0.3" Groups? Pull My Other Finger, It Has Bells On It...

Glenfilthie

Glenfilthie

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I am going to sue the turkeys at Remington and possibly you guys here in the forum on general principles! What the hell, I will sue all the gun shops too! All I need is a slimey lawyer with no self respect or ethics...wonder where I can find one of those...?:confused:

Here's the deal:

I bought one of those plain Jane chit house Remington 700 SPS Tacticals with the 20" heavy pipe, and Hogue rubber stock in .308. Everyone I spoke with and all the gurus on the net orate, pontificate and bloviate about what an accurate little gun this thing is - and I admit it looks like a tack driver right out of the box! I mounted a Swarovski 3x9 on it because it will be a hunting gun for the most part. I figured some Nosler Ballistic Tips, plunked down on top of some RL15 and I would be off to the races!

I tried 150 grain Nosler BT's with book charges and a chronograph. All the loads produced 1.5" groups with RL15. "Hmpffff!" says I. I tried various charges of 4320. All the loads produced groups around 1.5".

Okay, so I will bump that up a bit: 168 grain Nosler Ballistic tips on my favourite powder, RL15. All the groups came our around 1.5". Why is this happening? All my rifles LOVE Nosler Ballistic Tips! Now, I'm mad! I'm on sandbags. The scope is mounted up tight. I'm shooting off a concrete shooting bench. I know I am not the problem becuase I shoot sub MOA all day long with my Ruger No.1 Varminter. Why can't I do the same with this goddamn thing?!?!?

So I put my targets up at 200m. What happens? 1.5" groups! For everything!!! So I see an asnine pattern going on here. Is this besh*tted rifle going to shoot 1.5" groups at 1000 yards too????

I am going to try to calm down, and try some 180 grainers and maybe some Bergers in this rifle and if I don't go sub MOA...either you guys get lawyers or I will get a psychologist and some meds!

Cripes...why can everyone else shoot one of these and I can't?:mad:

Any accuracy tips or helpful antipsychotic drugs are sincerely appreciated.
 
With ALL factory guns some shoot well out of the box and others don't. It is not a "precision" rifle. Like the Z-24 Chevy Cavalier, it is a bargain with fancy clothes.
You can try a box of federal gold medal match and see what happens. There are still so many things that need to be tried - all assuming you are capable of shooting better than 1 MOA. I'd try a match bullet in the gun, stick a bullet near the lands and work up a powder load properly before picking one load and hoping it works. RL15 is a good choice if the temps outside are moderate otherwise find some varget.
 
How many rounds down the pipe? I find barrels can often shoot-in, becoming more accurate after a couple hundred rounds.

Has it been properly cleaned out, with copper solvents and all that?

If you got 1.5 MOA at 100 yards, then moved out to 200 yards and got .75 MOA with the same load, sounds like there might be an issue with the shooter. You are likely trying harder (even unknowingly) at 200 and doing something right, or at least being a little sloppy at 100. Have you let someone else, a known good shooter, blast off a couple groups, just to see?

How is that stock? Specifically, how is the bedding. Given how easy it is to Epoxy bed, that is one of my first steps, regardless if it is a mucho-super-target stock or not.

I have an older Remington 700 HB in 308. Shoots like a hot damn with Nosler 168 BT's. But then, it shoots like a hot damn with most bullets, so there you go.
 
Haha I have the same rifle when I first bought it (highly changed now) and It hated 168 grain bolster ballistic tips. I went to 180 gr ballistic tip over 43.5 grains charger in nosler mlcustom brass and cci 210 match primers

With this load I was an easy .5moa all day and sometimes better.

1:10 twist .308 20"
 
.3 groups 10 out of 10 times, need every conditions to be perfect, rifle, scope, reloads, shooter and temperature condition, one .3 a year is luck... JP.
 
Have you tried throwing the gun at the target? :)

When I got my SPS Tactical the first thing I noticed was the pillars, they were covered in rubber and never cleaned up at the factory. I'm pretty sure a cushion on top of the pillars is counter productive ;).
Worth a look.
 
Firstly, as I am sure you know, factory rifles are a bit more of a crap shoot that customs but having said that most of the Remy SPS' I've seen are good shooters. Some recommendations:

Buy a box of FGMM - 168's will be fine and are likely easier to find than the 175's. This will be your 'benchmark' ammo
Loose the crappy hunting scope - I'm sorry, good maker and good hunting scope but inadequate for what you are trying to do

Now try

Still problems ?

Loose nice to touch but crappy stock. Find better one like a take off from a R5 or spend more money and get something like a McMillian ( one on EE now ) or, if it is to your style get something like MDT or AICS

Try again
 
I suspect the .3" group stories with factory rifles are just internet groups...as that would be pretty unusual for a 30 cal topped with a 9 power scope.
 
Was going to say that's one sweet scope for hunting but not precision work. Also, try match ammo instead of hunting loads. What kind of rest? How much clearance do you have between the barrel and stock while on a rest? Check out LoneWolfUSMC's videos on Youtube, he has a budget build based on a 700 Tac that I'm emulating in a .223.
 
sooo youve bought a budget target rifle.. hears stories on the internet that it shoots .3MOA out of the box... now your mad cuz your budget rifle doesnt do what 5000$ customs do?
 
I had one. It shot really well after I bedded the action. Bedded the barrel channel with some lead shot and tungsten rods to stiffin it. Added some lead shot and expanding foam to the butt stock. Then I swapped out the trigger for a timney.......

10 shot group at 200y....... Just under 3"! Hornady 168gr match ammo. I went back to the LGS and bought every box they had! (12 boxes)

I also have one in .223. It got the same treatment. Doing ladder tests at 200y, I had one really promising group that measured .67"....... Never to be repeated again! Best 5 shot at 200y is .94"!

It was a lot of peeing around but worth it IMHO!

Cheers!
 
broncoo said:
try varget
Click to expand...

It works.
46 grains +-, with 155gr Amax. Seated nice and straight with little to no runout.
If that combo doesn't shoot, there are other problems with the rifle or scope.

Bedding: The last few SPS's I've tuned needed some work. If the sun shines on the one side of the forend, it will warp the stock into contact with the barrel ... horizontal stringing on target.
The action/stock area must be zero stress bedded to shoot those tiny groups.

Cleaning: Some bores need regular thorough cleaning. Watch for "carbon ring" just in front of the chamber. CR10 and JB bore paste works for me.

Most of them will tune up to 1/2 MOA shooters in still air.
 
Every Remington I had was "blessed" with a very long throat. So long on some of them that loading ogive-to-lands wouldn't allow magazine feeding.

Try backing off 1/2 grain or so and loading them five to ten-thou into the lands. Maybe. Do you have or have access to a bullet comparator and OAL gauge?
 
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