I bought my rifle

[shepsan]

Well my friends, I made my decision and purchased a Remington 700 Police short action .223 caliber rifle. It is 20" and has a 9" twist.

I also purchased a Leupold Compact 2 x 7 scope, rings and base, bipod, and aluminium case.

Ed Cameron is doing a trigger job on it as we speak.

My research uncovered a number of interesting facts about .223 ammunition. I learned that the Nosler Partition design is an excelent choice when hunting small animals, varmint and predators. It has shown deep penetration and stopping power.

Another point I found interesting was that Nosler and FMJ rounds will pass through interior and then through exterior house walls. Whereas test at Gunsite show that the .223 JHP and SP types will not pass through interior and then out through exterior house walls.

It seems to me that if these are valid fact, then if I wished to use this the Remington and this kind of ammunition for home defense, it would be safer then either FMJ or Nosler bullets.

Of course I believe that a Remington 870 and any of my 1911's would be better choices for home defense.

I want to thank all of you again for the great input you gave me. That noise you will hear next week will be me at the range learning how to shoot a rifle.

Regards

 

[JohnKSa]

I agree with you that the 870 or a pistol would be a better choice for home defense. But not really because of the ammo. I don't think that any bolt rifle is a particularly good pick for self defense if you have a shotgun or pistol available.

Sounds like you got a nice rifle.

 

[WalkerTexasRanger]

Congrats!!!!

I will be shooting my LTR .223 tomorrow AM as well!!!! I just finished up some new loads to test, Hornady 55 grain v-max molys.

It is a great rifle, fun and damn accurate. I also have a Leup, scope, an M1. My eyes are not that great so I need the help.....

One major positive about going with the 700 is the upgrades avail. I have just ordered the Tubb firing pin and CS mainspring from Sinclair, supposed to cut lock time almost 40%. We will see if it helps...

I also lightened the trigger. Instructions are avail here, just search, very straightforward and easy to do. Worked great!!!

Safe shooting tomorrow, ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

WTR

 

[shepsan]

Hello

Today, I took my Remington 700 to the range and had a great day!

I had not held a rifle since boot camp over 56 years ago and was a bit apprehensive that I would be able to adjust the scope properly and hit the target.

To my surprise and pleasure I did both and after sighting the scope at 100 and 200 yards, was able to make a modest group of three at both distances.

I have posted photos of my rifle and the targets on my photo web site:

http://groups.msn.com/ShepsansCollection/_albumlist.msnw

The rifle and its Leupold scope make for an excellent shooter. I am quite pleased with my purchase and intend to be at the range each week honing my skills.

Regards to all

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Congrats on the rifle and on the nice shooting.

 

[Joe Demko]

Enjoy. Gunz r good.

 

[varoadking]

Nice shootin...

I've a .223 LTR with Luepold 3-9x40 Tactical glass and Harris bi-pod myself. Mine came with a very smooth, crisp and light trigger right out of the box. I need to shoot it more, but my DSA SA58 has me pretty smitten at the moment.

 

[WalkerTexasRanger]

Good shooting, but most important glad to hear you had a good time. What ammo were you using? My 55 v-max loads were pretty consistant 1 MOA, but on 10 shot groups. For 10 shots, I will take MOA all day long...

Enjoy the LTR and the many days of enjoyment in brings...

 

[shepsan]

WTR, I am ignorant about rifle ammo and used the first ammo that I found plentiful which was the XM193 Federal 5.56 M193 Ball 55 grain Metal Cast Boat-Tail.

I now have a response to a query I made to Remington about ammo. They have sent me an email and in it tell me not to use military ammo but to stick to factory .223.

Since I do not reload but will buy in bulk on the internet, do you have any suggestions about which factory .223 to buy?

 

[Dave P]

Those groups are better than "modest" - give yourself some credit! Looks like under 2" at 200 yrds - if so that is great!

The LTR is fine little rifle, very accurate, too.

Why not mil ammo? Is the chamber tighter than "standard" NATO? If the round slipps into the chamber easily, I would shoot it. It's not like the recvr isn't strong enough for it???

 

[shepsan]

Dave P, here is the exact short and too the point two sentences Remington wrote me:

"We only recommend using factory loaded sporting ammunition in your rifle. Do not use military ammunition. "

The only thing I can think of is that military ammo might create too much pressure.

The military rounds I shot yesterday did not make the barrel too hot at any time.

I will look for posts on the subject if I can find them on the various forums to see if there are discussions on this subject.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

"We only recommend using factory loaded sporting ammunition in your rifle. Do not use military ammunition. "

The only thing I can think of is that military ammo might create too much pressure.

The Remington 700 uses a .223 SAAMI throat in the chamber which is different from the 5.56mm NATO throat. Firing military ammo in a SAAMI chamber can increase the pressure.

On the other hand, I see people do it frequently with the worst result yet being some blown primers and malfunctions in semi-auto ARs, so it probably won't ruin a gun; but may not be good for it in long term use.

See this link for more info:
http://www.winchester.com/law/news/news.eye?storyid=11

Since I do not reload but will buy in bulk on the internet, do you have any suggestions about which factory .223 to buy?

The Winchester .223 line that starts with USA in the part number is a pretty good budget ammo that you can usually pick up cheap at WalMart, Academy or some other sporting goods stores. It should do for plinking and practice ammo and is loaded to SAAMI specs.

 

[shepsan]

Thank you BR. I appreciate your input.

 

[Sunray]

"...not to use military ammo but to stick to factory .223..." They would. Surplus can be iffy quality and Remington loads ammo. In any case, surplus IS factory ammo, just not Remington's. However, that "White Box" stuff you see in WalMart is made by Winchester.

 

[WalkerTexasRanger]

You might consider Black Hills blue box ammo. I have found it to be pretty damn accurate, and reasonable in price if you look around. Try www.georgiaprecision.com Tommy, the owner, is a well respected high power shooter and has the best prices around on BH ammo. You might call him though and ask about his specials.

You will probably find better accuracy as well when trying some hollow point bullets. With the 1-9 twist, you are able to shoot up to a 75 grain bullet (at least I have been out of my LTR) with no problems. Although my LTR prefers the 55s, 68s, and 69s over the 75s. All rifles are slightly different in how they will shoot the different grain bullets, so try several grains and types of ammo. I would suggest you search here and over at ar15.com, when it comes back up, for bullets and twist rates. As the AR platform is .223, there is a wealth of info on successes with different bullets. Final advice, do stick with the Comm ammo. You don't really want to put 87 octane in a Corvette, now do you????

Keep reporting on your progress, we are always interested!!

 

[Detachment Charlie]

Sempre Fi

Seeing his 200 yd target, I think he proves the saying:
Once a Marine, always a Marine.
Nice shootin'.

 

[shepsan]

New scope

Hello everyone . . .

Happy holidays. It is for me.

After using the Leupold compact 2X7 scope, I found that I needed a higher magnification scope. Today, I exchanged the 2X7 for the Leupold Vari-X III 6.5-20 50mm Long Range M1 scope.

Talk about going from one extreme to another . . . This 6.5 is amazing!

I can't wait to take it out.

Regards to all.

 

[dakotasin]

when i first read your decision for scoping, i thought it was a bit odd to put a leupold compact on that rifle, but hey, evrybody wants what they want and i am no different...

wanted to say 2 things... first- you got some great taste for scopes!
second, enjoy your rig. it should be an outstanding one.

 

[BusMaster007]

Great thread!

Keep us posted on that Hubbel Telescope you traded up for.
That's gonna make a HUGE difference at the range for you.
I'd say 'have fun', but you've got that covered.
Thanks for showing us the rifle and targets, Sir.