New .308 Project UPDATED - Range Report

[50calshooter]

OK so I'm starting a new .308 project, I wanna make sure I buy the right rifle to begin with. I wanna buy the Rem 700 SPS Varmit in the .308. Now this rifle is the short action version. My plan is to eventually change the stock to either a B&C or McMillian and also do a Badger Mag system. And even longer down the road I'll end up changing the action and barrel, It will basically get to the point where no original parts will exist. So do I have the right rifle to begin with? Or do I need the long action version to do said upgrades? In other words does the short action limit me on doing future upgrades? I just wanna make sure I buy the right version of the model 700 so that I can work with it over the years and upgrade along the way..... Let me know, Thanks

 

[Glock4ever]

Ummm, why would you want to change the action? You have the right set up to learn on and upgrade but you probably want to keep the action. LA won't give you any real advantage of the SA; SA are stiffer so they tend to be a little bit more accurate nothing you will see with a factory barrel though. I would say get the VBull system over the badger but that is a personal recommendation more then anything.

 

[Obtunded]

Upgrading a 700 incrementally makes infinite sense and the action is just fine.

 

[50calshooter]

Ummm, why would you want to change the action? You have the right set up to learn on and upgrade but you probably want to keep the action. LA won't give you any real advantage of the SA; SA are stiffer so they tend to be a little bit more accurate nothing you will see with a factory barrel though. I would say get the VBull system over the badger but that is a personal recommendation more then anything.

My thought behind changing the action down the road was just simply a future upgrade, tighter tolerances, stainless perhaps etc. etc.

 

[Glock4ever]

If you want that true your action or replace the bolt with an aftermarket one it will be tighter and give you excellent performance. If you decide to go into the BR game you might want to get a true custom action but Rem 700's will do the job well

 

[LongDraw]

A trued 700 action will shoot just as good as any custom repeater action.

 

[maynard]

Buy a cheap Remington action and thread a custom barrel onto it. If you are going to go to the expence of a Badger or VBull mag conversion, what are the chances it will work the the next action you upgrade to. What is the problem with the good old 700 mag system?
Although I do not use a mag for most of my long range shooting (single shot bolt gun) the Remington mag on my hunting rifle works very well.

 

[Glock4ever]

The Rem 700 dm series is alright but:

a. doesn't look cool

b. can sometimes misfeed esp the short action ones.

 

[alberta tactical rifle]

A trued 700 action will shoot just as good as any custom repeater action.

ABSOLUTELY TRUE!! However you won't find weird stuff like right hand bolt with left hand port, longer barrel tenon, or sheer bling with a 700.
The big advantage of using a plain old 700 action is if the shooter is not up to the task, he can always blame the equipment

50cal you are doing this the most expensive way possible if you intend to replace the action.
Best to buy the 700 and upgrade it, replace the barrel when it has been shot out, but stay with the 700 action as not all custom actions will drop into the footprint of a 700. I know our actions will not without some stock modifications like moving the recoil lug forward and widening the entire inlet.
This is not huge, but time is $$
If the plan is to go full blown custom, just do it and save a ton of dickin around and spending money you will never recover.

 

[50calshooter]

Buy a cheap Remington action and thread a custom barrel onto it. If you are going to go to the expence of a Badger or VBull mag conversion, what are the chances it will work the the next action you upgrade to. What is the problem with the good old 700 mag system?
Although I do not use a mag for most of my long range shooting (single shot bolt gun) the Remington mag on my hunting rifle works very well.

It is next to impossible to find "Just the 700 Action alone" Thats why im stuck buying a whole new gun, secondly this version of the SPS has the floor plate IE no detach mag and I also want a Mag system that holds more than 3 rounds...

 

[50calshooter]

ABSOLUTELY TRUE!! However you won't find weird stuff like right hand bolt with left hand port, longer barrel tenon, or sheer bling with a 700.
The big advantage of using a plain old 700 action is if the shooter is not up to the task, he can always blame the equipment

50cal you are doing this the most expensive way possible if you intend to replace the action.
Best to buy the 700 and upgrade it, replace the barrel when it has been shot out, but stay with the 700 action as not all custom actions will drop into the footprint of a 700. I know our actions will not without some stock modifications like moving the recoil lug forward and widening the entire inlet.
This is not huge, but time is $$
If the plan is to go full blown custom, just do it and save a ton of dickin around and spending money you will never recover.

Understood, the idea is to slowly build it over time, I may not neccesarly change the action if I can tune the 700 up... And as far as the barrel goes that was exactly my plan....change it once the stock one is shot..... getting back on track, Do you think my rifle choice is a good one to work with over the years? and what are the pros and cons of SA vs LA?

 

[BeerBaron]

I have pretty much started down the same path you intend to. I bought an SPS varmint in .308 earlier this year as my first centerfire. I'm not using it for hunting, just for shooting. My intentions are learning the basics of shooting, reloading etc with this rifle, then upgrading piece by piece down the road. I have managed to work up several reloads that average around 1MOA for me, granted my shooting experience is limited and I'm shooting off a bipod on the bench. Someone with more experience and a better rest could probably do better than me. I have managed to shoot a couple (am I mean litterally like 2 or 3...) half MOA groups, but these are definitely not the norm.


I have almost 1000 rounds through the gun now and I'm starting to look into upgrading the stock and mag system. I'm thinking like you B&C, Mcmillan or I'd consider HS as well. I'm just having trouble deciding whether I want to spend my next little bit of firearms money upgrading this gun or buying an M14s or Ruger 22/45. Ahhh choices.

In other words I think your rifle choice is a good one. The sps only comes in short actions, and with your desired caliber (.308) you'd be getting a short action anyways. .308 is a great caliber to learn with as it is relatively cheap, available, and not too punishing in the recoil department. You will also get excelent barrel life. Unless you decide you want to switch to a LA caliber in the future, SA is definitely the way to go. There are plenty of higher performance calibers that will fit your short action too. (IE 6.5x47, .260 etc)

 

[Mystic Precision]

How about plan B?

Get a Savage 10FCP with an HS or McM stock right away. Bed the action, tune the accutrigger to a nice 2lbs pull, a bit of work on the camming surface to reduce bolt lift.

You now have a sub MOA rifle with a center feed det mag that can holds 4 shells just under 3" OAL. There are kits to turn these factory mags into 9rd capacity. Working on it.

An oversized bolt handle that can be changed in under a minute if you want a different style.

When you burn out that barrel or get bored of the 308, a barrel swap is easily done. You will not need to spend more money mucking with the action.

Saved yourself over $1000 vs mucking about with the Rem.

Now if you do want a Rem, get a PTG bolt properly fitted, action trued and you have a platform that will work just as well as any Rem clone custom.

The V Bull mag system is super nice and a worthy investment.

Jerry

 

[alberta tactical rifle]

Understood, the idea is to slowly build it over time, I may not neccesarly change the action if I can tune the 700 up... And as far as the barrel goes that was exactly my plan....change it once the stock one is shot..... getting back on track, Do you think my rifle choice is a good one to work with over the years? and what are the pros and cons of SA vs LA?

True Remington now only sells complete rifle, so unless you like the 700P stock from HS, the SPS line is the best route to go, same action and barrel except in finish, but a cheap disposable stock that you won't loose any sleep over throwing away..
A short action is the only route to go if you intend to use anyones mag system .
I have a couple of old mag conversions that allow for the use of a long action with a short caliber like 308, but in all honesty they are rubbish.

For a short time the M40s were built on long actions, but quickly abandoned once the feed issues erupted.
If you were thinking single shot then maybe just so you can long seat your bullets, the short action may have a slight bit more stiffness, but not enough to be concerned over, any mag fed action is missing alot of metal to begin with.
I am running both V Bull and Badger, when we could get them, mag conversions in the 308s I custom build, both use the Accuracy Int. mags which work like a charm, the mag length is what dictates how long you can seat your bullets. The VBull has the advantage of being available in Canada readily, Badger is non exportable at this time, whether that gets sorted out, who knows.
I am shooting 190 gr SMKs mag length with fantastic results. I have built 10 other rifles this spring that all are using 175 and 185 gr VLDs mag length and they work great too.

As much as I would like to promote our actions as being better, which they will be, in all honesty a precisely put together 700 based rifle will be just as accurate. The instances of real tight tolerance actions having issues is far higher than what a 700 would experience. Same as using a Countach as a daily driver, it will do it but there are far more maintence issues that what a Honda would experience.
Coooool factor however.

 

[Glock4ever]

Aw Jerry! I knew somebody was going to pipe up with the Savage talk. He already has the Remington so I think replacing the whole gun with a Savage is not a terrible idea but there is no fun in doing that. Custom guns are much more fun then plain jane Savages. Besides when he gets to that level when he is shooting .25 MOA vs .5 MOA - how can he blame his flier on his eqpt when he has a custom gun?

 

[50calshooter]

True Remington now only sells complete rifle, so unless you like the 700P stock from HS, the SPS line is the best route to go, same action and barrel except in finish, but a cheap disposable stock that you won't loose any sleep over throwing away..
A short action is the only route to go if you intend to use anyones mag system .
I have a couple of old mag conversions that allow for the use of a long action with a short caliber like 308, but in all honesty they are rubbish.

For a short time the M40s were built on long actions, but quickly abandoned once the feed issues erupted.
If you were thinking single shot then maybe just so you can long seat your bullets, the short action may have a slight bit more stiffness, but not enough to be concerned over, any mag fed action is missing alot of metal to begin with.
I am running both V Bull and Badger, when we could get them, mag conversions in the 308s I custom build, both use the Accuracy Int. mags which work like a charm, the mag length is what dictates how long you can seat your bullets. The VBull has the advantage of being available in Canada readily, Badger is non exportable at this time, whether that gets sorted out, who knows.
I am shooting 190 gr SMKs mag length with fantastic results. I have built 10 other rifles this spring that all are using 175 and 185 gr VLDs mag length and they work great too.

As much as I would like to promote our actions as being better, which they will be, in all honesty a precisely put together 700 based rifle will be just as accurate. The instances of real tight tolerance actions having issues is far higher than what a 700 would experience. Same as using a Countach as a daily driver, it will do it but there are far more maintence issues that what a Honda would experience.
Coooool factor however.

Awsome thanks for the advice Rick, I will definatly go with a short action SPS. I'll come drop it off when I need the new stock installed/bedded, In the mean time could you PM me on the prices for the B&C stock that is fairly plain (the one you have on your website), I also would like a price on the B&C with all the bells and whistles (odessey?), aswell as the McMillian A5 with all the bells and whistles too. Thanks again Rick talk to ya soon

 

[redman]

If the plan is to go full blown custom, just do it and save a ton of dickin around and spending money you will never recover.

For what you seem to want to do, this piece of advice seems the most sound to me.

aswell as the McMillian A5 with all the bells and whistles too.

I buddy of mine recently got a Savage 10FCP McMillan that has this stock (without bells & whistles) and let me tell you that you will NOT be disappointed. The pistol grip felt superb in terms of thickness (and I have pretty big hands), the texture of the rifle was top notch and I especially liked the curved part under the rear stock to allow for fine adjustments with the non-trigger hand. I might be biased because similar features are found on the stock of my own rifle , but nonetheless I feel you will like it.

 

[Mystic Precision]

Besides when he gets to that level when he is shooting .25 MOA vs .5 MOA - how can he blame his flier on his eqpt when he has a custom gun?

WOW, you obviously don't shoot in many matches. The excuses we come with would fill volumes of pages.

Ever hear the one about the waitress putting in reg. coffee when you ordered decaf?

Or the shooter beside you with a larger cal disrupting the air just before you shot? Those DAMN 308's....

Jerry

 

[rishu_pepper]

mystic, you should tell 50calshooter to buy a Shilen off you, then there will be no excuses for fliers

 

[CyaN1de]

WOW, you obviously don't shoot in many matches. The excuses we come with would fill volumes of pages.

Ever hear the one about the waitress putting in reg. coffee when you ordered decaf?

Or the shooter beside you with a larger cal disrupting the air just before you shot? Those DAMN 308's....

Jerry

Hmmmmmm....those 2 sound vaguely familiar.....