My tirade against Remington CLP over in Randy's thread on cleaning the gunk off of new knives for me riled up against Remington in general. I figure this is a better place for most of that tangent....
I've gradually become disenfranchised/ disillusioned with Remington. About 4 years ago I picked up an older Remington 700 in 25-05 for $400 (I forget the exact model, but it was a nicer one). It has a beautifully figured walnut stock and a jeweled bolt. I believe it's a 1970s or 80s make. Whenever it was made, it is a fine gun. Sub MOA accuracy and easy on the eyes. It would be one of the last guns is get rid of.
I also own a 783 in 6.5 CM that I picked up for about $250 (taxes included) when DSG decided it hated guns. When you count the $50 rebate and $30 I got for the scope, it was only $170 . One of the fuglier guns I own, but it's a solid design--WAAAAAAY over-built receiver, and it owes it's accuracy to the floating bolt design Remington stole from Savage. For $170 I couldn't say no.
Unfortunately, that's about all the positive I have to say about Remington these days. Over in the knives forum I posted how Remington CLP destroyed a friend's gun. Apparently, if you're unlucky enough to buy a can of CLP from the bottom of the storage container, you might as well spray your gun with battery acid, or slather your stock in 100% DEET. Remington knows about the problem, but doesn't really care. Not their problem. They put a disclaimer on their bottle in fine print somewhere.
If your guns melt from using their product, its your fault for trusting Remington. They tried to warn you.
This seems to fit the pattern I've seen over the past several years with Remington. QC has dropped. Pride in their product is non-existent. They seem to feel they can coast on their reputation and brand loyalty without having to prove they are worthy of it any longer. Problems come to light, but as long as they can be papered over, there's no need to fix them.
How many recalls have they had over the past decade or so? I seen to recall all sorts of issues with the 770s and their adjustable triggers, among others. How many known problems are there that Remington doesn't want to deal with?
Why is it that most serious shooters who drop the coin for a 700 know they are going to have to pay a smith another few hundred bucks to true the bolt in order to get an accurate gun? If we're dropping $600-1k on a rifle, why do we accept that we need to pay even more money to make it shoot straight? Why isn't that taken care of before it leaves the factory? It's especially galling when you can spend less than $300 on a Savage Axis, or $350-450 for Remington's 783 budget line and have guaranteed sub-MOA accuracy out of the box.
On a more personal note, I got a Remington pocket pistol in 380 a couple years back. It was $100 after rebate. How could I say no? I'm a sucker for an amazing deal The problem with it is the takedown pin that holds the rail in place.
Most guns require you to line up the takedown pin with a notch in the slide, then rotate the pin to disengage it from a mechanically locked position before you can remove it. Even then, it requires some force to take that pin out.
The Remington? Not so much. A thin, smooth pin that looks like someone clipped a piece from a coat hanger is all that stands between you and weapon failure All I need to do is slightly cant the gun when racking the slide and the takedown pin starts to slide out of the frame, jamming the gun and rendering it useless. The pin literally fell out and onto the floor once as I was racking the slide.
The gun was designed to fail! ANYONE who shot that gun during ANY phase of testing would have been aware. I'm positive the engineers must have known this was a problem. Why any company would put that on the market that way is completely beyond my capacity to understand. It is the absolute CHEAPEST way you could design and manufacture a takedown pin, and THE WORST design on this simple yet CRITICAL part I have ever seen!
I understand cost savings, but this is a gun designed to be your last line of defense. I can't trust that this gun won't malfunction the second I pull the trigger. If the gun can jam trying to rack the slide, will that pin potentially fall out enough to jam if I accidentally hold the gun at an angle while shooting, or if I need to swap mags?
Remington is really losing it. No clue who the CEO is these days, but it's clearly not someone who enjoys firearms, or even understands them. When a company is willing to compromise not only on materials, but on safety and reliability, I'm not so sure I want to keep supporting it.
Business is a two-way street. Dan and Jerry get that. That's why we have this forum. We like Bussekin both because the products are great, and because they treat their customers well.
-- If there's a problem, they fix it.
-- They have, over the years, implemented manufacturing changes that have reduced their costs, but their products haven't declined in quality as a result.
-- They are responsive to their customers.
-- I can't see Dan knowingly sell a batch of knives with defective Res-C handles because they were made with material from the bottom of the vat. If, somehow, defective materials made it out the door, they fix the problem.
And so on...
In short (he said ironically), I'm no longer a fan of Remington. Unless there's a stupid crazy deal (like the ones I got above), I'll look to other manufactures first for my firearm and firearm accessories needs (he said channeling Hank Hill).
Now, back to your originally scheduled day.
I have a Marlin 30-30 XLR and it's one of my favorite rifles. I have a 16" Mossberg 30-30 that needs some love, but it will need to wait till I have time to find a load with a fast burning powder so I don't get blinded by the flash in broad daylight.
