Remington Model 700 Titanium Lightweight - NRA Museum

1 62 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN November 2001In recent years, Titanium hasreceived increasing attentionfrom gunmakers, as its com-bination of strength and Lightweight makes it ideal for weight-sensitive applications such ashandguns for concealed offers the additionalbenefit of being impervious tocorrosion from water, sweat andother substances to which gunsare often its advantages, tita-nium has been used for majorstructural components of bolt-action rifles by only a handfulof custom and semi-customgunmakers. The introduction in2001 of the Remington 700 Titanium Lightweight marksthe first time a major Americanmanufacturer has entered thetitanium rifle Titanium Lightweight isessentially a Model 700 Moun-tain Rifle with additional weight-reducing features. Both short-and long-action variants areoffered, with the former cham-bered in .260 Rem. and 7 mm-08 Rem. and the latter in .270 .30- 06 Sprg. The rifle scapacity is three rounds in theblind internal magazine in itsADL-style stock.

2 Despite its name, only thereceiver of the TitaniumLightweight is made of titani-um; the rest of the rifle is ofsteel. While the gun s titaniumreceiver is in large part respon-sible for the its light weight some 11 4lbs. less than itsMountain Rifle sibling othermodifications also contribute toweight reduction. For example,the bolt has six " wide spi-ral flutes around its body, askeletonized bolt handle and ahollowed-out bolt , the rifle sports anew Bell & Carlson carbonfiber/Kevlar composite stockthat is both trimmer and lighterthan its Mountain Rifle coun-terpart. That stock, which isdesigned to exert upward pres-sure on the barrel at the fore-endtip, features quick-detach slingswivel studs, a 3/4" rubberbuttpad and aluminum beddingpillars around the stock Titanium Lightweight smain story, however, is itsreceiver. The exact titaniumalloy used is proprietary, but isdescribed by Remington as a commercial aerospace-gradetitanium alloy.

3 According tothe company, the titaniumreceiver is fully as strong and ashard as receivers made of themore familiar chrome-molyand stainless steels used in gun-making. Shooting tests seem toconfirm that, as the TitaniumLightweight passed the same10,000-round factory en-durance test to which otherRemington rifles are shot a .30- 700 Titanium Light-weight for accuracy at 100 sandbags using FederalMANUFACTURER: Remington Arms Co., Inc.(Dept. AR),870 Remington Drive, Box 700, Madison,NC 27025-0700;(800) 243-9700; :.260 Rem.,.270 Win., 7 mm-08 Rem.,.30- 06 Sprg. (tested)ACTION TYPE:bolt-actioncenter-fire rifleRECEIVER: Titanium alloy OVERALL LENGTH:421 4"BARREL:22"RIFLING:six-groove, 1:10"RH twistWEIGHT:51 4lbs. (short-action), 51 2lbs. (long-action)MAGAZINE:internal, three-round capacitySIGHTS:none, receiverdrilled and tapped forscope mountingTRIGGER:single-stage,51 4lbs. pullSTOCK:Bell & Carlson car-bon fiber/Kevlar compos-ite: length of pull, 131 4";drop at heel, 11 4"; drop atcomb, 11 8"SUGGESTED RETAILPRICE:$1,199 Model 700 TiThe American Riflemanhas used the phrase Dope Bag at least since1921, when Col.

4 Townsend Whelen first titled his column with it. Eventhen, it had been in use for years, referring to a sack used by target shoot-ers to hold ammunition and accessories on the firing line. Sight dope also was a traditional marksman s term for sight adjustment information,while judging wind speed and direction was called doping the wind. WARNING:Technical data and information contained herein are intended to provide informationbased on the limited experience of individuals under specific conditions and circumstances. They donot detail the comprehensive training procedures, techniques and safety precautions absolutely nec-essary to properly carry on similar activity. Read the notice and disclaimer on the contents consult comprehensive reference manuals and bulletins for details of proper training require-ments, procedures, techniques and safety precautions before attempting any similar Model 700 TitaniumLightweightThe Remington 700 Titanium Lightweight is ahighly specialized rifle offering powerful cham-berings in an extremely light, handy recoil is the price paid for the TitaniumLightweight s extreme High Energy loadswith 165-gr.

5 Sierra GameKingBTSP bullets, RemingtonExtended Range loads with178-gr. flat-base soft-point bul-lets and Winchester High-Velocity loads with Point Plus were no malfunctions ofany kind. The results of thosetests are given in the accompa-nying table. Best grouping was obtainedwith the Federal load, which pro-duced a " average for fiveconsecutive, five-shot load also boasted the mostpower, pushing a 165-gr. bulletto an average of 2968 and3,228 of energy. Averagegroups of " and " wereproduced by the Remington andWinchester loads, was stiffwith all loads, aswas to be expectedwith a rifle thatweighs only about61 2lbs. with a 3-9 Xscope installed. Wetest-fired the rifleusing a PAST recoilpad; even so, theTitanium Light-weight s kick madeshooting techniquemore critical andlikely limited thedegree of accuracy we wereable to obtain. The gun s recoil made scopemounting (and scope quality)more critical as well. The scopeoriginally mounted on the gunhad to be replaced because itsreticle began to wander, possi-bly as a result of recoil.

6 We alsofound that we had to tighten therifle s scope rings more secure-ly than usual to prevent thescope from creeping forwardwith each factor that mayhave influenced performancewas the speed with which thebarrel became hot. Typically,after only about five to sevenrounds were fired at a moderatepace, the barrel became far toohot to touch comfortably. Eventhe synthetic fore-end becamenoticeably warm. This level ofheat could produce variations inthe barrel/stock contact,affecting grouping. Onthe plus side, the Titan-ium Lightweight is amaz-ingly light and yet verywell-balanced. The tex-tured surface of the syn-thetic stock allows asecure grip, and the min-imal rearward slant of itscomb keeps the gun fromslapping the shooter sface, even with the stiffrecoil generated by thehigher-intensity Remington700 Titanium Light-weight is a highly spe-cialized rifle offeringpowerful chamberingsin an extremely light,handy package. Whileit is clearly not for theplinker or occasionalhunter, it will likelyhave strong appeal tothose whose huntingconditions requirethem to spend manyhours on foot withtheir rifles slung ontheir RIFLEMAN November 200163 The TitaniumLightweight s bolt fea-tures six spiral flutes, askeletonized bolt handle,and a hollowed-out boltknob to further reduceweight (r.)

7 The boltshroud incorporates thecompany s firing-pinblock safety lock. TheTitanium Lightweightretains the MountainRifle s slender 22" bar-rel with a recessed muz-zle crown (top r.). Thebarrel measures " in diameter at itsmuzzle. The new riflefaithfully adheres to thefamiliar Remington 700pattern. The TitaniumLightweight features anADL-style new Bell &Carlson compositestock. Note the alu-minum bedding pillars(arrows) around stockscrew holes (below).The Remington700 TitaniumLightweightoffers severalpopular cham-berings in anextremelylight, all-weather 06 @15' Energy RecoilGroup Size In InchesCartridge( )( ) ( ) Smallest Largest AverageFederal P3006Y2968 Avg. 3, 165-gr. BTSP GK16 SdRemington , FB SP13 Sd,Winchester SHV30061 3034 Avg. 3, Power-Point Plus 18 SdAverage Extreme average velocity for five rounds from a 22" barrel. Range temperature:91 F. Humidity: 71%. Accuracy for five consecutive, five-shot groups at 100 yds. fromsandbags. Abbreviations: BTSP (boattail soft point), FB (flat base), GK (GameKing),Sd (standard deviation), SP (soft point).

8 SHOOTING RESULTSDPMS Lo-Pro RifleMany shooters lookingfor an accurate AR-15-type rifle have foundprice to be a major the cost of a service-graderifle or carbine running $850 to$1,000, some shooters have set-tled for less-expensive, less-capable rifles while others havechosen to go without. DPMS, amanufacturer of AR-15-stylerifles and components since1986, hopes to reach out to thoseconsumers with the idea behind the compa-ny s Lo-Pro was to create anaffordable AR-15-style rifle withthe features shooters want, anddrop those that inflate cost yetoffer little benefit in terms of per-formance. A number of factorsdrive up the cost of an AR-15-type rifle, including forged alu-minum receivers as well as anumber of vestigial militaryrequirements, some of dubiousutility to the average gun include the forward assistplunger, ejection port dust coverand other features that are out-right detrimental to the perfor-mance most shooters want.

9 Forinstance, a chrome-lined borelimits accuracy and a carryinghandle hinders the use of a could always count on desir-able custom features such as un-lined barrels and flat-top uppersadding even more to the DPMS Lo-Pro, cham-bered for .223 Rem., features around-contour "-diameter161 2" long, 4140 chrome-molybull barrel. To maximize its accu-racy potential, there is no chromelining, and it has a recessed muz-zle crown to protect the rifling sorigin. The lower receiver isinvestment cast from aircraft-grade aluminum alloy, while theupper receiver is an aluminumalloy extrusion with 1/4" thickwall dimensions for extrastrength. Each is Mil-Spec hardcoat anodized, and DPMS goesa step further by adding a blackTeflon coating to aid durabilityand lubricity. Both upper andlower receivers of the examplesent to us were free of voids andpits from lieu of screws, the upperand lower receivers are con-nected by standard capturedpins at the front and rear.

10 To pro-vide the firer with a more solidfeel, a polymer Accu-wedgemakes for a tighter fit betweenthe two. To maximize economy,66 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN November 2001 MANUFACTURER:DPMSP anther Arms (Dept AR),13983 Industry Ave.,Becker, MN 55308;(800) 578-DPMS, :.223 TYPE:gas-operated, semi-automaticcenter-fire rifleRECEIVER:extruded alu-minum upper, investment-cast aluminum lowerOVERALL LENGTH:341 2"BARREL:161 2" chrome-moly steel, " diame-ter, round contourRIFLING:6 grooves, 1:9"RH twistWEIGHT:7 lbs., 2 :detachablebox, double-column,synthetic, 10-roundcapacitySIGHTS:none, Picatinny railfor attachment of Weaver-style ringsTRIGGER:single-stage,61 2-lb. pullSTOCK:synthetic: length ofpull, 13"; drop at heel,1/2"; drop at comb, 1/2"ACCESSORIES:two 10-round-capacity maga-zines, nylonsling and cleaning kitSUGGESTED RETAILPRICE:$655LO-PROThe Lo-Pro willaccommodate com-mercial and surplusAR-15/M16-stylemagazines and isprovided with twoclear synthetic maga-zines with a capacityof 10 rounds Lo-Pro has no forwardassist, brass deflector or ejec-tion port inherent accuracypotential of an AR-15-style riflecries out for a scope, yet scopebases that attach to the carryinghandle tend to shift or wobble,and the height of the carryinghandle requires a cheek pad toraise the shooter s head highenough to see through the scopeand still maintain contact withthe stock.