Remington 700 sps problems

I had a sps in 204 ruger that I had to trade back in to shop after having trigger job, new stock and barrel floated, I feel there was something wrong with the barrel 3" groups or worse. Also I now have a 270wsm and 243 sps that will shoot nickel sized groups, it is like some others mentioned you never know what your buying from remington anymore.
 
Thanks for the ideas guys. We've already narrowed the potential problem area's waaay down but now you've givin us a couple other avenues to travel.
We were already planning to send the rifle back to Remington or sell it back to the shop but I wanted to try this as a last ditch effort before doing that.

Glad I did. Sounds like accuracy problems with Remy are not as uncommon as I once believed.

I'm checking this post out regularly guys. Thanks for your help.
 
Have 3 SPS. One (7mm-08) wouldn't shoot anything. I had the smith gut 4 inches off the barrel and bedded it in a lam stock I got off one of our members. Shoots like a laser now. The other two are Tacticals and already have 20" barrels. They shoot fine.
 
Originally Posted By: Bayou City BoyOriginally Posted By: 405 winRemington is a hot topic, I've got s good one, but it's a gamble. From what I have seen I would say that most of their problems are barrel related. Ruff, poorly chambered or not chambered at all.
Fire lapping may help but who knows.

...."or not chambered at all"..??

How do you test the accuracy of a rifle that is not chambered...?

Just curious....

-BCB

BCB ...I was wondering how we can find out if its headspaced correctly
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But hey my unchambered pellet gun shoots lights out.
 
Originally Posted By: mad okie.....you never know what your buying from remington anymore.

In my experience in the past ~5-10 years, that applies to more than just Remington. Any factory rifle can be a gamble.

I've bought two CZ's that were both wapper-jawed in the stock and rode over to the left side and would not shoot in the stock because of barrel pressure and lack of good recoil lug contact. They both went to another home...

Also, Gasp, dare I say this..?? I bought a Savage that would not feed reliably, the action was rough and it mined copper like none I have ever seen before. It too went on the trading block very quickly. And it wasn't even a cheapy bottom line Savage until I traded it in. Then I got next to nothing in trade for it because in the shop owner's words, "It's a Savage....what did you expect...?

A Kimber went back to the company with an obvious barrel defect that even a blind man could see. It got re-barrleled. It shoots fine now....

In the same time span, I've bought 7 Remingtons, IIRC (make that 9 - I just checked - and the 10th that I bought last week I haven't shot yet..), and they all still live at my house along with several Tikkas that have shot well out of the box.

As I said, I think all of them are gambles to an extent. I just haven't had Remingtonitis in that time span, and I've bought more of them than any other make of factory rifle. Go figure....

Oh...and I forgot 1 Ruger 77 that shoots just fine...

JMO - BCB
 
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My Remington 700 SPS stainless in .22-250 shoots great with just a lightened trigger. I don't like the cheap stock, but don't want to ruin a good accurate rifle by replacing it.
 
Fit a different stock on the gun today. One with a true float. No improvement. Time for a new gun.

Thanks for the thoughts and opinion guy's.
 
If you got the time and money you could prolly get it to shoot decent. Possibly in time for next hunting season. You just never know with a remmy. Kinda like a shot in the dark.
 
Wow... a Remmi that wont shoot... I wont put up a Savage reaction... these things are prone to happen with all rifles... just do a search..
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Good luck.
 
I guess I got lucky then,,
rem 700 sps varmint 22-250 rem
rem 700 sps varmint 243 win
both shot moa with the right factory ammo
both shoot sub moa with handloads
I'm not selling mine.their keepers
 
BCB, in answer to your question the rifle that wasn't chambered was a new rifle that just came into the store. We looked it over when checking it in and discovered it wasn't chambered. I think it's safe to say that in that condition it would not shoot well.



 
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Originally Posted By: 405 winBCB, in answer to your question the rifle that wasn't chambered was a new rifle that just came into the store. We looked it over when checking it in and discovered it wasn't chambered. I think it's safe to say that in that condition it would not shoot well.

I was just curious if it really wasn't chambered or if that was a misstatement about something else. Maybe is was a ML muzzle loader....
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Just kidding....

Over the years I have seen factory rifles with no rifling in the barrel or rifling that stopped before the end of the barrel. No firing pins... I've also seen rifles marked as being chambered for one thing and actually chambered for something else - new from the factory... And they all do it.... Its not relegated to just one manufacturer.

My only point originally was they all make lemons and factory rifle lemons are not a new thing. Its been that way for years. A big problem for a period of time because of high demand and old slow production methods was they would run a batch of XXXX number of rifles in a certain caliber and only shoot maybe one in 5 or 10, and as a result, some obvious things slipped by unnoticed. The Kimber I mentioned was maybe a good example of that...

I have heard because of liability issues that today producers actually shoot every rifle for function testing, but I have my doubts if many are shot for accuracy unless the maker is guaranteeing a certain level of accuracy. When you get one unchambered like you got it's hard to says it was individually test fired or inspected for any purpose...

A few years back the Weatherby Vanguard came with a target fired with the rifle. I don't know if they still do that or not as I haven't bought one or looked at one for a few years.

It would be nice if every manufacturer actually did accuracy test each rifle, but then it would probably be reflected in even higher prices than we're paying now...

-BCB

 
You are right, most are gambles and anyone can make a mistake. I have heard of quite a few kimber mishaps but have never seen one myself. Back in the late 90's winchester had a problem with safties and had a few rem problems also back then. I quess my point is that within the last several years rem seem to have more than their fair share of problems. Not that every rem is bad because we know many are excellent.
And by the way, weatherby vanguards still come with a targets. I have sold alot vanguards because of the those targets.
 
People are bran loyal about guns the same way they are about cars. It like asking a chevy guy if he has ever herd about problems with ford. That guy is going to tell you about every problem that they have ever heard of. Sometimes it is hard to separate the fact from opinion. As far as my experience with the 700 goes everyone has shot sub-moa even the 300 RUM that I had and it was a CDL with a sporter barrel. The only reason I got rid of it was that I could not shot it for very long with out starting to flinching. So I sold it for excactly what I paid for it 4 years later and bought a VSSF II in 22-250 and it shot a .5 group at 200 yards with cheap UMC ammo. It is hard to be objective when you talk about specific brands of guns. That is just my $.02.
 
I have shot just about every 700 model out there.I dont know of any that did not shoot MOA out of the box!! All I ever do is Glass them ,Float the barrel and give me a 3# trigger job.After that all my shots are .300 or better after that.Sounds to me like someone has scope mount problems or some God awful ammo.JMO

Edit : You have to wonder why just about every Bean gun is developed on the Remington 700 action .Nuff said.
 
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I just sold a Ruger American 308 I purchased new, put a Nikon scope on it and could not hit 6 inch groups at 100 yds using a variety of ammo. I put a second scope on it thinking I got a bad scope. Same thing, sent it back to Ruger and they said it had a burr on the crown and they fixed it. I was told by Ruger tech that it shot 11 rounds through the same hole at 50 yds. I purchased a third scope Nikon and set it up and it was better at 3 inch groups but still not what I expected. I sold the gun and ordered a Remington 700 SPS Varmint in 308.I took back my Nikon to Wally world and ordered a Nikon P308 from Optics Planet. We will see how this one works out. I also shot from a lead sled and sand bags with no difference. I know people have had good luck with the Ruger but this gun did not work for me. I sold my 80s 700 because it was right hand and missed it. We will see how it works out.
 
Am I the only one that feels like they're in some kind of time warp......

A guy who's been a member for five years finally makes his first post on a six year old thread....

Glad you were able to sell that Ruger to some unsuspecting soul though....well done...
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I was reading and got about half way through when I noticed the date 2010, first thought [beeep]?? Then started scrolling and saw the 2016 date and still thought [beeep]!!!
 
the original post had very little info to work with and lots of answers. What caliber? what twist? what load were you trying? I have a Rem 700 SPS Tactical in .223 rem, 1/9 twist 20" heavy barrel. My rifle shoots 55 gr O.K but loves the heavier stuff especially the 60 gr bullets. How did I find this out? I gave the rifle a chance and stayed calm while trying different loads. Look at any gun store and you will quickly find out there are so many options for popular calibers that shooting the first box of ammo you have in your hand isn't the accuracy test of any rifle. Also in the case of a .223 chambered gun using any ammo in .556 NATO is not the best idea, the gun isn't made for it. I have over time changed a couple thing on my gun, including a move to HS stock and Jewell trigger but before I made those expensive investments I made sure it would shoot.
 
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