Pop Larkin
16-06-2006, 01:17 PM
Having had the above rifle for over a year now, and having enjoyed writing about my G22 earlier, I thought I would put fingers to keyboard and write a few lines about it.
Having managed to convince my bank manager that I was a reliable sort of bloke, he agreed to lend me some money so that I could go off and buy a couple of new rifles. These were to be my first firearms, having only had shotgun before. As soon as the cheque cleared to the account I was off.
I had been looking through all the shooting mags and reading loads of advice on the BBS, as well as pestering the hell out of people at my local club for their recommendations. I was after something in .308 that would be fairly flexible and be able to cope with 100 yds to 500 yds target shooting, both bench rest and prone. I tend to like the synthetic/tactical style rifles and one person suggested the Tikka T3 Tactical.
I found a dealer who had one new in stock so I drove down to take a look. It was a nice rifle, but my first impressions were that it felt too ‘plastic’, more like a toy than any serious rifle. Still, I had been told by someone who I consider to be a reliable source that these rifles would not let me down and I was prepared to part with the £900 or so which was the asking price.
However, the RFD suggested that, as I was new to the sport and had very little experience of centrefire rifles, that I take a look at some other rifles they had in store, second hand as well as new, before I finally made up my mind. The RFD asked if he could make a recommendation, which I was more than prepared to listen to. He then brought out of the back room a new Remington 700 PSS in .308, placed it on the counter and opened the box with the words, ‘have a look at this, its cheaper than the T3 and in my opinion a far superior rifle’, which of cause, got my full attention immediately. The rifle was priced at £750.
As soon as I picked the rifle up out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the weight of it. It is heavier than the T3, the 700 PSS weighing in at 9lbs compared to the T3 at fractionally over 8lbs.
The next thing I noticed was the width and feel of the stock. The 700 PSS is fitted with a H-S Precision composite stock reinforced with Du Pont Kevlar and fibreglass. It is quite broad at the fore end and has quite a large palm swell on the grip. The stock looked well made and was very comfortable to hold, probably due to its broader dimensions. I expected the barrel to be blued, however, I was surprised to see that it was coated with a non reflective coating, which gave it a matt finish which went well with the matt black finish of the stock.
The same matt black finish was applied to the bolt which is modelled on the well established 700 action. When operating the bolt, I was surprised with the ease with which the bolt ‘glided’ towards the breach. So much so that I initially thought that I had inserted it wrong!
Initially, the trigger left a lot to be desired. I guess this is due to the Americans keen interest in litigation issues, so the pull required to activate the trigger was excessive to say the least. I mentioned this to the RFD who informed me that he would adjust this for me before I left the shop. The trigger blade itself felt very sturdy and seamed to me to be quite large. It has a grooved surface on its face.
I had been given a lot to think about. The only way to decide was to nip of for brekkie in the clubhouse and mull over what I was going to do. While drinking my second (or possibly third) cuppa, the thought occurred to me that, if I bought the cheaper 700 PSS, it would free up some cash for better optics and other goodies. As I mentioned earlier, I had been reading the shooting press and was aware of the 700’s reputation for being remarkably accurate ‘out of the box’. Taking this into account and measuring this against the fact that I was a novice shooter, I came to the conclusion that the rifle would far out-shoot my own abilities at this stage in the game. As a novice, there was no way that my skills as a marksman would be greater than the level of accuracy the rifle could produce.
So, that was it, my mind was made up. Until I had actually held the T3, my heart was sort of set on that particular rifle, however, having seen it in the flesh, it just wasn’t for me. That’s no disrespect to the rifle or its manufactures as I am sure that there are many happy owners of the T3 Tactical, but this is just the initial opinion I was left with. It just didn’t ‘feel’ right.
Ok, back into the shop to tell the RFD that I had made up my mind and to talk about optics. This was an area in which I had no expertise what so ever so I placed my trust in the guidance of the shop staff. Eventually, I settled on an Edgar Brothers Optimate, 20 x 42 Tactical scope. This is a cracking scope and I have been very pleased with it, however, in hind sight, this scope is a little too powerful for my needs.
After buying some scope rings, fitting the scope, flip up scope covers and a Harris bi-pod, I was the proud owner of a rifle that looked like it should be in the hands of a police marksman, rather than in the inexperienced hands of myself. Needless to say, it looked the part. Now that’s all well and good, but how would the thing actually shoot. On the RFD’s advice, I then spent the remainder of the day shooting in the barrel and zeroing the optics on the 100m bench rest range. I had bought the full kit, cleaning gear, case, everything I though that I would require, along with 300 rounds of ammo, 200 FNM and 100 Lapua to try out after running in the barrel.
Seating myself at the bench, I felt like a little kid again when given my first air rifle, full of excitement. Down to business. Shouldering the rifle, it felt comfortable and solid. The texture of the stock felt a little strange to me, having been used to the feel of walnut on my shotgun, however, I soon overcame this. The swell and width of the grip made it feel huge in my hand, as did the width of the fore stock. The trigger was in easy reach, as was the safety, which again, was quite stiff in its operation. The bolt was a standard 700 action bolt, with the standard knurled handle, easy to reach and operate and just glided in its receiver.
The rifle has an internal, four round blind magazine and I found this a little fiddley to use. I am not sure if it was just because the rifle, and therefore the spring was new, but the rounds had to be placed very precisely in order for them to drop further into the mag. If any of them were not seated as far back in the mag as possible, they seemed to jam the mag. So I decided to feed the rounds into the rifle one at a time. As I was shooting in the barrel anyway, this made little difference to me. Having adjusted the trigger for me in the shop, I found it to be crisp and with very little or negligible creep.
At this stage in the game, I was more concerned with getting rounds through the rifle and cleaning it, rather than any attempt to test its accuracy. I was happy enough to get a few rounds on the four inch circle 100 m away. To say the regime of fire one, clean, fire one, clean was monotonous is putting it mildly.
However, after a few hours, I had put through enough rounds to consider zeroing the rifle, first of all with the FNM ammo to get a rough zero as I didn’t want to waste too many of the more expensive Lapua. Whilst doing this, one of the staff from the shop came to the range to see how I was getting on, so I let him put a few rounds through the rifle and to fine tune my zeroing (another area I had little experience of). Following his last five rounds, his exclamation (F**k me!) said it all. We went down range to inspect the target and slap bang in the middle of one of the black stickers four holes, all in an inch group which I was assured was the result of the last five rounds that he had shot. Why only four holes? One must have gone through the same hole was his reply. Well at least I now had something to aspire to. The best I could manage at the time was a ragged spattering of holes that looked more like someone had fired off a 12g of BB shot!
Anyway, that was well over a year ago now. Since that time, I have started ‘rolling my own’ ammo and had a lot more experience with the 700 PSS over various distances. I have found the rifle to be great value for money, especially when you compare its out of the box accuracy to other more expensive rifles.
As far as factory ammunition is concerned, I have yet to find any that will not cycle through it. The standard .308 chamber allows for this. I tend to use Lapua components in my own target rounds, favouring the 155gr (10g) Scenar FMJ. I place this in Lapua brass over 43gr of N-150. Unfortunately, I do not yet own a bullet comparator so I have had to measure my OAL from base to bullet tip, thus creating some inconsistencies with precise bullet seating depth. Even so, I measure the OAL at 73mm. With this OAL I find that the rounds are a bit to long for the internal mag so I am still feeding rounds in one at a time, but that suits me.
To be honest, after shooting this rifle for over a year, I have to say that I really do not have a bad word t say about it. For a factory produced rifle that has not been modified in any way, it is superbly accurate and worth every penny I paid for it. No doubt, I will be criticised for posting this link again, but this is what it is capable of at 100m and I am by no means a competition standard marksman (the squares are 1 inch) http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j115/sniper100/5shotgroup-100yds.jpg
My strong advice is, if any of you are thinking of getting into full bore rifle shooting and you are looking to buy your first rifle, you will not beat the Remington 700 PSS, or any of its variants for value for money!
The rifle:-
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j115/sniper100/Remington700PSS.jpg
ATB
Russ
Having managed to convince my bank manager that I was a reliable sort of bloke, he agreed to lend me some money so that I could go off and buy a couple of new rifles. These were to be my first firearms, having only had shotgun before. As soon as the cheque cleared to the account I was off.
I had been looking through all the shooting mags and reading loads of advice on the BBS, as well as pestering the hell out of people at my local club for their recommendations. I was after something in .308 that would be fairly flexible and be able to cope with 100 yds to 500 yds target shooting, both bench rest and prone. I tend to like the synthetic/tactical style rifles and one person suggested the Tikka T3 Tactical.
I found a dealer who had one new in stock so I drove down to take a look. It was a nice rifle, but my first impressions were that it felt too ‘plastic’, more like a toy than any serious rifle. Still, I had been told by someone who I consider to be a reliable source that these rifles would not let me down and I was prepared to part with the £900 or so which was the asking price.
However, the RFD suggested that, as I was new to the sport and had very little experience of centrefire rifles, that I take a look at some other rifles they had in store, second hand as well as new, before I finally made up my mind. The RFD asked if he could make a recommendation, which I was more than prepared to listen to. He then brought out of the back room a new Remington 700 PSS in .308, placed it on the counter and opened the box with the words, ‘have a look at this, its cheaper than the T3 and in my opinion a far superior rifle’, which of cause, got my full attention immediately. The rifle was priced at £750.
As soon as I picked the rifle up out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the weight of it. It is heavier than the T3, the 700 PSS weighing in at 9lbs compared to the T3 at fractionally over 8lbs.
The next thing I noticed was the width and feel of the stock. The 700 PSS is fitted with a H-S Precision composite stock reinforced with Du Pont Kevlar and fibreglass. It is quite broad at the fore end and has quite a large palm swell on the grip. The stock looked well made and was very comfortable to hold, probably due to its broader dimensions. I expected the barrel to be blued, however, I was surprised to see that it was coated with a non reflective coating, which gave it a matt finish which went well with the matt black finish of the stock.
The same matt black finish was applied to the bolt which is modelled on the well established 700 action. When operating the bolt, I was surprised with the ease with which the bolt ‘glided’ towards the breach. So much so that I initially thought that I had inserted it wrong!
Initially, the trigger left a lot to be desired. I guess this is due to the Americans keen interest in litigation issues, so the pull required to activate the trigger was excessive to say the least. I mentioned this to the RFD who informed me that he would adjust this for me before I left the shop. The trigger blade itself felt very sturdy and seamed to me to be quite large. It has a grooved surface on its face.
I had been given a lot to think about. The only way to decide was to nip of for brekkie in the clubhouse and mull over what I was going to do. While drinking my second (or possibly third) cuppa, the thought occurred to me that, if I bought the cheaper 700 PSS, it would free up some cash for better optics and other goodies. As I mentioned earlier, I had been reading the shooting press and was aware of the 700’s reputation for being remarkably accurate ‘out of the box’. Taking this into account and measuring this against the fact that I was a novice shooter, I came to the conclusion that the rifle would far out-shoot my own abilities at this stage in the game. As a novice, there was no way that my skills as a marksman would be greater than the level of accuracy the rifle could produce.
So, that was it, my mind was made up. Until I had actually held the T3, my heart was sort of set on that particular rifle, however, having seen it in the flesh, it just wasn’t for me. That’s no disrespect to the rifle or its manufactures as I am sure that there are many happy owners of the T3 Tactical, but this is just the initial opinion I was left with. It just didn’t ‘feel’ right.
Ok, back into the shop to tell the RFD that I had made up my mind and to talk about optics. This was an area in which I had no expertise what so ever so I placed my trust in the guidance of the shop staff. Eventually, I settled on an Edgar Brothers Optimate, 20 x 42 Tactical scope. This is a cracking scope and I have been very pleased with it, however, in hind sight, this scope is a little too powerful for my needs.
After buying some scope rings, fitting the scope, flip up scope covers and a Harris bi-pod, I was the proud owner of a rifle that looked like it should be in the hands of a police marksman, rather than in the inexperienced hands of myself. Needless to say, it looked the part. Now that’s all well and good, but how would the thing actually shoot. On the RFD’s advice, I then spent the remainder of the day shooting in the barrel and zeroing the optics on the 100m bench rest range. I had bought the full kit, cleaning gear, case, everything I though that I would require, along with 300 rounds of ammo, 200 FNM and 100 Lapua to try out after running in the barrel.
Seating myself at the bench, I felt like a little kid again when given my first air rifle, full of excitement. Down to business. Shouldering the rifle, it felt comfortable and solid. The texture of the stock felt a little strange to me, having been used to the feel of walnut on my shotgun, however, I soon overcame this. The swell and width of the grip made it feel huge in my hand, as did the width of the fore stock. The trigger was in easy reach, as was the safety, which again, was quite stiff in its operation. The bolt was a standard 700 action bolt, with the standard knurled handle, easy to reach and operate and just glided in its receiver.
The rifle has an internal, four round blind magazine and I found this a little fiddley to use. I am not sure if it was just because the rifle, and therefore the spring was new, but the rounds had to be placed very precisely in order for them to drop further into the mag. If any of them were not seated as far back in the mag as possible, they seemed to jam the mag. So I decided to feed the rounds into the rifle one at a time. As I was shooting in the barrel anyway, this made little difference to me. Having adjusted the trigger for me in the shop, I found it to be crisp and with very little or negligible creep.
At this stage in the game, I was more concerned with getting rounds through the rifle and cleaning it, rather than any attempt to test its accuracy. I was happy enough to get a few rounds on the four inch circle 100 m away. To say the regime of fire one, clean, fire one, clean was monotonous is putting it mildly.
However, after a few hours, I had put through enough rounds to consider zeroing the rifle, first of all with the FNM ammo to get a rough zero as I didn’t want to waste too many of the more expensive Lapua. Whilst doing this, one of the staff from the shop came to the range to see how I was getting on, so I let him put a few rounds through the rifle and to fine tune my zeroing (another area I had little experience of). Following his last five rounds, his exclamation (F**k me!) said it all. We went down range to inspect the target and slap bang in the middle of one of the black stickers four holes, all in an inch group which I was assured was the result of the last five rounds that he had shot. Why only four holes? One must have gone through the same hole was his reply. Well at least I now had something to aspire to. The best I could manage at the time was a ragged spattering of holes that looked more like someone had fired off a 12g of BB shot!
Anyway, that was well over a year ago now. Since that time, I have started ‘rolling my own’ ammo and had a lot more experience with the 700 PSS over various distances. I have found the rifle to be great value for money, especially when you compare its out of the box accuracy to other more expensive rifles.
As far as factory ammunition is concerned, I have yet to find any that will not cycle through it. The standard .308 chamber allows for this. I tend to use Lapua components in my own target rounds, favouring the 155gr (10g) Scenar FMJ. I place this in Lapua brass over 43gr of N-150. Unfortunately, I do not yet own a bullet comparator so I have had to measure my OAL from base to bullet tip, thus creating some inconsistencies with precise bullet seating depth. Even so, I measure the OAL at 73mm. With this OAL I find that the rounds are a bit to long for the internal mag so I am still feeding rounds in one at a time, but that suits me.
To be honest, after shooting this rifle for over a year, I have to say that I really do not have a bad word t say about it. For a factory produced rifle that has not been modified in any way, it is superbly accurate and worth every penny I paid for it. No doubt, I will be criticised for posting this link again, but this is what it is capable of at 100m and I am by no means a competition standard marksman (the squares are 1 inch) http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j115/sniper100/5shotgroup-100yds.jpg
My strong advice is, if any of you are thinking of getting into full bore rifle shooting and you are looking to buy your first rifle, you will not beat the Remington 700 PSS, or any of its variants for value for money!
The rifle:-
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j115/sniper100/Remington700PSS.jpg
ATB
Russ