First off, if you are gun as work of art type person, this is not the rifle for you. If you are a gun as tool type person, then read on.
The Remington 770 is a very plain utilitarian type of rifle. It is bolt action with a synthetic stock and comes with a factory mounted 3 – 9 x 40 scope. The 770 that we bought has a matte black barrel and stock and is chambered for .308 Winchester. You can see at a glance that it is not a fancy rifle. No burled walnut, skip checkering, ivory inlays, or etc.; but on the plus side it does not carry a fancy price tag. You can pick one up for around $300.
Before you fire it you need to give this rifle a good cleaning. The bolt in particular needs to be de-gunked, and it wouldn’t hurt to work it over with a little 0000 steel wool. The bolt is not a tight fit in the receiver and the play causes it to feel a little rough sometimes when you are cycling the bolt. Don’t misunderstand, the bold locks down tight and solid. There’s no safety concern here. It’s just a matter of not operating as smoothly as you might like. Pictured below: top, the 770 receiver; bottom, bolt drawn back
Pulling up a small lever on the top left of the receiver allows you to withdraw the bolt for easy bolt and barrel cleaning. Pictured below: top, bolt release lever; bottom, bolt withdrawn
The 770 has a four round box magazine which is easy to remove and load. I like this feature. Pictured below: The detachable box magazine
The scope has been bore sighted at the factory so when we started off at 50 yards we were at least on the paper, only about three inches off center. When you sight this rifle in get some sand bags and do it right. At a dollar a round you don’t want to burn a lot of ammo getting sighted in. Pictured below: Factory mounted scope
The rifle shoots fine. Accuracy is well within our deer hunting needs. We were a little worried about recoil since the synthetic stock makes this a very light firearm, but it was not bad at all. Pictured below: top, Rifle sighted on target; bottom, rifle in recoil
This is not a gun that you would want to buy if you are going to shoot a thousand rounds a year on the range. It just wasn’t intended for that kind of use. But if you are going to run a box of shells through it every deer season, it will still be in good service when your grandchildren are ready to use it.
All in all we are happy with this rifle. It will do the job that we need it for, and it didn’t cost an arm and leg, so what’s not to like.
Thanks for the review, just the push needed to go ahead and get one of these. Curious as to what ammo you run with this - any preferences?
ReplyDeleteMine seems to favor the heavier loads like the 180 grn nosler partitions and the S&B 180 grain as well.
DeleteI have one also, practical gun if your not into fancy stuff, I use remington core-lokt 150gr. I find there accurate enough to 500yds.
ReplyDeleteScott, we originally bought Remington soft nose .308's. I talked to my son, and he says that he is now using fully jacketed for target shooting because they seem to feed smoother. Hank
ReplyDeletePurchased one 11//9/12. License 11/9/12. First time hunter. Clean wiped bolt and bolt slide area. Tested slide action repeatedly for 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteGot up the next morning to go with friends for opening day of deer season here in NC. Test fired my new, out the box rifle against small 2-cycle oil container (4.5" tall) at 60 yards. Out-the-box... aimed for screw top... hit screw top on first shot. Sights factory bored-in.
I am not an advid hunter, gun enthusiast or end-of-the-world guy. No kill on day, but after 10 rounds and 8/10 on-point hits between me and 2 other true marksmen in our group, all of us were impressed. G Mack
I bought a 770 chambered for a .270 round in Sept of 2011. I have put about 200 rounds through it and killed two deer and one coyote in the interim.
ReplyDeleteLet's start with my cons..
-the bolt action is not optimal. I agree it is safe but it could be smoother.
-the ready to shoot aspect did not work for me.. My came out of the box at least three feet off up and to the left.
Pros
Once you get it sighted in the scope and mount are very stable. I took it out of the case after 8 months and it was shooting within a couple of inches of where I left it in early 2012.
It light to carry and the synthetic stock doesn't make a whole lot of noise in the brush.
I think it was money well spent for a hunting weapon.
Thanks all for the pros and cons....my wife just bought me one!!
ReplyDeleteJust bought one yesterday. Will break it down and clean\oil it. Just like the USMC taught me. $300 well spent in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYou have nicely describe the pros and con for this gun
ReplyDeleteGreat post and photos,purchased 770 in .308 today.Got package deal with weatherby vanguard in .300 wby.mag.. Got great deal on both.
ReplyDeletejust bought the 770 and its a great weapon the scope was off but after a couple of adjustments,4 shots in the black this is a very good weapon,it will be a great addition very happy with it.
ReplyDeleteI'll add this to the cons, actually it should be done with any new scope and gun combo...Mine arrived with the scope mount slightly loose; it's worth the effort to take the scope rings apart and mounting base off, clean it up with a good degreaser, then re-assemble with a dab of blue Loctite on each screw. Mine will shoot 1-inch or less groups at 100 yards with a sandbag, it'll make a great hunting rifle for sure!
ReplyDeleteBought one last year on sale for $250. The sight was way off, and bolt action was tight. But after getting it sighted in the bolt loosened up. Took it out on a hunt one shot one kill dead on. Worth the money as a hunting rifle.
ReplyDeleteGreat rifle at a great price I disassembled the bolt polished it with my dremel, lubed it with bearing grease and it's smooth and fast. Quarter size shot group with 3 rounds at 200 yards. Great deer rifle. It's not pretty but who needs a pretty rifle that's going to lean against trees and fall in wet swamps. Awesome rifle for the price. This is replacing my Marlin 336 30-30 for deer and elk��
ReplyDeleteI have a 770 in 300 win mag. The magazine however falls out. I just got it in a trade. It's a new rifle. But the mag will drop down like 1 inch once it's locked into the rifle. Any ideas as to what's causing this? It doesn't look like anything is broken.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the clip
ReplyDeleteThe 770 is very roughly built. No shine, just muscle. I have worked out every kink in this rifle except one. The bolt is sloppy, but after cycling hundreds of times with Hoppe's oil, and I mean hundreds of times it slides smoothly. Lots of slop at rear pull, but still acceptable. Remington has fixed the magazines and they fit snugly and snap into place easily when put in correctly. The back first and snap, the front. It does however have a poorly designed bolt stop. It will break after any amount of normally using the rifle or one real hard pull. Mine was already broken when purchased as dealer had pulled out bolt without rotating lock release. I put in a second one and have fired approx 200 rounds and quite a bit of wear is noticeable on the bolt stop. I have ordered 3 more and an extra spring which should last me through 1200-1500 more rounds before breaking. You have to be aware of it and practice not hitting it. This rifle was made to be manhandled. It takes a steady hand and it works perfectly. The accuracy is second to none. The bolt locks into the barrel just like the 700 (3 rings of steel) but has 3 lugs instead of 2. This locking platform makes for a solid platform aiding accuracy. Nothing fancy here, just pure solid shooting at a cheap price. You cannot be dainty with this rifle at all. The stock is horrible it is better than the Savage stock, but not by much. The barrel needs to be floated to really help, again, accuracy, but can be done, but quite a bit of material needs to be removed as it is bedded and has high spots. The trigger pull is heavy at about 5 lb 4 oz, but is a very nice trigger and the weight and creep can be adjusted with the correct tools and knowledge. I think that 10 years from now, this will be a sought after rifle. If only someone could take the bolt stop and make it with a harder metal. Only real flaw in this rifle, so not too bad!
ReplyDeleteYou all need to float the barrel
ReplyDeleteI purchased this gun because I needed a scoped rifle to go hog hunting with a friend in Texas and I was on a budget. One day at the range and I had it holding a good tight pattern. It took a good day to clean and oil the bolt because of the coating that put on it. However, when I needed to make my kill shot and I needed that one round to be on target it hit the mark and I am very happy with the rifle. I got it at Wal-Mart for $254.00. I spent way more on everything else involved in the hunt that what I had wrapped up in the rifle. So now I have scheduled another hunt for next year.
ReplyDeleteSomeone gave me one. Mounted a 4-16-44 Trophy extreme sf scope. Waiting on Boyd’s Pro Varmint stock. Wish someone made a replacement trigger. Well, I have $350 in it now. I’ll let you know how it shoots. If I had bought a 700, it would have cost $500 minimum. Then, I would have spent at least $650 on Leupold scope, rings and bases. Then, I would spend at least $150 on a stock. That’s $1,300. So, I saved $1k for now. I can assure you this rig will kill anything that moves within 500 yards. ✌��
ReplyDeleteAppreciation to you for your good work!
ReplyDeleteGot so many valuable tips here today
I’ve also a blog but cannot contribute like you
Heads up for you!
You put some real life examples
Love and favors
Keep continue!
One of my buddies share her thought there:
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I bought a Remington 770 chambered in 308 in September of 2018. Out of the box, it was shooting 3" groups at 50 yards. I was using Wolf 150 grain soft point ammunition. Went Hog hunting in November. I shot a 125 lb. boar at 65 yards and a 240 lb. sow at 80 yards. Both hogs went down with 1 shot.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that I spent $185 for the rifle I have little patience for all the negative comments regarding this rifle.
Hi dear,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your post. I am take decision in this week i will go for Elk hunting with my new Binoculars.