Rem. 700 SPS Tactical good candidate?

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romainchu78

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Hello, I am looking to buy a Remington 700 rifle in .308 for hunting at 500 Yrds max and target bench shooting for accuracy (having fun with developing new load).
I have done a lot of research and found that the SPS tactical would be a good candidate but i heard complaints about the stock: using bi-pod may force the stock to touch the barrel affecting accuracy and the 20" may not provide enough velocity at that that distance? Is it ok if it is only pillar bedding as oppose to full length alum bedded? So is accuracy still ok at this distance? If not what others alternatives do you suggest SPS varmint? 700 5R?
I try to stay under $900 if possible.
Thanks.
 
The R700 SPS Tactical is a good choice depending on what type hunting you're talking about. It's not a rifle I would like to carry around in the woods for deer but for a short walk to shoot something or stand hunting it would be fine. The stocks do leave a little to be desired stiffness wise, but overall I've found them to be pretty good especially compared to the stocks they are putting on the standard SPS rifles. Other rifles in your price range you may want to look at before purchasing are the Tikka T3 Varmint and Savage Model 10 FCP-SR. I've heard very good things about the Tikka and the Savage is very accurate and comes with their Accu-Stock. It has the aluminum bedding that adds stiffness to the forearm.

As for barrel length, a 20" barrel on a .308 is going to shoot fine at 500 yards. My Savage has a 20" barrel and it'll shoot accurately to over 700 yards using 168 SMK, and to over a 1000 yards using Hornady 178 Match bullets........if I do my part!!
 
500 is a very long way for any .308. Long way for most hunters too. Hunting ballistics isn't great past about 300. Mostly about the drop though. A 165(.308 loves 'em and they'll kill any game you care to hunt.) drops like a brick past 300.
Velocity and energy are ok at 500. You still need to be able to hit a 9" pie plate(or an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper) at 500, every time, to even thing about taking the shot at 500.
Match bullets don't count for hunting anything but varmints.
The SPS is an entry level hunting rifle. The Tactical's(marketing term only) rifling twist is odd at 1 in 12 too. Mind you, for some daft reason Remington uses that in the non-threaded barrel only. Anyway, it's the same thing as any other M700 with a heavy barrel and different finish.
The bipod thing isn't really an issue. Not many hunters use 'em when deer hunting. Stiffening the forestock isn't difficult either. Just bed an Al arrow shaft or the like in. Or change the stock altogether.
Pillar bedding isn't bad either. It's literally the receiver sitting on an Al spacer vs being bedded with epoxy and resin.
 
I have an sps varmint in 308. I love it for the range, and if you are planning to shoot from a bipod only, its great. But it is a heavy rifle and it especially nose heavy, and i would not want to shoulder fire it on a regular basis.
 
I started with a Rem 700 LTR 20 "Brl. 308 cal. Would be just fine 500 yards max. Change the barrel after 4000 + rounds & had it blueprinted at that time. Just love shooting that rifle, very accurate. I feel the 20" brl. is just as accurate if not more then the 24-26" brl. at that range. The LTR comes with a HS Precision stock, switched the stock to the full size 700P HS stock & also bedded with Devcon, makes a rock hard base. The SPS is a good choice, once you get alot of shooting time with it, you can always improve things on the rifle. Now that it's getting warmer here LI NY. starting this weekend, every sunday is range time. With my 700 20" barrel 308 cal. Hope I helped in some way.
 
My boss just won same rifle in a raffle. There is no accuracy loss in a 20 inch barrel as there is no gain in accuracy either. All you would give up is MV.
It is a very nice rifle indeed. This coming from a die hard Savage fan here. We worked up a very accurate load for it to say the least. 4895 powder and 168 Hornady BTHP. I won't say to much for a 500 yard shot as most think it's Ju Ju or something. MPO is500 yards is a very doable shot for a 308.
 
The SPS is a barreled donor action, nothing more. The stock sucks, flimsy, uncomfortable, cheap etc. Trigger sucks too. They're cheap and plenty of parts for a build are available. You put a little money in one, you can make it what you want and it'll shoot. Find a 700 Long Range in 30'06 or 25'06
 
I agree with saltydog. I replaced my stock as soon as i could with a choate tactical rifle stock and traded out my trigger next for a timney calvin elite. It makes a world of difference. There lots of things you can do and lots of parts you can buy, but a stock and trigger will give you the best bang for your buck on an sps
 
Hunting ballistics isn't great past about 300. Mostly about the drop though. A 165(.308 loves 'em and they'll kill any game you care to hunt.) drops like a brick past 300.
Click to expand...

A 308 is quite popular with 1000 yard shooting. Even with hunting bullets a 308 as well as any modern cartridge is capable of making hits on big game out to 300 yards with no hold over. The flatter shooting magnums give you perhaps an extra 50 yards. Beyond that a range finder and some sort of long range scope with either dots or adjustable dials is really needed anyway so there is very little advantage any more to own the really flat shooting magnum rounds as far as hitting the target is concerned.

The problem is having enough bullet speed at impact to give expansion. Most hunting bullets need about 1800 fps at impact or they don't expand. A 308 from a 22-24" barrel will still be doing that at 500 yards. A 20" barrel, probably won't quite make that much speed at 500, so a 308 is right on the borderline at that range. The advantage faster rounds make is that they maintain the 1800 fps at much longer ranges.
 
i bought the remington 700 tactical aac-sd about a year ago i dont use it for hunting just bench rest shooting. The stock sucks, a bipod will cause it to put pressure on the barrel but shooting from a bag doest seem to cause as many problems. accuracy is pretty good once you figure out the stock deal. I choose to replace mine overall asid from spending a few hundred on a upgraded stock i am very satisfied with mine so far.
 
I have the AAC-SD as well. I knew I was going to put a Specwar on it, so I wanted the 20" threaded heavy barrel. I didn't want a rifle/suppressor combo that was two time zones long LOL. Since it was shorter than the "standard" 24" I wanted the 1:10 twist. Maybe I needed it, maybe not, but it makes me happy so I am good with my choice.

The trigger was part of the recall, so I dropped in a Timney and just sent the trigger rather than the entire rifle to big green. If I ever sell the rifle, I can swap the trigger back out and keep it LOL.

Anyway, yes with the heavy barrel the stock will touch the barrel. At some point I will spend the $$ to restock it, but that will come when I am outshooting the gun and it's no longer capable of outshooting me. Or maybe when the barrel is worn out and it's time for a rebuild - whichever comes first.

In the mean time, the only other money I spent on improvement was drinking a Sprite, and when that was gone, cutting up the can and making a little shim pack I put around the front screw. It made a difference, and my groups vary from dime to nickel sized at 100 yards now.

I do plan on stiffening the forend with some sort of bedding compound at some point, when I get around to it. Sometime.

As an aside, the Hogue stock came on a Howa 1500 I have with a more sporter profiled barrel, and I don't have the problem with the stock touching the barrel on that one.

I like the AAC-SD, and plan on using it to hone my skills.
 
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