[Airdale]

Picked up my Remington 700 SPS Tactical .308 today from the dealer. What an awesome rifle! This is my first scoped rifle and I haven't shot a rifle since 1990, my Dad's .30-06 (which he now gave to me). I think I under estimated the power and kick of this thing! My first shot completely caught me off guard. Its been awhile since I shot the -06, but I can't imagine that kicking much worse than this thing! When you shoot, the barrel literally hops to the right, bipod and all. It probably moves at least 5 feet off target! Not sure if I'm doing something wrong to cause that, but I was shooting in the prone supported position and had a very stable stance.

Anyway, it really likes Federal Gold 165gr. I was shooting this "Fushion" 165gr at first and seemed like the gun wouldn't sight in. I switched over to the Federal and the grouping was much much better. I love the BSA scope. The windage/elevation adjustments are very accurate, the focus is very nice and the cross hair is comfortable. I just odered a new one piece scope rail, because I need to move the scope rearward. It was too uncomfortable having to "lean" forward on the stock, and I felt like it was difficult to get my face in the exact position every time. I just kept moving my face until the scope was viewed properly (no dark areas) and then stopped. This left my face about 3" from the scope, but it felt like I had my neck out to get it there.

Overall I am very very pleased with the gun. I think it has the accuracy potential way outside my ability at this point. At one point while sighting in, I must not have had the stock real tight to my shoulder, because when it recoiled, the scope barely touched my nose. No mark left, but enough to get me flinching on the following shots. I finally calmed down and worked on my BRASS technique. Thats when I started putting every round in the bullseye triangle.

This isn't the best grouping I am aware, but I don't think it's terrible for my first time out with the gun. Tomorrow I am heading out with an old friend to do some more practice.

Sorry for the small pics, these from my phone. I'll bring the digital tomorrow.

Question - this gun has a 1/12 barrel twist. What is the lighest grain you recommend shooting? Are there any "Target" loads that are very accurate without paying $30 a box?

 

[big dan]

nice first outing i'd say! the only "target" loads you are probably gonna find for under $30.00 that are as accurate as you desire are probably gonna be reloads...

 

[imperiterangel]

imperiterangel -

Your post has been deleted.

Go to the stickies at the top of the Trading Post Forum on rules for posting sell items.

You don't have enough posts nor time on the board to be elgible for such.

Also, it's impolite to try and hijack the threads started by others.

kdub - Moderator

 

[Airdale]

nice first outing i'd say! the only "target" loads you are probably gonna find for under $30.00 that are as accurate as you desire are probably gonna be reloads...

Thanks. The Federal "Fushion" stuff was $17 a box, but I'm not sure I'd hunt with it. I may get a few more boxes for target because its cheap. I'm going to check the gun shop tomorrow and see if they have any PMC or cheap Remington shells to try. Can't hurt to try different brands. I think I may want to lighten up the trigger a bit too. The pull seems to be a bit heavy. My friend says not to shoot anything lighter than 150gr through this barrel, because of the twist rate. Not sure what that means.

 

[Tang]

Thats a good looking rig.

 

[Shawn Crea]

Looks like a nice setup Airdale.

Twist rate: 1:10 means your rifling is such that your bullet will make 1 revolution in 10" of travel down the barrel. A faster twist (1:9) will stabilize heavier bullets better. I don't know what twist you get on the tactical, but being a 'tactical', they tend to be set up with faster twist barrels for heavy-bullet-for-caliber long range shooting. A slow twist barrel will not stabilize the heavy bullets and you get poor - or no - accuracy. Likewise, a fast-twist barrel may not shoot light bullets well. Look up 'Greenhill formula' to get a primer on twists. Good luck with the new rifle.

 

[slim 60]

wish i lived closer ti you if you got much fusion ammo put up..
its [along with hornady btsp]are my absolute favorite in 165 grn..its what i keep put back for precise shots..also the stuff is deadly out of the savage 110,, i sold an borrow once an a while.. slim

 

[broom_jm]

Airedale,

If you aren't used to shooting high-power, even a heavy .308, like yours, can kick pretty good. You'll get used to it and, if you're kinda goofy, like me, come to enjoy it! Nothing like a gun letting you know you touched one off.

The prone position will always result in the most "felt" recoil, because your body resists the energy most, that way. Conversely, you will feel it the least from an off-hand position, as your body rolls with it, more. Rule of thumb is; the closer to the ground you get, the more you will feel the recoil. Regardless of what position you take, keep the gun firm to your shoulder and resist the urge to hold it away from you, or loosely. That's where scope eye (nose) usually comes from.

The way you describe the scope problem, it sounds to me like the stock (length of pull) is a little long for you. A scope mount rail that allows you to bring it back a bit more will help with your head position, but you may find that a shortened stock brings you into natural alignment with the scope, and helps reduce the recoil you feel. Proper fit of stock can't be over-emphasized, as it pertains to felt recoil and accuracy.

Please remember to clean your new barrel thoroughly. Whether you choose to do this every 5, 10, 20 shots, or at the end of every range session, you will find that proper cleaning, especially during the first few hundred rounds, helps with accuracy over the life of the barrel. (Do a search on barrel break-in techniques.) PM me if you'd like more info on this.

Don't give yourself a hard time about the groups: Most of the rifles made today are capable of better accuracy than the guy pulling the trigger! Work on good shooting form, keep your barrel clean, try different loads (or better yet, make your own!) and you'll shrink those groups in half.

The rate of twist your gun has is actually better for lighter bullets, than it is for heavier ones, so if you want to go down to 125gr loads, you'll still have good accuracy potential and quite a bit less recoil. I wouldn't expect your barrel to shoot anything heavier than 180gr very well, and maybe not even those. However, the 308 is at its best with 150 or 165 grain bullets, anyway, so you're not limited unless you want to shoot beyond ~600 yards.

Have fun and post more pics!

 

[Airdale]

Thanks Broom and everyone!

The stock feels like it fits just fine. I own plenty of shotguns and the length of pull is very comfortable. What is uncomfortable is that I have to lean my head too far forward to eliminate the dark rings in the scope view.

Like I said this is my first scoped rifle, so maybe that's just how you have to do it! But I think if I move the scope to the rear, just a tad, maybe 1/4"-1/2", than i can rest my head on the stock like I do with my shotguns and the scope view should be clear (no dark circles). That was the problem, if I put my head where it was comfortable, I was about 4-4.5" from the scope.

If the cheapest the gun store has is Fushion, then that's what I'll be shooting at the range for practice. Federal Gold will definitely be in this gun for hunting season though.

 

[zb338]

Airdale,
You mention that the scope is touching your nose. If you move
it back more, won't it smack you on the nose?

Zeke

 

[Airdale]

Airdale,
You mention that the scope is touching your nose. If you move
it back more, won't it smack you on the nose?

Zeke

When I lean forward enough to get the proper eye relief, it's about 3-3.5" from my face. The one time where the scope touched my nose, was likely because I didn't have the stock tight to my shoulder, and when the gun recoiled, it came back and just nipped my nose. It didn't hurt, but it was enough to make me flinch for the next 5 shots! LOL! When it happened, I remember being 100% completely relaxed. So relaxed, that it was almost as if my body didn't stop the recoil. Funny thing is, that shot was dead center on the bullseye. Definitely my best shot of the day. But I need to pay better attention to making sure the stock is tight to my shoulder, otherwise it's going to come back on the recoil.

When I use proper shooting techniques, no it doesn't touch my face.

 

[oneoldsap]

I don't know if you have Med. or High rings on there , but it looks like you could lower them one size and still have barrel clearance . That would help with your cheek weld . It also looks to me like one extension ring to the rear would solve your eye relief issue . If you can find some 155Gr. Palma Match loads I bet she'll shoot them real good . All that being said I like my .308s 1/10" twist !

 

[Tang]

Try the Federal Gold Medal, loaded with the 168gr Sierra Matchkings http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/rifle.aspx?id=150

Or try these 155gr Match bullets loaded by Mike Mcnett http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_52&products_id=205

 

[Airdale]

Went to a much nicer range today (private club) with a buddy. I bought 3 boxes of Winchester 308 147 grain. It was the cheapest round for punching holes in paper. It had the absolute worst accuracy. I shot 50 rounds today and out of the 50, I couldn't even get a decent group below 1". The remaining 43 rounds were all over the **** paper. And the rounds that did group together, were not consecutive shots fired.

My friend is a 60 year old retired Army vet. who is much more knowledgeable than I am. He is the one who belongs to the club we shot at. We went over the entire gun, tightened every srew. There was a bit of a wind that blew here and there, but the shots were hardly to be considered a group. My buddy shot the gun for a few rounds, even he couldn't get a group. So I was a little concerned until I came home and looked at my target from yesterday with the Federal Gold 165's. I think it is safe to draw the conclusion that the Winchester NATO rounds are garbage. I'll post a pic of the papers. We even shot at 200 yards and the rounds were even more spread out on the paper.

I had MUCH better trigger control today, much nicer shooting platform and even had a rest for the rear of the stock. Yet the rounds were much more spread out than me shooting prone for the first time yesterday.

 

[Airdale]

Here you go, some larger I didn't even keep the target from 200yrds. Just take the spread on these from 100yrds and increase it by 3-4". My buddy was my spotter, so he kept track of where each round went. These were after we had already shot a box and realized it was possibly the ammo.

Now compare those to what I did yesterday with the Federal Gold Medal 165gr. If you look here and compare, I put just about all of 8 rounds within a 2x2 square. Yeah, not great, but good enough to kill just about anything and that can only improve with practice. But the gun proved it could group.

I think the Federal better reflects my current shooting ability. It's not as tight of a group as this rifle is capable of, but for my first time out with it I think it was pretty darn good compared to today. Any large game animal would have been toast with the Federal Gold yesterday. Today, it was a crap shoot. Even the Federal Fushion was better.

Overall though, I love the gun and scope is pretty nice. Rotate the focus dial until the target is in focus, than look at the yardage reading. It is right on at 100 and 200 yards.

 

[big dan]

the fusion ammo is pretty darn good for deer in my opinion so i wouldn't write it off just yet. it is wise to try different ammo as you never know what will work best. have you cleaned the bore down to bare metal? did you do so before you fired it? sometimes that can make a difference as to how a rifle shoots...

 

[Airdale]

the fusion ammo is pretty darn good for deer in my opinion so i wouldn't write it off just yet. it is wise to try different ammo as you never know what will work best. have you cleaned the bore down to bare metal? did you do so before you fired it? sometimes that can make a difference as to how a rifle shoots...

Yes, I thoroughly cleaned the barrel before shooting, and then after every 20 rounds. I ran the wire brush down there a few passes, then we through a couple times with bore cleaner followed by dry patches until it was dry and clean. And after seeing how the Fushion shot yesterday and the Winchester today, the Fushion will definitely kill well. It is much better than the Winchester. It could have just been the light grain bullet too. The gun just may not like less than 160grain. The review of the gun on snipercentral.com found that Federal Gold Medal 165 was the most accurate as well.

 

[gunchamp]

With a 1/12 twist, the hornady amax 168gn would be perfect. They are $25 a box at most retailers. Natchez is where I buy mine. I have an xcr tactical 700 with a little work done that shoots lights out with those amax loads. I'm talking half inch at 200yds. Handloading will definetly save you money but you are not going to be able to improve too much on the factory loaded amax rounds.

 

[hillestadj]

147 gr. is pretty light for that rifle. Most tactical style rifles are set up to shoot heavier bullets. I've always had the best luck with 165 and 180 grain bullets in any of my .308s.

 

[Airdale]

I appreciate all of your advice and comments gentleman. I couldn't sleep last night. No way could I live with a rifle that couldn't group less than 1". So this morning I bought a box of the Federal 165gr that I was shooting on the first day, and went back to the range. Had to fire about 8 rounds to get it sighted in with the heavier bullets and today was windy too! 10-15 gusty winds, compared to yesterday, which was nearly calm.

I got the scope on the center (or close enough), resurfaced the target and shot 3 rounds with the Federal from 100 yards.

I am still an amatuer rifle shooter, but I certainly feel happy with that grouping. I know it can only improve with practice.

Also, before I sighted in with the heavier grain, I shot 3 rounds of the same Winchester from yesterday. 1st shot was dead bullseye, the other two went wild again. The group was 3-4". So I think it is safe to say that this gun does NOT like lighter bullets, and it certainly doesn't like that Winchester garbage. Federal it is!