Remington 700 ADL vs. VLS

BMiracle

New member
Trying to decide whether to buy a Remington 700 ADL or the VLS in .243 Win. Is the accuracy diffence with the heavier barrel really that different? The rifle might occasionally see some time pointed at white-tails. Is it worthwhile to pay the extra money to get the 26" heavy barrel. I know that the 22" barrel of the ADL would probably shoot well enough with handloads, but since there will probably be some time spent with varmints, I would like decent longrange accuracy. I guess the question is what is y'alls experience with these two Remingtons.
 
Accuracy will be better with the heavy barrel if you plan to fire the rifle many times in one sitting.

For hunting I would get the ADL.

If I were going to use it under sustained fire conditions I would get the heavy barrel.
 
Is the ADL accurate enough for the varminting side of it all. I have a 30-'06 that will see most of the deer shooting.
 
Miracle:

I bought a Rem VLS in .243 a couple of months ago. Got tired of waiting for Tikka to import the Continental in .243.

I shoot the year round, and see lots of hunter grade and varmint grade rifles at our local range. You can expect about an inch at 100 yds with the ADL; I'm shooting one-hole groups @ 100 yds with the VLS. The barrel on the VLS is not free-floated; I quickly free-floated mine with a Dremel tool. I also bedded the action, using Marine Tex, in the area of the recoil lug and tang.

If your varmints are going to be fairly large and 100-150 yds, the ADL might serve your purposes. If you want to shoot out to three or four hundred yards or so, you need the heavy barrel. If you're sitting in a deer stand, like deer hunters in this area, then a few more pounds doesn't make much difference. With the VLS, you'd be able to make ear shots on deer at 100 yds; with the ADL, you'd have to be satisfied with a head shot.

Whichever rifle you choose, you ought to adjust the trigger down as low as it'll go (around 2# or so) for varmint hunting. I'd set it up to around 3-3.5# for deer hunting. When you get either rifle, the pull will be somewhere in the 6# range. You don't have to go to a gunsmith for trigger adjustments on a Rem. If you don't know how to do the adjustments, there are plenty of threads on gunboards that give you the easy-to-follow instructions.

[This message has been edited by WalterGAII (edited September 10, 2000).]
 
For varmints like groundhogs where the shooting is not fast or repetitive, the ADL will be OK. The last poster has it right if you want to squeeze more consistant accuracy out of it. If you are using another rifle for deer, get the heavy barrel since you won't have to carry it all the time.

The site http://www.snipercountry.com has a great article on adjusting the Remington 700 triggers.
 
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