700 SPS & 223

[STW]

Finally made it out the other day to try out some loads for a few rifles.
223 Remington. 700 SPS out of the box with Leupold VX2 4-12x40 and dual dovetail low mounts. 35 grain Nosler BT lead free and 25.5 grs Benchmark loaded length 2.260''. you can cover 3 shots at 100 yards with a dime.
Shot 3 beavers last evening all in the head 25 yards max. Death was instant and no exit. Hides will bring close to 40.00 each and tails have $30.00 each bounty.

 

[Hegland]

Hides will bring close to 40.00 each and tails have $30.00 each bounty.

Now that will buy some components! Good work!

 

[tjen]

I am very happy with my 700 SPS-SS. Other than a B&C medalist stock it is as built by the factory. I may put a jewel trigger on it some time. Benchmark and 52gr bullets have proved very accurate. I want to try a 60 or 62gr to see how the work in this rifle.

good shooting

 

[SJB358]

Very nice! Great shooting and that sounds like a fun rifle. Whats the twist on it?

 

[BeeTee]

Is that the heavy barrel? What length barrel? Sounds like your rifle is doing well.

Just got 100 pieces of once-fired Nosler 223 brass prepped. Plan to load them with Benchmark, Rem 7-1/2 primers and Nosler 50BT to 3350-fps. My Rem700 VS with its 24" 1:12 heavy barrel and with W748 and Winchester brass is a consistent 5-shot sub 1/2" combo. BT

 

[STW]

The twist is 1 in 12 and it is the 24 inch factory sporter weight barrel. I am very happy after reading a lot of 700 bashing on different sites on the internet.

 

[gerry]

You don't hear to many guys shooting beavers, cool. It's nice you can get a bit of money for your efforts. That's great it is so accurate, I am still a big Remington fan myself. I bet the 64 gr BSB would stabilize nicely in it as well for bigger animals.

 

[BK]

Nice! I love my 700s! I may pick up an SPS V in .22-250 one of these days. I just wish they were twisted a little faster from the factory.

 

[BeeTee]

The twist is 1 in 12 and it is the 24 inch factory sporter weight barrel. I am very happy after reading a lot of 700 bashing on different sites on the internet.

For as long as I can remember, the Rem 700 has been the most consistently accurate out-of-the-box factory rifle. There may be others now, but I have confidence in the 700.

I shot a box of Nosler 40BTs through my 700 a few years ago, pushed close to 3700-fps. They are not quite as accurate as the 50. Where the 50s will do .2s, .3s, and .4s, the 40 grainers do .6s and .7s for 5-shot groups. Also, the 50s produce more explosive results on varmints. I never would have guessed that. To get a 40BT a couple thousandths off the lands, there's only about half the case neck gripping the shorter bullet.

Based on the above, I've settled on the Nosler 50BT as THE go-to bullet to use in my factory barreled Rem 700VS 223. It's been a while, but I tried most of the other bullet brands at one time or another. I'll know soon about Benchmark, but W748 has been the best powder I've used so far. The difference between W748 and H335 was a couple tenths in average group size. BT