Remington 700 SPS Varmint Stock

S

SEHunter

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About to "pull the trigger" on a new Rem 700 SPS chambered in 22-250. Although there are argueably better rifles out there, i have always bought Remington rifles so i am sticking with the trend. The main negative i have heard is the factory stock. Its said to have no good bedding and the barrel is not floated?

Is the factory stock worth bedding? If not, is the H-S stock a simple "drop-in" or does it still require gunsmithing? I figure with a stock modification or replacement and a trigger job, this gun should suit me fine. I will probably leave from the gun shop straight to the gunsmith to have one of the two done.

Thanks fellas. If you have one, please feel free to give your opinions.
 
I have same gun. Put an hs stock on it with full aluminum block...night and day difference. Factory stocks are pretty much flimsy junk
 
HS or Bell & Carlson make excellent stocks. The B&C are about $100 cheaper than the HS. I have the B&C on a .338 WM and couldn't be happier.

Another thing to maybe upgrade is the trigger. Timneys can be had for about $100-125. Huge upgrade and your groups WILL shrink. This has been my experience when upgrading triggers.
 
Originally Posted By: SEHunterAbout to "pull the trigger" on a new Rem 700 SPS chambered in 22-250. Although there are argueably better rifles out there, i have always bought Remington rifles so i am sticking with the trend. The main negative i have heard is the factory stock. Its said to have no good bedding and the barrel is not floated?

Is the factory stock worth bedding? If not, is the H-S stock a simple "drop-in" or does it still require gunsmithing? I figure with a stock modification or replacement and a trigger job, this gun should suit me fine. I will probably leave from the gun shop straight to the gunsmith to have one of the two done.

Thanks fellas. If you have one, please feel free to give your opinions.

I purchased the 700 SPS-Varmint in .223 At the time I didn't have a ton of money and the rifle was what I could afford. While the rifle shot pretty good, I went ahead and had the factory stock bedded by a very reputable gun smith. Don't know what he used but it's an almost translucent blue material. He also opened the barrel channel. It has since shot sub MOA (>.750) consistently with factory ammo as well as hand loads at ranges up to 300yds.

My experience has been that it's worht bedding the factory stock however do it your self. If it doesn't improve you're only out a few bucks for the bedding kit.

Good luck!
 
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I also purchased one of these rifles in 223 caliber though. My rifle actually shot almost as well with the factory stock as the HS Precision which replaced it, but I did not like the cheap feel of the SPS varmint stock.
 
Have used a couple of different stocks with SPSV actions.

HS:

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And my very favorite, that I believe is PERFECT with an SPSV barreled action, is the McMillan A3. I have a couple of SPSV/A3 combos.....

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Nice. Unfortunately, i dont have the pockets to pick up the McMillian at the moment but it is said to be the best of the best.

I have been looking back and forth between the H-S and B&C. They both are said to be great stocks and im not sure where the $100 difference comes from but im leaning toward the H-S because many have them and i dont remember hearing any negative feedback.

What i am trying to figure out- do all the B&C and H-S replacement stocks allow the barrel to be floated? The descriptions i have read dont really specify. A few people have bedded the action in some of the nicer replacement stocks and i had thought that is was not needed.
 
Do any of you guys with a synthetic aluminum bedded stock have the action glass bedded also? If so, do you find that it was a noticable benefit?
 
I have come to prefer some of the B&C stocks over the H-S. I do not like the palm swell on most of the H-S stocks. I've owned many of them. The B&C Medalist is of comparable quality IMO.

I'd take a look at the B&C #3 and #4. Or even the Greybull Precision model(a "poor man's A3"), even though I don't care for the guy who owns GBP very much. He sells the B&C stocks with his name on it, but actually uses McMillan A3s on his rifles.

I prefer to skim bed either......
 
My 223 is starting to come around in that turd stock that come with it...like another poster said I hate the feel of that thing and knowing its touching the barrel drives me whacko...I think part of it is I got around 100 rounds down the tube.....But it will be going in a HS stock and skim bedded shortly.
 
I like BC stock rather well. They fit me very nicely and make my rifles much more comfortable to shoot. My 7 RM with a hot 162 gr load feel like a 243 with a Tupperware stock. And that's an honest assessment.
 
My SPS in .223 and .308 shoot very good, in the stock that came with them. Don't know if they are the same stock that comes with them now. They sport the Houge overmolded stock. I like the feel of the stock. Doesn't slip.
 
If you order from H-S Precision, you can easily get a stock with or without a palm swell. It's simply a case of which stock you order.

If you liberate a contract stock from a recent Remington rifle, its more likely that it will have a palm swell because that is what Remington used to build several models of rifles in recent years. And with some models, it might be a B&C stock. I like the original Remington Sendero and the associated small action varmint stock that were among the first H-S stocks used on Remington rifles. They had no palm swells. The "police tactical" (PPS designation, maybe..?) rifles did have a palm swell

For me, paying the extra ~$100 for an H-S stock versus a cheaper B&C is money well spent. YMMV, like the big boys on the internet sometimes say.
 
Well, i ordered the H-S police stock last night from Midway because it was on sale $40 bucks off. I beleive it is the same one that Remington used on the police model.

"Skim" bedding- is this another term for glass bedding or is this different?

With either- is it best to bed the first couple inches of the barrel also or does it really matter?
 
Skim/glass same thing. Your stock will have the alluminum block so all you will need to do is knock down the high spots in the block and bed.
 
ok- i thought about taking a very fine grit sand paper and doing just that. to my knowledge, it is free floating at the barrel so i will run a bill down it before i do any significant sanding. Dont want to sand down to the foam layer like the directions warn against.
 
RePete may chime in here since I bought his Rem 700 SPS Tactical...He had installed a HS Tactical stock on it as well and to my knowledge, had not done anything additional to the stock..The rifle shoots extremely well for a .223...

Rem700SPSa.jpg
 
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