Will be coming through our shop in the future. We do a lot of builds on 700s………..a lot. Heck, we have two complete product lines that utilize them. I personally spend most of my time on a machine making them suitable to build on. They are undoubtedly the most economical platform for a custom build, and they usually don’t disappoint on the performance end when it’s all said and done. However, their availability has become almost as spotty as their quality over the past year. Some are pretty straight, some take a lot of work to get trued and timed, and some are so far out that they simply can’t be. The bigger problem is, any other option automatically adds at least $500 to the price of a build. A deal- killer for folks trying to work within a budget.
We have been looking for a suitable replacement for a long time with the requirements that it would need to equal or surpass a trued Remington in dimensional tolerances and aftermarket parts options, while keeping the price within the same ballpark. It is a pretty tall order, and one that has went unfilled until now.
A few months back we were made aware that there were some of the old Ed Brown designed 704 actions floating around and available at a really good price. These were leftover actions from the falling out of the first generation of LAW, or Legendary Arms Works. I made arrangements to get one in my hands for review. Our excitement didn’t last long upon receiving the sample and giving it a thorough going over. Without going into a lot of detail, it was quickly apparent why the price was so good and why they were “available” in an industry where good things usually have a waiting list. They simply would not work for our needs. I wrote a thank you letter to return with the action explaining what I found, how I found it and why it would not work for us………never expecting to hear another thing about it.
And I didn’t, until a few weeks later when I got a call from the actual owner of the company that made the actions! Lol. I was brutally honest in my review, and probably measured things that most hadn’t bothered with before, like OCD level stuff, so I figured he was calling to tell me what HE thought of my review. Haha. Thankfully that was not the case at all. What I got was the opportunity to meet 2 really sharp guys that run a shop with the capability to make things with mind-blowing tolerances and consistency. He took the time to explain to me that the actions were made to the exact specs they were given, and were in no way a reflection of their capabilities. A lot of things involving the history of these actions started making sense
He made sure I fully understood that they had NO issues holding the tolerances I had spec’d in my letter and was willing to show me. He asked if I would be interested in giving them a shot at sending me another one machined to my specs. Well……….YEAH!! The replacement showed up a couple weeks later and well, he was right! They blew my specs out of the water! There were some critical surfaces that I could measure NO runnout using some very fine indicators. It beat some very top-tier actions in that regard. Sold. We jumped on a plane and went to meet face to face and check out the facility.
Impressive beyond words for machinist type geeks like me. We took that time to go over some changes that would streamline the action and make it work better in it’s current iteration. We also wanted to add a few APR touches that bring it in line with our current offerings. Tightening up the specs did drive the price up as expected, but DID NOT kick it past our original goal of staying in the ballpark of a trued Remmy. That’s the long story, and if you stuck it out this long, here’s the outcome of all of it.
A modified Ed Brown design featuring controlled round feed, mechanical ejector, side bolt stop release, threaded bolt knob, spiral fluted bolt, pinned recoil lug, tool-less fire control removal, all held to custom level tolerances and fitting in a Remington 700 footprint, retailing for $695. To put that in perspective, a Remington is about $400 and another $150 to true it. So you are looking at a complete custom action for just $145 more than a trued 700! That should be game-changing for guys building their first custom, or those working with a limited budget. And I won’t miss performing daily surgery on Remingtons!
Thanks for reading,
Robert
Alamo Precision Rifles
aprifles.com
We have been looking for a suitable replacement for a long time with the requirements that it would need to equal or surpass a trued Remington in dimensional tolerances and aftermarket parts options, while keeping the price within the same ballpark. It is a pretty tall order, and one that has went unfilled until now.
A few months back we were made aware that there were some of the old Ed Brown designed 704 actions floating around and available at a really good price. These were leftover actions from the falling out of the first generation of LAW, or Legendary Arms Works. I made arrangements to get one in my hands for review. Our excitement didn’t last long upon receiving the sample and giving it a thorough going over. Without going into a lot of detail, it was quickly apparent why the price was so good and why they were “available” in an industry where good things usually have a waiting list. They simply would not work for our needs. I wrote a thank you letter to return with the action explaining what I found, how I found it and why it would not work for us………never expecting to hear another thing about it.
And I didn’t, until a few weeks later when I got a call from the actual owner of the company that made the actions! Lol. I was brutally honest in my review, and probably measured things that most hadn’t bothered with before, like OCD level stuff, so I figured he was calling to tell me what HE thought of my review. Haha. Thankfully that was not the case at all. What I got was the opportunity to meet 2 really sharp guys that run a shop with the capability to make things with mind-blowing tolerances and consistency. He took the time to explain to me that the actions were made to the exact specs they were given, and were in no way a reflection of their capabilities. A lot of things involving the history of these actions started making sense
He made sure I fully understood that they had NO issues holding the tolerances I had spec’d in my letter and was willing to show me. He asked if I would be interested in giving them a shot at sending me another one machined to my specs. Well……….YEAH!! The replacement showed up a couple weeks later and well, he was right! They blew my specs out of the water! There were some critical surfaces that I could measure NO runnout using some very fine indicators. It beat some very top-tier actions in that regard. Sold. We jumped on a plane and went to meet face to face and check out the facility.
Impressive beyond words for machinist type geeks like me. We took that time to go over some changes that would streamline the action and make it work better in it’s current iteration. We also wanted to add a few APR touches that bring it in line with our current offerings. Tightening up the specs did drive the price up as expected, but DID NOT kick it past our original goal of staying in the ballpark of a trued Remmy. That’s the long story, and if you stuck it out this long, here’s the outcome of all of it.
A modified Ed Brown design featuring controlled round feed, mechanical ejector, side bolt stop release, threaded bolt knob, spiral fluted bolt, pinned recoil lug, tool-less fire control removal, all held to custom level tolerances and fitting in a Remington 700 footprint, retailing for $695. To put that in perspective, a Remington is about $400 and another $150 to true it. So you are looking at a complete custom action for just $145 more than a trued 700! That should be game-changing for guys building their first custom, or those working with a limited budget. And I won’t miss performing daily surgery on Remingtons!
Thanks for reading,
Robert
Alamo Precision Rifles
aprifles.com
Comment