Remington Model 700 Ultimate Muzzleloader Frequently Asked Questions


Remington Large Rifle Primers #9-1/2

 

You might want to read through all the articles/reviews on Randy's web site. Lots of great info on the Rem 700 Ultimate.

 

They can be decapped and reprimed using any sizing die that a .308-class case fits into. Resizing is not required as no combustion takes place inside the cases. I use Federal GM 215M primers mainly because they are what I keep on hand.

Ed

 

Thank you! I thought they looked like they could be reused.

 

Shortly after the rifles came out, I was able to meet with a representative from Remington's parent company who told me that the gun's price was being lowered $350 (it was) and that the barrel on the laminated stock version would probably be shortened four inches, giving them a "carbine" version and also lowering the weight some. That never happened and the rifles don't seem to be well-received as I haven't seen one on a display rack in some time. Shop owners and gun department managers have told me they feel it is too costly both to buy and shoot if the customer has to buy new "ignition systems" instead of repriming them.

But the darned things are a unique alternative to the traditional inline muzzleloader.

Ed

 

Yeah, I think my neighbor paid around $800 for his with no scope or mounts.

 

The Michigan Not So Ultimate BP Xpress Rifle

Actually, the 700 Ultimate has done extremely well. It came from the ultimate rip-off, the "Michigan Ultimate" that sold for $2500 -$4000. The Remington is a far better rifle, with a far better breeching system, and sells for a small fraction of the Michigan Ultimate price, with a lifetime warranty. It isn't hard to understand why it has sold better than expectations.

A bolt-action is obviously more expensive to make than a hinge-pin hammer gun and of course it will weigh more. With the loads the Remington Ultimate is capable of, some wish it weighed 5 lbs. more than it does.

 

Well, in Pennsylvania - and I get to most of the state on business and spend my lunch break in gun shops - dealers will only order one in for customers who have paid a big chunk of the cost in advance. They just have not been big sellers hereabouts and a check on GunBroker shows that out of 508 completed auctions, only three ended with the rifle being sold. $700 seems to be about the going rate for new ones.

I've considered making mine an organ donor for a target rifle. A stainless steel short-action single-shot Remington 700 action with a standard (.308-size) bolt face is a great basis for something in 6mmBR, for example. But now that I found a recipe it shoots acceptably well, I put that idea on hold but it still is rattling around in my head. My T/C Encore ProHunter is a lot lighter and accurately digests most anything I feed it. The ability to shoot 200-grain (by volume) powder charges is a moot point in my area of Pennsylvania as our shots on deer are typically much shorter than 300 yards - my longest shot has been 151 yards. The most powder I drop into one is 110 grains and the deer don't know they weren't shot with a shoulder-thumper. But I guess that powder capacity might be a benefit "out west" or if you shoot from mountainside to mountainside.

Ed

 

There is a lot more you can do with a muzzleloader than just short-range deer hunting.

 

I don't know, I've never seen any of them critters in Pennsylvania...

Ed

 

Think I'll get a bowl of popcorn and a Pepsi and watch!

 

Well, far be it from me to just watch....i am not about to knock anything either of you are saying as I am sure you are both knowledgable on the subject. My primary hunting partner and I both carry the savage ml10 for our week long muzzleloader season. We don't do much long range shooting during this season, that comes during our rifle season beginning next Saturday. With that being said, we have both been amazed at the power these things have and are quite happy with them. Since they are hard to come by, my neighbor opted for the remington. He was talking to himself as things weren't going well but near the end of the process he started smiling. The proof will be if he gets a shot this week on a decent buck.
As with all of our shooting sports, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. If it shoots where you want it to, fits and does what you need it to, it's a great gun!

 

I lived in a county that didn't allow rifles. Shotgun, handgun or ML only. I switched to an XP100 SS pistol in 92 then to a Savage ML until I moved out of NYS. Still have both but live if Fl now. All I need to do is find out where to hunt deer & hogs. I looked into a rem. mL but decided I didn't need one as I have 2 savages.

 

They do hit hard, don't they?

 

I've never loaded mine with more than 150 grains by volume of propellant but with more I bet they hit hard both ways!

Speaking of hitting hard, a friend and fellow gun club member was shooting his old Winchester Epex(?) muzzleloader this morning and became distracted, causing him to double-charge it with 220 grains of Blackhorn 209. The scope's ocular lens cut into his nose, his shoulder hurts and the action is frozen but the gun didn't grenade. I loaned him my T/C Encore ProHunter for next week on the condition that he load it with no more than 100 grains of Alliant's Black MZ.

If you haven't tried that propellant, you should. It smokes less than anything but Blackhorn 209 (and it doesn't smoke a lot more than 209), doesn't leave a Pyrodex/Triple 7 "crud ring" in the chamber, cleans up with regular water-based black powder solvents, is non-corrosive, is as accurate in my two guns as 209 and costs a whole lot less. Around here, a pound of Black MZ costs about $25.00 while 209 is $38.00 for just 10 ounces! If you're opposed to using loose powder, Alliant also sells Blue MZ, basically the same thing in pellet form.

Ed

 

Alliant's Black MZ.

If you haven't tried that propellant, you should. It smokes less than anything but Blackhorn 209 (and it doesn't smoke a lot more than 209), doesn't leave a Pyrodex/Triple 7 "crud ring" in the chamber, cleans up with regular water-based black powder solvents, is non-corrosive, is as accurate in my two guns as 209 and costs a whole lot less. Around here, a pound of Black MZ costs about $25.00 while 209 is $38.00 for just 10 ounces! If you're opposed to using loose powder, Alliant also sells Blue MZ, basically the same thing in pellet form.

Ed

"Black MZ" is just the same old low velocity, erratic American Pioneer crap with a different label. "Blue MZ" is nothing more than Triple Seven pellets with a different color, made by Hodgdon.

 

Don't know your heritage but you surely must be Scottish if you're concerned about reusing shotgun primers. Where I live primers are $25.00 a thousand (plus 7% sales tax). That works out to 2.7 cents per primer. I figure, even if you shoot 20 rounds to sight in and 5 rounds killing a deer you would have saved $.67 less what ever the material cost to "reprime" the primers. So - figure you saved a max of $.65 !

Might be a better way to save a few pennies - just say'in ! ! Perhaps you could pick up the used wads from the trap and skeet ranges, wash and dry them, and reuse those. Just a thought.

 

The Rem. ML they are talking about uses a different primer system, Not a 209 Shotshell primer. It looks like a cut down rifle casing.

 

If you say so, Randy. If I've learned one thing from our discussions, it is that you are always right but I do have a question. If Blue MZ is just Triple 7 in a different color, why does it smoke less and not leave a "crud ring" in the barrel? I'm sure you'll have an answer for that.

Amboy, he is referring to the brass "ignition systems" the Remington muzzleloader uses that are quite similar to shortened .308 WIN cases primed with large rifle magnum primers. That rifle doesn't use #209 shotgun primers in a breech plug like other inlines.

Ed

 

If Blue MZ is just Triple 7 in a different color, why does it smoke less and not leave a "crud ring" in the barrel? I/QUOTE]

It doesn't smoke any less that I can discern, and it does leave a crud ring, as does the "white" IMR White Hots. Pick your color, grey, white, or blue . . . same stuff, all from Hodgdon.

 

Randy, all I can say is that your experiences and mine differ greatly. I'll leave it at that.

Ed

 

Ed, great move on "leaving it at that". One dare not cross Wakeman

 

I use a savage 10MLII with 5744 smokeless powder and love it. It doesn't need to be cleaned anymore then a regular rifle.

 

I use a Savage 10MLII. I have to clean the plastic out of the bore when the groups start opening up. The last round doesn't load any harder than the first unlike using BP substitutes in my other ML's.

 

I agree with the cleaning when groups start opening up. I also went to a 300 grain xtp. Seams like they stabilize a bit better. I've grouped it out to 300 yards.