The Practical Rifle Part 1: Remington 7600

Scarcely heard of outside of Australians, the Amish, and the Benoit brothers, the Remington Model 7600 is rather unusual in being a pump-action centerfire rifle. The 7600 was preceded by the Model 6 and Model 760. It largely resembles a Remington 870 pump shotgun, the receiver is about the same size as a 20-gauge 870 receiver, and a 20-gauge 870 stock may be fitted to the rifle. Significantly, the 7600's barrel is fully free-floated.There are plenty of other writeups on the design and history of the Remington pump rifles, so there's no sense in duplication of effort. This post will be one part theory, one part rifle review.

What Is A Practical Rifle?

Unlike Jeff Cooper's scout rifle concept, there is no hard-and-fast definition of the practical rifle. I'd argue that this is a good thing, as the scout rifle concept is often used by keyboard warriors as a hammer with which to attack those who build a good, sensible rifle that slightly varies from one of Cooper's specifications. "Not a scout", they say. If it meets the needs of the user, who cares?

My vision of the practical rifle is simple: it is to be functional for all applications for which one would require a rifle. This is to say: hunting, pest control, and self-defense against two-legged and four-legged predators. With this in mind, I'll lay out a loose set of criteria for the High Desert Partisan Practical Rifle.

1. Chambered in a cartridge capable of humanely taking all dangerous animals, as well as game up to Class 3 (if present), encountered in the area in which the rifle is to be carried
2. A repeating action capable of accepting reliable detachable magazines (or en bloc clips, which have an ultimately similar function)
3. Equipped with a quality riflescope with a maximum low-end magnification of 3x
4. Equipped with a two-point sling or strap for carrying and as a shooting aid.
5. Mechanically capable of shooting at least 2 MOA (roughly 2" groups at 100 yards)
6. Possessing correct weight and balance to allow the shooter to carry the rifle all day without undue fatigue
7. Barrel length of 22" or less
8. Sufficiently low felt recoil to allow twenty rounds to be fired without flinching or significant discomfort, and to allow rapid followup shots

Many of these criteria are subjective or variable. Of course they are! A practical cartridge for Alaska is massively overpowered for central Florida. Likewise, comfortable weight varies based on the rifleman's strength and stature. A rifle chambered for a .30-30-class cartridge is quote appropriate for the Southeast, but a rifleman in brown bear country will probably opt for a .30-06-class cartridge.

Detachable magazines are essential for the practical rifle. As moronic anti-poaching laws in some jurisdictions forbid carrying a loaded rifle in a vehicle, the ability to quickly bring the rifle into action is contingent upon a reliable magazine. The magazine must be extremely reliable; test each magazine you acquire before putting it into service. Detachable magazines, when several are carried, also dramatically increase the utility of the practical rifle in a worst-case self-defense scenario involving multiple assailants. As civil order in the US continues to degrade, this is a scenario worth preparing for.

The various varieties of open sights are fundamentally unsuitable for a practical rifle. They offer none of the advantages of good aperture sights or a quality magnified optic. Open sights are imprecise and no faster to acquire than a wide "ghost ring" aperture. Aperture sights excel on the range with visible known-distance targets, but begin to falter in low light and with poorly-contrasting targets. Therefore, I suggest a magnified optic with a maximum low-end magnification of 3x. Beyond 3x, I feel that close range snapshots become unnecessarily difficult - the practical rifle is not a bench gun. Low power variables with ranges like 1-3x, 1.5-4x, 1-4x, and 1-6x are very flexible tools, and moderate-power variables with magnification ranges of 2-7x and 2-10x are a bit better for longer shots. A 3-9x is about the limit of what I would mount on a practical rifle.

The sling or strap is a very valuable accessory for the practical rifle. It reduces fatigue by transferring some of the rifle's weight off of the rifleman's hands. Offhand, by using the hasty sling technique, it aids in stabilizing the rifle to improve practical accuracy.

I specify 2 MOA for coyote and other pest control applications. A coyote's vitals average six inches in diameter. Allowing an inch of variance to be conservative, the 2 MOA specification happily allows the practical rifle to hit a coyote's vital zone out to 200 yards. It's not a half-klick varmint slayer, but it doesn't really have to be, either. On Class 2 game such as deer, and Class 3 game such as elk, 2 MOA is far more accurate than needed for a humane kill. Consider the following: practical accuracy is a combination of the mechanical capability of the rifle, and the skill of the shooter. The more variables (such as rifle accuracy) that we can take out of the equation, the better the rifleman's practical accuracy will be. For this same reason, I do tend to favor flat-shooting cartridges, as they are more forgiving of errors in range estimation.

My Remington 7600 Practical Rifle

Theory is great, but actually outfitting and shooting a rifle is much better! My first practical rifle is based off a Remington 7600 chambered for .270 Winchester. The pump action is significantly faster than a bolt action in most field positions. I am left-handed, and while I can shoot a rifle right-handed, it is not my preference. A pump is ambidextrous, making this point moot. My 7600 was purchased from a shop in Anniston, Alabama and then mailed out west to my transfer agent.

.270 shoots flatter than .30-06 and recoils a bit less; in my eye this makes it more desirable in a rifle that may be called upon for shots at unknown ranges and quick follow-up shots.

The author's Remington 7600-based practical rifle

I have a preference for a steeper grip angle than offered by most traditional semi-pistol-grip stocks, so I selected a Magpul SGA shotgun stock for my rifle. This stock requires slight modification with a Dremel tool and hand file to mate with the 7600's smaller receiver. I removed the upper lug from the stock, reprofiled the lower lug to fit the receiver, and slightly beveled the stock to better match the receiver's profile. It will fit, and I find that the recoil pad and grip angle make for a very comfortable rifle to carry.

For an optic, I selected a Leupold VX-Freedom AR 1.5-4x low power variable. I have a Trijicon TR24 on my AR-15 carbine that could fit the bill, but the Leupold is lighter and features a reticle with stadia lines for longer shots. The green triangle reticle of my TR24 requires some Kentucky windage beyond about 250 yards - excellent for a combat optic, but less than optimal for a Western hunting rifle. The Leupold only weighs 9.6 ounces compared to 14.4 ounces for the TR24; both weights are sans rings/mount.

The sling is a simple USGI nylon strap. It fits the bill for carrying and shooting without being obtrusive.

Results of three-shot groups with three different factory loads from Winchester and Federal

Five-shot group with Federal Power-Shok 130-grain; bottom shot was a called flyer

I shot about forty rounds through the 7600 this afternoon, to sight it in and determine which load(s) it shot the best. I have dabbled with metallic cartridge reloading in the past and was not overly enamored with it, so it's factory loads for the time being.

150-grain Winchester Power-Points did not shoot well for me today. I think this was a combination of me getting used to the rifle, and it not really liking 150-grain projectiles. Both the 130-grain Power-Points and 130-grain Federal Power-Shok shot quite well. All of the above groups were shot at 100 yards. The 130-grain loads held between 1 and 2 MOA, with two same-hole shots using Federal. Horizontal stringing tells me I could likely improve these groups further as I get used to the 7600's trigger; it feels quite different from the two-stage Larue MBTs with which I've gotten most of my centerfire rifle trigger time.

I did notice that the Winchester cartridges were loaded to a longer COAL than those loaded by Federal. Both Winchester loads had a habit of occasionally hanging up below the feed ramp, resulting in damage to the exposed lead tip of the projectile; I did not experience this problem with Federal. After today's results, I ordered a case of 130-grain Power-Shoks.

Aftermarket ten-round magazines are available for the 7600. I purchased a pair from National Surplus in Las Vegas. Neither would feed Winchester Power-Points whatsoever and National's website does not have a functional return function so I am looking into a chargeback as they sold me defective merchandise and cannot be contacted. Another magazine that I believe to be a Triple K feeds perfectly fine. These magazines fit nicely into USMC surplus hand grenade pouches, which are readily and cheaply available. I bought several at the Knob Creek machine gun show for $2 each a couple years ago.

A few quick snapshot and double-tap drills at roughly 25 yards went smoothly. The 7600 points nicely and follow-up shots come rapidly for me. I have a lot of time on Remington 870-pattern shotguns, and can make full use of that muscle memory.

I'm looking forward to polishing my skills with the 7600 practical rifle. Its accuracy appears to be on par with many bolt actions and it is far more useful as a defensive rifle, not to mention for southpaw shooters.