Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

[DerMeister]

I have decided to build a long range rifle. I decided quickly to go with the Remington 700 sps tactical .308. Everything about the rifle was appealing.

When I first picked up the rifle, I noticed right away that the stock is less than desirable. As well known the forend will touch the barrel with a bipod. The rubber material also seems to collect any dirt or dust that touches it, and gets really dirty fast with use. It looks horrible. Secondly, I noticed that the triggerguard is plastic. On a $600 rifle this just shouldn't be. On further investigation the floorplate is aluminum. Finally, my rifle will not feed properly. The rear end of the rounds sit too low and often the bolt will go over the round. The feed lips also scratch the brass badly.

I used fine grit sandpaper to fix the feed lips. I have tryed to shim the rear of the follower with two washers, but it has had no effect. I've read that I may have to bend the magazine spring, and hopefully that will fix the issue. As noted before a $600 rifle should't have problems out of the box like this.

Other than that, I really like it. My plans are:

Seekings 1 piece 20moa base, and low 1" rings
Harris S-BRM 6-9" bipod
Leupold 3-9x40mm rifleman

The stock will have to wait to be upgraded as will the scope, but I'll roll with them for a while.

Unfortunatly the rings and base from seekings precision are on back order until the end of October. I think I'll wait it out.

Thanks for reading, this is a great forum, and I can't wait to hit the range with my first long range rifle!

 

[RFutch]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

I just bought the same rifle. I have noticed if I don't pull the bolt back all the way, forcefully, it will sometimes not pick up a round. Just a thought.

SPS-T .308
Bell & Carlson M40
Timney 510
Weaver Grand Slam Tactical 3-10x40 mil/mil
Weaver Tac 20 moa base
Leupold PRW Low rings
Harris 6-9 Bipod
Allen stock pack

 

[DerMeister]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

That looks really great, one of my favorite looking stocks.

Upon further investigation, it appears that even if the end of the round sits all of the way up, it is barely picked up by the bolt. I think this is a machining problem? If the rear of the cartridge sits low at all, it will fail to feed.

This is serious BS. I really could'nt recommend this rifle to anyone at the moment.

 

[RFutch]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

That sucks. Im sure some of the other guys here will chime in. This is my first 700 so I have very limited experience with them. FWIW mine really only did it on the first range trip before it started to loosen up.

Good luck man!

 

[DerMeister]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

Thanks RF, I think we have different problems. This is an issue that a break in sadly won't fix.

Here's the best picture I could get with my phone. The rear of the round is as high as it will go. Does everyone else's rifle do this too? It's hardly picked up by the bolt.

 

[-Snyper-]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

You may have to take the box out, and bend the sides out just a bit to allow the bullet to rise up enough for the bolt face to grab it. Don't go to far, or the spring will just push all the bullets out when the action is opened.

You would be suprised at, just how much tweaking needs to be done to these new assembly line guns. I go over everything with a fine tooth comb when I purchase a new firearm.

 

[DerMeister]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

I am really surprised so far, I own many surplus bolt action rifles that are built better than this. They just could't do the same thing accuracy wise.

I will have to look into that, I have noticed now that the issue is the worst for the first two rounds in a full magazine. The last two rounds seem to work as they should.

 

[RFutch]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

Mine looks pretty much the same.

 

[DerMeister]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

Thanks for the picture! I messed with the box and basically ruled that out. My last option is to put a really good bend in the mag spring to push the rear of the cartridges up as well as possible. I am pretty sure if the mag spring were designed in the oposite direction it is(if that makes sense) it would eliminate this issue.

Once again thank you for the picture RFutch, it looks identical to mine, but I have issues.

 

[RFutch]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

No problem, hope you get it worked out.

 

[atalkingsausage]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

I cant tell if you're running a detachable magazine or not but if you're using one of the factory ones then I would recommend taking the spring and the follower completely out of the gun and reinstalling them making sure everything is oriented properly. Make sure the spring is pushed all the way forward where it attaches to the door. Hope this helps.

 

[TRAAV]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

The bottom metal (rigger guard) isn't plastic. Should be aluminum. Yes stock sucks.

 

[2clicks]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

I had a SPS Tactical in .308 it was a decent rifle for the money. A little short on the barrel but it works. A better stock will make you realize you should have gone the better model route to begin with. Sometimes you have have to make the decision to get going and The SPS Tactical is a good place to start.

Mine ended up at GAP for a pimp my rifle overhaul...

 

[okrebel92]

Re: Thoughts on new Remington 700 sps tactical .308

Hmm... thats an interesting problem. Here's what it should look like (except for the cut out by the extractor)

I have the extended mag as well and it feeds fine.
From the first round posistion and all other odd number roundsin the mag --

For the second round and all other even number of rounds in the mag--

As you can see, there's no problem feeding the rounds--

Extended mag--

 

[Beef82]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I picked up an SPS-V in .308 in April or May and it has a similar problem, but almost exclusively on the second round, 3 and 4 feed fine, the first round may have errored once and it just barely catches the rim of the case on all of them. Its gotta be a spring or follower issue, I load to mag length so they're all the way back, and if I'm really careful about insuring the second round is level it rarely happens. I'm not short stroking the bolt, I've been shooting 700's for 20yrs, dad collects classics, and these new ones have a few issues. Timney fixed the bogus trigger, I haven't messed with this issue, but I'd be interested in a solution, maybe I'll grab mine and mess with the spring.

 

[RFutch]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I searched back through some old threads and it seems the general consensus is to bend the magazine spring.

Remember to bend in the middle of the "legs" not where the spring is already bent. Bend the spring to make the rear of the follower ride higher.

 

[DerMeister]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I am 100% sure I am not short stroking the bolt.

As shown in the later photos, the bolt face touches the rim of the cartridge much more than mine, resulting in a positive, reliable feed of the round.

However, on my SPS Tac, even with the magazine out, and my fingers pressing 4rds up against the feed lips on the receiver, I have as little as shown in my photo.

While a stronger/adjusted spring may allow "better" feeding, the real problems lies in the machining of the feed lips which is not something I want to work on. The feed lips seem to be out of spec thus causing the rounds to sit slightly too low, which does not allow consistent, positive feed
ing.

I have been able to get mine to work with more shims for now. I don't want to bend the spring in case I decided I want to send it to Remington.

 

[seanh]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

sometimes that box isn't in properly. I thought mine was in properly a dozen times and cursed the rifle till I recently got it feeding right.

The box wasn't properly seating and the spring was an issue. A little tweaking fixed the spring and paying attention to how the box is supposed to fit resolved the issue.

I'm not saying you don't know what you're doing but that damn box can get out of alignment very easily.

 

[LoneWolfUSMC]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

It is the magazine spring.

It's a simple matter to "tweak" it a little in the middle (not on the bends).

This will push the base of the cartridge higher. If you go too far you will nose the bullet into the feed ramp.

DO NOT sand or polish the rails. You can goof stuff up if you don't know what you are doing, AND it just isn't needed. Scratches on the side of the cases do nothing to impact function.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DerMeister</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As noted before a $600 rifle should't have problems out of the box like this.</div></div>

Some do, some don't. It's the nature of the game when you purchase a "relatively" inexpensive factory rifle.

 

[Gravity_Knight]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

Mine had some issues with feeding cartridges too. You will get it worked out.

I put a B&C medalist tactical stock on mine and it shoots great!!

 

[choto8]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I had the same issue with my rem700 that I bought a couple months ago. I was pretty annoyed that it wouldn't feed. I shot about 100 rds through it, and afterwards it "settled in" - and now I dont have that feeding issue anymore.

Like you said, if this rifle wasnt so accurate out of the box (with a Timney installed) I would have been more upset.

 

[akflier]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

Well, here's another "I had the same problem too" post. Mine is an LTR and I had been happy with the rifle except for this feed issue. I would love to share with you how I fixed it, but my cure (unintentional) was to jump on the group buy band wagon and get a DBM. Problem solved. Highly recommend.

 

[CopperMach]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

My 700 SPS AAC-SD had occasional feed issues as well. It now feeds 100% reliably in my KRG Whiskey-3 chassis through AICS mags.

 

[JD42]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

Have you call Rem? Asked about it. Might want to see if they will take it back and check it out for you?

 

[RobG]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

My LTR would scratch the hell out of the brass, too. It also was a bear to push the last round into the chamber. The feed ramp looked like someone tried to "smooth" it with a rock. My smith polished up the ramp and the rails and she feeds fine now. In Remmys defense, this rifle I got used, so I cannot blame the feedramp issue on them.

 

[9sigman45]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

Earlier this summer I bought a SPS-AAC that had the same feeding problem discussed here. I installed a milled follower as many have suggested, but that didn't fix it. Last week I loaded up 4 dummy rounds (no powder or primers) so I could safely cycle rounds inside. Tweaking the spring and running the dummy rounds thru many times, I've finally got it feeding like it should. I'll run some live ammo thru this weekend to confirm reliability.

 

[DerMeister]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I actually just got an email from them telling me to call them two days ago after I sent them an email. The guy I got said sometimes they get the wrong follower and mag spring. I explained how I thought the feed lips on the receiver were out of spec, and I got the feeling from his attitude it had happened before. He said he heres about this once in a while, but usually it is a follower and spring issue. They have a good shop about an hour from here that does warranty work on Remingtons. I have a two year warranty, so I am going to see if I can work this out. I have it feeding ok with some shimming for now.

akflier,

After a new stock, that is on my list. I am hopping some American made bottom metal eventually comes out for a reasonable price. But both of these upgrades are a long way away for me.

 

[phm14]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

Another new member w a Remington problem:
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...969#Post2832969
A new rifle should work out of the box, period.

 

[E. Bryant]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: phm14</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A new rifle should work out of the box, period. </div></div>

That is just crazy talk! Surely, after 50 years of producing the 700, it is totally unreasonable to expect the manufacturer to get things right the first time. Complaining us unwarranted; instead, it's much better to make excuses.

 

[akflier]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DerMeister</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

After a new stock, that is on my list. I am hopping some American made bottom metal eventually comes out for a reasonable price. But both of these upgrades are a long way away for me. </div></div>

I understand where you're coming from. It was a bit of a stretch/luxury for me to bo DBM now, but I knew I may not see a better deal when I was ready... Right now, the money would have been better spent on a replacement trigger or ammo.

 

[gonzaga]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I haven't had any problems with mine, I have only had it for about 2 months, but I have put a few rounds thru it.

 

[misfit0317]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

This was a problem in my SPS Tac as well. I finally got fed up with it and decided to just go with a bottom metal. At the same time, i wasn't a big fan of the stock so i found a cure.

I decided to go with the "buy once, cry once" option and bought a McRee Precision. Best upgrade I've ever made to any rifle.

Good luck getting it all figured out.

 

[Dannydee77]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

OK, read the posts in this section. Well I have the same problem, my Reminton 700 SPS isn't feeding properly. I have had several misfeeds most happening during the 2 to 3rd round. Headed to the range sometime this week and will test out the harder bolt stoke, hope that works.

Dan

 

[madppcs]

Re: Thoughts/Problem on new Remington 700 sps tactical

I had a couple rounds fail to feed on my SPS700. Mine is only 1 week old,lol. Im gonna continue shooting the snot out of it until it either 1-realizes that Im still gonna shoot the snot out of it and start working, or 2- I get my AICS and it should eliminate the issue completely. (I think BOTH scenarios are gonna happen)