SmallCaliberCentral

I was going to stay out of this one, having many Remmy 700's myself, and all are shooters, but they all also have been bedded and tweaked. I have not ever had any bad experience with a personal rifle of my own.

But I've also heard the recent horror stories from others here, and on other sites. Here's one from last year that I had personal involvement with:

A work buddy won a nice M700 Mountain Rifle in .280 Rem at a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet, still in the factory box. He wanted me to scope it, mount, and sight in for his son for the upcoming elk season here in Oregon. No problem.....or so I thought.

After getting it home, and into the shop, I pulled the bolt out, and looked down the barrel to see how dirty the factory had left it. Instead of seeing a nice round hole at the end of the barrel, I could only see an "oval" of light showing. Huh??? I then sighted down the outside of the barrel, and low and behold, the barrel drooped down about 3/8" of an inch!! The barrel was bent fresh from the factory!

Needless to say, I called Remington the next day, and they authorized me to return it to the factory repair center. In about two weeks, we got it back, or I should say, another rifle, identical to the one sent was received in the same caliber. No note, no mention of 'we screwed up'....nothing, just the new rifle.

I'd just sum this up by saying: "Quality Control?? What quality control??!!

The new rifle was perfect of course, and shot just fine. But this just goes to show that no matter who you talk to, Remington's QC has gone down the tubes from what I remember in years past. It's a shame, as with all the CNC equipment in use now, this kind of product is inexcuseable IMHO.

Sorry for your bad luck on the Remington. I used to be a Rem man. Have had to much trouble with them lately. Bought a Rem sps in 204 for a truck gun. It wouldn't group. Returned it. My xr 100 in 204 is good. I have quite a few Savages that are good and Coopers.

I just have to add to the "shoot it more" comments. It is not at all uncommon for factory barrels to require 150+- rounds to settle down. Mine needed at least that many. It still only shoots factory ammo right around MOA. I think the factory ammo is just not great. My very 1st batch of handloads was right at 1/2 MOA.

I love my rem. 700 vls. It has shot the 32s and 40 s fantasitic. heres i think a 8 shot group.[img][img]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n59/ ... G_0033.jpg[/img]



[img][img]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n59/ ... G_0844.jpg[/img][/img]

I purchased a 700 VLS in .204 Ruger as soon as it was released,the only ammo I could get was factory.It shot 1/2" groups right off the bat.I then reloaded the empty cases up with 27gr IMR 4895 and topped them off with 40gr V max bullets.It only got better,After doing a trigger job and pillar bedding action and floating barrel,it will now shoot sub 3/4"groups @300 yds.
A friend of mine has a Savage in the same cal and my Remington puts it to shame !!! I once purchased a Browning A Bolt in .22 mag and it shot terrible groups with all ammo that I put through it.I was ready to get rid og it and a gunsmith told me to put at least 200 rounds through it before trying to get
good groups,and by all means keep the barrel clean.Well he was right,after
breakin the barrel in,it is one of my most accurate guns @75 yds.I wouldn't ever think of selling it.Just remember every gun is different,give it a chance
and put some rounds through the barrel before giving up,it just might suprise you.

I purchased two LVSFs at the end of 2005. One, in 204, was for my wife, and the other, in 221 for me.

The 204 was pretty much immediately moved to a HS stock and converted to a BDL. Nevertheless, when shot in the original stock, it produced groups of around 1 moa from Hornady factory 32 and 40 gr ammunition. It wasn't shot before it was floated.

Once shooting handloads, it settled down to a .4 moa AVERAGE rifle, using the Sierra 39 gr Blitzking, and Hodgdens 4895. It has now shot about 900 rounds, and the barrel is the easiest to clean of any rifle in our collection. It has never shown any tendency towards fouling.

The 221 on the other hand was a problem child. It was accurate enough, but nothing wonderful. 1 moa was the rule, and tiny changes to the loads would take it well beyond that. The 221 round itself was way too big for the action, and feed from the magazine was iffy at best. I decided to give up on the round, and to rechamber it for a larger 224. I decided upon the 222 Rem Mag, and the work has just been completed by my gunsmith.

What did we find? Well the barrel itself looks to be pretty good. The lugs didn't engage evenly. Not even close. The chamber was cut off axis, and misaligned. The crown looked ok, but was recut anyway. Now it's been bedded into its stock and the magazine has been converted to a BDL...like it should have been in the first place. Fingers crossed anyway.

I just bought a savage mod 11 and I am getting .5" groups at 100 yds. and .7 " at 200 with no barrel break in

raginbull wrote:I just bought a savage mod 11 and I am getting .5" groups at 100 yds. and .7 " at 200 with no barrel break in

Interesting... You shoot better at 200 than 100.

raginbull wrote:I just bought a savage mod 11 and I am getting .5" groups at 100 yds. and .7 " at 200 with no barrel break in

Dang good for a sporter barrel. the heavy barrel (mod 12) rifles shoot about that.

That makes me feel much better ragin'. Tomorrow she gets shipped back to remmy. I have my fingers crossed. If not: $195.00 for a blueprint, $300 for new tube and $200 for chamber. I hope I don't need to use plan B.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. Do you reload? If so I would take a good look at 39 grain sierras they have a very good reputation for being accurate.

bzizzi wrote:it will now shoot sub 3/4"groups @300 yds.

Right.........

hey wade, sorry to hear about your remmy. i bought a 700 adl in 204 in jan of 06 and soon after puttin my scope on and lining it in , it kept getting off target. i shot about 100 rounds through it before i figured out the problem with mine: the rings and bases. so i bought a single piece base and dual dovetail mounts from leupold and since i lined my leupold scope with the new mounts, i bust 20 oz bottles at 300 yds every shot (with a good rest) with the win. 34 gr hollows, and these are the only bullets ive shot since i assembled the mounts (got 20 more of these comin and 20 of the 39 gr federal/sierras comin), so i might be able to get better groups (havent measured any groups with these) with other bullets. yours just might have been a monday rifle, like you said, but that is still no excuse for remington.

bzizzi wrote:it will now shoot sub 3/4"groups @300 yds.

Missed this one. Do you mean an actual 3/4" at 300 yds or 3/4 MOA (2.25ish") at 300 yds?

i bought a 204 sps set it up with a simmons scope .took it out and it shot like crap . i shot 60 rounds threw it and it didn't get any better. i free floated it and still shot like crap .thinking the scope might be the problem i put a nikon on it and a thumb hole stock that was free floated . it still would'nt get under 1.5 inch at 100 yd. i had put about 120 rounds down it and it newer got any better. the way i finaly got a shooter was to take it back and get a savage 12 fv. right out of the box it was impressive.

icebox