308 Rem 700 Suggestions

[Musky]

I currently have a Remington 700 SPS Varminter in .308 with a 26" heavy barrel. Stock standard, shoots fine out to 200 yards. Actually 3 shots inside a quarter at 200. Only has roughly 20 rounds down the tube and purchased the firearm new for just range shooting many years ago. I don't have any intention of reloading in the near future.

Should I change anything? My hopes would be to have a decent big game rifle for all environments for short to medium distances. There is no way I want to traipse around with that long of a barrel possibly in the future in the mountains.

Do I swap the barrel or just chop it considering the rifle actually shoots decently? Do I try a different stock that is free floated first? I'm not concerned about optics at this point. I'm merely concerned with just having a project to "work" on. Also, depending on responses, who do I send out the smithing work to? Currently from Minnesota but not against shipping out of state either. I'm not looking for a 5K dollar rifle. I currently don't use this rifle and would like to get it so that I use it all the time.

 

[Rob960]

So I have the same rifle only in the ADL version. I did have the barrel cut to 20" with a recessed target crown. I reload for it and it is an incredibly accurate shooter. It is one of my hunting rifles. with the barrel shortened it is actually pretty easy to carry. I also stuck with the factory stock due to the accuracy this thing has.

 

[sdupontjr]

This was my project that I decided to do and you can choose to do whatever, but this is how mine went.

I had a SS Rem 700 308 that I wanted to get the barrel threaded for a suppressor. My gunsmith is a close friend so we decided to get a 20" shilen select match barrel in #4 contour, which is basically a magnum contour, so that I could get 5/8-24 threads at 20". Once doing that, the tupperware stock had to go. So I picked up a greyboe stock, bedded it and started shooting. The stock trigger on the 700 sucked so I picked up a jewel trigger and adjusted to my liking. Sweet lil short barrel gun that I used alot in tower stand. One day a guy showed up and offered me $1800 at the range after he saw it shoot about .5 MOA at 250 yards. SOLD!!!

So I decided to do another project. Picked up a Tikka T3 Lite used in 308 as well. kept the original stock but removed the "speed bumps" and free floated it all the way to the action. picked up a $9 Elay precision trigger spring and went to the range. This Tikka, which weighs less that the 700 i built will put them in the same hole at 100 with factory ammo.

Rem 700 SS 308 - $700
Shilen barrel - $340 (smithing was free, buddy)
Jewel trigger - $250
Grayboe - $275


Tikka T3 Lite 308 - $600
Elay Spring - $9

When it was all said and done, this Tikka in original stock, other than a trigger spring shot as well or better than my built 700 AND by simply changing or modifying the bolt stop and getting a LA mag, you can get a long action 308 for seating out long heavies. It was the best move that I made and it ended up being much cheaper. But again, that was my experience.

 

[BBob]

You should be able to chop and thread the barrel for $100 give or take. Just chopping and re-crowning should be less. Free floating doesn't always shoot better on factory guns and certainly isn't required. If you really want to swap stocks find something you like that has a bedding block in it like a Magpul, HS Precision, etc... That way you don't need to mess with bedding. Replace the trigger with a Trigger Tech, Bix n Andy, etc...

I'd chop the barrel, leave the stock alone and swap the trigger. See how it shoots and if it's good enough leave it.

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Review: Remington 700 SPS Varmint

Over the years I’ve built quite a few custom rifles on Remington 700 actions. The only factory parts I’ll typically use are the receiver and bolt assembly, everything else is upgraded. …

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[Desk Jockey]

I hate to be that guy that says instead X, do Y, but I think you could spend and awful lot of money to turn that remmy into something else. It may be cheaper to start with a different platform and get to the same place performance wise. I bought a few Remingtons before I really had a clue. One is a laser, one shoots very well and one isn’t quite what I had hoped. If you get the right one and spend some $$, they can be great guns, but when you add in rebarreling, new stocks And triggers, it can get you way above $1000 in parts and work plus the cost of the “donor”. These days, I shoot a tikka now for what rifle hunting I do. If I were starting today I would probably favor tikkas.

 

[sdupontjr]

exactly, is why I gave him my experience.

 

[BBob]

exactly, is why I gave him my experience.

and also why I suggested the minimum

 

[Musky]

Well I think that about covers it then! I'm going to take a step back and consider my options a little harder. It's usually best (for me) to not rush in too hard or else I spend all kinds of money to get to the finish line when there was a faster, cheaper and easier method to accomplish the same task. I greatly appreciate everyone's feed back!