Alaskapopo Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) This started out as a Remington 700 Tactical in .308. The rifle shot well (.56 moa with its best load average) but it had some issues. The trigger sucked as did the stock. It also would not feed when I was running the bolt. I followed advice given to me on this form and got a used McMillan stock from Snipers hide and a Timney trigger. I also purchased a Surgeon bottom metal which takes AI mags. I had a friend install the trigger [/u]for me. (I purchased an older 700 trigger but could not get it to fit so I then purchased a Timney and had my friend install it) I sent the stock, rifle and bottom metal off to Collier Rifles and he installed a rear pillar in the stock (it already had a front pillar) and he glass bed it as well and installed the bottom metal. I also purchased a Vortex Viper PST 4-16x50 FFP scope in Mil Mil. I have not been able to shoot it since it arrived as its 5 below zero outside with a 20 mph wind. But I did cycle some rounds through the mags with the safety on to see if it would feed and it does. I am very happy with this rifle. This is before. This is after. Remington 700 Tactical in .308 Rifle $600 Vortex Viper PST 4-16 Mil Mil FFP Scope $ 840 EGW 15 moa Base $36 Burris XTR Rings $30 Timney Trigger $120 Used McMillan Stock purchased on Snipers hide $190 Surgeon Bottom Metal $340 I already had the bi pod and I share it on other rifles. Total cost $1966 Edited January 30, 2012 by Alaskapopo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice!!!! Very Nice, can't wait to hear accuracy & shootability report. MLM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice!!!! Very Nice, can't wait to hear accuracy & shootability report. MLM Trust me as soon as it warms up I will get a range report done. I hate this weather. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsb45acp Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice looking rifle & specs! What is the weight of the trigger pull? Is 308 enough gun for predators in AK (the 4 legged variety)? Just asking because I'm in La & never been north of Iowa. Keep us updated on accuracy & reliability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice looking rifle & specs! What is the weight of the trigger pull? Is 308 enough gun for predators in AK (the 4 legged variety)? Just asking because I'm in La & never been north of Iowa. Keep us updated on accuracy & reliability. Not sure on the trigger pull weight as I don't have a gage. It feels like it may be a touch light at just under 2 pounds. But that is my speculation on feel. The .308 is enough for moose at modest ranges (200 to 300 yards) and for black bear. I would not use it on brown bear unless I had to. Honestly however I got this for fun and as a precision rifle for work if we ever needed it. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drglock Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice looking gun I have the same rifle and did upgrades also.Mine likes 175 and 168 SMK's with varget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9X23Guy Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Beautiful gun Pat. I can't wait to see how its going to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splashdown Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Nice! I don't know much about shooting rifles, but I want to learn. Your build has the visual appeal of what I'm looking for. I keep looking at the Rem700 XCR compact in .308, but it costs about double what your base rifle cost. Anyone have an opinion if it's worth the extra cost? I have also been looking at that same Vortex scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Nice! I don't know much about shooting rifles, but I want to learn. Your build has the visual appeal of what I'm looking for. I keep looking at the Rem700 XCR compact in .308, but it costs about double what your base rifle cost. Anyone have an opinion if it's worth the extra cost? I have also been looking at that same Vortex scope. I bet the XCR has a better stock and that and the bottom metal was a substantial part of my upgrade costs. I really like the Vortex. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Got to the range today. Its warmed up a lot but now its raining. I got a friend of mine to plow out the range and I tested out my Remington 700. The first group was 3 inches high. Bedding and removing the scope and putting it back on did that. I dialed it down and fired the next 4 groups with my good ammo and the average was .65. I then used my plinking stuff for the last group because I was out of the good stuff. Even with the two bad groups the overall average was .78. I am very happy with this gun and the Vortex scope. The mags fed and functioned fine in the Surgeon bottom metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Surgeon Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) Nice Rifle!Seen it over at the "Hide" Edited February 13, 2012 by The Surgeon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 Well it does not like 155 grain Sierra Parma match bullets at least not with N140. I will have to try a different powder. This was Sierra's recommended Accuracy load. It did better with 178 grain Amax and 168 gain Amax bullets. I need to get some 168 grain Sierra's again those did the best so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 Some of it is probably me as the best group is usually the last one I fired at each set of targets. Temperature ws 30 degrees no wind. No excuses. Thanks Jakesdad for recommending the larger bolt knob it works much better especially in the cold. I also got a pack for the stock that holds the 5 round spare mag and shells on the outisde if I want. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Surgeon Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I like the groups from the 168 AMax, 0.45" group. The rifle is defiantly capable of - .5MOA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I just wanna add the 168s will not perform well at 1000. Try the 175 SMK HPBT or even the 185 Berger Match Taget VLDs. 308s always love 4064, then there is Varget and R15. But I have had great luck w/ 8208 XBR. Take it out to 300-600 yards and do ladder testing using a chrono. I promise that if you load 10 rds each starting from start load and go up to max and beyond watching for pressure signs to find you guns max with each of those powders you will see which it likes best. Then from there you go back and load around the velocity and powder your gun liked best. Then you repeat with the next best grouping out of that set and load your charges to the .01gr then shoot them for groups and voala there's your load Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 The best I have ever saw this all explained in YouTube video is under "the road to precision" the guy put a lot of tome into showing the prcess of ladder testing as well as other stuff during his road preparing to get into fclass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) I just wanna add the 168s will not perform well at 1000. Try the 175 SMK HPBT or even the 185 Berger Match Taget VLDs. 308s always love 4064, then there is Varget and R15. But I have had great luck w/ 8208 XBR. Take it out to 300-600 yards and do ladder testing using a chrono. I promise that if you load 10 rds each starting from start load and go up to max and beyond watching for pressure signs to find you guns max with each of those powders you will see which it likes best. Then from there you go back and load around the velocity and powder your gun liked best. Then you repeat with the next best grouping out of that set and load your charges to the .01gr then shoot them for groups and voala there's your load Your talking over my head a bit. What is ladder testing? ALso the max range I can shoot is 600 yards. No 1000 yard ranges available to me and I have to drive an hour and a half to get to the range that goes to 600 yards. Pat Edited February 16, 2012 by Alaskapopo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Ok go to YouTube and search for "The Road to Precision". The guys name is Ryan. Please disregard some of the childish acting but it is very informative. Also look over on wildernesssmeans.com and read his articles on loading. I read tres' stuff at wildernessmeans and heard from other shooters too but watching someone do it on video was nice. He explains everything he is doing and like I said it was very informative for a beginer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Once you find the powder and bullet your gun likes and the starting seating depth on the rifling then u can have you load figured out in as little as 50 rounds. Ladder testing is in a sense just that. You watch your bullets walk up the target with diff powder charges and you will see groups form out if that. Then you work up more loads around those charges and velocities. There are like 12 videos in his series. Watch them and get back to me on what you thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskinsler83 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 you deff want to choice a powder that has better Extreme Spreads and Standard Deveations too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Remington 700 groups When I first got this gun it averaged .56 with this load. Lately it been declining. I think I need new brass. I fired my best group ever with some once fired Federal Gold Medal Match Brass my friend gave me. My other brass is also Federal but from American eagle ammo and I have reloaded it and trimmed it a few times now. Love this gun. I do need to get a 20 moa base. I did the math and found out I don't have enough elevation adjustment to get to 600 yards even when using the reticle too. I have 18 mils left and I need 31 or so. 18 plus 9 in the reticle gets me to 27. I can do it with Factory 155 grain TAP however. Eventually I am going to get a Nightforce for this gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunsen27 Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 (edited) Who manufactured the brass and how many times has it been reloaded? Full length or shoulder bump/neck sized? Might be time to anneal the brass if it's decent quality stuff. As for needing the 20 MOA base you might want to double check you math. 31 Mils sounds like way too much for 600yds. I only need 16.5 MOA to get to 600yds with my .308 load and a Mil is ~3x larget than a MOA. I'm not a Mil shooter, but JBM says that 17.1 MOA = 5.0 Mil http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi Edited March 27, 2012 by bunsen27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskapopo Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Who manufactured the brass and how many times has it been reloaded? Full length or shoulder bump/neck sized? Might be time to anneal the brass if it's decent quality stuff. As for needing the 20 MOA base you might want to double check you math. 31 Mils sounds like way too much for 600yds. I only need 16.5 MOA to get to 600yds with my .308 load and a Mil is ~3x larget than a MOA. I'm not a Mil shooter, but JBM says that 17.1 MOA = 5.0 Mil http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi I did make a huge mistake in my calculations. Forgot to multiply the mils for the given range. 100 yards a mil is 3.6 inches at 300 yards a mil should be 10.8 inches. So for 18 inches of drop at 300 yards I should need only 1.6 mils not 5 like I had figured. Glad I found this snafu out before the match this sunday. I am embarressed. Thanks guys. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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