Remington X-Mark Pro Trigger

More expensive to feed, but worth it.
Bob Mc Alice
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Remington X-Mark Pro Trigger

Post by Bob Mc Alice »

Well, I'm on a roll. The new computer is working great. I was going to post this last week, before the old one crapped out.

I made a super deal on a Remington 700 SPS stainless in 7-08 last July. Out the door for under $575.00. It's the no frills plastic stock model. The Rem. catalog picture shows a plain coarse grit blasted action and barrel with the old style trigger. This one came with the upgrade satin finished action and jeweled bolt. It also came with the new X-mark trigger. The only draw back was that the barrel was of the very coarse grit blasted finish. Odd. Mated to the better finished action.

The barrel was so rough that it shredded any cloth that was rubbed across it. Well that was easily corrected. I stripped the gun down to just the barreled action and spun it in the lathe at work. Several grades of sand paper and oil, plus liberal use of medium and fine Scotchbrite pads produced a nice semi gloss finish. It is also less prone to holding any dirt and moisture.

One other problem it had was a poorly installed crown. I have seen many guns in dealer racks with the same problem. This may or may not have been an accuracy problem, but it looked terrible. The counter bore recess was .025 off center to the bore. And the chamfer on the outside of the barrel was equally as off. Again, lathe to the rescue. I cut .063 (1/16 inch) off the end to remove this abomination crown job. After truing up the bore over a .2775 gage pin I measured the runout of the barrel outside diameter. Less than a half thou. (.0005). Good. Ten minutes later I had a new crown done right.

While dissasembled, I looked the new trigger over. All the adjustments are the same as the old model. It now comes with allen set screws. The only serviceable adjustments are for pull weight and overtravel. The sear adjustment screw is there, but was apparently locked in position at the factory. My attempt to turn the screw was impossible. I would no doubt have stripped the allen socket trying to turn it. Remington does not want you to mess with it.

It came with a crisp, no creep ,no over travel 3.5 lb. break. Real nice for a factory trigger. I turned it down to a 2.75 pull, just right for a hunter gun. At the range it felt as good if not better than a tuned old style trigger.

I replaced the stock with a H-S hunter style. I pulled the silver Leupold 6.5-20x off the M70 .30-06 and used a set of Leupold matte rings and bases I already had . This rifle , like my other 7-08's shoots fantastic with MK's and Varget. No need to waste time and barrel life searching for the magic load. I fired it again at CRC today and got perfect zero's while there was no wind. Now that I have retired the 7x57 Ruger to a hunting gun, this rifle will be the one I use for the days when we have windy match conditions, which is quite often. http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z94/ ... E/trigger/
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I'm lovin it

Post by rich56 »

I'm lovin what you did. Thats what I should have done but I HAD to have a 260 so it had to be a CDL LTD. No finish issues like yours but the rifle was advertised as a magnum taper barrel at 7 5/8 lb. I see no difference in the barrel as opposed to my other Remingtons and it weights 6lb 15 oz, great for hunting, I'd like more for silhouette shooting. Been a great shooter out of the box. Your picture confirms, I need a silver scope to go with stainless barrel. Thanks for your post and pics.
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Post by Bob Mc Alice »

Thanks Rich. I often wonder why Remington offers so few models in their own .260 when they currently have over a dozen in 7-08.
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Post by shakes »

Is it maybe because the .260 doesnt have the magic "30 cal" bullet in the case. It seems to me that every time i pick up a hunting mag or watch a huntin show no matter what they are going after there shootin a 300 this or a 300 that. I agree with you Bob, it seems kind of funny why remington or any gun manufacturers do what they do. A .260 is more than capable of bringing down any north american game animal except for a grizzly or a moose, then ya I would want something a little bigger, but for deer, load up the right bullet and your silhouette gun becomes a deadly accurate hunting rifle. I would like to try hunting antelope in montana or south dakota with mine. I think it would be fun to bag a nice buck a 500 or so meters :D

Oh by the way nice score on the gun, she's awfully purty :D
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Post by Bob Mc Alice »

The 2008 Rem. catalog shows only two .260 offerings. The CDL Ltd. that Rich has, and the Model Seven. Would be nice to have it in a few more models to choose from. If you read all the hype they put in the catalog boasting about the qualities of the .260 , then why no model selection? There was a good article on the .260 in a recent Shooting Times or Guns and Ammo magazine. While I am not a .260 fan, I am well aware of it's popularity in the silhouette game and it should be miles ahead of the .243 in the hunting fields. If is is a marketing / sales issue, they are not helping themselves. Good thing we have lots of custom barrel makers to choose from. Come on Remington....get with the program.


(Added a little later....) Things are a little slow in the shop today (not to mention the boss is not here today) and my inquiring mind wanted to know. So I called Remington's consumer service dept. to ask why so few models of .260. The gentleman talked my ear off about the subject. The cartridge is one of their best medium size game developments. Superior down range ballistics, etc. Also popular with the long range target shooters. There was little demand for their initial offerings and it has been a poor seller in all but the Model Seven. They are puzzled by the lack of of interest by seasoned hunters and shooters. But, they cant make enough .260 Sevens to keep up with demand. They are filling the youth entry level market with them. He said that the .243....270...30-06 ..... and 7mag are still the kings of bolt rifle sales. He also said the 7-08 is a strong seller in any configuration.

They chambered the 700 CDL Ltd. in .260 to "re-introduce" this great cartridge to shooters again. Currently, there are no plans to add any other models right now. Sales of this rifle have been very strong, but for one main reason. For collecting, not shooting. The CDL Ltd. will be a series of chamberings offered in limited quantities each year just like the Classics were. First was an '06...then the 17 Fireball..the .260 for 2008 , 7-08 for 2009.

There has been strong demand for a 700 VS..SF II in .260 rem. and this will be offered for 2009. His last words were that they hope when the youth shooters of the .260 Seven grow to adults, that the .260 is what they will want a larger rifle chambered in. Like any successful business, market demand steers the ship.

Well , my shift is over. Time to go. Where has the day gone?
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Post by yankee »

I picked up one of the 260 cdl ltd a couple months ago. Looked pretty till you looked closer. Mine had a glitch in the fluting , a bit deeper and wider, in every flute at same point around the barrel. They must do them all at the same time and the machine hick-uped. I have put over 100 rounds thru it and only the last five have been under 2 inches at 200 M. Most in the 3 to 4 range. Upon closer examination I have found the chamber is not centered. Two of the lands extend to where the case mouth would be. I have seen this in more than one remington in the past. The trigger seems to be a bit better than the old ones and it turned right down to under 2 lbs. It will be interesting to see if they last like the old ones. Stock well there were a few places that the finish wasn't rubbed out and had small bubbles. The recoil pad seems nice. Comb on the stock is lower than the old bdl models by 1/2 to 3/4 inch which is not ideal for a silhouette rifle if you like to hold your head up.
The magnum contour barrel has the same muzzle diameter as my old 708 bdl but the back end scrapes the bdl stock when I put it in it.
It is really getting frustrating to pay 900 or so for a rifle that isn't as good as the ones you paid 300 for 20 years ago. The twist seems to be 9 1/4 and I would like to see it around 8 to 8 1/2. I may try one more shooting session and see if the barrel has settled in. Still I think it is going back to remington.
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Post by shakes »

So Bob have you put your order in for one of the 7-08's yet :D
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Post by Bob Mc Alice »

No way man......they are too expensive for what they are. The quality is just not there anymore. Besides, I got too many 7-08's already. ( I cant believe I said that. ) It's much cheaper to install a new Douglas match barrel ($325.) on a good used action or tear down a new SPS model.
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Post by shakes »

I hear ya. I almost bought one of these before I was turned on to the one Marvin built that was for sale.
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Post by Jerry G »

If you are shooting 1 minuet with a new factory rem you are lucky. A friend of mine bought one of the police sniper rifles with the fluted bbl and he couldn't hit the ram with two in a row off of sand bags.

He sent it back to the factory and they found a burr inside the bbl. They fixed it and sent it back to him with two targets they shot in their tunnel. One group was a little over 1 minute and the other was 1 1/2 minutes. They said the rifle was 'in spec'.
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Post by BlauBear »

There's a very good reason discriminating shooters replace "perfectly good" factory barrels.
"If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity" - TJ
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Post by shakes »

He sent it back to the factory and they found a burr inside the bbl. They fixed it and sent it back to him with two targets they shot in their tunnel. One group was a little over 1 minute and the other was 1 1/2 minutes. They said the rifle was 'in spec'.[/quote]

I'd hate to be the hostage and have 1 1/2 be "spec" and have the sniper have a hiccup when he pulls the trigger :shock:
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Post by BlauBear »

1.5" may be adequate for hunters but we demand considerably more. As a group, we demand better than 1" from rimfires running out of steam at 100 meters so what might we expect from a centerfire with more grunt? I know from experience that a good gunsmith can find considerably more accuracy in factory parts, but the factory won't push for more.
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Observations on 700 CDL and 260

Post by rich56 »

I have other Remington fluted barrels and they have that "step" in the fluting. What Remington calls a "Magnum Contour" baffles me, I was hoping for a little heavier at the muzzle, what you get is heavier closer to the receiver. The finish of the barrel wasnt as rough as others, I don't want a polished barrel on this rifle. The advertised weight is 7 5/8lb, mine weights 6# 15oz, great for hunting, I was hoping for the ads weight for hunter class and NRA Sporter rifle. The rifles initial time out shooting produced easy 3/4" groups with Sierra 120s, I've examined the rifle closely and am pleased with the wood selection, and fit and finish of the rifle compared to other Remingtons seen and owned. Lack of success of the 260 baffles me too. I only took one deer but downed it with the same authority as my 308 with as little recoil as a 30-30. I like this rifle enough to be selling my 700 VLS in 260 soon.
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Post by Jerry G »

BB, that was 1 1/2 minutes on their police sniper rifle. The trigger was well over 6 lbs and no adjustment.
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