it up in the back of the safe.

A while later I thought about it and put the scope in some steel weaver rings and never even took the rifle out and sighted it in. 4-5 years ago I had a cousin that was showing some interest in hunting. So we went out and he shot a hog. He seemed to enjoy it and was asking about getting a rifle and hunting license. I told him to go get his hunters education and he could come to my place and get a deer. He never went and got the hunters education, and never knew that I planned on giving him that rifle.

Fast forward to today. I was going shooting and on a whim I grabbed a couple of boxes of .270 and the 710 just to get it on paper. The 100 yard range is under construction so I only had 50 yards and 200 to play with. I got it on at 50 yards with some left over factory ammo and it seemed to shoot ok. I grabbed a box of handloads and shot the 3 shot group on the right. It is right at .133” C-C. By now the rifle had my interest.

Once the 200 yard range was open I moved down there to give it a whirl. I was having a hard time seeing the target very clearly through the great optical quality of the $29.99 Bushnell special that came on these rifles. I did the best I could on holding the crosshairs on the blurry target. I couldn't tell where I was hitting so I walked down to find the 1.6" group on the right.

The rifle is still ugly with a rough action, and the trigger is around 6lbs, but I am thinking it may be deserving of a better scope, and get some use.

[image]

Looks like...

by Paul ⌂, Friday, September 06, 2013, 08:49 (4040 days ago) @ Jared

if you were to slick up the action a bit, put in a Timney trigger and slap a decent scope on it, you'd have a pretty respectable rifle!

There is a lot of plastic not sure it can be slicked up.

by Jared, Friday, September 06, 2013, 22:55 (4039 days ago) @ Paul

I may stick a Leupold 3-9 VxI on it . get the trigger a little better and call it good. I don't think it will be a durable as a more traditional design, but should work for an occasional pinker.

Looks like...

by Lee J. @, hagerman,NM, Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 19:44 (4035 days ago) @ Paul

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, groups like that with the equipment included make it a keeper, that's if you like a 270. :-D

And therein lays the issue...

by Paul ⌂, Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 07:52 (4035 days ago) @ Lee J.

to 270 or not 270...

I've shot one, once. It was a friend's Parker Hale that he swore by for elk. He took it to elk camp every year, don't recall that he ever actually shot anything with it, so it fulfilled its purpose quite well - getting him out of town for a few days without unduly inconveniencing him by procuring a lot of work. :-D Just never did see a use for one, my '06 would do anything it would do at the ranges I was willing to do it. If someone were to gift me one, fine. I just don't see myself ever paying good money for one. :-P

Sometimes a gun can surprise you.

by jgt, Friday, September 06, 2013, 09:14 (4040 days ago) @ Jared

When I use to get wheelweights from tire shops they always threw in the old valve stems they pulled off wheels. I rob the springs from the cores of the valve stems. These have two size springs and the ones that work are the smaller diameter. Take the rifle out of the stock and look for the allen screw on the back side of the trigger (there are three). Back that screw out and there is a spring under it. Cut the valve core spring to match the length of the factory spring and put it back together with the valve core spring in place of the factory. If the screw sticks out too far to clear the stock when replacing the action, you used the large diameter valve core spring and it will not let the screw go in deep enough to clear. When you get the smaller size spring it will go back like it should. This takes more time to write than to do. Once you do it you will see how simple it is. You can have a never ending supply of free springs once you know what to look for. The screw that is being delt with is also the adjustment screw for setting the trigger pull. Set it to your liking and check it for safety issues and adjust accordingly. Once adjusted be sure to use fingernail polish or something to keep the screw from move from it's setting. This too is very simple and you will catch on quickly. You will be amazed at the nice crisp trigger you can get and still have a safe trigger pull for hunting. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try that.

by Jared, Friday, September 06, 2013, 22:43 (4039 days ago) @ jgt

,

It's amazing how spoiled we are these days.

by Hoot @, Diversityville, Liberal-sota, Friday, September 06, 2013, 10:24 (4040 days ago) @ Jared

1MOA rifles used to be the product of skilled craftsmen. (1MOA shooters were a different story.) Firearm manufacturers these days have figured out how to do these things cheaply and repeatedly.

Very true.

by Jared, Friday, September 06, 2013, 22:43 (4039 days ago) @ Hoot

But I still like old style craftsmanship.

not real recent

by bj2, Friday, September 06, 2013, 23:58 (4039 days ago) @ Hoot

My uncle wrote gun articles for his local newspaper and received guns occasionally for testing. He got a Winchester 670, one of the bargain options to the model 70, back over 45 years ago. Somewhere close to that time he got the Remington 788, another bargain alternative. The Winchester 670 shot real well, the Remington 788 in .22-250 really was a tackdriver. Neither one had nice bluing but both had real wood stocks.

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