Remington 700 Cdl Sf 7mm Mag Review
Janie Leverone
One Year Update: Just a heads up that the battery on this thing crapped on me after a year. Bummer. From the reviews, this apparently is an issue on some production runs? Your mileage may vary of course.
About the Author: Ryan N. is a professional web developer for (and alum from) the University of Delaware, who keeps a close shave as to not be confused with his strongly-bearded twin brother. He plays guitar and drums, loves going to concerts with his wife, and loves being a dad.
While most electric shavers feature a combination of one slit foil (for longer hairs) and two or more regular foils, Remington went for a less conventional approach, using just one perforated foil, flanked by TWO slit foils.
It also performed great in our month-long review, constantly providing comfortable and very close shaves. Other cheaper Panasonic razors that are also worth considering are the ES8243A, ES-LL41-K, and ES-LT67.
Before we get into it, I should mention this is our in-depth review of just this gun. But, we also have done a much broader review of the best five guns $350 and under. So after you read this post and you understand this gun, you should go check out that larger review as well.
So we pulled the Remington 783 out of the box and right away, it was at the bottom of our list. I hated the build quality. For a composite stock, it feels like cheap plastic. It feels like a BB gun stock. We own air rifles that are way better than this.
Also, the plastic sling studs should definitely be metal. Please give me a metal sling stud and make it feel like a grown-up gun! We were very frustrated with the quality of the sling studs.
The stock is cruddy and just feels crappy. The magazine seems fine, but we did have some major issues with loading. We also had issues with the bolt. The bolt has a nasty catch that gets better as we shoot it more, but it still catches. We have shot it a lot and it still catches.
This has happened with some of the other guns, but you can get the magazine in and you can get it to clip, but if the back is not all the way clipped in, it struggles to grab the shell, the bullet itself as it moves forward.
We shot some Winchester ammo where we had a round that was dangerous. In the video clip below, you can see that there was a live round in the gun and the bolt was completely frozen. That was a very dangerous situation. It was stiff the whole time and I had to manhandle it to get it. It was completely unacceptable. It was the eighth round through with the gun and I could not get the bolt to open.
Once we started trying different loads, it fed better. It would catch, but it would not get stuck. Eventually, it would probably work out to be okay, but it still bugs us that out of the box it is that bad. It was just at that moment that I was nervous, but it ended up being okay.
The safety on the Remington 783, out of all the guns we bought, ticked Rickey off. It is on black metal. It has a black punched S & F. It is hard to tell if the safety is on or not. We know that it is pretty standard that when it is pulled back it is on safe, but it is easy to get confused. It really feels unsafe compared to other rifles.
The Remington did redeem itself pretty well and made its way back up the list when you look at the out-of-the-box trigger pull compared to other guns. It would be nice if it came out of the box a little lighter.
We shot eight groups with two different types of ammo from 100 yards, bench rest. The median of our three best groups, because we are going to make mistakes on some of them, was 1.243 inches. That is not bad at all! I was happy with it. In our testing, compared to others it was not the best, but it is a very solid performer on the range. That is what it really comes down to. It did fine.
Ricky said that if he had $350 and he was going to buy a hunting rifle, this is not the one he would buy and I completely agree. From an accuracy standpoint, and this is the gun you own, you are going to be fine. But if he has a choice of what he is going to buy, this is not the one he is going to get.
Another reason I would not pick this gun is that the scope is trash. You may as well throw it away right when you get it. I was very nervous to take the first shot because you have to get really close to the gun to see in the scope. I was about an inch away from the scope and it felt a little dangerous. You can see in the video below how nervous I was.
We measured the eye relief with a tape measure, and on all of the other guns, you had a full view through the scope about 2 inches away. With the Remington 783, I was only 1 inch away to get a full view. If you have a 7 mag, and one inch from your forehead, you are going to get scoped. Ricky has been scoped and it does not feel good.
That is our totally unbiased, we bought this gun with our own money, we do not have a horse in the race review. That is the Remington 783. Now go check out our five gun review of the all the best guns under $350.
Jim Harmer is a host of the Backfire Youtube channel. He has managed multiple gun ranges, and has hunted around the world. He is a well-known entrepreneur, having started many successful online brands, and lives in St George, Utah.
Backfire LLC owns and operates this website. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Commissions are earned for links to Brownell's, Amazon, MidwayUSA, GoHunt, OpticsPlanet, Sportsman's Warehouse, and other retailers.
Some of the most famous gun writers of old - Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor and Warren Page, to name a few - were not really considered to have sparkling personalities, if you know what I mean. If they didn't like something, they said it, be it a about certain gun or a person. They were also contemporaries, and gun writer lore tells us they didn't care much for each other either.
Now let's get this part out of the way: I write about guns, but I do not consider myself a gun writer in the genre of Keith, O'Connor, Page or some others from the golden years of gun writers. I just don't. It may be true that I will occasionally crank out something about a rifle, shotgun or ammo worth looking at, but I don't put myself in the league of the giants. Just trying to keep it real, folks.
Now more than once here in these pages, I have told you maybe no other group is as romantic and nostalgic about the gear and accessories for our sport as we hunters and outdoorsmen (and that means girls, too, remember). A favorite knife or firearm handed down from those who first took us afield is precious to us and usually cannot be bought for any price. Iconic brands of firearms have been imprinted into our psyche and are there forever, whether we like it or not. Remington, Winchester, Browning and Savage are some of the gun makers from back in the day we will always think about, no matter how many new brands come along.
Proclaiming that any gun is the best or most popular is dangerous and will get you into arguments at the barbershop and hunting camp. Having said that, there is no doubt the Remington 870 is the most popular and widely sold shotgun in the past 50 years. (Mossberg 500 fans will argue about this.) All over America, there are Remington 870 shotguns stored in closets, behind the seat of trucks and in the corner by the kitchen door. American sportsmen have taken everything from deer to ducks to turkeys with this old favorite.
Introduced in 1961, the 870 rose from the ashes of the Model 31. Remington sought to deliver a strong, dependable, modern shotgun at a moderate price, and that is exactly what the company did. The original Wingmaster version of the 870, while tough, was also very aesthetically pleasing, having deep bluing and glossy walnut stocks.
In 1987, Remington introduced the 870 Express line. These shotguns featured black matte finish on the metal, and hardwood, laminated wood or synthetic stocks and forearms. Sales increased with the Express, and in 2009, Remington sold its 10 millionth 870, making it the best-selling shotgun in history. (That total has since passed 11 million.)
Most of you out there know of Remington's troubles in recent years, and in fall 2020, the company went through yet another bankruptcy and was divided up and sold at auction in several different pieces. The ammunition division of Remington was bought by Vista Outdoor, which owns Federal ammunition, and the Remington ammo plant in Lonoke, Arkansas, has been producing ammunition under the same Big Green brand for some time.
One of the things I am apprehensive about for Remington is it was announced recently that 30 employees at the arms plant in Ilion, New York, would be laid off for 30 days. If this is only temporary and not a major problem remains to be seen.
If I understand it right, the group that bought the firearms side of Remington, including the ancient plant in Ilion, did not obtain the copyright on the Remington logo and name, so firearms produced there now will be known as RemArms. If I am corrected about any of this later, I welcome it.
One reason I am vague about some of the particulars here is that I am unable to speak to anyone at the new regime at RemArms. If there is a public relations side of the company or folks who deal with the media, I have not heard from them. Now to be fair, I maybe understand those now producing guns at RemArms have spoken with gun writers higher up the totem pole than me. There have been reviews on the "new" 870 in some of the major venues, and they have been largely complimentary. I welcome the chance to be contacted by the new company.
For you longtime Remington 870 fans, let me calm some of your fears and say I don't think you will be disappointed by the latest version. I think most of you will find it almost identical to the old 870. Again, though, I am unclear on something. The early reviews of the gun called it the Express model, like the one produced since 1987. The 870 that I procured is called the Fieldmaster, and the best way I might describe it to you is it resembles something between the old Express model and the fancier Wingmaster that Remington made.
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