Older Rem 700 SFLV

[Picher]

Yesterday, my wife and I went to LL Beans in Freeport, ME, looking for a jacket for her. Of course, I had to check out the new and used rifles in the Hunting Section. There was an "almost new" Rem 700 Stainless, Fluted, Light Varmint in .223 Rem that was a Remington Company's, demonstrator or gunshow "slightly-used" rifle with a new rifle warranty and box. (LL Bean also guarantees their new and used guns. Price was reasonable at $650, so it followed me home.

The rifle weighs 6 3/4 lbs, with a 22 inch, 1/12 barrel. The bore is very smooth and exterior finish is quite smooth, but non-reflective. It has a soft black recoil pad.

Being a gun-accurizer, I took it apart and checked the bedding. There was a lot of play between stock and action. There was also evidence of action movement on both the stock and metal. The black stock has pillar/aluminum block bedding and it "HAD" a pressure-point in the forend before I ground it out. The trigger is the older type (Walker), which I adjusted to 3 lbs, since this will be a walk-about varminter.

I had some JB Weld, so promptly Moto-Tooled the action bedding area and installed the bedding material. It's now curing and will be removed in a day or so. (Yeah, the Rem warrantee may be in peril, but it's more important to me that the rifle shoots well from the start.)

I'll be shooting the rifle in a day or two and will update everyone on it's accuracy, etc.

 

[Picher]

A couple of pictures of the .223 Rem, 700 Light Varmint are attached.

Finished the accurizing job today and shot it at 100 yards, after mounting an old (temporary) 3-9X Bushnell 3200. It was quite windy and the rounds weren't tailored for this rifle, but managed to shoot a 5/8" group at 100 yards off a Black and Decker Workmate.

Afterwards, I walked down to the blueberry field where there are some metallic silhouette targets and managed to hit a metal turkey offhand at 170 yards (after pulling the first shot). I also centered a soda can hanging on a branch at about 75 yards.

The rifle, with scope, weighs 8 lbs, about 1 lb 2 oz. less than my Tikka 595. That's what I was hoping for, and with a lighter scope, should weigh a few ounces less. The rifle perfectly fits my goals for a walk-about varmint rifle.

 

[ndking1126]

Nice! There's something fun about buying used rifles. I hit the used racks before the new

 

[Picher]

Today, I managed to load a bunch of rounds with different seating depths and found that my cases were severely in need of trimming, even though they were only once-fired.

Prior to shooting today, I noted the crown seemed to be just a bit rough, not a big deal, but because I have a nice piloted, 11* target reamer, it cleaned up nicely.

Anyway, I had a little better setup with a cleated piece of plywood secured in my Black and Decker Workmate. My target was in a metal frame that was low to the ground, so there was a lot of mirage, but the rifle shot quite well; several 100 yard groups were in the half-inch to 5/8" range, with one 3/8".

So, bottom line, it's a great walkabout rifle and if I ever get some good conditions at the Club range. it should average 3/8" or better groups. The critters I'm planning to shoot with it probably won't care.

The scope should be replaced within a week. A 3-9x Leupold VX2, with long-range multiplex reticle should be ideal. I want to stay away from AO scopes for the walk-about...too slow.