Remington or Winchester? Question for the Group

Question for the Group:

At the risk of setting off a 'Ford vs. Chevy' debate ( I myself are partial to Fords), who makes the better center-fire bolt-action? Remington, Browning, or Winchester?

I am looking for one in .30-06, and they are all looking very similar. What are the good and bad points on each?

center-fire bolt-action? > Remington, Browning, or Winchester?

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or RUGER????????

Of the big four 'American' rifle makers, only Remington and Ruger are American owned. Browning-Chester is/are French-owned. Sound parochial? Tough. Deal with it.

I've had good luck with both Ruger and Remington rifles in .30-06, .308, ..280 Rem, .338 Win Mag and 7mm Rem Mag. Never owned a Winchester bolt rifle. They just seemed pretty undistinguished and undistinguishable to me, not to mention I bought my first centerfire rifle in the Summer of 1964, when Winchester Rifles had, overnight, turned into ugly, poor-functioning P.O.S.'s (or is it P.'s O. S.). Never owned a Browning, either: too pricey and too damn heavy & glossy. Where I end up is: if you want the controlled-round feeding of the original Mauser design, get yourself a Ruger (Oh all right. . .or a Winchester). If you don't care about controlled-round feeding and/or want what seems to be a marginally better out-of-the-box accuracy and smoothness, get a Remington. At the moment, I own more Rugers than Remingtons, but a little Remington M7 s/s in .308 is my very favorite for deer hunting in the northern Maine puckerbrush (with a Rem 7400 .30-06 autoloader as a close second). For the plains and/or 'bigger' stuff, a brace of s/s rugers in .280 and .30-06 do the trick. Either of these two would do just fine by itself, but they both shoot so nicely, I can't bear to give either one up. I long ago gave up anything bigger than an '06 with premium bullets as unnecessary outside of Africa. . .and I have no plans (only dreams) to 'do' Africa.

Cheers,

Hank Jackson

I own, or have owned, 3 Model 70s, 6 Model 700s, and 1 BBR (7mm). The one that spends the most time in the woods is a 700 ADL .270. It's barrel was 'floated' right out of the box, unintentionally of course, but I've read that it helps improve accuracy. I'm no expert by any means, but I have been hunting/shooting for 38 yrs, and cosmetics aside, I prefer Remington. I was a firearms buyer for a major department store, back when they sold guns (sporting goods changed to ankle high socks with fuzzy balls on them). Remington, then and now, has, in my opinion, excellent customer service. I also use an 11-87 SPS Camo w/ 21' bbl for turkey hunting, and it too is a fine firearm. Most people will advocate what they use, so this, again, is just my 2 cents worth.

Good Hunting Be Safe

And - in bolt actions, past and present - Dakota, Weatherby, Ruger, Savage, Colt, Marlin, Ithaca, Mossberg, Smith & Wesson, Howa, CZ, Brno, Sako, Mauser, Tikka, Sauer, or Steyr? Matthew, it's the rare rifleman who can shoot up to any of them at the bench, let alone under field conditions, so you are for the most part comparing 'red delicious and granny smiths.' Regarding bolt actions I've had much of my good luck with Remingtons, but I've had some fine hunts with Sakos and Springfields, and done some good range work with Rugers and Mausers. A really good trigger is as important as anything, and those on the Remingtons seem a little easier to tune up if you are a do it yourself type, but a good gunsmith can improve most of them. Personally I'd pass on any with an injection molded plastic stock; otherwise buy the one that fits you when wearing your hunting clothes and suits your sense of what a rifle ought to look like. Fit it with a 4x scope (before they're all gone) and get the range. There is still time to practice before deer season. Good hunting! Michael

For the best bang for the buck, one you didn't even list, Savage. For the additional dollars, it becomes a matter of what style safety you like and out of the box accuracy. From what I've seen lately, Remington has a smoother action than the Winchester, so a look at Marlin, which has a 3-position safety, might be in order.. I personally dislike Browning, but that's just me.

Sam A. Kersh NRA Patron Member L.E.A.A. Life Member TSRA Life Member GOA, JPFO, SAF

I just purchased a Ruger M-77 Mark II in .30-06 and am very pleased with it. I too was only considering between Winchester and Remingtom when somebody recommended that I try the Ruger. I did and it fit me the best. Very nice rifle. I fit it with a Leupold VX-II 3-9x40.

Carl

In reading other boards a year ago I was hearing a lot of complaints about quality control in Rugers. Right now there are lots of complaints about the same in new Remingtons and those about Winchester are increasing since their move to a new plant.

Savage are not pretty and may need some trigger work (as do almost all new 'lawyer approved' guns) but consistently get high marks for excellent accuracy exceeding the other makes.

Though Browning and Winchester are foreign owned they are produced with American labor just as are many of our 'Japanese' cars. There are those too who are boycotting Ruger because of Bill Ruger's support of the 10 round magazine limitations.

Though overseas produced CZ and Tikka seem to be getting the best reviews right now.

Dodge and Ruger, in that order.

Bob

Gravity.... It's not just a good idea, It's the law.

If you are partial to Ford then get a pre 64 winchester. It will look better in the back window.

At the risk of setting off a 'Ford vs. Chevy' debate ( I myself are partial to Fords), who makes the better center-fire bolt-action? Remington, Browning, or Winchester? I am looking for one in .30-06, and they are all looking very similar. What are the good and bad points on each?

Well, not to offend any browning fans, but I wouldn't buy a bolt action browning. There's no feature I can think of nor any that I need they have that some other company doesn't do better.

Remington rifles are typically more accurate and have more accuracy enhancing aftermarket stuff available. If the range you hunt at is short enough that the accuracy differences don't matter, then Winchester's CRF feature might be valueable. I like the bigger wing safety on a Winchester, but I like the safety which doesn't travel with the bolt, ala Remington. Both are somewhat lacking in variety of calibers which come with laminated stocks: advantage goes to Ruger.

I could definitely see going with a Remington for varminting where ultimate accuracy makes a difference. Unless you get a lemon, any of the big 3 (well, 4 if you include Browning) should be adequate for deer at reasonable ranges. Again, if the shooting gets far, my leaning is toward Remington.