Remington 700

[CLASSIC12]

For the better part of my shooting life I did not own a bolt action rifle. That changed in 2019 when I bought this secondhand Remington 700 SPS Tactical in .308. I really enjoy this rifle, it’s a very good shooter and great value at this price point.

Early last year I acquired a large stock of NOS ammo which included 2300 rounds of 223 Remington 55 grain Soft Point and a few boxes of Hirtenberg

I tried a few boxes in an AR-15 and in an M16. However the rifles did not seem to like this ammo as it jammed more than I like.

So when an acquaintance wanted to sell his late brother’s Remington 700 VTR in 223 I did not hesitate to buy it from him so I can make good use of this ammo

I am curious to see if it shoots as well as the SPS

The pair

 

[M29since14]

The 700 has always taken a lot of heat from the “claw extractor people.” I guess because I’ve never had a problem with any I’ve owned, and I’ve owned “several,” I’ve always been comfortable with them. There are other production-rifle actions I like better, but the 700 is not something I complain about. Nice rifles you have there. I always wanted to try a VTR but never did. How you got along without a bolt-action rifle that long amuses me.

 

[loc n load]

A nice pair of good solid rifles. I do not think you will be disappointed with the performance of the Remington 223. I am not sure what the rate of twist is in that particular model, but it should like the ammo you have there.
I have been involved in the police precision rifle community since the early 80’s. I have 40 years of experience behind Remington 700’s and As an instructor, have seen thousands of them go across my firing line in the past three decades.
The Remington 700 is predominately the rifle of choice for police SWAT snipers, usually in 308. The 223 also has a presence.
I spent last Friday shooting a Remington 308 police HB at 700,800 & 1000 yds.
Will look forward to a range report, enjoy your rifles.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I sold my 1980's Remington 700 PSP in 308 about 12 years ago. It was a great sniper rifle with 173/175 & 190 grain Lake City Match ammo. Dime size groups at 300 yards.

In 1999 or 2000 my oldest son bought a used one that had been an Ohio Highway Patrol (basically the state police) Rapid Response Team sniper rifles. His gun shot well with 150 & 168 grain Federal Gold Medal Match ammo. About 8 years after he got out of the Army, his work moved from Florida to Texas. The Marine veterans got together one Saturday a month to shoot, they invited him so they could take his money and make him buy the beer!! The range was 100, 200, & 300 yards on a private ranch, and he showed up half an hour late on purpose! The Marines were shooting AR-15 custom guns. He started shooting at the 300 yard bullseye and had a 5 shot group that measured 3/4" on the outside. The Remington won all the cash and most of the beer!

I currently have 2 custom rifles on 700 actions. The first I bought was a 22 BR with a 25-inch barrel. A good load I got from AccurateShooting.Com is a Combined Technolgies 50 grain Ballistic tip bullet at 3900+/- fps into 1/4" groups at 300. (Benchmark powder, 205M primer, and Lapus 6BR brass formed to 22 BR.

My second is a 6mm x 284 Win. I hadn't worked with this gun before I had my stroke 11 years ago. I did get to shoot a "One Shot Shoot" with it. At an unknown distance everyone gets a shot at a "large" target only those the hit are allowed to advance to the next smaller target. It turns out the first target was a 2-liter bottle of Orange soda at 523 yards. Only 3 of 25 hit, The second target was a half-liter bottle of Coke-Cola at the same distance. I was the only shooter to hit it. So, I won all the $5 entry fees! Later cardboard targets were place at that distance. I grouped that gun for the first time beyond 100 yards. I shot about 1" (at 523yards.) This load was a 70 grain Sierra Blitzking over IMR 4831SC, 210M primer, and Norma 6.5x284 brass reformed. The data came from Accurate Shooting.Com also.

Remington 700 actions are a very good platform to build an accurate rifle on! (I like a 19-ounce trigger, both of these rifles are around 20-21 ounces. Since they already work so well, I won't be changing them!)

Ivan

 

[SMSgt]

Although I no longer shoot my '75-ish .30-06 700 ADL, it's not going anywhere.

 

[H Richard]

Remington 700 rifles are legendary for accuracy and reliability. I had two in 22-250 for Prairie Dog hunting. The accuracy allowed me to have 500 yard one shot kills. This is also why the U S sniper rifle has been Remington 700 basis for a long time.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Remington 700 rifles are legendary for accuracy and reliability. I had two in 22-250 for Prairie Dog hunting. The accuracy allowed me to have 500 yard one shot kills. This is also why the U S sniper rifle has been Remington 700 basis for a long time.

Not the only thing they are legendary for...

 

[bigmoose]

I worked at Remington as a production supervisor once upon a time. I became familiar with how a 700 was produced. I talked at length with the guys and gals operating the broaches, mills, cutters, and most importantly how the barrels were made and rifled.

We would receive visiting dignitaries (military and civilian) who spoke of the capability of the 700 out in the field. Let’s just say lots of bad guys ended up being statistics due to Ilion, NY craftsmanship and centuries of know how. Remington established 1816.

Yes, I own and shoot 700s and 721s, in .22-250, .244, .280, and .30-06. All very accurate.

 

[pantannojack]

I have seen some severely buggered up 700's from new on the shelf, to pride and joy pieces that acquaintances never really tested until prodded to do so. Buggers hammered into the rifling, if anyone cared to look, half of the bolt locking lugs not making contact within the receiver lock up, screws to short to fix the barreled action to the stock inlet, rifling only visible on one side within the bore for the first inches forward of the chamber, deep bubble type gouges in the bolt face, lathe curls inside the bolt body where the firing pin striker lives. Some were very good, some were very bad, most in between. Could be why most serious shooters just buy a virgin action and build up from there.

 

[Homie]

Remington

I get great accuracy from Remington bolt guns too, but out of the box 40X's!

 

[Narragansett]

I had a 700ADL in the 60's in 22-250. Very accurate, especially with tuned handloads.

Also had a 700 BDL in 30-06. I had that customized into a light weight hunting rifle in about 1985, before lightweight rifles were popular. It has been passed to #2 son

The ADL was sold and replaced with a Ruger 77V in 22-250 in about 1976 or so. Still have that although it has not been fired in 45 years. I replaced the BDL with a Safari grade Browning in 30-06, and a 1954 Sako Mauser also 30-06. Love Mauser actions,

Actually I don't think any of my rifled have been fired in 40-45 years

 

[kaaskop49]

You got to admire how CLASSIC12 handles his ammunition situation. Cases (not boxes) seem to fall in his lap. Never forget his stash of .357 ammo of a few years back. My idol!

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[CLASSIC12]

How you got along without a bolt-action rifle that long amuses me.

Yeah I know

But there’s probably an explanation for that. The bulk of my collection and shooting is with handguns, starting in January 1989. My first rifle was a semi auto bought in 1993

The next two rifles I bought in 2009 were also semi auto

I was in my 20ies and probably considered bolt rifles to be obsolete relics of the past. I know better now

 

[CLASSIC12]

You got to admire how CLASSIC12 handles his ammunition situation. Cases (not boxes) seem to fall in his lap. Never forget his stash of .357 ammo of a few years back. My idol!

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

We are now experiencing the same situation as the US : a shortage of ammo and inflated prices, sometimes double

So I’m glad I started stocking a few years ago

Second hand ammo

 

[SF VET]

Classic12, in 223 it is important to match the bullet wt to your rifling twist. Several years ago, bought a mint used Browning X bolt 223 from my LGS, returned to the store because it just wouldn't group well. I had the same problem, using my 62 and 78 grain billets, and it wasn't great with 55 gr either. I looked up the supposed twist on Browning's website, it was listed as something like a 1 in 8 or so. But it checked the twist on my rifle with a rod and a little "flag" on the rod, and mine is a 1 in 12 twist. I think it was an older gun. And now I make up my own 40 grain cartridges, and it is supremely accurate. All my rifle needed was a bullet matched to the twist of my elegant Browning. I don't know how or why my rifle has a much slower twist than advertised. I suspect the prior owner just shot store bought heavier cartridges and gave up on the rifle. Works for me. SF VET

 

[steelslaver]

I have no model 700s. I do have a bunch of model 600 and 660s. Same basic action and extractor setup. I have 1 in 350 Remington mag, 1 in 308, 1 rebarreled to 6.5 Creedmore, 2 in 6mm Remington, 1 rebarreled to 223. I also have 2 XP100s again same action. 1 in 6mm Remington and the other in 221 Fireball.

Not once have any of them ever failed to extract and they are all very accurate.

 

[BB57]

My first thought after seeing a long and steady stream of select fire weapons that you’ve acquired at prices about 10% of the going rate in the US and with far less paperwork, expense and delay was a tongue in cheek “What? Bolt action rifles are legal in Switzerland?”

——-

I bought a Remington 700 SPS Tactical seven years ago, mostly to use the action as the basis for a build as they were selling for a little under $500 at the time. I almost immediately removed the way too bendy Hogue over molded stock. The Hogue stocks with the aluminum bedding block are fine, but the pillar bedded version Remington used was way to flexible for serious use with a sling or bipod. The X Mark trigger was also rubbish.

But with a new Bell and Carlson Medalist stock and a Timney trigger, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the rifle shot with the factory barrel. The 3/4 MOA 5 shot groups were ok but nothing to brag on.

However, the very consistent 10 shot 1 MOA groups, including the cold bore shots were impressive as the barrel was incredibly stable as it went from cold to hot. Equally importantly it does it with magazine length rounds loaded on my Dillon 550B so it doesn’t require tedious hand loading methods to get an acceptable level of accuracy and consistency.

I’m not real respectful of the self styled “long range” shooters out there who can shoot a 3 shot half MOA group at 600 plus yards - after taking 3-4 shots to walk the first round on target under ideal known distance range conditions. That kind of “precision” doesn’t hold up well in real world wind, weather and terrain.

I’ll take extremely consistent 1 MOA accuracy with a cold bore shot that is on point of aim over 1/2 MOA or even 1/4 MOA shot group accuracy, after an off target cold bore shot, every time as in the real world, it’s the first shot that counts.

I have a couple other .308s that are solid half MOA rifles, one set up for hunting and the other set up for longer range work (over 600 yards using 175 gr bullets. But this 700 and it’s 20” barrel is extremely well suited to 168 gr SMKs out to about 700 yards.

I have thought about adding a detachable box magazine from time to time but I’ve just never seen enough need to bother.

 

[BB57]

Classic12, in 223 it is important to match the bullet wt to your rifling twist. Several years ago, bought a mint used Browning X bolt 223 from my LGS, returned to the store because it just wouldn't group well. I had the same problem, using my 62 and 78 grain billets, and it wasn't great with 55 gr either. I looked up the supposed twist on Browning's website, it was listed as something like a 1 in 8 or so. But it checked the twist on my rifle with a rod and a little "flag" on the rod, and mine is a 1 in 12 twist. I think it was an older gun. And now I make up my own 40 grain cartridges, and it is supremely accurate. All my rifle needed was a bullet matched to the twist of my elegant Browning. I don't know how or why my rifle has a much slower twist than advertised. I suspect the prior owner just shot store bought heavier cartridges and gave up on the rifle. Works for me. SF VET

In some calibers, like .308 and .223, in particular it’s also important to consider how the barrel is throated.

For example, I have a Ruger 77 Mk II VT that is set up with a shorter free bore (as used to be the common practice) that works well with magazine length secant ogive 165-168 gr bullets that sit about .010” off the lands.

In a lighter composite stock, that trait along with a 26” barrel that gets the velocity of a 165 gr bullet up around 2780 fps makes it my go to open country hunting rifle.

I also have a Bergara B-14 BMP. It’s an accurate (.4 MOA) rifle but it’s longer throated and getting that accuracy with that greater free bore requires using either a long seated bullet that won’t fit in the magazine or a tangent or hybrid tangent/secant ogive bullet that will tolerate the excessively long jump to the lands.

My Remington 700 falls in between, but still shoots 3/4 MOA five shot groups with 168 gr SMKs loaded magazine length on my Dillon 550B.

In short, selecting the right bullet for the rifling twist rate and the distance to the rifling is important.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of the .308 chambered in a short action magazine fed rifles when have a long free bore that is clearly optimized for OALs that are well over maximum magazine length. They effectively become single shots, and you might as well have a stiffer solid bottom receiver. If you really want a repeater, set the free bore accordingly, and if the need is a repeater with long bullets, use a standard length action.

 

[Rubone]

Nice SPS! I bought a used 700 SPS in 270WSM from a local guy a few years back. He bought it because he wanted a .270 and didn't know the difference with a WSM. Consequently he never got figured out what he had and sold it in disgust, luckily for me! It has taken a two antelope in the last couple of years.
I have a 700 BDL in 25-06 that I have had since the early '70s and has taken many Deer, Elk, and Antelope over the years in my hands and others. And then a 700 Classic in .270 that I got just because I liked it and it was in super condition.
I could care less what the anti 700 guys say, my life is based on my experiences not anyone else's opinion, and my old BDL has served me well for 50 years now, and I am quite fond of it along with its newer siblings.

 

[biku324]

My 700 is an early 35 Whelen. It has taken bears, elk, deer, and coyotes. I've never recovered a bullet, even on a cow elk shot facing away from me - the bullet went in under the tail, out the brisket and continued on it's way. My grandson gets this one, along with the dies and brass.