Thread: Remington accuracy

Hey guys. So I took my Remington 700 stainless SPS in 7mm08 to the range the other day to sight it in. Over 10 shots using federal blue the spread was about 20cm at 100m. I did have one group of 4 within about 1.5" but don't think they were consecutive shots. I had the same point of aim each time, and the shots were all over the show. The rifle is supressed. I was shooting from a seated position off a bench using a bag as a rest. I have had shooting training, but that was a few years ago and in fairness I might be quite rusty.
Scope is a brand new vortex diamondback 4-12 x 40, using the rings that came with the rifle(unknown brand). The rings were torqued on and rifle bore sighted by local gun shop. The stock trigger has been worked by previous owner, to a crisp 2lb pull.
The bore is shiny with crisp rifling.

I guess my question is where to next? Do I try a different brand of ammunition? I'm limited with my funds, and really can't afford to buy multiple packs of ammo. But I wouldn't have thought the wrong ammo would cause a spread that big??
I dont want a bench shooting rifle, I bought this for hunting to feed my family, and that's all I really intend to do. I want to make sure that I can confidently make a kill shot out to 'X' metres, which I currently can't do.
I don't want to go down the rabbit hole spending big to try make this into a shooter, I don't have the funds or the time. Am I better off selling this and buying a known shooter? This rifle currently owes me about $1650 in it's current setup (rifle, scope, supressor)

I appreciate any advice you can give.

Are the bases torqued as well?

Does the stock have the little pressure points at the end of the forend, i.e. is the barrel not free-floating?
@Mooseman just pillar bedded his Remington which I think is also a SPS and its made a big improvment, he's also removed the pressure points and free-floated the barrel.

Comments Brian?

Action is torqued down properly?

Tried to get someone else to shoot it?

Originally Posted by CamFlatt

Over 10 shots using federal blue the spread was about 20cm ]

CM or mm?

Originally Posted by Steve123

Are the bases torqued as well?

Unsure

A top tip to test if it is the lack of free floated barrel and bedding, is to cut a small rectangle of Coke can alloy and place it under the action at the front, to lift the barrel out of the forend slightly. When you've done that and tightened the action screws, check to see if you can get a piece of A4 paper all the way down to the recoil lug, smoothly sliding it up and down without it catching. If it groups better after that, that's the problem, bedding.

Pillar bedding is step 1, usually you can get acceptable hunting accuracy with pillars and not have to epoxy bed the whole action.

are all the OTHER screws tight???? relative bought one and everything was loose,shot like shit...tightened up screws all over the show and instantly it came good.
20cm group is craphola....is it stringing out up n down ....side to side or just shotgun like all over the show.

Check action screws, check bases, check scope rings yourself too because some shops let half-trained monkeys fit scopes.

Also make sure nothing has been clipping the inside of the suppressor.

A local forum member might be able to help you out showing you what to check if you don't know.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Does the stock have the little pressure points at the end of the forend, i.e. is the barrel not free-floating?
@Mooseman just pillar bedded his Remington which I think is also a SPS and its made a big improvment, he's also removed the pressure points and free-floated the barrel.

Comments Brian?

Pretty sure it's free floating, but will confirm tomorrow. Researching it seemed like bedding the spa stocks didn't make much difference, but happy to be proved wrong

I have seen quite a few Remingtons in recent years with the chamber misaligned with the bore. The problem is quite obvious visually when the bolt is removed and the front of the chamber examined in good light. Should your rifle show this then it is total justification for complete replacement at no cost. The only way this could occur is by using unpiloted reamers.

Will have a good look at it tomorrow, and make sure all other screws are tight, and will check the barrel for free-floating.

Yes @LBD 20cm
@mickey Duck shotgun, all over the show.

that sort of rules out a couple of things...scope slipping forwards/backwards will do the verticle string thing.
projectile holes are round??? so its not a case of keyholing stuffed barrel.....
there are a couple of good local gunsmiths who could check it over for you.
20cm is shocking....maybe get someone else to try a group of 5 and see if it miraculusly shrinks group to 2"
one other thing...are you holding forestock or letting it move on rest????

Check the scope rings and based. I have a rem 700 in. 243 that was shooting like a bag of crap like yours. Changed to a set of talleys. Rifle now shoots 3/4" groups with handloads.

Sent from my SM-A510Y using Tapatalk

Is your barrel clean? And how do you clean it? Do you use some sort of copper remover?

Is there any burr on the crown?

Free floating the barrel should help and checking that there is not too much negative tension on the action when torquing the bedding screws .

When you shoot from A bench, get sand bags on front and the back ( you can make your own out of trousers leggings and cat litter) and try shooting by holding the forehand with your weak hand if other form of shooting don't quite work.
If you are not 100% confident with your shooting, get someone else more experienced to shoot it for you.
Give a try to the Winchester deer season ammo, I found them to shoot extremely well in the last few guns I tried.

Shoot the rifle with out the suppressor. And also try with the suppressor on but with out its rear bush.

See how it goes.