Bought my dream rifle: It’s a factory Remington 700

[Kevin1]

Back in the 90s, my dream rifles were the Steyer SSG 69 and the Remington 700 Varmint Special. Fast forward 20 years later, and I finally bought the Remington in 223.
I love the fit and finish of the gun. It has a beautiful deep bluing and the trigger breaks at a crisp 2.5 lbs.

The previous owner said he shot it once and all shots were touching. So, I’m hoping that it will shoot. I have other rifles for pure accuracy or long-range work, so I’m not planning to shoot the rifle extensively.

This is not a tactical rifle and with it’s 1/12 twist rate, it won’t do any long-distance shooting. But it was my dream rifle and I thought I’d share.

 

[deltawiskey]

Thats gorgeous!
Congratulations on getting your dream rifle!!
DW

 

[bgavin]

Very nice. ?

 

[Lkwoolsey]

Beautiful gun!

 

[Basher]

Can't see the photos (at least not on my phone), but I'm all for chasing dream guns. I sold a few to acquire my AI and optics, because they're more useful to me than a gorgeous safe queen, but I've put them all back on the list to be re-acquired in due time. You like what you like. Don't apologize to anyone for that.

Besides, that 1/12 twist will be a perfect fit for some serious varmint work with lighter bullets. Go have a blast!

 

[XLR308]

My uncle had a long action in 25-06 That looked damn near identicle to yours.
It seemed to be magical as in it was allways in the ranch truck, allways filthy, fed nothing but Rem cor-locs and killed everything it was ever pointed at.
I allways admired that rifle.

 

[sabrecross]

Happy for you. Glad you got what you wanted. Let us know how it shoots.

 

[Kevin1]

Can't see the photos (at least not on my phone), but I'm all for chasing dream guns. I sold a few to acquire my AI and optics, because they're more useful to me than a gorgeous safe queen, but I've put them all back on the list to be re-acquired in due time. You like what you like. Don't apologize to anyone for that.

Besides, that 1/12 twist will be a perfect fit for some serious varmint work with lighter bullets. Go have a blast!

I did it the other way around. I first acquired the tools (the AI, scopes, custom 22s, KiDD, etc...) . Now it's time to focus on collectables.

 

[Basher]

I did it the other way around. I first acquired the tools (the AI, scopes, custom 22s, KiDD, etc...) . Now it's time to focus on collectables.

It was kind of a mix of both for me. A nice CZ550FS in 6.5x55 is what got me back into rifles, and I went a little crazy with all sort of stuff (more CZs of various types, some were REAL good lookers, Berettas, etc.). Then I started to really narrow things down to what I wanted, would use, and could afford to keep. Everything else got the ax to maintain marital bliss (and I'm still sorta teetering on the edge, wife couldn't believe I had a rife worth as much as a small car!). So now, I get to start chasing them, one at a time, to rebuild the collection. A few will be irreplaceable, but that's OK. Life's a journey.

Anyway, photos show on the computer. That's a classic beauty, put her to work!

 

[ChrisH56]

I have a Remington 700 VLS in .223 with a 1/12 twist barrel. I really enjoy shooting this rifle.

If you don't plan to reload, mine loves the Fiocchi 223 Remington with 40 or 50 grain V-Max bullets. It will put 8 of 10 rounds into just about one hole at 100 yards.

 

[supercorndogs]

That was the holy grail to me when I was little.

 

[enichols]

Beautiful rifle, sir. Let us know how it shoots!

 

[ingraham]

i have handled one of those, they are accurate and very sweet to shoot. Congrats on your latest addition.

 

[cornhusker86]

Beautiful rifle! Blued steel and walnut are timeless.

 

[Novak77]

Congrats, that rifles gorgeous.

 

[Stevo86]

Congrats, I always wanted one of these rifles also and finally this year purchased 2. One in 243 and one in 22-250. They are beautiful rifles. Enjoy!

 

[oneshotmike]

There is something classy about the wood stock and basics. Nice looking rifle.

 

[jbell]

I cant see the OP pictures, sure would love to. But I have owned a few of the old 700 varmints over the years (mostly all from the early 1980's), I have had a 22-250, a few 223's, and my favorite was a 222. They were all excellent shooters, easily 3/4 MOA up to 300 yards and at 100 yards 1/2 MOA with no modifications at all. I would like to find an old one in the triple duce again and put a vintage Leupold on it...

 

[Kevin1]

I’m not planning to reload for this rifle. I’ll just occasionally shoot it at 100Y. I have some Fiocchi Extrema 223 Remington 50 Grain Hornady V-Max and Remington Premier 223 55 Grain AccuTip that I’ll shoot in this rifle.

BTW I’m not sure why some of you can’t see my pics. Let me know if I need to fix anything.

 

[Basher]

Photos show on my laptop but not my iPhone. So maybe it's just platform dependent or something.

Either way, gorgeous little rifle!

 

[athanasios23]

Congrats on finding your rifle. Like the wood and blued look.

My classic varmint rifle is sako vixen in 222Rem.

 

[Kevin1]

Today I couldn't seen my pics either. I updated the original post and the pics should work now.

 

[footsteps]

Purdy rig ya got there.

 

[Kevin1]

I shot it at 100 yards with Fiocchi Extrema V-Max, 40 Grain American Eagle JHP, 50 Grain, and AE Varmint tip 50 Grain. I also shot it with cheap 55gr (not pictured).

What a nice rifle! The blind mag holds 6 rounds and It was 100% reliable. It has perfect and smooth feeding and extraction.

It shoots almost everything under 1”. It did shoot a couple of five shot groups in the 0.4s, but most groups were in the 0.6-0.7s.

It's not match grade accuracy, but this was with factory ammo and keep in mind that this rifle isn’t free floated nor bedded from the factory and I’m going to keep it in its original form.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the rifle.



Here’s a pic of some of the groups.



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[Kevin1]

Shot the gun with some reloads. I didn’t do a load development. I just threw in 25 gr of Varget in Lapau brass, BR4 and 50gr Amax. The difference between the top 6 X 5 shot groups and the shots on the bottom is the seating depth (2.240 vs 2.220).



The rifle was clean and the first five shot group was a stellar 0.296” at 100Y. After that I adjusted the scope to get center hits.

I’ve noticed that this rifle shoots its best group with a clean barrel. Also since the barrel isn’t free floated, it starts throwing some vertical strings as it warms up.

The other thing I like about it, is that if you switch between factory loads and handloads, the POI shit is minimum compared to a thin barrel I was shooting the same day (0.5” vs 2”).



Here’s a pic of today’s groups.

 

[chevy_man]

Nice rifle.

I couldn't help myself. My old 700adl got free floated, action and lug bedded, and was a tack driver.

Now the barrel is shot out and I found a synthetic BDL to drop some weight. I keep staring at the Walnut, but I can't convince myself to carry it around.

 

[patriot07]

Sweet gun. If I was gonna by a 700, something like that would be real high on the list. Love that stock and gorgeous blue. Looks like she can shoot a bit too.

 

[steve123]

Feels good don't it!

Wow, I got my first varmint popping dream rifle when I was 14 years old, a M77 in 220 Swift, I worked all summer for it, then got a scope for Christmas so I couldn't shoot it till later, that's a slow torturization!

Always wanted a early 70's HK300, that dream was fulfilled 3 years ago.

If I only had more money, lol.

 

[Surfingsk8r]

That really is a pretty rifle. It's funny I really like the look of wood stock rifles but i have only fiberglass stocks or chassis based rifles. One of these days I'll pick something up with a wood stock. Congrats on obtaining your dream.

 

[2c1fr]

Very very nice gun

 

[Pappasniper]

Nice gun, I have two bolt guns in 223. A Rem 5R 1/9 twist bolt that is a laser beam and a Rem 788 (gun like yours kinda) that has a 1/12 twist and it shoots light out.

Good luck with your dream gun.

PB

 

[Kevin1]

I didn’t want to put too many rounds on the VS so I bought a new 700 VLS. That’s the closest to the VS that Remington currently makes.

The VLS isn’t as smooth as the VS, the trigger is pretty heavy at 4 lbs and the fit and finish isn’t as nice. But I still like it a lot. It’s 100% reliable and almost as accurate as my old VS.



Here’s the new gun and the target I shot yesterday at 100Y:

The two top targets with my old VS and the two bottom targets with the new VLS.
The load that both guns like is: Lapua brass, CCI 400, SMK 53gr, 26.6 gr Varget.

 

[Baron23]

Back in the 90s, my dream rifles were the Steyer SSG 69 and the Remington 700 Varmint Special. Fast forward 20 years later, and I finally bought the Remington in 223.
I love the fit and finish of the gun. It has a beautiful deep bluing and the trigger breaks at a crisp 2.5 lbs.

The previous owner said he shot it once and all shots were touching. So, I’m hoping that it will shoot. I have other rifles for pure accuracy or long-range work, so I’m not planning to shoot the rifle extensively.

This is not a tactical rifle and with it’s 1/12 twist rate, it won’t do any long-distance shooting. But it was my dream rifle and I thought I’d share.

That is a beautiful rifle and a good reminder that beauty in fire arms comes in many different forms.

Now my Rem 700 is a deer gun! haha....5R with 20" barrel and it came from the factory with an HS stock. Only thing I didn't like about it was the trigger and we changed that out.

Best of luck with your beautiful Remingtons.