Remington 700 questions

[jza]

I'm looking at building a precision rifle. I've decided on a Remington 700, that I will probably shoot out from 50 yards to 300 yards; with the possibility of shooting out to 700 yards one day.

• Should I buy the rifle chambered in 308, or 223? I like the idea of shooting cheap 223 that I'm already buying, but I feel like it's not enough round for the rifle.
• Can I buy an action and barrel alone, and install it in the stock of my choosing?

 

[RangerPark]

I'm on my fourth Remington 700, loved them all. I've had three in .308 so I'm partial to that caliber. .308 is relatively less expensive to shoot than other calibers but to 300 meters .223 is plenty. I've contemplated building a .223 for 300 meters practice, just not going that way for now.

As for buying the action and barrel separately, probably better to get a whole rifle and upgrade the stock if you don't like it. If you buy an SPS that's a no brainer, just get rid of the tupperware stock and move on. The B&C stock that came with my Mountain SS was quite nice, I kept that one.

 

[rick357]

I have both .223 and .308 in Remington 700 5r stainless barrel. I had the .308 first and decided to get the .223 as it would be less expensive to shoot with reduced recoil. I normally only shoot at 200 or 300 yards since that is the max at the range I belong to. The .308 is a wonderful rifle and has been easy to reload for, get on target and stay on target with superb accuracy. The .223 has been just the opposite. I have been chasing powders and bullets, trying to find something it likes. I have finally gone to, and I am starting to standardize with 68gr Hornady. I am still working up final powder type and charge. I started with 52gr BTHP (Hornady), 55gr FMJ-BT (Hrn & CamPro) and 68gr BTHP (Hrn). Went through H335, CFE223, IMR4895, H4895 and Varget with multiple ladder tests. For whatever reason the rifle does not like light projectiles. 52gr is out. 55gr is out. 68gr works but it is powder and charge sensitive. All I can think is that it is something to do with the 5r rifling in .223. Not many lands so maybe it doesn't get enough surface area contact with the lighter shorter projectiles. The longer 68gr BTHP has a larger bearing surface so it works a lot better for me, at least at 200 yards. Now, as a caveat, my accuracy demands are pretty high. If I am not well sub-MOA I am not happy. If I am sub 1/2MOA I am quite satisfied. To summarize, if I was getting one rifle to start out with, I would get a .308. Some 168 Hornady/Sierra/Berger BTHP pushed along with somewhere around 43.5gr +/- 1.0gr of Varget (do some ladder tests, your rifle will let you know what charge works best) will easily do to 600 plus yards.

 

[rneill]

My recommendation... pick up a stock Remington 700 rifle, shoot it as is, and upgrade components as you can afford them. The first to go should be the stock as the majority of the value of this rifle is in the action/trigger. Next pick up a competition barrel, and then a nice competition trigger if you are still eager for this project. If you are only shooting out to 300 yards, 223 is the way to go. With a long 28" or 30" barrel you can shoot out to 900m (F-Class shooting), but this will take a lot of trial and error with loads and the wind will definitely get a hold of this round at that range. I shoot F-Class out of the AFRA and I will usually shoot my 223 at 300-400m, but as the distance increases, and the winds pick up, I will pull out my 308. 223 is a great way to see if you have further interest in target shooting for a considerable cost savings over 308.