SmallCaliberCentral

hi guys!!i've just purchased a remington 700 sps stainless with a 24 inch barrel and a 1 in 12 twist!!brought some hornaday 40 grain v max bullets and at 100yds they spray all over the place and you be lucky to hit a dinner plate lol can anyone tell me if they have had problems with these bullets or is it the twist in the rifle thats not stabilising these bullets?? also has anyone else got this same rifle and how is yours performing!!i'm in the uk and brought this rifle new for fox shooting on our pheasant shoot!!i could have gone for the good old 22/250 but wanted less noise and recoil and this rifle seemed a great little calibre going on the write ups about it!!also i heard 32 grain bullets too light for foxing and should stick to 40 grains which is a bugger if my rifle dont stabilise them many thanks woody

hi woody ,
i recently aquired a savage 12 , 204 with 1 in 12 twist . it didn't like 39 gr sierras , it was marginal with 32 gr hornadys , what it did love was 35 gr bergers .
i tried 748 powder , blc2 , 335 and 10x . it seemed to like the 10x over the others .
hope this helps , and enjoy your new toy and good luck finding the right combonation .

thanks doobie!!as its my first rifle i was getting a bit frustrated lol but i guess its just a case of finding the right combo as you said!! obviousy i need to find a bullet it likes then i can go about re loading which should be interesting!!here in the uk its generally hornaday bullets that are stocked in 204 and its hard to find gunshops who sell them!!not that popular here in the uk i have ordered 40 federal bullets which have the sierra 39 grn blitzking heads and also 40 remington 40 grn accutip to see if either of these two are better!!if not it will be 32 grn bullets!!also doobie which factory cartridge has 35 grn berger bullet heads or can you only buy the heads for the cases????many thanks again

Woody,if you don't get 1/2" groups with the Federals and 39gr Sie BK,return the rifle.My SAVAGE SHOT THE fACTORY FEDERALS @ .333 RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX,WITH A 1:12 TWIST.BEDDING,ACTION SCREWS,AND/OR FLOATING THE BARREL,ARE POSIBILITIES.

Welcome Woody, PM sent.Ken.

The 40 V-Max can be really an iffy situation in 1-12 twist 204"s. I've owned 3 204's but just have one now. One of my rifles simply would not shoot these bullets at all-keyholed immediately. My other 2 rifles would shoot them but they definitely wouldn't be the most accurate bullet in the bunch. Try 39 sierras. They seem to be very accurate. Also the 35 Bergers. Just my 2 cents worth

thanks guys for all your help!!once i have tried the 39 grain sierras and the 40 grain remmys i will try the 35 grain bergers as these i liked the look of lets hope one of these bullets performs otherwise the rifle will be going back to the gunshop and i will buy the tikka t3 they have in instead!!

Woody, I have 2 Remington 700's in 204 ane neither one of them will shoot the Hornady 40gr V-MAX. In fact I think I can get better groups if I used a sling shot. Try the 39's and get some rounds down the tube and get her broke in. After a couple hundred rounds or so the groups got real tight.

HTH,

I'd be looking at a rifle problem, Woody. I have a (sporter-barrel) Remington LVSF that's had almost every factory brand and weight of ammo made through it and has never shot over an inch with any of it; same with my SPS stainless - similar to yours - in .22-250. I'd be Remington's worst nightmare until they made it right; no excuse for this and maybe the rumblings of that co.'s quality going downhill are true.

thanks for all your help guys!!i think this rifle was a bad omen as when i brought it you had to use serious pressure to close the bolt with a live round chambered!!fired it once and ejected the case and it had a tiny shaved piece of the case taken off the edge of the head where the lugs closed over the rim of the case!!sent it back to the gunshop and they sent it to edger brothers who import remington rifles from the usto the uk !!now correct me if im wrong but ain't remington supposed to test fire these rifles before they are shipped out!!this rifle definately wasn't test fired or they would have seen how much force was needed to close the bolt and the damage it done to the case!!it was like a thousanth of a mil needed taken off or something and edger brothers done this for me with their gunsmiths!!now this has been fixed the next problem was the bullets not grouping as stated!!going to try different bullets and see what happens if still no performance i will see what remington have got to say about it hopefully will get a vssf 11 instead for the agro its caused me and the money i will have spent on bullets and driving to and fro the gunshop think thats the least they could do !!! had this gun since 1st july and not shot anything yet due to these problems i have had and its also my first rifle which is not a great start

Take pictures of that shaved case head.I don't believe the final inspection at some manufacturers pay attention to the fired case or barrel alignment for that matter.I got a gun that had excessive primer cratering,with all factory ammo and reloads.They replaced the bolt head,but it should have never left the factory like that,in the first place.

Woody, All imported rifles have to go to a UK proof house before they can be retailed. Yours must have passed that test.Ken.

well i have kept one empty case and a live round which the chap in the gunshop chambered whilst i was there and it done the same!!sent the empty to edger brothers so they could see the damage and they done the work required so i could load a live round easily!!also got parework for the work done and also from the gunshop who sold me it!!managed to get 100 empty brass for the problem from edger brothers!!lets just hope everthing go's well with the new bullets when they arrive!!will keep you guys informed of my progress and many thanks for all your advise!!happy hunting

My Remington 700 hates the 40 grain bullets! I have shot the 39's and had no problems. Mostly I shoot 32 grainers out of the Remington. My Cooper on the other hand is a laser beam with the 40's! Gary

I have read so many excerpts of the heavy vmax not shooting, that when I had a new 20 tactical built, I used a 1-10 barrel from PacNor. It will shoot 32's into .300 consistently and think it will shoot the 39-40 grainers as well. I have never tried the 39-40's in my 700 as the 32's shoot so well.