Remington 700 SPS varmint

[tpc13]

I brought the Rem 700 SPS Varmint heavy barrel in .308 with 26" barrel. I Went to shoot it and the groups were only 1" MOA at 100. I used PMC fmc and Federal fmj. About the same results.
I checked the barrel with a dollar bill and its not free floating. Do u guys just shim the stock then go shoot to see if better or should I just sand the stock under the barrel to permanently made it free floating. I figured I would do one step at a time.
Free float barrel then find what it likes as far as ammo. Gonna reload 168 match soon. Any suggestions ?? Tnks in advance..

[bombadillo]

Try Federal Gold Medal Match 168gr SMK ammo, and sand out the inlet of the stock to free float it. Remove, and re-torque the action screws, and shoot it again. I bet you get 3/4" with that combo if you were getting 1" from PMC

[2shotjoe]

New stock, sps stock will just flex on you no matter what you do.

Bruce wished he owned a Droid RAZR.

[tpc13]

What can I do to the factory stock to make better? On budget at least for now.. glass bed or pillar bed?? Difference us? And who has done this?

[deckhandmike]

If I was on a budget I wouldn't do a thing to the rifle. 1 MOA with so so ammo is good. I'd save for hi quality glass. Are you bench shooting or hunting with it?

[barrage]

What can I do to the factory stock to make better? On budget at least for now.. glass bed or pillar bed?? Difference us? And who has done this?

Throw it away.

Seriously, not being elitist, but it's a bonafide piece of **** that should be looked at as merely packaging for the rifle during shipment.

There are plenty of okay stocks out there that aren't $1k

Here's a nice Bell and Carlson for $265

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/the-185/bell-carlson-2958-tactical/Detail

Or a super budget clown stock for $160

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/the-332/*CLEARANCE-MODEL*-Long-Range/Detail

Here's another laminated stock that doesn't look as ridiculous going for just under $200

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/the-614/*NEW%21*-Bobby-Hart-Long/Detail

[NorCalFocus]

Replace the stock. When I bought my gun last summer I was told the same thing. I responded the same way, "this will work fine" "I'm on a budget" etc. Shoot it one time and said F*@# this POS. Yes I was shooting 1 MOA and it was fine for hunting, but knew it had so much more potenional.

I got a Boyds thumbhole stock and pillar bedded it myself. The stock will run you about $100 and the DIY pillar job about $35 in materials to do it.

Here's a thread on my gun if you want to see it...http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=877979

Now if you want to free float the barrel in the SPS stock you can cut some of the ribs out of the forend, and epoxy in some rods. Like old carbon fiber arrows. That will stiffen up the stock and help, but it still won't be prefect.

[dfletcher]

I brought the Rem 700 SPS Varmint heavy barrel in .308 with 26" barrel. I Went to shoot it and the groups were only 1" MOA at 100. I used PMC fmc and Federal fmj. About the same results.
I checked the barrel with a dollar bill and its not free floating. Do u guys just shim the stock then go shoot to see if better or should I just sand the stock under the barrel to permanently made it free floating. I figured I would do one step at a time.

Free float barrel then find what it likes as far as ammo. Gonna reload 168 match soon. Any suggestions ?? Tnks in advance..

I have an SPS in 6mm Remington. Accuracy was lousy out of the box. I eventually went with a different stock, however until then I removed that little "hump" in the barrel channel and bedded the receiver and it made all the difference in the world. Frankly, I probably didn't have to bed the receiver, removing the hump alone probably helped the most. Takes about 5 minutes to do, be sure you seal that which you sand.

Check out Stockys Stocks - they have everything from laminated wood & inexpensive to "ouch that hurts" for stocks. I got a plain old Hart Long Range with pillars.

Edit: A correction - my rifle was the VLS with a wood stock, not the plastic stocked SPS.

[dgax65]

A new stock will probably help, but don't forget the ammo. I had the same rifle and had to try quite a few different types of factory ammo to get the best groupings. I tested at least 20 different bullet weight/types to see what gave me the best performance. I got some pretty significant differences in group sizes with different ammo. I probably spent more testing ammo than I did on the Bell and Carlson stock that I bought. If you reload that process will obviously be somewhat cheaper.

[tpc13]

Before seeing your advise guy's I free floated the barrel, reinstalled it and it helped. I put back in my Harris bipod and the weight from the gun made the stock flex and dollar bill would not go between stock and barrel. Tnks for your responses guys. Guess new stock is in order.

[Kerplow]

Take the stock off and look at it, it will likely alleviate you of your desire to modify it and you'll be stuck with the new issue of restraining yourself from **** canning it before you have a suitable replacement.

[nothing4u]

Look around for a HS precision stock people sell from their rem 700 5R for about 225 shipped or better.

[dskit]

+1 on the B&C - the varmint model with the aluminum bedding block is the best rifle stock under $300.

[bombadillo]

Look around for a HS precision stock people sell from their rem 700 5R for about 225 shipped or better.

I've seen them around for closer to $300-325 for the HS precision stocks as of late. They are not cheap stocks.

[russ69]

Before seeing your advise guy's I free floated the barrel, reinstalled it and it helped. I put back in my Harris bipod and the weight from the gun made the stock flex and dollar bill would not go between stock and barrel. Tnks for your responses guys. Guess new stock is in order.

I'm in the same boat but with a 243 Varmint Rem. I have not shot mine yet but I'm going to do the same process. The only difference is that I'll be shooting off a sandbag, leaving the Harris bipod folded. I'm going to shoot it stock, then remove the nubs and free float. After that I'm going to go down the the hobby store and get some spruce strips and basically bond two vertical and one horizontal beam into the stock. I'll be pretty proud if I can get a stock appearing gun to shoot good groups but I'm going to go step by step.

P.S. My experience in the past has been that if a gun has barrel pressure, it's there for a reason. Sometimes just to stiffen a weak stock and sometimes to make the amplitude of the vibration less. We'll see....