.223 Remington Overhaul?

[GCHK91]

Thought I would ask for some feedback from the group about a rifle I own.

Remington 700BDL VS. Purchased in 1989. .223. My first bolt gun.

I am sentimental about this rifle, but don't shoot it much since I had GAP build me a .308. Of late, I have thought about reworking it.

It currently sits in a HS Precision stock and sports a Jewell trigger. Other than that it is stock. I'm thinking about re-barreling it to a faster twist so I can stabilize heavier bullets. Currently, I do most of my shooting in the 200 yards and less category, but will soon be able to stretch out to 1k if I so desire, and would like to use this rifle at the maximun effective range of the round.

So, my question is:

It shoots 52gr projectiles with a great deal of accuracy, but I have only been able to test it out to 200 yards. Not sure how well it will hold up beyond this. Any insights?

If I want to push the distance further, should I consider
a re-barrel option with a faster twist (say 1 in 7 so I can use bullets up to 80 grains? If I go this route, what would be a realistic maximum distance for target shooting with such a rig.

If I re-barrel, I would like to keep the barrel on the short side, say 20". Would this give up velocity to the point of going with the heavier round irrelevant?

If I'm going to re-barrel anyway, should I think about scrapping the round all together and go with something else?
I originally picked the caliber because I didn't reload at the time, and wanted something that was easy to obtain. I now load my own, but am still interested in the .223 as it is easy to grab a box almost anywhere (or at least it WAS easy until recently)and I have several other rifles in this caliber.

Any feedback would be appreciated. Use for the rifle would be limited 90% of the time to bench shooting, 10% field shooting if that makes a difference. No hunting applications unless some light varmint erradication.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Jester8]

Re: .223 Remington Overhaul?

I think that alot of guys would tell you to chamber in .223 AI, with a fast twist tube like you mentioned, and you shouldn't have too much trouble getting out to 1000. I don't have enough experience to tell you how much velocity you would lose with a 20" barrel, but I think it would be negligable. If I were you I would just have the barrel at 24" since you mentioned it will be for the bench anyways.

 

[gszeto99]

Re: .223 Remington Overhaul?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jester8</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think that alot of guys would tell you to chamber in .223 AI, with a fast twist tube like you mentioned, and you shouldn't have too much trouble getting out to 1000. I don't have enough experience to tell you how much velocity you would lose with a 20" barrel, but I think it would be negligable. If I were you I would just have the barrel at 24" since you mentioned it will be for the bench anyways. </div></div>

Amount of velocity lost is not negligible. I used to have a 24" Tikka Tactical in 223 and I downsized to a different Tikka Tactical in 223 that is 20". Running the same loads of 55gr v-max I had to change my dope at 300 yards from up 4.25MOA on the 24" to up 6.0MOA on the 20". You will definitely see a bigger difference at 1000 yards.