REMINGTON – REMINGTON 700 5-R STAINLESS THREADED GEN 2 300 WIN MAG

ITEM DETAILS

• Action Type: Bolt Action
• Barrel Length: 24″
• Capacity: 3-Round
• Cartridge: 300 Winchester Magnum
• Finish: Black, Sand
• Front Sight: None
• Length: 39.75″
• Magazine Included: Hinged Floorplate
• Magazine Type: NA
• Muzzle: Threaded
• Rear Sight: None
• Stock Material: H-S Precision Stock
• Weight: 8.5 lbs
• Made in the USA

RESTRICTION

MAKE MODEL

Make: Remington

Model: 700

Remington 700 5-R Stainless Threaded Gen 2 Rifle in .308 Win

The Remington 700 5-R Stainless Threaded Gen 2 is one of the newest upgrades to their iconic 700BDL hinged floor plate design. The short action rifle comes in two barrel lengths: 20″ and 24″. If you choose for the 24″ barrel, you may get one chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, .300 Win Mag and .308. The rifle examined here, a 20″ variant chambered in .308, might possibly be the Goldilocks gun

At 8.5 pounds bare, our T&E 5-R Stainless wasn’t light. But at little under 40 inches of total length long, it’s extremely useful. The small, stiff barrel is agile and, as we shall discover later, incredibly accurate.

The 5-R Stainless Gen 2 is threaded from the factory for a muffler; this rifle screams for one. Even at first sight, you can tell that suppressor-favoring tactical and competition shooters have affected the firearm’s design. Remington’s taken inspiration from some of the most prevalent and reliable designs of bespoke short-action bolt rifles and applied them here.

As the name indicates, the 5-R rifling on the 20-inch stainless steel, hammer-forged barrel is one of the rifle’s key characteristics. It stands distinct from most current barrels’ six lands arrangement. First, there are . . . wait for it . . . five lands. They’re taper-cut at a 110-degree angle to the grooves (as opposed to the customary 90 degrees) and none of them directly oppose another land.

This design contributes to longer barrel life, reduced fouling, and more uniform shot strings over time. Well, that’s what a lot of shooters swear by, and what Remington asserts.

After firing 310 rounds through this rifle, I didn’t see any notable benefits over comparable grade barrels. That said, many of individuals feed their bolt guns a whole lot more than rounds than that. They may go through two barrels or more a year. So 5-R-related barrel longevity might be a thing.

What I can confirm: this is the exact rifling found on the U.S. Army’s M24 Sniper Weapon System. The Army’s testing methodology for these barrels is quite stringent; it’s the type of testing that only gets done when Uncle Sugar is paying the tab.

The 5-R Stainless Gen 2 is fitted with Remington’s X-Mark Pro trigger. I’ve seen this trigger on multiple post-2014 700s and fired them quite a bit. For a stock trigger, the X-Mark has a wonderful feel: smooth and snappy with no roughness at all. In that respect, it’s just as good as most aftermarket triggers.

Unfortunately, the X-Mark Pro trigger’s externally adjustable screw is not my buddy. If you back it out far enough to lessen the trigger’s pull weight, it sticks out too much and becomes unpleasant. Worse, I’ve never found one that dials down far enough. The literature indicates the trigger adjusts down to 2 pounds, but I’ve never been able to get one below 3 lbs.

Some users remove the adjustment screw altogether and report no negative effects. I haven’t tried that, nor do I suggest it. As it stands, I’d assume that most precision shooters would replace the factory X-Mark Pro trigger with an aftermarket drop-in trigger, as was done here. (A Timney trigger was the sole alteration from our test gun’s factory setup.)

Remington should have set the 5-R Stainless Gen 2’s trigger at 2 pounds. This isn’t a hunting gun. It’s a target and “tactical” rifle. A crisp 2 lb. trigger pull would be totally suitable and save consumers the effort and money of attaching an aftermarket remedy.

Remington made a fantastic option, however, in gifting the 700 5-R Stainless with an H-S Precision stock. H-S Precision has been the go-to stock for thousands of shooters over the years, and with good reason. (It’s also the stock of choice for the Army’s M24 rifle, but the 5-R Stainless doesn’t feature the Army stock’s adjustable length of draw.)

These stocks start with a CNC machined aluminum bedding block fitted into a Kevlar, fiberglass, and carbon fiber mold. They’re somewhat broader than normal sports gun stocks. That broad, flat fore-end makes them well at home shooting from a bench rest or bags.

The 5-R Stainless Gen 2’s stock has twin front swivel studs (removed by the owner of our test pistol), and a great ambidextrous palm swell for those of us who prefer to keep our hand down for accuracy while firing. There isn’t much of a recoil pad, but there isn’t a need for one – although a recoil pad’s the simplest spot someone like me with long arms to make some LOP modification.

The factory 13 3/8″ length of pull is a tad short for me, even wearing thick winter garments like a shooting jacket. For most persons under 6’2″, it should work fine. The 5-R Stainless’s stock lacks an adjustable cheek riser; I had to gently maintain my check on the stock to be in the appropriate position for the scope.

I prefer to let the weight of my head push down on the stock for a firm cheek-stock weld. I consider my head adequately positioned if I can snooze on the rifle without having a crick in my neck. The 5-R Stainless’s cheek height is simply changed with a kitchen sponge and some duct tape; the remedy for many a soldier’s rifles for decades. If you want something a bit more elegant, I suggest either the Karsten Custom Cheek Rest or the Bradley Adjustable Cheek Rest.

Taken as a whole, the 700 5-R Stainless Gen 2 isn’t a bad-looking man and is pretty modest on the “tactical” side. The H-S Precision stock displays what has become a classic – a splash-web design, while the barrel and all other metal is Cerakoted a flat(ish) black. I’d like a flatter black than this, like the Armorer’s Black or Graphite Black, since there’s no need for sparkle.

The 700 5-R Stainless Gen 2’s medium contour barrel has six longitudinal flutes, saving weight and boosting surface area for cooling. The longest string I fired was 60 shots. In the end, I could still grasp the barrel securely without difficulty. The big, easy-to-find knurled bolt knob permitted quick manipulation and contributed to the current tactical rifle gestalt.

The classic 700 action operates quite well on this pistol. There’s little to no play in bolt in the back. Once you start it moving forward the bolt glides securely on the tracks until it locks home.

Bringing the bolt down on around, I felt no hesitation or sticking. Just a smooth, rapid operation through the cycle. Sitting behind the gun, cycling the bolt and trigger as rapidly as I could while peering through the glass, I received nothing but a sure and confident feed.

Truth be told, I haven’t always been a fan of the Remington 700’s action, at least as compared to the Winchester Model 70. From a design sense, it’s simply not as excellent as Winchester’s upgraded Mauser action. But for what it is — a push feed mechanism — this rifle operates remarkably well. If I’m receiving a rapid, smooth action with a nice lock-up and sure extraction, I’m not looking for anything more.

I didn’t have any difficulties with loading, unloading, cycling, or shooting this pistol. The databook that came with the Remington 700 5-R Stainless indicated that someone has shot over 600 rounds through it. As I indicated, I placed another 310 downrange. Neither my experience, nor the databook recorded any faults of any sort across numerous kinds of rounds from different manufacturers, across a rather large weight range.

I fired rounds from Fiocchi, Remington, Hornady, and Federal in weights from 125gr to the extraordinarily well-performing 185gr OTM Juggernaut. All performed smoothly. I’ve encountered difficulties with other bolt-action rifles: sticky bolts or the magazine follower getting stuck up. Not here.

But in the words of HughTazmanian Devil, “blah blah blah, Yakety schmackety.” None of it matters in the least if the pistol won’t print small groups. And this pistol prints little groupings.

I had this pistol for much longer than I should have. That’s because none of the shooting was merely done for “fam fire“. For this review, after using 10 of the Fiocchi rounds to dirty the barrel, I fired 50 un-timed five-round groups. None of the groups shot with the 5-R Stainless were poor, but some were much, much better than others.

The “worst”-shooting round was, curiously enough, the Remington 150gr CoreLokt bullet, just at 1MOA. The Federal 150gr “Non-Typical Whitetail” soft point scored 3/4-inch groupings, on average. Things became considerably better as the bullet weights rose.

The Federal 168gr Sierra Match King scored .

51-inch. Hornady 168gr Amax Black round printed . 37-inch and the 185gr Federal Gold Medal Berger 185gr OTM Juggernaught rounds scored a really amazing . 31″ average group. I fired the shots off bags at 100 yards. I fired each 20-round box in four strings of five rounds. I completed by firing 10 rounds from the kneel and 10 shots standing using Hornady’s 125gr Custom Lite SST ammunition.

These statistics are from a factory rifle, firing many factory rounds, attaining 1/2 MOA or better. I’ve bashed Big Green in the past for their lack of quality control. But the gunmaker is completely on track with the 5-R Stainless Gen 2.

To test whether this specific weapon was the famous “blind squirrel discovering a nut” I inquired around on a few forums. Shooters indicated that our test 5-R Stainless’s degree of accuracy maintains across several cases. That makes the 5-R the finest bang for the buck, accuracy-wise, of any rifle I’ve shot in a long time. Maybe ever.

I make it a point to not check pricing until the conclusion of a review, and considering its performance, I was anticipating this gun to have a custom shop price tag. Imagine my astonishment to see an MSRP of $1,250 and available online for $100 to $200 less.

If I was going to go out and purchase an all-around bolt action rifle — one I could compete with, target shoot with and even hunt with — this gun would be exceedingly hard to top. This is the rifle that made me fall in love with Big Green, again.

I received this rifle right before I posted my review of the 700 American Wilderness. While both rifles are Remington 700s, they couldn’t be further varied in quality. Everything about the 5-R Stainless was done right: superb components, amazing execution. It left me wondering how these two weapons are created by the same firm.

While it’s not my place to teach gun companies how to run their businesses, Remington should locate the folks who created and manufactured the Remington 700 5-R Stainless and put them in charge of all 700 manufacturing.