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hi guys,
im new to the firing line and this is literally my first post.
this is just my experience:
i bought a 700 sps varmint with 26" from bass pro this past May and I loved the feel of it.
initially, even with factory premium ammo, i could not get it to group under 10" @175 yrds - painful
after doing a bedding job, and buying a reloading die for it, it tightened up a little bit to around 6" at 175 yrds but thats still terrible - especially for handloads.
i then went all out at figured that if i ruin the stock, i can just have an excuse to buy a nice BC or HS precision.
I bought a 5' long aluminum I beam from RONA for ~15$, a two part epoxy enough for 10 bedding jobs for another $15.
after removing all the internal plastic reinforcement inside the stock and channeling out the forend for the barrell contour, i put the aluminum bars in the forend of the stock and literally FILLED it to the top with epoxy.
i then proceeded to fully bed the action to about 1" in front of the lug nut.
verdict
a fully free floated r 700 sps varmint
i took it to the range the next day and i shot sub moa at 100yrds all day - no matter what load i had for it.
i rang a metal plate out at 380 yards shot after shot until my ammunition ran out.
its hard to find any reloading components in canada right now for some reason so i didnt have much selection on powder.
after a few weeks of trial and error, i found my 700 liked speer 168 gr HPBT backed by right on the dot 41 gr of AA2230 and cci 200 primers winchester or federal brass never did much of a difference.
end of the day, if the load mentioned above consistently rings the gong at 380 yrds, im happy and for $45 (15 for the epoxy, 15 for the aluminum re-bar, and 15 for the 6 pack) and a solid saturday evening, I found myself an awesome target/tactical rifle for a deal!!!
hope this post helps anyone looking to improve their groupings ( and their love for this slowly dieing brand)
-B
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