Thought's and help on a Rem 700 .243

[mcm1209]

Just put a Rem SPS 700 .243 on layaway at my local pawn shop. She looks brand new and very well taken care of.
Rifle had been at the pawn shop for 3 weeks at $389 and I went in on Friday and they had dropped the price to $319.
That's $20 more than what I payed for my Rem 770 .270 that I bought because I was going on a hunt in 2 weeks and just needed something.
Anyway I put it on layaway because I'm waiting on a buddy to buy my .270

I have a leupold rifleman scope 3x9x40 that I will be selling to fund either a vxIII or zeiss conquest 4.5x14x50.

Other than the scope what would be the first thing you guys would do to this rifle to improve its accuracy??

 

[Aldon]

Just put a Rem SPS 700 .243 on layaway at my local pawn shop. She looks brand new and very well taken care of.
Rifle had been at the pawn shop for 3 weeks at $389 and I went in on Friday and they had dropped the price to $319.
That's $20 more than what I payed for my Rem 770 .270 that I bought because I was going on a hunt in 2 weeks and just needed something.
Anyway I put it on layaway because I'm waiting on a buddy to buy my .270

I have a leupold rifleman scope 3x9x40 that I will be selling to fund either a vxIII or zeiss conquest 4.5x14x50.

Other than the scope what would be the first thing you guys would do to this rifle to improve its accuracy??

The first thing I would address is the tupperware stock. I personally like the B&C Carbelite thumbhole sporter stock but that would require bedding it. Otherwise something similar. Then Trigger if necessary. For the money, Shilen Triggers are hard to beat.

 

[mcm1209]

Thanks for the reply but I don't want to end up only using the bolt out of this gun. I want to get this gun shooting its best with what it comes with. Weather it be floating the barrel or bedding the stock it comes with.
I will eventually build a one off custom but I want to start small and learn as much as I can before that.

My goals for this gun is to be a tack driver at 100 yds and to find out just how far I can hit a target.

 

[Aldon]

Free float the barrel, Bed the action although you may have to stiffen the fore end of the stock to actually keep it free floated, then focus on the trigger. Hopefully it is good enough or adjustable. Then start searching for the perfect reload recipe.

 

[roninflag]

load 37.5 grains of either varget or I4064 behind an 85 grain sierra hpbt. lapua brass and either a 210m or br-2 primer.

 

[mcm1209]

Thanks for the help guys

My buddy has all the reloading equipment already and just needs the dies.
I'm hoping to have the rifle out by Friday and at the range on Saturday.

 

[angus-5024]

i bought the same gun. thought it would be a good practice gun/coyote rig. I did just as Aldon said previously. Free-float, stifen the fore-end and bed the action. It really turned out alot better than I hoped.

When you remove the material around the barrel channel, take out ALOT! I removed a solid 3/32 of material before it was free-floated and then I removed another 1/8-3/16. It sounds like alot and is. It doesnt look as good as a tight fit, but garanteed that if you dont have a ton of room in there that when the temperature hit extremes the stock will move and have contact with the barrel. If done other work on stocks and made them fit tight (injection molded cheapies) and sure enough after paint, they move and I gotta remove more.

With the above mentioned .243 win, I have shot 1MOA 5 shot groups to 780yards. Not the norm, but at best. For a $$500 gun, thats pretty good, and Im sure that with better hand loads (mine are 250fps slower than max) Itll be better. One thing I can say, after shooting a .243 at 800 yards, shooting the big stuff is alot easier.

 

[Good]

Sounds like fun! Solid rests front and rear like bipod or Rock Jr. i n the front and bag in the rear. See if you can bend the forend of the stock to touch the barrel. If you can, clearance until you can't. That may wind up leaving a large gap but needs to happen if accuracy is the goal. When you put it back together, torque the action screws properly. Like others mentioned, adjust the trigger- safely- might want to leave this to a smith for now until you buy an aftermarket one. I also hear the Shilen triggers are nice.

Ron posted a great load for you. Have fun!

 

[mcm1209]

Looked up how to bed the action and it amazes me how loose that action is. From what I hear from my friends that know a bit more about guns is that the 700 is still one of the better out of the box shooter.
With this advice I'm sure it will shoot more than better than expected.

 

[Rusty54]

The Rem. 700 is so much better a rifle than the 770 that I wouldn't compare it.
A little advice about loading for it is to stay in the 85 to 100gr weights for most hunting conditions. Short range hunting out to 300yds you will get good performace from bulllets down to 70gr, but I think you'll find they don't group well at 400yds.
By all means you should glass bed and freefloat that puppy!

 

[asquires2]

I also have a Remmy 700 243 and love it! Before I changed the stock I free floated the original one and with a sandbag rest I was shooting sub MOA with Wally World 100gr ammo. I put a B&C Tactical Varmit stock on it with a Millet scope and without shooting it , it feels a hella lot better . I will be at the range Friday and Ill let you know how she groups with the upgrades. I also had a 2lb trigger job done .

 

[jlamb]

Get a trigger job or a new trigger. Next a new stock, there's plenty out there; HS Precision, Bell & Carlson, even the Hogue Overmolded with Aluminum bedding stocks are good.

If you reload -

70gr Nosler Boat Tail Varmit
Coal - .005" off the lands (might not be possible)
39.5grns of Varget

 

[mcm1209]

I wanted to keep the stock that it can with but my buddy has a B&C tactical stock that he might want to sell to fund his McMillen stock.
Ill see how it goes and hopefully he will let it go for cheap.

I will be hand loading and will try both loads that were mentioned here.

Thanks getting pretty anxious