Rem 700 Police vs. SPS/Tac???

[tarosean]

Anyone know what the true difference between the rifles are?




Obviously this should be in Rifles... my bad..

 

[FL-NC]

I think one has the good H&S stock and one doesn't.

 

[rule303]

The stock is the only difference on the newer 700's. The SPS stock is basically worthless, so factor the cost of a replacement when comparing costs between the two.

 

[joed]

The SPS stock is pretty much worthless. The day I bought my SPS the first thing I did was order a new stock.

And yet, you'll hear people on here say their's shoots excellent groups with the standard stock. Disregard advice from these people.

 

[herkyguy]

Agreed. Proud owner of an SPS that wears a Bell an Carlson stock now. To its credit, the SPS shot well with the crap OEM stock, and is an absolute tack driver now.

 

[Geno]

I discussed the differences in a thread here some years back, based on having placed calls to Remington for the precise differences. The greatest difference is that all Remington "Police" model rifles are 100% parkerized finish inside and out, on all steel parts. Also, the barrel is lapped inside. Also the betters stock. However, they are the identical rifle in terms of steel, and parts. IMHO, both excellent products, but the police model is a better bang for the buck.

Edit to add link:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=636682&highlight=Police+model

Geno

 

[tarosean]

So it seems the consensus is the SPS stock is crap..

Thanks for the link Geno.

The specific models I am looking at are
700P LTR vs 700 SPS Tactical (comes with Hogue Overmold)
20" Barrel in .223

 

[taliv]

i couldn't speak authoritatively about what happens at the factory, but i will say of all the PSS and P models I've seen over the years, not a one of them was a lemon. they were all shooters where the SPS stuff seems more like 60/40 or so. my personal sample size is large enough i am pretty sure there's something different, but not large enough I'd say i couldn't be just really lucky

there could be differences in assembly, or QC or other stuff, not just the fact that they came off the same line.

 

[Gordon]

Remington "Police" shotguns and rifles used to be (in the middle 90s or a bit later) assembled in a separate area from most other production with different QC people. Someone will be along I think to verify this . My 700P from the 95 era has been as good or better than my 99 5R 700 , both .308 and the 700 P is quite a bit lighter, yes I know different barrels vary , but just saying. Both have cleaned and tuned bedding and Timney straight triggers of 2.5# and Badger Ordinance mounts & bottom metal with Leupold Mark 4 scopes. They are my old "two is one and one is none " pair .

 

[119er]

The SPS stock is pretty much worthless. The day I bought my SPS the first thing I did was order a new stock.

And yet, you'll hear people on here say their's shoots excellent groups with the standard stock. Disregard advice from these people.

In other words, you have little to no experience. Your feelings and instant dismissal/replacement of the stock allows you to disregard the experience of others who've actually used their rifles? Of course there are better stocks out there, but the factory stuff can get you by. There is a lot of folklore that surrounds these topics for sure.



I have an SPS Tactical (.223) I bought 7-8 years ago and it has been great with both reloads and factory VMAX loads. Mine has a 1:9 twist, so consider that if you want to shoot heavier bullets. This rifle recently shot prone w/bipod at 700 yards consistently hitting the 11"x14" target with 69gr Nosler CC's, a Nikon M-223 3-12x, and a factory stock. Not exactly worthless, but could be improved for sure.

As a matter of fact, I have an SPS Varmint in 7mm-08 that is an absolute tack driver in the factory stock. I changed to a B&C Medalist and Timney trigger with little to no benefit. These are my experiences after shooting around 900 rounds in 7mm-08 and over 1500 in the .223. The .223 is the new shooter confidence builder, so it sees a higher round count for sure.

Given the choice I would go with the 700P if you can. I can't comment on those as I have never owned or shot one, but they are better equipped out of the box.

Good luck.

 

[Peakbagger46]

5R Rifling on the Police?

Not sure if it does or not. I have some flavor of "mil spec" 700 with a stainless 24" R5 barrel and camo HS stock that I got second hand. This thing flat shoots with Rel 15 and 168g bullets. Averaging UNDER 1/2 MOA for three shots at 100.

Shooting this thing is like looking through really good glass, kinda spoiled me (can't afford Swarovski though).

These groups were shot with an 8X scope at 100y.