Remington 700 sps varmint

[FAL]

Hey, new to the forum, thinking about getting the Remington 700 sps varmint, in 308. Was wondering what you guys think about this rifle, also thinking about getting a tikka t3 light in 308, toss up between the two. Any suggestions, tips and advice on the new rifle. Also, I would love suggestions for a scope to top it with. Thanks.

[cms81586]

Hey, new to the forum, thinking about getting the Remington 700 sps varmint, in 308. Was wondering what you guys think about this rifle, also thinking about getting a tikka t3 light in 308, toss up between the two. Any suggestions, tips and advice on the new rifle. Also, I would love suggestions for a scope to top it with. Thanks.

The 700 SPS V is a good base rifle and will let you do almost anything you want since it's a Remington. The Remington 700's are the 1911 and AR-15 of the boltgun world. There's a ton of aftermarket parts out there. However, the stock on the SPS is shit and you'll want to replace it asap. It's about as bad as the stock that comes on the savage 10FP. Flimsy and definitely not free floating. But if you're looking for a base line rifle to start modifying as you can afford it go for it. Also be warned the new triggers theyre putting on these rifles aren't nearly as earlier ones.

On the other hand, if you're looking for an out of the box rifle that you don't plan on upgrading too much, the Tikka may be your better choice. Try before you buy if that's possible and at the very least handle them both. I'd suggest you go with the SPS and upgrade when you can afford it. Like I said the aftermarket supports the Rem 700 better than any other boltgun out there.

CMS

[CENTERMAST]

I have an SPS VARMINT in .308 and have put approx. 300 rds through it so far. I have heard grumblings about the stock but the fit on mine is very good to the barrelled action. A Leupold MARK 4 ER/T 6.5-20x50mm sits on top. Really the only thing I don't like about any Tikka is that they aren't made in the U.S.A. and I try to always to purchase American products.

[arrrrgh15]

....don't cheap out on the scope and mounts. Upgrade the stock at a later date to an HS Precision, or funds permitting McMillan or Manners. Used stocks are available.

My vote for best bang for the buck is the Leupold Mk4 scopes. The warranty on these scopes is worth the price. You'll have it forever.

[Fr0sty]

The 700 SPS V is a good base rifle and will let you do almost anything you want since it's a Remington. The Remington 700's are the 1911 and AR-15 of the boltgun world. There's a ton of aftermarket parts out there. However, the stock on the SPS is shit and you'll want to replace it asap. It's about as bad as the stock that comes on the savage 10FP. Flimsy and definitely not free floating. But if you're looking for a base line rifle to start modifying as you can afford it go for it. Also be warned the new triggers theyre putting on these rifles aren't nearly as earlier ones.

On the other hand, if you're looking for an out of the box rifle that you don't plan on upgrading too much, the Tikka may be your better choice. Try before you buy if that's possible and at the very least handle them both. I'd suggest you go with the SPS and upgrade when you can afford it. Like I said the aftermarket supports the Rem 700 better than any other boltgun out there.

CMS

I have been hearing about the triggers on the new 700s not being up to snuff lately. I went out and tried a pair the other day to see what the fuss was about while I was making my bi-weekly shop visits. I had (2) 700s I was playing with and both had a nice trigger. Low lbs on the pull, and consistent.

Now, I have heard its hit or miss with the triggers, maybe that was it?

[Seventy4Blazer]

LOVE my Rem 700 SPS V in 308!

shoots GREAT and the X-mark trigger, although not the BEST, is nice.

i am in the process of re-stocking mine now and looking at a trigger to put in it, but its because i want to shoot 800+ yards on a regular basis... it can and does still do it, but my body could use some extra help... lol

[Tomcat088]

The Reimgton 700 SPS Varmint is a nice rifle that will shoot well. The stocks are a little flimsy, but they aren't awful. They aren't any worse than any other factory synthetic stock that comes on a rifle, actually, I've seen quite a few on stock rifles that were worse.

I don't exactly think that a Leupold Mark 4 is the best bang for the buck, but that's not really the place for it here to talk about it. They're just VX III glass with some different turrets and knobs put on it. There are LOTS of scope manufacturers today that give a life time warranty and who will cover their stuff just as well as the Leupold. There is better glass in cheaper scopes, but anyway, like I said, here isn't exactly the place.

The X-Mark Pro triggers are not bad for a factory trigger, although nowadays we're starting to see some pretty nice triggers on factory rifles. Most of the people taht will say they're bad or need some work are people that like to shoot aftermarket triggers, and we're spoiled. The old Remington triggers were very workable, it was fairly easy to respring them and with some polishing they were very nice. The newer ones usually have some pretty tough sealant on the adjustment screws that sometimes require a torch to break free. I don't own one, but I've heard that they can be hell to get apart to respring and polish surfaces. Also there are some that even after all of this, they still just don't adjust out as well as the old triggers; they will still have creep in the takeup or won't reliably hold the pounds on the trigger and still have the safety work. That's where they're hit miss, some of them will adjust just as well as the old Remington triggers, but some of them no matter what you do to them, just don't adjust as well.

Seventy4Blazer, good luck on your venture to 800 yards. I would advise you to watch alot of wind, and how many mph wind's mirage looks like through the scope. Make sure you got a log book, and some match ammo or handloads that have an SD in the single digits. Good luck.

[Bradster]

I looked at one of those in 22-250 a few months ago and they even had like a 40 or 50 dollar rebate. I ended up going with a weatherby vanguard varmint and i am truly happy i went that direction.

I have nothing bad to say about Remington in fact i have quite a few but i have to say that the weatherby shoots GREAT. They garuntee 1 1/2 groups at 100 but with hand loads i am well under 3/4 groups

Just incase your mind isnt entirely made up you may want to check out a weatherby the price wasnt much different but i truly think for the few extra bucks you get a better gun.

[billm67]

I have a 700 sps varmint in 308 and have helped several friends put together 700's in 308 as well. As far as the stock is concerned, they are cheap and quite flexible, but the desire to replace it really has to do with what you as going to do with the rifle. If your desire is to shoot out to 800-1000 yards....not stock rifle short of a savage f class or remington pss is going to do what you want. The problem with the two previously mentioned rifles is the price is significantly more than the sps varmint. As for the triggers....let me relate my personal experience. I have had a few (probably 10) 700 vs, vls and custom built rifles for shooting varmint and high power 1000 yard prone over the last 15 years. I have never found it necessary up until now to replace the trigger. With a spring kit and a little judicious stoning of parts I could always make the stock trigger quite acceptable for my purposes. I recently put together a 700 sps varmint in 308 in a bell & carlson medalist stock. I worked for several days and several range trips to try to get the trigger working properly and now my 700 wears a rifle basix 8-20 ounce trigger. Oh...and just a plug for the B&C stock....uses the same bedding block as the HS precision and is a whale of a stock for $200 bucks. For the price of an f class savage or a remington pss you can buy the 700 sps v, put it in a B&C stock and put a new trigger on it and have yourself one fine shooting rifle.

As for scopes.....I'm not convinced that you have to spend more than the rifle to put a good scope on it....during this month Midway has the Nikon Buckmaster 6-18 x 40 with mil-dots (apparently they had a batch made for them) for $299. It comes with several different knobs for adjustment which can be swapped out and a sunshade. It's a great scope for not alot of money.

[Tomcat088]

+29 on what bill said, great post, although I have just a bit to add to it. I know of a few rifles just in the Remington 700 line that will hang with or run circles around the Remington PSS at 1,000 yards. The Remington 700 5R will do everything the PSS will, and the barrel will shoot more FPS with the same powder charge, and it'll clean up better. I'm a HUGE fan of the Remington 700 Senderos, in all of it's chamberings, they will own the heck out of the PSS at 1,000 yards. All of these are still similarly priced though, but I thought they were worth mentioning. I'm also a huge fan of the B&C Medalist stocks, they're what HS Precision used to be before they got too proud of their stocks. Oh well, just better for us and another option.

I agree to a point on the glass, as you stated earlier it'll all depend on what you want to do with the rifle. I think the Nikon Buckmaster's are great glass for the money, and i love mil-dot reticles, but I know that those models aren't just going out from Midway, so there's others out there. The only bad thing about some of the hunting rifle scopes that aren't really tactical scopes is that you don't have the same turrets, or the range of adjustments as some of the others. Either way, for the money they're hard to beat, and fit much better in most people's budgets.