Remington Model 783 Review
My next step is trying steel at 500 yards. I used the published velocity on the box, and plugged it into my Shooter app and dialed the results into the scope. The steel gong was 502 yards away with no wind, shooting prone off of bags. The first shot produced an audible whack, followed by 4 more. I have no idea where I am hitting because of the lack of lead in the bullets. They don't make much of a mark on steel for long distance spotting. So I drive up there and see a rather impressive group for not even having proven data to use for my drops. The group was about 5.5", low and right on the target. I painted over the shots and made an adjustment in my program to reflect my results, then adjusted the scope.
Just over 1 moa at 500 yards with this entry level rifle and factory ammo has me surprised and daydreaming about what it would be capable of with a nice bedding job and some hand loads. Given the objective of this review I decided that 500 yards was probably as far as the intended user would try and take a rifle like this. But I wanted to try it at 1000 and I still had ammo, so why not?!?
I packed (drove) the gong back up against the hill where I usually shoot 1000 yards and went and got set up. I dialed in what the program told me and let one fly. POOF! It hit the dirt just low. Second shot, same hold and no adjustments. POOF! Dirt again, just low. I came up 1 MOA and tried again. WHACK, followed by 2 more. These ones amazingly hit within 11 ¼" of each other. But this is not the intent of the rifle, so back to 500 yards.
I eventually got tired of hitting the steel and was ready to shoot some hair. It just so happened it was October and I had an any doe deer tag, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give this story some real world results. The first day I took my 2 year old little boy Jace out and we hunted does all day long while mom and sister went shopping. We had several shot opportunities but I wanted him to be able see what I was shooting so we passed on several deer that day.
A couple of days later I was able to get out again, this time with Jace and my 6 year old daughter Madyson. Any of you that have ever hunted with kids already know that even seeing a deer while trying to keep them quiet and focused is a feat in itself, but we were able to pull it off. I set up a makeshift blind on the edge of a field with the river behind us, we had drinks, snacks and binoculars to keep us occupied.
Pretty soon a lone yearling came wondering across the field paralleling the river about 500 yards out. With the roll of the land I couldn't get a shot laying prone so I had to wait until the deer had walked past us and was a little further down the row before I could get a shot. I ranged it at 520 yards as it turned facing me so I held the 500 yard mark right on the hair line of the back and let one fly. She dropped instantly and the kids started yelling, "YOU GOT HER!!"
As we walked up it was a pretty special experience for me because this was a first for both kids and I to be there. I was probably more excited than either of them. After inspecting the kill and finding the bullet had dropped and gone in the back of the neck (would have been a chest shot if her head was up) the dirty work started. Jace was excited about seeing guts until Madyson said it was icky then he jumped on the icky bandwagon. Needless to say I didn't get much help from either of them. The land owner was kind enough to let me drive in and get the deer so I only had to drag it 500 yards to the road. We got it loaded and headed for the house to show mom. The kids still talk about it nearly every day.
Now that I have some experience with this rifle and have been able to access it based on its intended use, I can confidently say Remington pulled it off. A rifle that comes in under $400 with the scope and is capable of shooting less than 1 MOA without bedding or any other modifications is pretty impressive. I will say that I am not impressed with the scope that comes with it. Maybe if it had some sort of bullet drop compensating reticle it would be better but as is I have very little use for it. That being said, I am a bit of an optics snob so it is not surprising that I don't care for it. For a consumer who wants an accurate functioning rig and doesn't care about frills, it's a pretty sweet deal. However it is not frill-less.
The adjustable trigger is a great value because, as everyone knows, an aftermarket trigger is not cheap. Upgrading the scope and mounts for less than $200 made this rifle a pretty impressive 500 yard gun. I think it would be fun to bed this rifle and tune it with hand loads and see what it is truly capable of. I am pretty sure that with some smart investments this rifle could be made into a reliable 4 MOA 800+ yard capable rifle. A different caliber like the 7mm Rem Mag or the 300 win may even go further. Anyone who is looking for a "Big Bang for the Buck" definitely needs to look into the Remington 783. For the money you really can't go wrong, and if you are as fortunate as I was you may get to use it in creating a family memory that will last a lifetime.
Just over 1 moa at 500 yards with this entry level rifle and factory ammo has me surprised and daydreaming about what it would be capable of with a nice bedding job and some hand loads. Given the objective of this review I decided that 500 yards was probably as far as the intended user would try and take a rifle like this. But I wanted to try it at 1000 and I still had ammo, so why not?!?
I packed (drove) the gong back up against the hill where I usually shoot 1000 yards and went and got set up. I dialed in what the program told me and let one fly. POOF! It hit the dirt just low. Second shot, same hold and no adjustments. POOF! Dirt again, just low. I came up 1 MOA and tried again. WHACK, followed by 2 more. These ones amazingly hit within 11 ¼" of each other. But this is not the intent of the rifle, so back to 500 yards.
I eventually got tired of hitting the steel and was ready to shoot some hair. It just so happened it was October and I had an any doe deer tag, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give this story some real world results. The first day I took my 2 year old little boy Jace out and we hunted does all day long while mom and sister went shopping. We had several shot opportunities but I wanted him to be able see what I was shooting so we passed on several deer that day.
A couple of days later I was able to get out again, this time with Jace and my 6 year old daughter Madyson. Any of you that have ever hunted with kids already know that even seeing a deer while trying to keep them quiet and focused is a feat in itself, but we were able to pull it off. I set up a makeshift blind on the edge of a field with the river behind us, we had drinks, snacks and binoculars to keep us occupied.
Pretty soon a lone yearling came wondering across the field paralleling the river about 500 yards out. With the roll of the land I couldn't get a shot laying prone so I had to wait until the deer had walked past us and was a little further down the row before I could get a shot. I ranged it at 520 yards as it turned facing me so I held the 500 yard mark right on the hair line of the back and let one fly. She dropped instantly and the kids started yelling, "YOU GOT HER!!"
As we walked up it was a pretty special experience for me because this was a first for both kids and I to be there. I was probably more excited than either of them. After inspecting the kill and finding the bullet had dropped and gone in the back of the neck (would have been a chest shot if her head was up) the dirty work started. Jace was excited about seeing guts until Madyson said it was icky then he jumped on the icky bandwagon. Needless to say I didn't get much help from either of them. The land owner was kind enough to let me drive in and get the deer so I only had to drag it 500 yards to the road. We got it loaded and headed for the house to show mom. The kids still talk about it nearly every day.
Now that I have some experience with this rifle and have been able to access it based on its intended use, I can confidently say Remington pulled it off. A rifle that comes in under $400 with the scope and is capable of shooting less than 1 MOA without bedding or any other modifications is pretty impressive. I will say that I am not impressed with the scope that comes with it. Maybe if it had some sort of bullet drop compensating reticle it would be better but as is I have very little use for it. That being said, I am a bit of an optics snob so it is not surprising that I don't care for it. For a consumer who wants an accurate functioning rig and doesn't care about frills, it's a pretty sweet deal. However it is not frill-less.
The adjustable trigger is a great value because, as everyone knows, an aftermarket trigger is not cheap. Upgrading the scope and mounts for less than $200 made this rifle a pretty impressive 500 yard gun. I think it would be fun to bed this rifle and tune it with hand loads and see what it is truly capable of. I am pretty sure that with some smart investments this rifle could be made into a reliable 4 MOA 800+ yard capable rifle. A different caliber like the 7mm Rem Mag or the 300 win may even go further. Anyone who is looking for a "Big Bang for the Buck" definitely needs to look into the Remington 783. For the money you really can't go wrong, and if you are as fortunate as I was you may get to use it in creating a family memory that will last a lifetime.
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