New varmint cannon

[Blainer]

I am in the process of online "building" a new rifle. I will use it for varmint/ 200/lb> game rifle as well as playing with long range shooting. I haven't bought anything yet, so I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something before I start buying. I am going to get a Remington 700 SPS Varmint in .243 and pair it with a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 4.5x14 scope. Other stuff I might add is a Timney trigger, and maybe a Hogue Stock.

If I go with a Hogue stock, should I look at a full bedded or pillar bedded stock?

This is the first gun I have pieced together myself and tried to do any modifications on, so any suggestions are welcome!!

[Roughedge]

Its hard to full bed a plastic stock so you would do better pillar bedding it. You should also check out what Boyds has to offer too.

[AllenJ]

I put a Hogue on my Ruger M77 Mk II 7WSM build, full aluminum bed block, and ended up having to skim bed it to get the rifle to shoot well. My cousin put the same stock on his Remington 700 7mm Rem Mag build and has had accuracy problems too. He also had a 700 ACC in 308 that came with the pillar bedded Hogue. He has since changed the stock to an A5 model and it's accuracy has improved. I guess the moral of this story is if you do get a Hogue, plan on skim bedding it!

[nemesiss45]

Great gun, i have one in .308. I did the same and swapped the trigger and stock, and thats all it really needed. I got mine for range/ bench shooting so i got a choate tactical stock and a timney calvin elite trigger... but those choices wouldnt suit a hunting gun

[reynolds357]

My opinion would be ditch the plan for Chinese optics.

[603Country]

I bought a Hogue stock for my 223 Ruger Hawkeye. Has the full aluminum bedding channel. The rifle did maybe shoot a bit better, but that stock is just too heavy for me. I went back to the original Ruger plastic stock and it shoots fine still. The Hogue is now gathering dust. If anyone wants it cheap, pm me.

[taylorce1]

Get a Bell & Carlson Medalist Tactical it's the cheapest stock I'd use. Then I'd get a Super Sniper 10X42 Mil/Mil scope and go that route. The Houge is a stock I could never warm up to, and I wouldn't buy a $300 Bushnell and expect reliable tracking for any long range shooting.

[Picher]

Over 20 years ago, I skim-coated an HS Precision aluminum bedding block in the Sendero Take-Off stock I bought like-new for $60 out of a barrel at KTP. (The next one I saw, a few months later, they wanted $130 for.)

The Sendero heavy barrel was free-floated from the factory, but my standard .270 sporter-weight barrel is really "extremely" free. Shoots great!

[steveNChunter]

Originally posted by taylorce1:

Get a Bell & Carlson Medalist Tactical it's the cheapest stock I'd use. Then I'd get a Super Sniper 10X42 Mil/Mil scope and go that route. The Houge is a stock I could never warm up to, and I wouldn't buy a $300 Bushnell and expect reliable tracking for any long range shooting.

^Good Advice^

I bought one of those Hogue stocks a couple years ago.The bedding block was Ok but the receiver inlet was very loose and the non-aluminum part of the stock was even flimsier than the SPS stock that you would be swapping out. The barrel channel also had to have quite a bit of the "rubber overmold" material removed to allow the barrel to float, and it had to be floated generously to keep the forend from flexing and touching the barrel when sitting on a rest or bipod. Also it's quite heavy. I won't be buying another one.

A $100 Boyd's laminate stock plus a pillar and glass bedding job is probably the most cost-effective stock for accuracy, and the Bell & Carlson Medalist is the best deal IMO if you want a synthetic. The Bushnell Lengend Ultra is a decent scope to sight in and leave alone, but if you want to get serious about long range, you need a scope that you know will be repeatable.