Remington 700 SPS vs Howa M1500 .223

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danny687

Inactive
Hello everbody I am new to this forum. I have just recieved my FAC back and I am now licensed for centre fire .223. I have been considering either the Remington 700 SPS or the Howa M1500 both appear to have good reviews and I have handled both in the shop.

I won't bother with the heavy barrel as I will be using this rifle for foxes so I don't expect to fire more than 3 to 5 rounds a night.

Anyway I have some concerns in regard to the Remington action mainly from the reports in the media about un commanded firing of the action. From my understanding this appears to be a result of tampering with the factory settings of the firing mechanism or debris and lack of maintainance on the walker mechanism. This type of action is now superceeded on the model 700 by the X mark pro as standard is this correct?

So guys and girls anybody with thoughts on these rifles and comments on the Remington action please feel free to educate myself. Many thanks for your attention and help Danny.
 
if your talking about a brand new sps, then the answer is yes, it has been fixed. i own the sps in .308 heavy barrel. i absolutely love it!
 
I have a Rem 700 in 223 with probably about 4000 round through it. Still very accurate and highly reliable.

As to the news report of unintended firings, my understanding is that it was a typical overblown news report implying that 1 instance of this is a common occurrance with these rifles. I have worked on the Rem 700 triggers I have owned and yes I can adjust one so that it will fire when the bolt is closed. I heard one report of an individual stating that at the range he chambered 10 rounds and the rifle fired when the bolt closed 7 times. I submit that the first time was a malfunction, the other six were caused by an operator too stupid to be allowed to handle a firearm. Consider that millions of these rifles are in use including having been the US Army and US Marines sniper rifle of choice for around 40 yrs and suddenly this is a big problem because of 1 or 2 malfunctions caused by improper adjustment or breakage?

Having experienced the press in this country both as the subject and as a consumer I have two items of advice which I gave to my son when he was deploying to Iraq and which he now agrees wholeheartedly with:

1. The news media is not your friend.
2. The news media is not interested in the truth.

Failure to observe either of these can get you into a lot of trouble.

A third would be:
3. The correct answer to any question from a reporter is "no comment"

scrape scrape squeak slam. There, the soap box is back in the closet:D

Howa 1500 I have no personal experience with but have heard lots of good reports.
 
Thanks for the comments Hoffbill as ex-military I share your views of the media and distrust them completely. I much prefer to hear the forth right and generally balanced views and experiences of fellow shooters.
 
If you have the opportunity, check out the Tikka T3. Action is ridiciously smooth and guaranteed 1 MOA or better.
 
I have both and enjoy them both, I do like the 3 rings of steel on larger cal's but the Howa action and quality is also very good as for your buyers there is more items to upgrade in the 700 than howa but in either quality is about equal.
 
If you are already looking at the Howa, you may want to look at the new Weatherby Vanguard Series 2, which has a three position safety, two-stage trigger (if you like such things) and a one MOA guarantee. Howa makes the actions for Vanguards. They are priced at $449, but you may be able to get one for less.

Trigger issues notwithstanding, steer clear of Remington until they clear up their quality issues. I had to send two new Remington rifles back to the factory with serious issues during a three month period last year.
 
Was that the new xmark trigger? I cant belive how smooth and light the stock trigger is on my new remington. Made me put of the timney for a little while
 
Cost in the UK for the HOWA screw cut with the box magazine conversion and T8 Wildcat sound moderator best is £780.00

I can get the Remington 700 SPS screw cut with T8 sound moderator without the magazine modification for £770.00

Both require addtional £65.00 for the bipod.

I like the idea that there are more modification and custom parts available for the Remington thus so far my bias is leaning towards it!
 
1) The concern with OLDER Remington triggers is real. See post #13 here.

2) If you are buying a NEW gun, the trigger design on Remingtons was changed in 2007 which fixes the problem.

3) I'd buy the Howa anyway. At least it won't rust if you breathe on it.
 
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