They made the Classic, and even better, the Mountain Rifle, ooh la la.i didn't even know they made the 700 in 7X57
Yep, the Remington I had was the Mountain Rifle with the 24 inch pencil barrel. After the second shot it would start walking up and right. Even free floating the barrel it did the same thing. Sold it to a guy that knew the problem, a high country goat hunter, but said he didn't care as he never shot more than twice anyway. It was 6 pounds and 10 ounces with a 2X7 scope and No-Buckle sling with no ammo.They made the Classic, and even better, the Mountain Rifle, ooh la la.
Man, I love this thread. Glad someone hauled it back out.Went to a little town gun show this morning, two 7x57 rifles caught my eye, one a'98 sporter with a synthetic stock and all the work had been done, priced pretty low, but a little rougher than I'd like and I prefer small ring ones for such a thing anyway.
The other was a small ring sporter, should make a decent one, I didn't have the cash, but the guy will be at the next one and I will be ready to deal next weekend. I really have come to like the small ring, cock on closing actions, and 7x57 seems the perfect cartridge for one.
I'm embarrassed to say that of all the years I've messed with milsurps, I've concentrated solely on the Mausers and was negligent in studying others, never having given the British rifles a second look. Time was they were dirt cheap too - even cheaper than the cheapest Mausers.All SMLE's cock on closing, just like the US Model 1917 another British design. I have read that their experience in Africa and Asia, during their world conquests, copper/brass/paper cases were hard to extract when fighting. Therefore, they divided the work load up 50% on opening the bolt and 50% on closing the bolt.
Never had the chance to buy a nice bore Mauser 7mm at a reasonable price, so that is why I built mine on '03 Springfield actions that I already owned.
Just found this! I had a Rolling Block in 7x57 to use as a deer rifle when I was about 12. The barrel was maybe 20" long and the ammo was Norma factory. Probably not the wisest combination as Norma was HOT ammo. The flame would jet out the barrel of that thing about 3 feet as my young and somewhat overactive imagination tells the story. I think I only shot maybe 3 times. The noise, (no ear muffs back then!) was far, far worse than the recoil and other than a couple sighting shots and "killing" a knot on a popple tree I think that was the end of my fun with that one. It couldn't have weighed much more than 6-6.5 lbs and I was scared to death of it!My favorite and only 7x57 rifle is a Remington Rolling Block. I had wanted a Rolling Block since I was a kid and when I found one at a reasonable price, I bought it. That was in 1972. Since then It has been among my favorite things to shoot. Most of the ammo for this rifle has been my own reloads as I prefer modest pressure loads. Case life is fairly short due to the oversize chamber dimensions. I form brass from range pick up 30/06.
There is nothing wrong with the 303 British cartridge, and there isn't much wrong with the SMLE that restocking can't fix. My youngest boy was gifted an SMLE#1 and the darn thing shot pretty good in the factory stock with a loose butt. I put it in a no name plastic/fiberglass/whatever stock and added a NOS Weaver scope base with a 1-4x scope. The 9lbs + behemoth turned out to be about a 7 lbs sweety to shoot. He took a nice buck with it this fall!I'm embarrassed to say that of all the years I've messed with milsurps, I've concentrated solely on the Mausers and was negligent in studying others, never having given the British rifles a second look. Time was they were dirt cheap too - even cheaper than the cheapest Mausers.
I have grown to like cock on closing a lot. As mentioned, it divides the work load up in a logical way. The small ring Mausers make such a trim rifle compared to a 98 which just seems clunky by comparison.