Rem 700 VTR 308

Craig0ry

Craig0ry

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Anyone else shooting a VTR in 308? Been having issues with mine as of late, when I had the factory green stock on it, it would shoot 1/2 groups at 100yrds consistently with 155gr bergers and 44gr of RL15 for a few years, One day I made a mistake and free floated the barrel as the stock pressed on it fairly good, after I did that accuracy took a major nose dive. I decided to put a new stock on it, a hogue SPS stock. tried it with the loads that used to work so well and it still wasn't doing what I wanted, decided it was time for an upgraded scope and trigger so Put on a vortex and timney then made a plethora of different loads while trying to stay in the 150-155gr range that the rifle had liked so much in the past, still couldn't get my groups better than 2". So it was time to bed and free float the stock. Took it out on Monday with some tester loads I had made up of 150gr Nosler E tips and a range charges with RL15, Varget and BLC-2, I made 3 separate clover leaf groups at 100yrds with 48gr of BLC-2 and 150gr E tips, so decided that was the new load for me, So I cleaned the rifle tonight with a new cleaner Montana Extreme Copper Killer. Loaded 12 more up this evening with 48gr and 12 with 49gr of BLC-2. went out this evening to give em a whirl as there wasn't a breath of wind and shot 2-3" groups at 100yrds with no consistency over either load.

So now Iam sitting here dumbfounded wondering how a load that shot so well only 2 days ago didn't shoot very well today? Is it because I cleaned the barrel? I started off with 3 factory fmj's to remove any residual cleaner

So the rifle as it sits now

Remington 700 VTR in 308
Hogue over-mold Stock bed and floated
Timney trigger, cant remember whats its set at, but very light
Vortex Viper HST 6-24x50
20moa rail
And I've been shooting off rest bags the whole time

I don't know what to do :confused::confused::confused:
 
Maybe not clean it so much. I don't touch(clean) the barrel until accuracy begins to fall off. That might be 150 rounds on a 223.

Seems understandable that accuracy can change after removing a barrel pressure point or with a complete stock change but after dialing it in and then cleaning it with copper remover? Sounds like you may want to "foul" it up with 10 or so rounds and retry the groups. Then quit cleaning it.
 
skypilot said:
Maybe not clean it so much. I don't touch(clean) the barrel until accuracy begins to fall off. That might be 150 rounds on a 223.

Seems understandable that accuracy can change after removing a barrel pressure point or with a complete stock change but after dialing it in and then cleaning it with copper remover? Sounds like you may want to "foul" it up with 10 or so rounds and retry the groups. Then quit cleaning it.
Click to expand...

To be honest this gun does not get cleaned very often at all, I can count on one hand and I've had it for 6 years. I just thought with all this new copper fouling remover rage I would give it a try. Looked closer at the bottle too and it says its meant for 50BMG :S the fumes nearly killed me
 
In for updates. Ive got about 100 rounds thro mine so far all at 100 yards 1" groups. Ive heard mixed reviews on this rifle but so far i love it. Its in an archangel alum bedded stock.
 
I have the same rifle/cal. as you but in the factory stock. When I first got the rifle it shot decent with one of my hand loads, bedded the action and stiffened the stock and floated the barrel. I knew I would have to work up a new load after this work was done. had a hard time finding a good load with 155's went up to 168's and bang found the load for it. Not sure how or why but it liked the 168's better. Also jumping a full grain of powder when doing loads up is a big jump, try moving up in .5 or .3 grain increases for the first few you try out. Sounds like you may have had some copper build up in the barrel that your barrel and load may have liked, so foul the barrel with the bullets you are planning on using long term (not FMJ) around 10-15 shots should do it and see what happens. its all trigger time so its not a waste. Check your torque on your action bolts too they may have backed off a bit in a new stock.
 
If that is the same hogue stock that's on the aac-sd and the sps tactical I would look there. That stock is very flimsy and there are people who have bedded it and widened the barrel channel and still had poor results. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
I'll load some more up tonight and hopefully get out this week, the action screws are torqued in at 45 inch lbs, so I don't think there is an issue there, I have some 165gr bullets I can load up and try aswell if these don't sort themselves out, which is too bad I like the 150gr bullet. Thanks for the input fellas, I'll keep you updated
 
I cut the silly gimmick muzzle brake off mine and recess re-crowned.
Pillar bedded it in the original green stock and installed a Timney trigger.
I get 1/2 - 3/4" 3-shot groups @ 100 yds with the 165 grain Nosler partition bullet over Varget powder.
2.5-10x40mm Bushnell Elite 4200 scope on top.
 
Once I got it shooting shooting how I wanted the next step was to remove the fakey brakey, I know a gunsmith who will install a functioning triangle break for me, but since the fake one hasn't given me grief with accuracy before, Iam ruling it out. Iam going to start calling my rifle a bit sleezy, since she obviously does her best work when she's a little dirty


Gunoholic said:
I cut the silly gimmick muzzle brake off mine and recess re-crowned.
Pillar bedded it in the original green stock and installed a Timney trigger.
I get 1/2 - 3/4" 3-shot groups @ 100 yds with the 165 grain Nosler partition bullet over Varget powder.
2.5-10x40mm Bushnell Elite 4200 scope on top.
Click to expand...
 
Craig0ry said:
Once I got it shooting shooting how I wanted the next step was to remove the fakey brakey, I know a gunsmith who will install a functioning triangle break for me, but since the fake one hasn't given me grief with accuracy before, Iam ruling it out. Iam going to start calling my rifle a bit sleezy, since she obviously does her best work when she's a little dirty
Click to expand...

My mother God rest her soul hunted deer until she was in her early 80s with an Remington model 7 (18.5" bbl) bolt in 308 Win that with scope weighed less that 6.5 pounds.
She weighed less than 130 pounds herself.
She used full power loads.
Why would a full grown man need a muzzle brake on a rifle in 308 Win?
The only reason I bought the VTR was that it was priced @ $325 on the used gun rack and looked almost new.
That joke of a so-called brake came off the second day I had the rifle.
Couldn't stand the "phoney" look of the thing.
 
Because it looks cool? Haha why not have the recoil of a 223 or less? Here's the one my friend had done for his rem 700 XHR, it's chambered in 7mm rem mag so a brake is fairly reasonable for that calibre,

Gunoholic said:
My mother God rest her soul hunted deer until she was in her early 80s with an Remington model 7 (18.5" bbl) bolt in 308 Win that with scope weighed less that 6.5 pounds.
She weighed less than 130 pounds herself.
She used full power loads.
Why would a full grown man need a muzzle brake on a rifle in 308 Win?
The only reason I bought the VTR was that it was priced @ $325 on the used gun rack and looked almost new.
That joke of a so-called brake came off the second day I had the rifle.
Couldn't stand the "phoney" look of the thing.
Click to expand...
 
I believe the VTR has a 1 in 10 twist and as such prefers heavier bullets than the 150 grain. There is a lot of information in this regard on the Internet about the accuracy of different bullet weights with a 1 in 10 twist compared to a 1 in 12 twist with the 308.
 
rhino62 said:
I believe the VTR has a 1 in 10 twist and as such prefers heavier bullets than the 150 grain. There is a lot of information in this regard on the Internet about the accuracy of different bullet weights with a 1 in 10 twist compared to a 1 in 12 twist with the 308.
Click to expand...

GTK thanx for the info!
 
Craig0ry said:
Because it looks cool? Haha why not have the recoil of a 223 or less? Here's the one my friend had done for his rem 700 XHR, it's chambered in 7mm rem mag so a brake is fairly reasonable for that calibre,
Click to expand...

That's a pretty professional looking brake shown in the picture.
I could see a demand for those in the heavier recoiling rifles (338 Winchester and up).
Reminds me a bit of the Pendleton muzzle brake that came installed with the original heavy caliber Weatherby rifles (378, 416 and 460 Weatherby) when Roy Weatherbys Mark V line of magnum rifles first came out.

The factory VTR brake made the gun looks like a kids toy or a prop from the old movie screen Buck Rogers flicks I saw at the theatre when I was a kid.
Probably no one on here old enough to remember those.
 
rhino62 said:
I believe the VTR has a 1 in 10 twist and as such prefers heavier bullets than the 150 grain. There is a lot of information in this regard on the Internet about the accuracy of different bullet weights with a 1 in 10 twist compared to a 1 in 12 twist with the 308.
Click to expand...

This VTR in 308 is 1 in 12 not 1 in 10
It appears the new rifles are 1 in 10, other than the VTR A-tacs(1-12) but all other info I can find on the older ones says 1 in 12
 
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