Surprisingly accurate..

H

horseshoe

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Last year I bought a Remington 700 SPS in .30-06 to use for deer and moose hunting.

I had heard the mix of good and bad reviews on Remingtons, and decided that it would be a decent, middle-of-the-road rifle for my needs.

I sighted it in, with just a few shots to get it in the general area. My expectations were only that if I could hit a 6" circle at 100yrds, I could call it a dead deer.

I hunted with it for the season, but never had a chance at a deer.

Last week, I took it to the range, just for fun, and shot two 3-shot groups in perfect touching cloverleafs at 100yrds. Bone stock rifle, factory Hornady 165gr ammo.

My question is this; Was I just extremely lucky, or has anyone else experienced this? Is it a one-off gem, or was I mis-led into thinking this was just a mediocre rifle when I bought it?
 
Not only did you buy that rifle last summer, it appears you also bought alot of BS that is floating around on the internet.:p

Remingtons are generally good rifles. Some will tell you that they aren't what they used to be, but that goes for almost everything these days.
 
took out my buddy's new SPS SS 700 last week for it's first trip to the range. With 150gr Cor Lokt ammo it was doing 1.5moa, not bad I figured. Even at 330 yards the 3 shot group was 5". Not bad for a new gun with mass produced ammo, also a new shooter! Most Remington 700's Ive found to shoot 1" or less with good ammo
 
Remington's are fine. The problem is the person behind the gun. Get a big mouthed, lousy shooter sitting behind one and next thing you know it's on every website that Remington is going downhill and the guns are junk. Same guy reloads 10% over max and the gun blows up, gets back up on his Internet soapbox and drags them through the sand again. They're sensible rifles for sensible people, but because there are so many of them out there they get bashed more by people who keep wrecking them or have no idea what they're doing.

Granted, there will always be a few defects here and there. But overall, they're decent out of the box, and they can be tuned/turned into great rifles - look how many end up as custom guns.
 
this is comforting. i just bought one and now im going bonkers waiting for the scope to arrive in the mail. thats what you get for not settling for whatever they happen to have on the shelf i reckon.
 
I have the same gun. SPS DM in 30-06. I've had it for a just over a year now. It shoots just fine, right out of the box with no modifications. I reload and have tried several recipies, and not every one is MOA. I've never had it do 3 shots touching, but I have shot some 0.7" groups with a few different loads. That's plenty good enough for me! I've also got a Rem Mtn rifle. That one has some 0.5" loads for it. I have no problems with Remington. Glad you're pleased with yours.
 
Prepare for more small groups.
Shoot lots so you can take advantage of all that accuracy! ;)
 
horseshoe said:
Last year I bought a Remington 700 SPS in .30-06 to use for deer and moose hunting.

My question is this; Was I just extremely lucky, or has anyone else experienced this? Is it a one-off gem, or was I mis-led into thinking this was just a mediocre rifle when I bought it?
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I don't think so. My SPS in 204 Ruger gives me 1/2" groups @ 100 yards with Hornady factory ammo. I'm hoping to tighten it up a bit now that the trigger has been adjusted from the factory 7 lbs to a more respectable 2 1/2 and I repalced the cheap plastic stock with a laminated Boyds.
 
Ive shot tones of 1 1/2 inch groups with my factory sps dm in 3006, and this is my first rifle with the cheap blue boxfederal 180 grains. Im sure it will do better once i figure out the reloading and get some more practice
 
I have a 700 BDL, my buddy has an SPS, both in 30-06.
I am not an accomplished shooter and my eyes are old and tired but we both enjoy shooting at plastic 2 litre pop bottles at 250 yards plus using cheap "stock" ammo. One shot, one bottle each time.
We have no problems with our 700's. :)
 
not sure what one should expect from the 700's,never owned one but all my other remington rifles will/have shot sub moa groups at 100 yards and all with factory ammo.try different factory ammo.my 7600 30-06 likes anything winchester and will shoot other brands to 1.5-2 inch groups at 100 yards.my brothers 7600 likes the winchester stuff as well but shoots 1/2 inch groups with remington 150 core-loks.they all have ammo that they like and some that they will shoot really well.just a thought.
 
deadeyes40 said:
not sure what one should expect from the 700's,never owned one but all my other remington rifles will/have shot sub moa groups at 100 yards and all with factory ammo.try different factory ammo.my 7600 30-06 likes anything winchester and will shoot other brands to 1.5-2 inch groups at 100 yards.my brothers 7600 likes the winchester stuff as well but shoots 1/2 inch groups with remington 150 core-loks.they all have ammo that they like and some that they will shoot really well.just a thought.
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I don't know that I even need to tinker with ammo...I'm not going to press my luck. 3-shot groups, all touching is good enough for me...

Minute of Vitals is all I was looking for in a hunting rifle. It just surprised me how much this one surpassed that mark...
 
All I have owned are winchester and Remington Rifles, and while both are exceptionally accurate, I would have to favour the Winchester by a nose- but you are right, Remington are a bit underrated in accuracy
 
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