REMINGTON 700 SPS

I bought one in .22-250 last April but I've only put about 150 rounds throught it. The finish is a matte black on the metal and the stock black plastic. It's not a fancy rifle by any stretch of the imagination, but the stock fits me well (comes with a premium recoil pad on all calibres, which is a nice feature), and it shoots pretty good. The metal to stock fit seems good on my rifle, and the action is about as smooth as my other 700s. I have heard some say that the action's smoothness was a bit rough, but my rifle is about what I'd expect.

I've only worked on two different loads, with one turning out to be quite a bit more accurate then the other. I've got 3 shot groups at about half an inch, but the average is a bit bigger.

I think these are good buys for Remington fans. The rifle isn't pretty, but it's functional.
 
I bought one in .270 as a rifle that I can through in the truck and not have to worry about dinging it up. Its an alright rifle, not the most accurate Remington I've ever owned, actually its probably the least accurate but at $500 I can't expect it too shoot like a $1000 rifle.
The recoil pad is great, stock is garbage and the spray on finish on the action and barrel is a joke. I do wish I got the stainless model but will have to make do w/ what I got. I don't imagine I'll have this rifle very long :D

Cheers!!
 
I bought my wife the SPS in .223 earlier this year. It shoots OK and seems to be good value for the money though there are a few dislikes.

The bolt was very rough from the factory. Now after several hundred rounds there is some discolouration and strange streaks on the bolt.
The stock "feels" cheap. It seem sto work OK.
The lack of a removeable magazine is probably the reason this rifle will not be in our safe a long time. The smallish .233 rounds are not easy to feed into the internal magazine.
The all black rifle gets VERY hot when sitting in the sun. Be careful when throwing your cheek up against the stock.
 
I wouldnt mind hearing some more reviews also if someone has one.

I have a rem 700 22-250 here I'm considering relegating her to back up duties only and I will need a replacement varminter. Just cant drag that stock through the bush again)
What would you say makes the SPS worth the few hundred dollars more than the Stevens model 200? (which is the other one I was looking at)
 
gth said:
What would you say makes the SPS worth the few hundred dollars more than the Stevens model 200? (which is the other one I was looking at)

the action re-sale value.

they sell SPS's for $500, but the action alone will sell for at least $350, more like $400.

if it's stainless, you can bet that the action would sell for $400-450.



people love building rifles off of m700 actions for some reason :mrgreen:
 
My buddy and I both bought one in 300 Win Mag (serial # 1000-some apart so likely different lots).. we both spent probably 5-6 days at the range trying different ammo and loads to get something better than a 6" group (his) and 5" group (mine) at 200M off benchrests. We both put them on consignment a week before hunting season and bought Tikka T3's. We're much happier now.

Draw your own conclusions. :)

For that $500 your far better off buying any cheap Accu-Trigger'd Savage.

As far as fit and finish, the stock would 'waggle' a bit if you swung it back and forth with medium force. My bolt was pretty tight when trying to lock it, but found out the action screw holding it onto the stock was too long and was scraping the bolt. I had to grind it down about 1/8" of an inch to close the both without binding.
 
I bought one in .308 but never actually fired it in it's original configuration. As todbartell mentioned, the Remington 700 action is a favourite for customizing - and that's exactly why I bought one. Rather than shelling out for a 700P at $1000 (give or take a few dollars) and cannibalizing it for just the receiver/trigger mech/and bolt, I spent about half that for the SPS. For my purposes it fit the bill. Underneath the crappy finish, and all of the other "cosmetic deficiencies"... it shares the exact same basic mechanism as the 700P - without the price tag. Now as far as buying one to use in it's stock form, I don't know about this. Personally I thought the original barrel looked a little thin (profile wise) for any serious long term/medium range accuracy work....

hsld.
 
I actually took the my .270 SPS to the range today with a new load and had the groups down to an inch at 100 yards, which Im very happy with.
The gun really seems fussy on loads and found that switching to a 130 gr. CT Ballistic Silver Tip and seating the bullet out further really helped to tighten groups.

Cheers!!
 
I bought one in 300 Ultra Mag,very nice to shoot with the big sissy pad Remington puts on it.I haven't really tried very hard to work up a load but my first loads went into an inch at 100 meters.For 500 bucks I think it,s a good deal.Fit and finish is alright.
 
:?

Crap... after giving a generally good report about on my SPS, I noticed yesterday that it has a feeding problem. I can put 1 or 2 rounds in the magazine and it will feed normally, but as soon as I put a 3rd round in, the top round is always mis-aligned and will "pop" once the bolt is drawn back. I can put 4 rounds in the magazine and can chamber the first shot, but the next one pops out and causes a jam. Any ideas? I guess I should post this question under gunsmithing.
 
Scott_N said:
:?

Crap... after giving a generally good report about on my SPS, I noticed yesterday that it has a feeding problem. I can put 1 or 2 rounds in the magazine and it will feed normally, but as soon as I put a 3rd round in, the top round is always mis-aligned and will "pop" once the bolt is drawn back. I can put 4 rounds in the magazine and can chamber the first shot, but the next one pops out and causes a jam. Any ideas? I guess I should post this question under gunsmithing.

I would return the rifle if I were you.

Cheers!!
 
you know, I've owned about 50 Rem 700's/Sevens/600/660's and 722's..if a newbie asks me today what new lower priced rifle to buy, I tell him to get either a Vanguard or a Tikka T3 (if he's getting long action cartridge)...sorry, just can't get used to those clunky Salvage rifles :? ..although rumor has it that they do shoot :shock:
 
scott_r said:
Scott_N said:
:?

Crap... after giving a generally good report about on my SPS, I noticed yesterday that it has a feeding problem. I can put 1 or 2 rounds in the magazine and it will feed normally, but as soon as I put a 3rd round in, the top round is always mis-aligned and will "pop" once the bolt is drawn back. I can put 4 rounds in the magazine and can chamber the first shot, but the next one pops out and causes a jam. Any ideas? I guess I should post this question under gunsmithing.

I would return the rifle if I were you.

Cheers!!

Actually it was a minor problem that was easily resolved through the gunsmith board. The internal metal box of the magazine wasn't quite sitting square against the action, so there wasn't enough "rail" to hold the 3rd round in place. I think that I caused this problem myself when I took the rifle apart to adjust the trigger. After a simple adjustment the rifle feeds fine.
 
My son bought one and the trigger is ####. He had to get a gunsmith to install a Sheilen trigger in it and it shoots fine now.
The original trigger couldn't be adjusted to 2.5 lbs.
 
I put an SPS 24" barrel in 30-06 on one of my rifles.Removed the matte finish and used kleenbore's blackmagic to reblue.With a little load development I have a serious .75MOA shooter with 5 in 3.5"X4.5" group @400 yds.I would use another one of these $100 take off barrels.RB
 
BIGREDD said:
If you take a Savage and a SPS and a Tikka down off the rack and cycle the bolts on all three.... you will buy the Tikka :idea:

Yes, that is very much true. As one reviewer said when discussing the action of the Tikka, "it's slicker than deer guts on a door knob" which still makes me grin when I hear it out load, and it's so true.

However, you pay for that fine action too. Our T3 hunters cost about $800 each, which in the scheme of things isn't all that much. But if your looking for a best bang for the buck, the Savage is a much better choice over the 700 SPS.
 
highspeedlowdrag said:
I bought one in .308 but never actually fired it in it's original configuration. As todbartell mentioned, the Remington 700 action is a favourite for customizing - and that's exactly why I bought one. Rather than shelling out for a 700P at $1000 (give or take a few dollars) and cannibalizing it for just the receiver/trigger mech/and bolt, I spent about half that for the SPS. For my purposes it fit the bill. Underneath the crappy finish, and all of the other "cosmetic deficiencies"... it shares the exact same basic mechanism as the 700P - without the price tag. Now as far as buying one to use in it's stock form, I don't know about this. Personally I thought the original barrel looked a little thin (profile wise) for any serious long term/medium range accuracy work....

hsld.

I'm a noobie here so I had to ask...
you just bought the gun and changed the barrel and stock? how accurate is it now? and what do you use it for? are there websites that help noobs out with fine tuning some 700's?

I've been thinking of getting one in the .243 to shoot some coyotes... or maibe even in .308 since I dont care about the fur. and I cant get myself to buy anything else than a Remington... any suggestions?
 
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