Which 700? NEWBIE help please!

[98camaro28]

I have been hunting for many years and have just not gotten into target shooting. I would eventually like to shoot out to 1000+. Right now I have a Marlin XL7 .270 I hunt with and a Savage .223 to mess around with, and would like to get a Remington 700 to start doung my long range practice with. I plan on eventually doing a custom build on it, but until I am adequate enough to shoot even a factory 700 good enough, Im gonna leave everything alone. I have a Vortex Viper, and 2 SS's (10x and 16x). Which model 700 should I go with? SPS varmint? SPS tactical? Which round? .300 WSM? .308? Any help is greatly appreciated. Just looking for what will give me the best out-of-the-box performance with great aftermarket support. I also plan to hunt whitetail out to about 400-500.

BTW, I was in the military and have been hunting for years. I just need some advise, as I have never been this involved.

 

[straightshooter]

A Savage 116 300 win mag. Stainless for all hunting conditions. Very versatile design. One of the most accurate out of the box. Good after market support.

 

[younggun]

I actually was having the same questions before and these guys gave me some good ideas. I was looking for a 7mm but im looking for an elk gun. here are 2 of my thread where they gave me some good tips

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f26/help-new-lr-rig-61167/

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f26/sendero-starting-point-61404/

but in all honesty if you are looking for a 700 action the best way to decide which gun is best for you is to look: Bolt Action Centerfire - Model 700 Centerfire Rifle - Remington Bolt Action Centerfire Rifle . How i came up with the sendero is literally just going down one by one and seeing which guns came in the caliber i was looking for (7mm). if you know which caliber you are looking for this then becomes a simple task of comparing which out of the box guns come in the caliber you want and what pros/cons do each have. that should be a great way to at least get an idea of what to get.

As for which caliber ill let the more experienced members here answer that...

p.s. How is the Viper treating you? My questions and indisicion is on scopes and that is one that im very interested in so im just wondering how its treating you.

Sean

 

[98camaro28]

The Vortex is a very nice scope for the money. I highly recommend them. In fact, a buddy bought a Diamondback and decided a year later to upgrade to a Viper. He smacked it on a table, send it in for a warranty replacement, and opted for an upgrade. No questions asked. Their customer service is bar none the best of the best.

Out of the Tactical and Varmint, what will be more accurate? Their website states that the Varmint is their most accurate, but I would think otherwise...

 

[younggun]

If you are talking about the target tactical and the varment SF then i would go with the varment assuming you are looking into the 308 round. Its not that the varment over all looks more appealing, its just that it doesnt have the triangular barrel the tactical has. Ive heard nightmare stories about that barrel so i would never get one but thats just my opinion. And i dont even know if those are the particular two you are looking at.

That really shows some solid support in their warrenty. Is it a lifetime warrenty or does it cover a certain number of years?

 

[roninflag]

for whitetail a 25-06 sendero. the weak point of the sps varmint is its stock. there is a review on sniper central of it including shooting it with the same stock the sendero has.

 

[98camaro28]

Yes, Vortex warranties all their products for life, and is even transferable. NO questions asked!!!

And I think I'm going with the SPS varmint in a .300 WSM, but I will be changing the stock.

 

[Strip Poker 388]

dicks sporting goods has the varmit barrel 308bdl sale 449.00 ,google discount cupon -20.0 and if ya use the dicks credit card 10.% off.

Ive seen the sps BDL at 599.

 

[diriel]

If you are serious about reaching out to 1k, you may wish to re-think things a little. Either get an after market action, or go with something other than a remington.

-- Aftermarket action: The big plus is, any good after market action is already fully Trued and ready to be built. For instance, Lawton Machine Welcome to Lawton Precision Rifles sells some pretty darn good actions for a reasonable price. Add in a good after market barrel such as Krieger, Bartlein, or the Lawton barrel. Lots of really great barrel makers out there. When you are done, you have "Bought once, Cried Once" and you will be happy to know that if you miss...it was *YOU*, not the stick.

-- OEM Weapon: I would actually go with a Howa, believe it or not. They do have pretty reasonable after market support. McMillan, and Manners both make stocks. At least one after market bottom metal maker makes a mag system for it, I think Badger but may be mistaken. Getting really good mounts are easy. In short, the initial quality of MFG and Design are both better than the current decade Remingtons Now all you reminton zealots, please feel free to Flame ON, I have my nomex undies on! gun) /grin j/k

Seriously, for 1k work, Buy Once, Cry Once. Not saying you have to go Top Dollar all the way, but some things like Action, and Barrel, are simply too important to skimp very much on. Not to say you can't make a factory stick shoot well, I have seen many shoot between 1/2 to 1 moa with good loads. Then again I have seen a whole bunch that would just barely make 1 moa on a REALLY good day with the best loads you can make!

Come to think of it, I think the TC warlord comes with a 1/2 moa guarantee, and I am pretty sure there are a couple of the FN / Winchesters that have an accuracy guarantee. Both very fine rilfes. I think it was the FN Patrol that had the guarantee, but you would need to look it up.

As for Cartridge: either a 7mm of some kind, or a 30 cal of some kind. The TC Warlord comes in 300 win mag for instance. Of course the 300 WSM's are pretty nice too. The 7mm-300WSM is quite nice, and like others have said the 7Saum is pretty nice as well. The thing about the Saum line is: How long will they be around? They never really Took Off. The WSM line I believe has Norma Factory brass which is pretty nice brass. The 300 Win Mag or the 7mm Remington Mag both have truly impressive amounts of time proven components and such. Either of these last 2, you can grab some H1000, some Win LR primers, Win Cases, and one of the VLD type bullets and you are very much GTG to 1k.

Have a good one
Gary

 

[billm67]

I'm going to try to stick to what you asked about....The Remington 700 is a fine rifle and is capable of better shooting than the majority of the people behind the trigger. If you are looking for a reasonable find a 700 sps varmint in 308 and make sure it is the one with a full round profile barrel that is 26 inches long. Throw the stock away and find a McMillan, Manners or even a Bell & Carlson Medalist. Find a good gunsmith and have him recrown the barrel an take off as little as possible. You are going to need the barrel length to keep 175 grain bullets supersonic at 1000 yards. As you progress you can add things like a Jewell trigger and have the a new barrel fitted and have the action blueprinted. 90% of the benchrest/long range rifles are based in some way shape or form on the Remington action and you have to be a pretty good shot before a 700 is hodling you back.

 

[diriel]

Ya know what? Now that I have thought some more on what you said, Take that Marlin XL-7 and send it to a good gun smith, have it trued, have a little bit of work done on the trigger (don't need much), put on a quality barrel (shilen, bartlein, kreiger, broughton ect), have it chambered for 280 AI Nosler, then have the factory plastic worked over a bit for bedding and stiffen up the fore-end with aluminium/steel rods and some marine -tex.

I 100% promise you that marlin *WILL* SHOOT*!!!!! A good friend of mine has one in 25-06 and after screwing with it (no barrel) like i said above and really working with his reloads for it, it will now shoot 1/2moa reliably.
No need to toss money in the garbage on a money pit 700. Keep your Marlin, spend a Little bit of Money On It. Then save up for a straight up custom stick. PLEASE one or two of the GS on here, chime in and help the OP out!

Buy the nosler brass, buy some H1000, and maybe some H4831sc, buy some 162gr Amax, get some wolf primers, or Win lr. Get yourself a really good load and Shoot to 1k easily; on a budget.

I do not hate Remingtons, but their quality in the last decade has *Really* gone down hill Your Marlin is 100% every bit as good as any remington you will buy. It is also **** easy to change a barrel on, my savage barrel nut wrench works perfectly on the marlin.

Shoot well,
Gary

 

[Jake Levi]

Thanks guys,

I have been thinking of a 700 varmint, and changing the stock and trigger, and going from there, if, I can find an earlier Rem, which years would look better to start with?

I am thinking in terms of a rifle for deer and elk and off season some fun shooting.

 

[kc0pph]

Sportsmans Warehouse has 700 SPS (i think) on sale for 399, was looking at getting one for the action in a 300 RUM.

 

[Jake Levi]

Thanks, I'll be checking that one out !