Laminated Thumbhole
Tactical Stocks For The Rem 700
Remington’s Model 700 has a well deserved place as America’s favourite bolt action hunting rifle. The Rem 700 draws its popularity from its entry level price, amazing strength, inherent accuracy and easy upgrade path. The Remington 700 is the sniper weapon system of choice of the US Army (M24 and XM2010), US Marine Corps (M40) and US Navy SEALs (Mk 13 Mod 5). The US Army, USMC and US Navy SEALs all operate their own M700 derivative as their issue Sniper Weapon System. The enduring popularity of the Model 700 has made it the first choice of aftermarket parts and clone manufacturers.
The Remington 700 really lends itself to upgrade. Indeed the horrible plastic, non free floating stocks included as standard are best thrown away by the owner as soon as he or she can afford to. After a better trigger, the next best thing you can do for your rifle’s accuracy is to bed it in a good stock. There is no better way to achieve improved bedding than bolting your rifle down onto one of the quality aftermarket stocks available that have aluminium bedding blocks at their core. A stock of this kind will set you back at least $300, but there is no point in investing a fortune in an expensive optic or hunting trip if you don’t have a rifle that will hold its zero in the conditions you will encounter.
Bell and Carlson have built their excellent reputation on producing light, utterly rigid stocks at affordable prices. The Bell and Carlson system involves taking an aluminium pillar bedding block and hand layering a variety of composite materials including graphite, aramid fibers, fiberglass and epoxy gel coats and laminating resins; adding polyurethane reinforcement with milled fiberglass. At only two and a half pounds the resulting stock is utterly stiff. The Bell and Carlson Light Tactical stock is typical of their range and offers a good choice for right hand short action M700s used in a varmint or coyote control role. It features a cut out under the rear of the stock to take the left hand, offering more support to the rifle and control for the shot. The exterior finish is a non-slip texture which will not be compromised by exposure to rifle cleaning chemicals. You can bed this stock for a perfect cosmetic fit, but it is not necessary for accuracy.
H-S Precision provide the US Army with the stock of their M24 Sniper Weapon System and also went with a machined aluminium bedding block bonded to structural polyurethane foam reinforced with fiberglass. This perfectly aligns and cradles the barrelled action. Like the Bell & Carlson these stocks are hand laminated, H-S precision using woven Kevlar/fiberglass cloth with uni-directional, carbon fiber particles for strength and rigidity in a light (2 lb. 12 oz.) package. These stocks are impervious to temperature and humidity. H-S protect their stocks with a baked on polyurethane finish that is non reflective and textured for a firm hold in wet conditions. H-S precision’s PST series stock was chosen as the Remington 700 Police stock and is available in floorplate and detachable magazine models in either black or desert tan finish.
Both the H-S and B&C stocks are follow relatively traditional lines and neither will add significant weight to your 700. However, when they created their chassis system for a mid 1980s British Army sniper rifle contest, Accuracy International literally threw the book away when it came to aesthetics, resulting in an incredibly rugged and accurate weapon system. They wanted the most solid possible bond between the action and chassis and went the whole way, gluing it permanently with incredibly strong epoxy resin to make it a single unit. The result was an insanely accurate rifle that very few civilian shooters could afford. AI won many military users including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgoium, Sweden and Australia, but they wanted to break into the US civil market. To make an affordable rifle they adapted their chassis system to take the Remington 700 in its short and long action guises.
AI’s ‘civilian’ stock, the Accuracy International Chassis System, is milled from a single block of aerospace quality aluminium onto which the glass reinforced polymer panels are bolted. The action is aligned perfectly by the V-shaped bedding block, torqued down with the two bolts supplied with the kit. This resulted in an unconventional slab-sided shape, but this makes the rifle easy to carry when slung with AI’s twin shoulder harness sling. Provision is included for both AI and Harris bipods. Different height optical sights are allowed for by a screw adjustable cheekpiece and a thumbhole grip provides good control. Bolt on spacers are used to adjust length of pull. AI’s legendary quality magazines are available in 5 and 10 round double stack format for the .308 (or .308 parent case rounds like the 7mm-08 and .243) and a 5 shot format for the .300 Winmag. Fixed (Stage 1.5) and folding (Stage 2.0) versions are available in both short and long action lengths and the panels are available in green, dark earth or black. The US Navy adopted the AICS for its Mk 13 Mod 5 Sniper Weapon System – the price of that prestige is 5 lb. 11 oz. and $1100 US dollars as of January 2010.
Copyright Chris Pieterman January 2011.
ChrisySue’s New Ross Laminated Thumbhole Stock on Her Remington 700, .270 Winchester