Remington 700 SPS Varmint .308 Win

[clc0608]

As my first full bore rifle I wanted to get it right, I put a lot of time looking at Remington, Sako, Tikka and Howa switching between the 4 at various points but I chose the Remington 700 and I'm 100% glad I did. It might not be for some but I love playing around with my firearms, tweaking them and making them that little bit more personal and suited to me and the Remington 700 offers just that.

I haven't just found this gun to be a platform to build on but also a damn accurate rifle, as long as you don't ask me to go past 600 yards (shooter not the gun). With it only having very minor modifications; re-crown, bedded action and tactical bolt handle, this gun is pretty much as it comes out of the box and it will hold its own. I've even tied against an AI AX .300 Win Mag.

The SPS variant offers a slightly uprated stock to the base model however the internals and action are untouched. The thick 26" varmint barrel makes it perfect for the application I wanted it for, a long distance v-bull hitter, this isn't something to be carrying around the field for hours unless you hit the gym but it's quite at home on the range come rain or shine.

A full video review can also be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX_KFBAGOUY

[neutron_bomb]

From the description it looks like you got it from Rimfire Magic, i have one in .223 from them, my last trip to the range delivered a five shot group at 50 metres measuring 0.25 inches centre to centre.
The remington 700 is a truly brilliant platform for a very reasonable price

[blue]

Nice review and good to see that factory guns seem to be improving these days. I have had a few full customs and many semi customs, but sometimes factory guns will hold their own (and then some). I am looking at range type 308 and did have a glance at a 700 but was looking at a Howa but as you say the 700 is infinitely tweekable.

[amc577]

Not exactly a minor tweak to a new rifle, surely? I have had to recrown an 1893 model Marlin .....made in 1906..

amc577

[clc0608]

Not exactly a minor tweak to a new rifle, surely? I have had to recrown an 1893 model Marlin .....made in 1906..

amc577

I don't think it's major in terms of time and cost, some shops will do it while you wait for £45. I know it can have a massive effect on the rifle and would therefore not be a minor tweak but in terms of the actual work to do it I don't think it's huge.

[loiner1965]

For what reason did you have a new rifle recrowned

[neutron_bomb]

Take a look at the rimfire magic website, the reason they recrown all remmington 700's is they have found that the factory crowning is sometimes off centre and would badly affect accuracy.
They appear to have taken the decision that it is easier to recrown them all than miss a bad one, it is a very minor modification that will ensure the bullet leaves the barrel in a consistent way.
I have one of their .223 tactical models that yesterday shot a 50 metre 0.25 inch group so it certainly does no harm to recrown a new barrel

[loiner1965]

Take a look at the rimfire magic website, the reason they recrown all remmington 700's is they have found that the factory crowning is sometimes off centre and would badly affect accuracy.
They appear to have taken the decision that it is easier to recrown them all than miss a bad one, it is a very minor modification that will ensure the bullet leaves the barrel in a consistent way.
I have one of their .223 tactical models that yesterday shot a 50 metre 0.25 inch group so it certainly does no harm to recrown a new barrel

Ah right..... I have a rem 700 too in .223 flavour.....
It's the most boring rifle I own and I blame baz for selling me it many years ago.
The bloody thing groups bullet on bullet at 110 yds and within 10mm at 200 if I do my job.
God I hate the bloody thing lol

[subdvr]

Glad your happy with it. I have a .308 700 with a 20inch barrel sitting in an AICS stock. Changed the factory SPS stock straight after I bought the rifle to fully float the barrel, never looked back. As with the comments about the .223 accuracy, mine is an easy 1 MOA shooter at 600m using 168gr SMK. Its quite heavy in this stock, but helps with the accuracy.

A lot of people have personal gripes with Remington 700, including our local gun dealer, but I love them.

[Machinexl]

Hi all, i have a Remington 700 vs with 26" barrel. Im fairly new to civvi shooting and did a lot of research and looking around before i decided what rifle to get. I knew from the time of my application that i wanted a .308 for long range work. Licence finally arrived and i got myself the Remington.

I also bought a Vortex hst scope and matched rings. The rifle comes with the HS precision stock and i added a bipod. The very first outing i zero'd it then shot a 1/2 moa group at 300yds!! I was using 168gr amax handloads.

I have to say that i am very impressed with the performance of this rifle straight out if the box. The inly things im looking to change at the moment are the scope rings to lower the scope a bit and a muzzle brake to keep me on target a bit better between shots!!

[Hellequin]

The 700 is a good rifle and definitely a good platform to build your semi-custom rifle at whatever pace you choose or your funds allow. I had a 700 Tactical a few years back and with the 1:9 twist it shot well with both 40gr V-Max and 75gr HPBT; the 40gr made for a particularly devastating short to medium range foxing round, leaving the barrel around 3800fps.

My rifle wasn't standard, with Tactical bolt handle, re-crown, Bell & Carlson stock with adjustable cheek-piece & alloy bedding block, and a Timney trigger fitted. I'd disagree with the OP in that a rifle which has been bedded & re-crowned is 'pretty much as it comes from the box', as although not major work in the grand scheme of customising things, these two upgrades can provide significant improvement over standard.

Regardless of that, it's great when you find a rifle you like and shoot well with. Some folk may turn their nose up at the Rem700 but there's no getting away from the fact that the basic design has provided lots of happy shooting for thousands worldwide.

[Lashenden]

I have a Remington 700 Milspec (24" barrel) in .308 myself, and it's my absolute favourite rifle. Wonderfully accurate out to 800m with either decent factory ammo or handloads - my skill and the weather make it difficult to claim consistent 1/3 MOA groups at a proper distance, but I can make single hole 5 round groups at 100m all day long, which is something I can't guarantee with any other gun. It does 'jump' a fair bit so it's off to have a brake fitted in a few weeks, and perhaps an aftermarket trigger if my gunsmith can't get the factory X Mark to pull consistently at 1lb. Enjoy your SPS!

[Iain B]

Here's my thoughts on this rifle. The old ones are better than the new ones. I had a heavy barrel .308. in a synthetic stock. Very heavy but very accurate. Took it stalking once ( only once 😒 ). Then I got a new sps in 7-08. Out of the box it was total pants. It would not eject cases it took 3 ejectors before it worked. The trigger was rubbish replaced it with a Timmney. The stock was cheap and nasty, put a Bell and Carlson block bedded on. The point is if I got another one before I took out of the shop I'd strip it down and only take the action. A good rifle spoilt by accountants

[floggist]

I had a .308 700 bdl which had a lousy trigger so I visited Timney in AZ while on holiday, got a great tour and built myself a new trigger. I had to set it up too as they wouldn't set it below 2lb at the time. Great blokes, great product, really helped my 700.