Where do I go from here?

[Somekevinguy]

A few years ago I bought a Remington 700 SPS Tactical in 308 20" with the Hogue stock so I could play sniper boy. I put a Harris bipod on it and a Vortex Viper PST 4-16x50 FFP scope on it. The closest place I can shoot long distance is over an hour from me so I honestly only get out to shoot it a few times a year. I had always planned on doing a stock upgrade but never have so far and I think mine might be one of the ones with a trigger recall but I've never looked into it.

So I'm kind of getting the long distance shooting bug again and for a few reasons I'm trying to decide if I should continue building the 700 or start with something new. First I come across lots of stuff on the internet saying the 700s are crap now and no where what they used to be which is why I chose the 700 in the first place for the reputation they had over the years and second 6.5 creedmoor seems to be what all the cool kids have now and I think it would be kind of fun to get into a new cartridge.

Is the 700 I have a good base to continue to upgrade or am I throwing good money after bad?

Would it even be worth eventually changing it over to 6.5 if I decided I wanted to go that route or should I just get a new rifle if that's what I decide?

What are the some of the best bang for the buck stock upgrades with a detachable magazine if I keep the 700? I see all these cool chassis out now. Are any of those good bang for the buck or do I stick with a more traditional stock that I bed myself or with the aluminum pillars or whatever they are?

Should I just go buy a new budget full chassis gun in 6.5 creedmoor?

I know I don't actually "need" anything more than what I have now but I want to upgrade my long range toy. Thanks for any advice.

 

[RNWRKNP]

Read some of the forums as there are many opinions from folks that know what they are doing. The Rem 700 aftermarket has about any direction you would like to go. Re- barrel and chamber to a 6.5 creed and put it in a stock or chassis that could start at $300 all the way up to $2000. Decide what you want to do with it first and cator your improvements to that end. Or do nothing and buy some match grade ammo with an exceptional optic (my recommendation) and see if she’ll dance?. You can always improve the gun but initially start with a really good optic that can move forward with whatever choices you make. IMHO

 

[Somekevinguy]

I thought I already bought a good, maybe not exceptional optic and I’ve already been shooting match grade ammo for a few years. It makes noise on steel at 600 yards which is the furthest I’ve shot it. I know I don’t realisticly need any better but like I said just looking to upgrade my toy and hopefully get the most for my money. I just shoot from a bench at the range so far and I want to start shooting prone in the desert at longer ranges.

 

[RNWRKNP]

I have a gen1 Vortex Viper 6-20x50 with a mil reticle and MOA turret that I thought was a good scope years ago when I bought it. Now that I am learning to shoot distance I have stopped buying new guns, improve what I have and ordered a Nightforce ATACR F1 5-25 with mil reticle and mil turret. With my old scope I would be forced to use mills to adjust for distance until I ran out in the reticle and then have to convert mills to MOA for any further adjustment which is a math cluster in your head you don’t need. I wish I had stretched on optics first instead of buying more guns and would save you that mistake.

 

[Somekevinguy]

Oh wow that sucks. Mine is mil mil. I think I’d like to at least upgrade the stock on my existing 700 before I buy another scope, assuming it’s worthy of being upgraded. I bought it new in 2012 if that makes a difference.

 

[Apnea]

Oh wow that sucks. Mine is mil mil. I think I’d like to at least upgrade the stock on my existing 700 before I buy another scope, assuming it’s worthy of being upgraded. I bought it new in 2012 if that makes a difference.

You can pick up used chassis like the KRG X-ray here for about $400. Cheek and LOP adjustable and no need to buy bottom metal. Might be worth a look.

 

[Namekagon]

Because you already own the 700 action, and are considering changing cartridges anyway, I'd probably stick with it and have the lugs lapped/face squared up. Thats what I did when I re-barreled, and I came out with a gun that shoots 0.3 moa groups at 100 with my best load. No groups over 0.5 moa with ANY load I've fed it. The 700 action is very capable, but having it tuned up would be worth it. Cost me $300 to have a gunsmith tune up the action and screw on a prefit barrel.

If you were starting from scratch, I'd say go with a custom action like Stiller Predator. No reason to buy a 700 just to pay to have a smith clean it up.

 

[Lunchbox27]

If it were me... throw it in a KRG Bravo and continue shooting till you have a need to switch calibers. The 308 will suit you fine at 600 yards. When you are ready to rebarrel/upgrade/switch calibers, look at LRI’s remington 700 group buy in the Group Buy section.

 

[Somekevinguy]

I also just finally checked into the trigger recall and mine is effected and 2 minutes on the internet told me for sure don’t send my gun in and worst case check/clean the trigger myself and best case use it as an excuse for a new trigger. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Lunchbox27]

For a solid trigger without breaking the bank, Timney 510. Drop in, easy to adjust, and crisp. My Rem700 has one... zero issues.

 

[Somekevinguy]

Well thanks for the replies. From the recommendations here and some youtubing and other reading I decided to just continue to build on what I have and I ordered the KRG Bravo and a Timney 510. That stock seem like a pretty awesome bang for the buck upgrade over my Hogue stock. Maybe down the line I can have it rebarelled/blueprinted/upgraded in 6.5 creedmoor or even stick with 308.

 

[mchooch]

I pretty much did the exact same as you did. I bought a .308 4 years ago and rebarreled to a 6.5 heavy barrel. I replaced the trigger with a Timney and had a smith true up the action. I went with a cheap Boyd's stock, just because I knew I'd beat the crap out of it in the mountains. I put a Vortex HST LR on it and, if I do my part, shoot about 0.5 MOA at 200. I think you'll really like that trigger - it is crisp and mine breaks at 2.5 lbs. In my opinion and all other things assumed away, if you put the time and money into good ammo and glass, then you should be able to shoot lights out with your gun regardless of what it is.

 

[fdkay]

My brother has a 20" sps tactical that is very capable of good accuracy.
You already own the rifle, there is nothing wrong with building over time.
Buy yourself a KRG Bravo
https://kineticresearchgroup.com/product/bravo-chassis/

add one of these https://kineticresearchgroup.com/product/bolt-lift-sv/

get one or two Pmag's https://www.magpul.com/products/pmag-10-762-ac

add a new trigger. There are several. I like the Timney, because I prefer the wide trigger shoe.

Wait till your wallet recovers, then upgrade the scope

Have fun

 

[jp507]

I’ve got a sendero chambered in .270 that I ended up taking into have rebarreled or something months ago... I ended up just having the barrel cut from 26, to 20 and put it in a McRees Precision chassis. I got the stock for ~370’ish, one section of picatinny rail for a bipod and a magazine, added the Calvin Elite trigger... and really didn’t have a goal after I decided to not rehamber it (long action...if I was in your shoes I’d get it rebarreled, maybe or maybe not...) you could try a couple of upgrades and if you still wanted to rebarrel it, can always do it and use the same chassis, and other add ons in a lot of cases.

These mods got this ol girl in the rotation for range trips again... after being my 2nd deer rifle nearly 20 years ago...
Shoots a substantial amount better after the chassis and trigger.

 

[Somekevinguy]

My brother has a 20" sps tactical that is very capable of good accuracy.
You already own the rifle, there is nothing wrong with building over time.
Buy yourself a KRG Bravo
https://kineticresearchgroup.com/product/bravo-chassis/

add one of these https://kineticresearchgroup.com/product/bolt-lift-sv/

get one or two Pmag's https://www.magpul.com/products/pmag-10-762-ac

add a new trigger. There are several. I like the Timney, because I prefer the wide trigger shoe.

Wait till your wallet recovers, then upgrade the scope

Have fun

That's exactly what I bought yesterday. KRG Bravo, KRG small bolt lift, magpul 5 round mag, timney 510 trigger.

 

[SuperSneakySniper]

May i also suggest a looksie at the Triggertech 700 trigger? Its my absolute favorite and you will see plenty of praises for it here on the hide. Great customer care too. Bravo stock or Xray is a great option.
If your 700 is accurate and works, then its fine. Most complaints about the 700 are about quality control, if you got a good one then you got a good one. I have one good one and one bad one, purchased about the same time. Threw a remage prefit on the good one and its outstanding, im not even going to bother getting it blueprinted. The other one was having all sorts of accuracy issues so i just gave it to a friend.