I have a Remington 700 in .243 that is about 5 years old. I am looking to invest in this gun to make it more accurate, looking to buy a new stock and possibly new barrel.

What would you guys do to make this gun a tackdriver ?

Put a good stock on it and shoot good hand loads.

New trigger.

no catch, are you suggesting a new trigger al together or a trigger job ?

Soon after I purchased my Remington ADL .270, I took it to a professional gunsmith and had him reduce the pull to a very crisp 2.75 pounds. Of course it did nothing to improve the accuracy of the rifle, but did wonders for the accuracy of the shooter.

I also have the triggers on my Browning .243 and new Winchester Model 70 adjusted to their minumum 3 pound setting. The new jeweled trigger that Winchester is now putting in the Model 70 is very sweet.

What are you going to use this rifle for?
What kind of accuracy are you getting?
What kind of accuracy do you want?

My recommendation, in order of importance:

1) trigger job on existing trigger
2) shoot good ammo (whether it's factory or handloads). But handloads will ALWAYS out shoot factory ammo.
3) good scope
4) PRACTICE
4 1/2) take a shooting class

5)If you have the funds, a new barrel will help (once you shoot the factory barrel enough to know you NEED a new custom barrel). But good ammo or good ammunition develeloped for YOUR rifle will yield you the best accuracy, even in a factory gun. 3/4 MOA accuracy is about the norm for most factory rifles for long range shooting. Tighter groups at 100 yards is not uncommon, but groups open up the further out you shoot.

Add- 6) Free float barrel and bedded the stock

Glass bed it. Ive used epoxy with a waxed barrel. So you can do it cheap. The other is pillar bedding. Metal tubes that can be installed by hand. Or in a drill press.

I bedded 1inch under the barrel. As the epoxy sets up. It's soft enough to trim. Does not compress. Solid fit.With just enough epoxy for it not to show unless you look down the gap.

10/22's are good projects. They get sharp with bedding and a factory barrel.

17HMR CZ 452 Varmint. You aim for golf balls at 100yards, before and after. It's a huge increase. Nicked golf balls fly off. Center, and they POP.

You get more center hits with a bedded action.

Just be careful. Accuracy is addicting and relentless.

I put a new trigger and stock on my 700 and it made a significant difference. Then I started reloading and that's when my groups really started being more consistent.

I'm also in the camp of trigger being the 1st and foremost accuracy change. Unless you know of a specific gunsmith near you that has previous experience and confidence in doing 700 trigger work, then I suggest getting an aftermarket. While I'm still on the fence about the whole 700 trigger incident, it is pretty clear that several that had the issue had the trigger modified. There are no such issues with a Timney or Rifle Basix or Jewell. To me, the difference in cost was worth the peice of mind.

drop in trigger takes only a few minutes and you dont have to send off to smith and wait. I would recommend doing one change at a time and measuring improvements. It is easy to order a whole bunch of parts and spend a whole bunch of money for minimal or no gain.

I cant believe nobody asked but what/how is it shooting now? Some things may not get better.

A Ruger 10/22 trigger job. It's not the same thing. I was ringing an old fake hand grenade, hung by a chain, off a house sign frame, at 135yards. Bulk ammo. The trigger makes the rifle.

I did.

Have it properly bedded into a good, stiff stock. Have the trigger lightened & smoothed. That will help a bunch, usually, & gives you a good idea of the rifle's true potential. Carefully tailored handloads will help even more.

It is unlikely that you need a new barrel. Good Luck!

trade it in for a savage.

^^What he said^^

6) or replace the stock all together with a Stockade gunstocks, Manners or Mcmillan.

Ooops didnt read close enough.

using 95 gr ballistic silvertips and a mediocre scope I am getting 1.5" to 2" groups at 100 yards on a bench. I am defintely investing in a better scope first thing, next week. I am thinking of doing the trigger next and see how the scope + trigger job does for accuracy. I am building this rifle for my 13 year old daughter so I am looking for accuracy but also want minumum recoil which is why I am looking at changing stock potentially.

the best thing for accuracy is handloads, all the other stuff does very little

Those groups do kinda suck.

Ok, before you run off of a peanut gallery cliff think of it this way.

Ask your self these 3 questions:

Does this rifle have senimental value if I change it drastically?

Does this rifle have senimental value if I sell it to fund something better?

At what point will I be happy?

I am a military armorer and when I retire I'll do some part time gunsmithing. As stated above the persuit of accuracy causes people to do stupid things.

If you don't want to change it drastically then here are 5 things you can do in this order to increase accuracy:

1. Pressure bed the forend, simplest, easiest gun fixer upper. Might work, should work, may not work. Get yourself some business cards, and soak them in some kind of human friendly oil. Start by losening the front receiver screw, and slide a business card between the barrel and stock in the very tip of the fore end. Try one shoot two groups, then try 2 thicknesses then shoot to groups until things get better or deteriorate.

2. If that didn't help insure your scope isn't broke, the mounts are not pinching the scope, and all action screws are tightened to around 35-65 inch pounds. If the scope mounts are suspect for consideration try new ones.

3. Get the stock glass bedded as long as it is not a plastic one. If it's plastic you can do it, but the final result is usually not so great. You might try opening up the barrel channel, then going to step 2 once the receiver area is bedded. Also try shooting it without any bedding with the barrel free-floating.

4. Try Tubbs final finish barrel treatment fire lapping products, we have had excellent use with this. In factory barrels.

5. Get a trigger job, or swap your trigger for an aftermarket one. $50-300.

This is as far as you can go without changing the visual appearance of your rifle.

6. Time for a new barrel, the stock is less critical for accuracy, especially you already did step 3. When selecting a gunsmith for a new barrel insure they will true the face of the action, lap the lugs for bearing surface, and recut the action threads to square.

7. Time for a new stock. This is probably won't help if you made it this far. But it's nice to have a stock that fits you. Propper bedding by a good gunsmith will insure that steps 1-6 are not in vain. Nothing wrong with wood, laminate, metal chassis systems or fiberglass. Remington M700's have the most stock options available.

8. Scope and Scope mounts for your new treasure> Everyone has different ideas on what scope mounts they like and what they supposed to look like. I personally hate Talley's QD model, I don't think it's attractive. To me scope mounts should be made out of steel. Warne makes really good scope mounts out of steel with good bases and rings.

NO!

Handloading is important, but crap in crap out.

You can't turn a $300 Walmart Remington M700 ADL into a 1000 yard varmint rifle just by handloading.