700 Light Varmint - Successful Loads

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Picher

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Finally got my new .223 Rem, Rem 700 Light Varmint to shoot the way I thought it should. Three consecutive 3-shot groups at 100 yards measured exactly 4/10". That was excellent, considering tricky wind conditions and no wind flags.

I was using military cases and 50 grain Sierra flat-based Varmint bullet ahead of 23 grains of A 2230 and Federal primers. Velocity averaged 3010 fps.

Picher
 
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Guess I found the magic seating stem position for the rifle this week. It's now shooting several different loads/bullets/powders to nearly the same POI at 100 yards.

Best three-shot group, using Sierra 52 grain HPBT Match bullets, was 0.2", appearing as two intersecting shots. Worst was a 0.9" group, using 60 grain Nosler Partitions. Not wonderful, but could easily handle the large varmints as it printed to the same POI as my lighter varmint loads.

I bedded and re-crowned a friends Rem 700 "Sportsman" .223 Rem, last week and he shot some sub 1/2" groups with it yesterday, despite his vision problems.
 
Finally blooded the .223 Rem Light Varmint today. Three coyote pups eating our blueberries at 100+ yards. Didn't see much of them and they were moving around a bit, but three shots-three kills.

Then, took care of a porcupine in another field. We don't like having them around when dogs are out with us.
 
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Outstanding.... who says you need expensive brass to get accuracy?

The other day (couple weeks ago), when we were pig hunting, my friend saw 2 coyote pups in a creek jumping around trying to catch fish. He let them live.
 
Our blueberry crop is just about ready to rake, so I'm keeping critters out the best I can. We kill all coyotes, to preserve not only the crop, but deer and small game, as well.
 
I came across a fawn Coyote kill last week. Don't need that. My old 700 varmint special in 222 would be a earlier version of yours. So what are your case prep strategies? Also Dies type? Tell us about your seating stem position...
 
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As far as case prep, it varies a bit when using military brass, which is relatively new to me. I haven't bought any special decapper, but use a Rem 742 firing pin and brass hammer to deprime. It's strong and tends to act as a uniformer to some extent. After decapping, quick tap on the pin end with the hammer dislodges it from the hole.

After depriming, primer pocket staking is removed by chucking a deburring tool in the drill press with the support low enough to allow easy case entry/removal and the case is held by hand to ream the staking. Then, I exchange ends to deburr the case mouth enough to allow easy bullet seating.

Commercial cases that have produced excellent accuracy are Federal, Winchester and Remington. Some of my best groups were with Federal cases.

Next, cases are full-length sized, using a Bonanza .223 Benchrest FL Sizing die, adjusted to allow easy chambering in my rifle. I use RCBS spray sizing lube laying cases flat in a plastic tub, so the lube doesn't get inside case necks much. After sizing, I wipe the excess lube off and clean necks with a heavy-duty paper towel. If cases are especially dirty, I'll wipe the grime off using 000 steel wool, but I don't tumble-clean rifle cases.

Bullet seating in the Remington 700 Light Varmint, using a Redding Competition seater results in COAL of 2.230" with Hornady 50 grain SPs and 2.303" using Sierra 50 grain Blitz (plastic-tipped) bullets. (NOTE: These settings work for my rifle, but chamber dimensions vary, so you're on your own. The COAL just happens to be as-shown in my Lyman 49th Reloading Handbook cartridge drawing.)

Accuracy load is 23.0 grains of A2230, using standard Federal or CCI primers. The rifle likes 50-55 grain bullets much better than the 60 grain Partitions I tried recently (0.9") Three shot groups with the Remmie LV are now averaging just under 0.4" at 100 yards; the best group, so far at 0.20", which is my best CF group ever.

I hope this information is useful to some of you, but accurate loads are based on an individual rifle basis, so don't blame me if they don't work as well in your rifle. Just understand that I've been benchrest shooting for a long time, so if you're not experienced, you may not be able to achieve the same grouping ability. However, I'm NOT a Centerfire Benchrest competition shooter at this point, so don't have sophisticated BR loading equipment or use extreme accuracy loading methods.
 
The Redding Competition seater is some thing new to me. It's on my list to get. So you don't ream the necks? Did you debured the flash holes? Were the cases sorted for weight? How about the rifle did you bead the receiver or replace the trigger...? I hope you don't mind all the questions. I have found the Sierra 50gr Blitz to shoot very well also. Years ago the Hornady 50gr SX was my .25 grouper but those are hard to find now. My rifle has been glass beaded and floated that made a big difference in Accuracy.
 
Longshot4

This rifle is for walkabouts on the property and varmints at ranges under 300 yards, so 1 MOA would be adequate. There's no point in benchrest accuracy, but when it shoots this well, I'm not going to complain.

No, I don't ream necks. Unless you have a benchrest chamber, it's kind of a waste of time. I usually deburr flash holes, but I've read articles lately that say it also doesn't make a measurable improvement. Cases also aren't sorted by weight, but I try to keep them grouped by the number of times fired. Best accuracy generally comes the first few loadings after the initial firing.

The receiver is bedded and it has a Timney trigger, adjusted to 2.25 lbs and with excess backlash removed. It's FANTASTIC and makes it easier to shoot well.

The action is really tight; much tighter than my other Rems. I don't know if that's intentional, or just a lucky happenstance.
 
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