remington 700 7mm rem mag build

[elkh8me]

I just bought a Remington 700 and am looking to have a rifle built.  I am planning on using the gun for hunting elk and doing some long range shooting.  I want a barrel that isn't to heavy to pack around.  Here are my?
1. I live in the Graham Eatonville area need to gun builder-gunsmith recommendation.
2. Barrel brands and types
3. Do I need to switch out the bolt.

$ is somewhat of a concern.  I welcome your thoughts and advice.  The caliber is 7mma rem mag

[Guy]

Excellent rifles - very accurate - and they understand hunting: http://www.rbrosrifles.com/

Also, Rick at http://www.freudscustomrifles.com/

Both R-Brothers and Rick Freuedenberg build very, very good rifles. Rick has done some work for me, and I've shot some R-Bros rifles.

The 7mm is a great cartridge. Recoil isn't bad at all (seems about like a .30-06 to me). Accuracy can be very good. Biggest game I ever took with mine was a good sized 6x6 bull elk. Used a handloaded 175 gr Nosler Partition, one shot drop. Complete penetration. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

I like a Krieger barrel, but there are many excellent choices avail these days.

Switch out the bolt? Not likely - depending on what your rifle is and what you want it to be... If it's already a magnum, and you're building a magnum - no. If it's not a magnum, say it's a .30-06, then the bolt face will need to be opened up. That's an easy operation for a competent gunsmith.

Regards, Guy

[coachcw]

whats the budget ? you can put 2k into it real quick so we need to know how to spend your money  . Wich rifle did you buy ? Do you reload ? Do you allready have glass for it ? Let the fun begin !

[h2ofowlr]

Benchmark barrels, does a dandy job on a rifle for about $2k and up.  They are located in Arlington, WA.

[rbros]

You won't need to switch out the bolt if the donor is a magnum action already.  Use a 9 twist barrel in the 26"-28" range.  A fluted Rem varmint works perfectly as a balance between portability and long range accuracy.  Have the chamber setup correctly and you won't be dissapointed.  I build a ton of 7RM's setup this way.  Mild recoil, great ballistics, decent barrel life.  You should see 3000-3040fps in a 26-27" barrel using Retumbo and 180's if the chamber is setup correctly.  Run the numbers through a ballistic program and you will like what you see for sure.