Remington 700 SPS Tactical

[minutemen1776]

I had been looking off and on for a good bolt action with a shorter but heavy-barreled profile. I saw the 700 SPS Tactical on Remington's website and really liked what I saw, so I ordered one in .308 from Bud's and got it this week. I cleaned it up last night and was duly impressed with my purchase. The barrel contour just feels right, and (with just dry firing to judge from) the newly improved Rem 700 trigger seems much better than those on 700s I've had in the past. Also, the Hogue dual pillar-bedded stock is a big plus.

Anyway, it'll be a while yet before I can get a good scope for this rifle, but I'm already thinking through my options. Despite the rifle's moniker, I will not be using it for SWAT team or other sniping work. It'll be a range gun primarily, but I also need it to be capable of hunting whitetails and, for SHTF purposes , it will need to complement my AR15 with its extra range. Frankly, I expect most (90%+) of my shooting to be no more than 100 yards, mainly because of my local range's space limitations. Opportunities for longer shots may arise, but in no case would I be reaching out past 300 yards.

Options for scoping "tactical" rifles abound, but I don't think I want something too high-powered. For hunting work, I definitely want to have some low-magnification capability, which a lot of the tactical optics seem to sacrifice for higher top-end magnification. I'm looking now in the $300-$350 range, and I like the Nikon Buckmasters and Bushnell Elite 3200 scopes. I especially like the Nikon mil-dot 4.5-14x40 model.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other scopes that might meet my criteria? I'd appreciate any advice, so long as it doesn't consist solely of suggesting I save up for something way beyond my price parameters. Thanks.

 

[deadeye1122]

Minuteman, I mounted a nikon monarch 4x14x42sf with the nikonplex reticle on my 700 tac. Picked it off e-bay 317.00 NIB shipped. Have yet to shoot as to cold up here .I passed on the mil-dot because as like you 300-400 yard shots will be the max. With practice and the help from member replys to a previous post I think the standard reticle is fine for me. Good luck,deadeye

 

[Fremmer]

Personally, I'd prefer a regular duplex 3-9x40 for what you want to do with it. I guess if you want something to go up to 14x, that's up to you, but for hunting it gets awfully wobbly at 9x, and worse when you go higher, know what I mean? For the ranges you've mentioned, I'd skip the mil-dot. Those clutter up a scope view, and won't do anything much for the purposes you've mentioned.

Edited to add: if you add $50 to 75$ to your budget, you can get a better scope that'll be a step up from the $300 scopes (not that those are terrible scopes by any measure), something like the Elite 4200 or Leupold VX 3. The Tactical looks like a nice rifle, and it'll be worth putting a really nice scope on it.

 

[minutemen1776]

After doing a lot of looking, I went ahead and ordered a Bushnell Elite 3200 4-12x40 AO scope this morning from Bear Basin. The price was right, at just $275. From what I could tell, this scope offers the best low- and high-range magnification without stepping up to what I consider a truly large scope. Compared to the 4.5-14x and 5-15x scopes, the Elite 3200 4-12x is clearly smaller, and it's actually closer in size to the ubiquitous 3-9x scopes. I think the 4x setting will provide a good field of view for hunting, while the 12x magnification and adjustable objective will do me well for precision shots and benchrest shooting at the range. I also passed up the mil-dot reticle and got the Bushnell Multi-X reticle, which is a pretty traditional design. I'm looking forward to trying it out!

 

[noob_shooter]

i bought a redfield 4-12x-40 for 215. very nice

 

[TRguy]

For the money right now I think Burris Fulfield II 3x9x40 with a Ballistic Plex Reticule is the best buy. $50 Rebate

So $199 or 189 and then another $50 off

 

[wgp]

Before "tactical" rifles were the rage I owned a Remington 700 Sendero, .308, with the HS Precision stock and the 26" heavy contour barrel. Thing weighed a ton and was very barrel-heavy, so on a whim I had a local 'smith cut back the barrel to 20" and wow, I instantly (and for less money) became the owner of a "tactical rifle". I have seen rifles with the same specs priced at over $2K. When the guy cut and re-crowned the muzzle accuracy went way up, too. It is still on the heavy side but is a great shooter. There is more than one way to get on the "tactical" bandwagon.

 

[minutemen1776]

Sounds like an interesting rifle, wgp. I owned a Remington VLS in .308 Winchester a number of years ago. Like the Sendero, it also had a heavy 26" barrel. I generally like the heavy profile, and it was incredibly accurate, but it was way too long for my needs and the laminated stock added even more weight. In the field, it just felt like lugging around a howitzer. I traded it to my cousin, who still has it and loves it. When I saw the new Rem 700 SPS Tactical, I thought it solved all the VLS's "shortcomings" (at least as I saw it), so I had to pick one up.

 

[Prince Yamato]

Here's an interesting choice:

Kalinka Optics sells Russian military scopes modified for US style scope mounts. $300 can get you a top Russian military scope.