Remington Model 783 Review

By Michael Newton

It's not pretty, it's not flashy and it's not classy, so if you are looking for a showpiece, keep looking. Its simple, textured exterior doesn't set it apart from anything else you may see on the shelf. In actuality, if I hadn't been asked to do this review, I would have never noticed much more than the existence of the Remington Model 783. It comes in a cardboard box full of Styrofoam and plastic like any other rifle. It even comes with a scope like many other entry level rifles, so why the Remington 783? What is the idea behind the 783? Why does it exist? Remington has the time-proven 700 model and several other mid/low end models. I didn't know why either, but I was interested in finding out.

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The day I picked this rifle up from my FFL holder, I took it home, opened it up and gave it a quick once over. This thing looks like a Savage, Crossfire trigger looks like an Accutrigger, barrel nut, and plastic stock. Okay, Remington, what is your angle? It comes out of the box with a scope mounted on it, so I wanted to test true out of the box accuracy, which goes against my nature.

The first thing I do with any rifle is disassemble it and put it back together to make sure everything is right, but I resisted my OCD impulse and left it alone other than I cleaned the barrel, chamber and action and greased the lugs, but that was it. I grabbed three different kinds of factory 30-06 ammo and was off to the range. A rough bore sight and I was on the bags behind the trigger. The first few shots with Barnes VOR-TX 150 gr TTSX hit the paper in a halfway decent fashion. Probably about 1.5 moa, but I knew this wasn't the best it would shoot.

We needed to get used to each other, so I kept shooting while letting it cool between shots. Around shot number 6, I found myself making small adjustments to the focus on the scope. Shot 7, still not totally focused, shot 8… okay, I must be getting eye fatigue, so I decided walk down and look at the target and spend some time resting my eyes. I came back, adjusted the scope and shot again. Now I know it's not me! I look through the scope and the only thing I can see is that its daylight on the other side, but that's it! I called the Remington rep and he promptly sent me another scope.

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When I took the old scope off, the rings basically fell off of the bases. The only thing holding them there was the rigidity of the scope tube. At this point I decided I would remove the bases and torque them properly and secure with Loctite. I did not lap the rings or do anything but torque the screws in the mounts to proper specs, the reason being that this is an entry level rifle and more than likely the average target consumer of this rifle will not have the tools to lap scope rings, so I am keeping this as simple and as straightforward as possible.

Once the new scope was on I was back at the range. The scope is surprisingly clear for one that comes with an already inexpensive rifle. It responds decently to adjustments and functions as expected. I settle in at 100 yards and start printing groups. The Barnes Vor-TX 150 gr. TTSX is still hitting the paper around 1.5 moa. I move on to Remington Hog Hammer ammo loaded with 168gr. TSX and these ones blow me away with .4 and .6 moa 3 shot groups back to back.

Now I am excited because I haven't even checked the torque on the action screws or adjusted the trigger and this thing is shooting great! Now I am excited to see how the third type of ammo shoots, Remington Hypersonic ammo with 180 gr. bonded PSP bullets. On a cool, fouled barrel it prints a decent 3 shot group, 1.1 moa. Not as exciting as the last but still something I can work with.

After a thorough cleaning I decided give the 150's a fair shake at 300 yards. Three 3 shot groups. Barnes VOR-TX 150gr. TTSX -1.2 moa on a clean cold barrel, then 1 moa and 1.1 moa. The next evening I did the same with the Remington Hog Hammer 168 gr. TSX .6 moa on a clean cold barrel, then 1moa and .9 moa. The following evening with Remington Hypersonic/ 180 gr. Bonded PSP, 1.1 moa on a cold clean barrel then 1.3 moa and 1 moa. The clear winner here is the Remington Hog Hammer ammo loaded with 168 TSX.

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Now that I have tested the "out of the box accuracy" I finally get to tear this thing apart! First the scope, rings and bases come off and go directly into the "Do Not Resuscitate" pile. Then off comes the stock, which has pillars installed. The trigger assembly is pretty simple and straightforward. I go ahead and adjust it down to as light it will go, which happens to be 2 lbs 4.7 oz. I clean it all up and notice the stock is actually quite stiff for a mold injected stock. The rifle goes back in to the stock with ease and torques down nicely.

Now for the mounts and scope. It took a little digging but I finally figured out that the round receiver takes the same mount as a Savage 110, so I ordered a set of low Talley 1 piece mounts for it and bought a used Vortex Diamondback scope with the dead hold reticle. Not a high end scope but a nice scope that matches the price point of the rifle and will be very dependable and capable of making longer shots than the factory scope, which just had a duplex reticle. I ended up spending less than $200 on all of that.

Once I had everything collected and mounted on the rifle, I went out and got it on paper and zeroed in at 200 yards. Up to this point, other than the first factory scope, this project has come together fairly smoothly. No weird groups with fliers that I can't explain, just simple straightforward repeatable groups, some better than others but repeatable nonetheless. At this point I have decided that the obvious best choice is the Remington Hog Hammer ammo with 168 gr. TSX, so the rest of my testing is done with this ammo.

Remington Model 783 Review

My next step is trying steel at 500 yards. I used the published velocity on the box, and plugged it into my Shooter app and dialed the results into the scope. The steel gong was 502 yards away with no wind, shooting prone off of bags. The first shot produced an audible whack, followed by 4 more. I have no idea where I am hitting because of the lack of lead in the bullets. They don't make much of a mark on steel for long distance spotting. So I drive up there and see a rather impressive group for not even having proven data to use for my drops. The group was about 5.5", low and right on the target. I painted over the shots and made an adjustment in my program to reflect my results, then adjusted the scope.

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Just over 1 moa at 500 yards with this entry level rifle and factory ammo has me surprised and daydreaming about what it would be capable of with a nice bedding job and some hand loads. Given the objective of this review I decided that 500 yards was probably as far as the intended user would try and take a rifle like this. But I wanted to try it at 1000 and I still had ammo, so why not?!?

I packed (drove) the gong back up against the hill where I usually shoot 1000 yards and went and got set up. I dialed in what the program told me and let one fly. POOF! It hit the dirt just low. Second shot, same hold and no adjustments. POOF! Dirt again, just low. I came up 1 MOA and tried again. WHACK, followed by 2 more. These ones amazingly hit within 11 ¼" of each other. But this is not the intent of the rifle, so back to 500 yards.

I eventually got tired of hitting the steel and was ready to shoot some hair. It just so happened it was October and I had an any doe deer tag, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give this story some real world results. The first day I took my 2 year old little boy Jace out and we hunted does all day long while mom and sister went shopping. We had several shot opportunities but I wanted him to be able see what I was shooting so we passed on several deer that day.

A couple of days later I was able to get out again, this time with Jace and my 6 year old daughter Madyson. Any of you that have ever hunted with kids already know that even seeing a deer while trying to keep them quiet and focused is a feat in itself, but we were able to pull it off. I set up a makeshift blind on the edge of a field with the river behind us, we had drinks, snacks and binoculars to keep us occupied.

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Pretty soon a lone yearling came wondering across the field paralleling the river about 500 yards out. With the roll of the land I couldn't get a shot laying prone so I had to wait until the deer had walked past us and was a little further down the row before I could get a shot. I ranged it at 520 yards as it turned facing me so I held the 500 yard mark right on the hair line of the back and let one fly. She dropped instantly and the kids started yelling, "YOU GOT HER!!"

As we walked up it was a pretty special experience for me because this was a first for both kids and I to be there. I was probably more excited than either of them. After inspecting the kill and finding the bullet had dropped and gone in the back of the neck (would have been a chest shot if her head was up) the dirty work started. Jace was excited about seeing guts until Madyson said it was icky then he jumped on the icky bandwagon. Needless to say I didn't get much help from either of them. The land owner was kind enough to let me drive in and get the deer so I only had to drag it 500 yards to the road. We got it loaded and headed for the house to show mom. The kids still talk about it nearly every day.

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Now that I have some experience with this rifle and have been able to access it based on its intended use, I can confidently say Remington pulled it off. A rifle that comes in under $400 with the scope and is capable of shooting less than 1 MOA without bedding or any other modifications is pretty impressive. I will say that I am not impressed with the scope that comes with it. Maybe if it had some sort of bullet drop compensating reticle it would be better but as is I have very little use for it. That being said, I am a bit of an optics snob so it is not surprising that I don't care for it. For a consumer who wants an accurate functioning rig and doesn't care about frills, it's a pretty sweet deal. However it is not frill-less.

The adjustable trigger is a great value because, as everyone knows, an aftermarket trigger is not cheap. Upgrading the scope and mounts for less than $200 made this rifle a pretty impressive 500 yard gun. I think it would be fun to bed this rifle and tune it with hand loads and see what it is truly capable of. I am pretty sure that with some smart investments this rifle could be made into a reliable 4 MOA 800+ yard capable rifle. A different caliber like the 7mm Rem Mag or the 300 win may even go further. Anyone who is looking for a "Big Bang for the Buck" definitely needs to look into the Remington 783. For the money you really can't go wrong, and if you are as fortunate as I was you may get to use it in creating a family memory that will last a lifetime.