Remington 700 Question

[45R]

Which Remington 700 Series Rifle (P or LTR) for paper punching at 100 plus yards and for the occasional deer hunt?

Is the extra mula worth it for a shorter barrel and less weight?

How will a 20" barrel perform out to 500 yards vs the 26" barrel. (I really doubt that I would be shooting further than 500 yards)


TIA

 

[cratz2]

Unless you just like the look of a heavy barreled snipe... oops, I mean precision rifle, for shooting at 100 yards and for carrying on a deer hunt, I would have to suggest you skip either of them and get a standard, sporter-weight rifle.

That's a lot of extra weight to tug around with very little to show for it at 100 yards and unless you're built like Ahnold, carrying a 11 lb rifle gets pretty old pretty quick.

 

[Skullboy]

45R, I hunt Moose with a Rem700 VS in .308Win that had the barrel cut down to 20".It is a heavier rifle to pack around then the average sporter version ,But it is the only rifle I have hunted with, so I'm used to carrying around the weight(We don't road hunt, we actually hike through the bush for miles).

The 20" barrel will group .5 MOA out to 300 meters with my matchloads, so I have no hestitation using it out to 500 yards/meters.

The cheaper way is to do what I did.But I used VS, and cut the barrel down and recrown it.This Modifaction cost me $40.00 Cdn, with action truing ,up here in Canada.

SKBY.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Dang skullboy, with that scope shade, it reminds me of those heavy barrel civil war sharpshooter rifles that had a scope that was the full length of the barrel.

BTW, the prototype was tried by the factory who was a Camp Perry shooter. The fellow got sub moa at 600 yds.

 

[BHP9]

Generally speaking the old time pro's that lived with a rifle in their hands like Jack O'connor, Waren Page Townsend Whelen, Charles Askins all learned that for hunting purposes the standard power cartridges were about just right when the rifle had a 22 inch barrel. Why?

Well the 22 inch barrel had enough length for decent velocity but was not too long to constantly catch on brush.

Going to the 20 in barrel is basically a mistake. It will have way more muzzle blast than you want. Accuracy wise it may not shoot as well and not because of any inherent accuarcy loss but because of increase muzzle blast and lighter weight.

Do not worry about the 500 yard shot. Under field conditions it is largely only a myth. If you are not a Master shooter that scores consistantly 760 points out of a possible 800 you should limit your shots to reasonable ranges and under field condtions this means way less than 200 yards. Most once a year hunters who never fire a round except off of sand bags cannot hit much under field conditions at ranges much over 75 yards. This is not a problem because most game is taken a much less distance than 75 yards. Even the famouns Jack O'Conner often shot mountain sheep as close as 25 yards, not the vast mountain to mountain top ranges that are mythically portrayed in many of the gun rags.

Remember that too light a rifle is often as big a handicap as too heavy a rifle. A rifle must have a cerain amount of weight to control it in the offhand position. Its nice to carry a 4 pound rifle but try shooting one under field conditions. I'll take the 7 or 8 pound rifle anyday both in terms of less recoil and the ability to control the sway in the offhand position. In target shooting I perfer a rifle of at least 9 pounds and even up to 13 lbs.

 

[RTownsend]

I think the LTR would make an excellent hunting rifle. The P is more of a target rifle.

I know a guy that uses an LTR to shoot 1000 yard matches so you won't have any trouble at 500 yards. I've shot prone 4 feet from him and have never noticed any increased muzzle blast over the other .308s shooting.

I do perfer the P stock but the LTR stock is also a fine stock.

I like skullboy would probably cut down a P to 20" if I bought one but my idea of a perfect factory rifle is an LTR mounted in a P stock.

Good luck

 

[Diesle]

Is the only benifit in cutting down the barrel decreasing the weight?

Who makes that scope?

Diesle

 

[RTownsend]

Diesle

The shorter barrels should be stiffer which should make the rifle more accurate. The LTR barrel is also fluted so that may take away some of the stiffness gained by the shorter barrel. Both will probably not hold back the shooter.

When I say more accurate I'm talking the difference between .425" and .500" groups.

I like the short barrels because of the ease of movement. They also just look better to me.

 

[BusMaster007]

I think you'd have more fun with the bigger rifle.

If you take it hunting, use it as it was designed to be used...find a place (hide) and wait for the deer to come into the sights.

The muzzle blast issue with the shorter bbl. would be especially true if using the High Energy or Light Magnum loads - "enhanced power ammunition".

The BIGFAT stock can be replaced with a slimmer version, too.
I chose the Hogue pillar bedded stock for my 700 Police in .308.

It's a bit lighter than the standard H-S Precision stock, and without the bipod, even lighter yet.
Plus, it's a LOT easier to hold on to.
Works for me.

 

[MLC]

I've been using my LTR for regular paper punching and occasional hunting. I've found it to be excellent in both aspects and have no complaints other than the swivels in the stock. This is a group with a hunting load, 150g NBT, at 100 yards. I have shot a 1.5 inch 3 shot group at 400 yards off a bipod with Fed GMM.

 

[Skullboy]

Diesle, The scope on the rifle is a Bausch & Lomb Elite 4000 4 X 16 - 50mm with a 6" sunshade in matte finish.

I recently sold that scope and put my Leupold 4.5 X 14-40mm Tactical scope with the mildot reticle and 4" sunshade on it.

SKBY.