Hey guys just pict up a rem 223 sps tactical. Just wondering what is your best hand load for this rifle. Took it to my gunsmith and it's a turd right out of the box. First a crooked chamber yes I saw it. Next mor than .015 play in the back of the bolt, next rust on the barrel and under the stock on the action, next top lug was not engaging at all. I think that's it on a positive side the barrel was floating I got the trigger adjusted to a consistent 3lbs and the head spacing was dead on. I am gonna keep it and just because I want to know "how good will a crooked chamber shoot?" I take my hand loads pretty far and my shooting very serious whitch brings me to the question " what is your best hand load for your factory rem 223 sps tactical? Thanks for the help ! I'm gonna need it with this turd!
- Thread starter Lazer
- Start date
You took it to a gunsmith...before ever shooting the thing?
Just curious how the smith checked for a crooked chamber.
Paul
Paul
Yes I took it to the smith before shooting it, he is a good friend and I had other guns to get some work on so I just took it to check it out. And we took a bore scope and looked at where the riflings start that how you find out if it's been chambered "crooked" the riflings started hard on one side and the other side they didn't start for probably .060-.080 into the bore
My .223 sps tactical shot sub .65" groups with no modifications with 55gr nosler varmageddons. I would have to dig to find the powder I used. With a b&c a2 stock and 69 gr smk's/varget it shot .497" edge to edge not even midline to midline. Best rifle I've ever owned considering I don't have to waste money truing it. As I am not a better shooter than what this rifle will let me shoot.
If it was me id be on the phone with remington demanding a replacement!
This is another method to check to see how far off center a chamber has been cut TacticalRifles.net : Bad out of the box - YouTube Fast forward to 6 minutes. If you think that your chamber is cut so far off center that the rifling is starting .060 to .080 farther forward on one side than the other, why would you even waste any ammo on that barrel?
A load that works well in my sps tactical is 25.3 grains varget behind a 69 smk loaded to 2.260"...
I could turn this into a Savage vs. Remington thread at the speed of sound, but I won't. Oh wait.................................................
I picked mine up back in 2010 or 09 cant remember exactly, it was a year or so before they started threading the barrels from the factory. I had the firing pin bushed, badger bolt knob put on it, and the extractor channel on the bolt cut a little deeper by Gre' tan. It probably helps that its in a AI chassis and sports a timney trigger, the Damn thing will cut ragged holes at 200 yds. 24.6 gns of varget 77 smk out to 2.300 coal. Regularly ring steel out to 600 yards with it.
I guess like everything else, these are production guns so your mileage may vary. Take it back and get another. Im sure if you call Remington they will make it right.
I guess like everything else, these are production guns so your mileage may vary. Take it back and get another. Im sure if you call Remington they will make it right.
One I did load work for shot 75 Amax and Benchmark into clusters. Lots of 5 shot 1/2" groups.
^^This is my load but I seat the bullets .010" off of the lands, which still run great in the factory mag box. I may have gotten lucky but I have witnessed great results with a few different .223 sps tactical rifles and this load or one that is very similar.
Thanks for all the responses! Keep them comming. And I didn't intend for this to be a savage vs rem thread at all. This is more of a here's what I got here's what I wanna do thing and any help wood be appreciated. So I'm gonna do a 223 super build someday and need a rem action so for a couple Hundy more I got the hole rifle and thought this will be a cool journey. HandloAd all the way and slowly upgrade to see exactly what difference each variable will make. So my plan is to keep the junk barrel and shoot it just to see if a crooked chamber will shoot, my smith says he has seen some that will and some that don't. Anybody shooting a crooked chamber let me know?! With enough help from u guys on loads I hope to know in 2 to 3 hundred rounds what I got . Then call remington tell them the chamber problem they put a new barrel on then see how it shoots compared to a crooked one. I know it sounds silly but if I can get some decent load info maybe I won't waste too much ammo on this deal that's why I started the thread. And I really want to know difference between the two barrels, if any one has already done this experiment please let me know the results! And just to let you guys know I'm not new to this have a couple match barrels and shoot 2 to 3 days per week w very meticulous handloading. Thanks for the help
Anybody w a known crooked chamber?
Just got my gun back tonite bolt tightened. Trigger tuned lugs lapped night force scope badger rail, rings, and knob I will be shooting suppressed w a crooked chamber . Any predictions on 5 shot groups?
Just got my gun back tonite bolt tightened. Trigger tuned lugs lapped night force scope badger rail, rings, and knob I will be shooting suppressed w a crooked chamber . Any predictions on 5 shot groups?
I predict it will shoot like the turd you already called it. Rusty badly machined turd. Why exactly is it that you don't wanna take it back and exchange it?
...for a Savage har har
...for a Savage har har
Instead of wasting time and money on ammo I'd just have them replace the barrel now but what do I know 
I have seen some really sloppy rifles shoot better than they should, I look forward to hearing how it does for you. I was getting groups with the above load (25.3 varget and 69's smk's) right around .7" at 100y for five shots before I replaced the stock... After the stock change, skim bedding and new trigger it was a easy .5 shooter. At 200 it would still hold an inch...
This is a thread I started on it, you may find some of it of interest.
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-reloading/108348-223-remington-tactical-owners.html
Thanks niles
Dj/ grey wolf - reason I'm doing this is because I have the chance to find out for certain if a crooked chamber shoots as good as a strait one. Some smiths say it will some say it won't . I can't find anybody that knows for shur and I have wondered for a long time I also wonder how many come out of the factory crooked. My smith guesses 30%
With all this being said I don't see how it's a waste of money or ammo when I can't find an answer. As a matter of fact I see it just the opposite. Also when i started shooting I wasted ALOT more time money and ammo by listening to guys on the internet that wood state different aspects of shooting and loading as fact, when in reality they had no idea.
Dj/ grey wolf - reason I'm doing this is because I have the chance to find out for certain if a crooked chamber shoots as good as a strait one. Some smiths say it will some say it won't . I can't find anybody that knows for shur and I have wondered for a long time I also wonder how many come out of the factory crooked. My smith guesses 30%
With all this being said I don't see how it's a waste of money or ammo when I can't find an answer. As a matter of fact I see it just the opposite. Also when i started shooting I wasted ALOT more time money and ammo by listening to guys on the internet that wood state different aspects of shooting and loading as fact, when in reality they had no idea.
Never had my sps-t 223 checked out.
Just loaded 24.5gns varget and 69smk or 68bthp and shot little bitty groups at 100 and rang steel out to 500.
It's probably my favorite rifle to shoot. I can load 800ish rounds an hour on the Dillon and go play.
Just loaded 24.5gns varget and 69smk or 68bthp and shot little bitty groups at 100 and rang steel out to 500.
It's probably my favorite rifle to shoot. I can load 800ish rounds an hour on the Dillon and go play.
Make sure and follow up with results.
I used to have one of these with a coated skinny barrel & 1:12 twist, shot great with 55 gr Vmax. Is yours the thick barrel & fast twist kind?
20" SPS Tactical. 25.5gns of Varget under a 69gn SMK, CCI BR4 primer and LC brass. 10 shots at 100yds. Only thing I did is drop it into a PSS take off stock and swap in a jewel trigger. Stupid accurate out to 500yds. The small grid is 1/4" squares, large square is 1". Good enough for me.
Typical roll of the dice with most any factory run of the mill production rifle. Some shoot great, some not so much. In the big scheme of things for the price typically they perform alright.
I haven't had an SPS Tac 223 but put an SPS Tac 308 together for my wife in a McM HTG stock and it shot very well. Maybe not a consistent 1/2 moa gun but if I did my part or my wife did her part it was pretty damn good.
I haven't had an SPS Tac 223 but put an SPS Tac 308 together for my wife in a McM HTG stock and it shot very well. Maybe not a consistent 1/2 moa gun but if I did my part or my wife did her part it was pretty damn good.
This is my exact load. Works equally well with Nosler Custom Competition 69 grain.
I bet it still shoots sub moa
I need to get me one of those. Have been jonesing to get another 223 for a bit now. Had one and turned it into a 223AI that just sits in my safe.20" SPS Tactical. 25.5gns of Varget under a 69gn SMK, CCI BR4 primer and LC brass. 10 shots at 100yds. Only thing I did is drop it into a PSS take off stock and swap in a jewel trigger. Stupid accurate out to 500yds. The small grid is 1/4" squares, large square is 1". Good enough for me.
I have a friend who's sps .223 was great out of the box with nothing but an AICS bolt on upgrade. I went ahead and got one with no such luck. Mine was a turd with an array of ammo effort. Scope rail is ridiculously crooked. Wont feed or eject dependably for s**t. (Though the AI .223 magazines did help it reasonably)
It now has been rebarreled and thoroughly worked over. At this point it would have been cheaper to have bought and built on a custom action.
Your experience may vary....
Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk
It now has been rebarreled and thoroughly worked over. At this point it would have been cheaper to have bought and built on a custom action.
Your experience may vary....
Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk
We'll right now my 6 5 shot groups are right about .750 w 100 shots fired w 69 smk and varget . I'm not sure what's going on I'm still workin on it it's cosistant for a couple groups then goes to shit. Any body have 6 5 shot groups in a row w this kind of rifle ?
Btw I don't believe the crooked chamber matters right now as I have several 5 shot groups in the .400s . As for my shooting and reloading practices I'm in the .300s w my custom guns.
Btw I don't believe the crooked chamber matters right now as I have several 5 shot groups in the .400s . As for my shooting and reloading practices I'm in the .300s w my custom guns.
Turned it AI and then left it in the safe? Dude, that's just not right. That things needs to stretch it's legs. I have been thinking about punching mine out to AI, but with groups like I posted above, it's hard to jack with it. It runs the 60gn Vmax with similar results at about 3100. Those 69smk's are running right at 3000fps.
Wait a minute. An article I read in the "Guns and Weapons for Law Enforcement" magazine (this month) said the Remington SPS tactical in .223 with a Countersniper scope was the shit. This can't be right.
Alright did a lot of shooting the last 2 days I don't know how u guys are having any luck w those 69s . Mine is in the .800s w 69s. But now I gone to 52smk and things are a lot better! I have more work to do but I will tell you the 69s w varget will not work in my rifle. Now what's the difference? Are all of you guys useing 69s doing 5, 5 shot groups? Or are you just pulling 1 or 2 targets out of a pile? Just because my chambers crooked isn't gonna change the bullet weight, that's a drastic mechanical variable that I don't believe matters from what I've seen so far. I can show 4 or 5 groups in the .400s but it won't even come close to doing that for 20 more rounds. Any thoughts?
Remington 223 sps tactical out of the box turd
If i got consistent 5-shot sub-MOA groups from single bullet/powder combo in an unbedded factory 700 in a crappy ass Hogue stock, I probably wouldn't say it "won't shoot".
But maybe my expectations and/or skill is too low...?
If i got consistent 5-shot sub-MOA groups from single bullet/powder combo in an unbedded factory 700 in a crappy ass Hogue stock, I probably wouldn't say it "won't shoot".
But maybe my expectations and/or skill is too low...?
The group in the picture below is an accurate representation of how mine shoots. Don't know what to tell ya bro, other than some of these guns may not like that combo. As you can see in the pic, this is a 5 shot group at 100yds that measures .380 center to center. At the time that this target was shot the barrel had 1500rds through it, 99.9% of which were 69gr smk's with varget. The only modifications that I have done to the rifle are to put in into a HS Precision stock off of an LTR and I had the barrel threaded for suppressor use. Guess I got lucky, as this is easily the most accurate factory rifle I have ever purchased.
Got a few updates, first of all the weather has been bad here so I haven't been shooting that much. But I had a manners stock w steel bedding so I changed stocks! The results are incredible, w 52 smks and 26 ish of varget I have groups in the rubber stock where rounds would rarely touch. In my manners stock I have 5 shot groups in the mid .500, remember the chamber is very crooked. So I'm am getting ready to run 5 5 shot groups consecutive with the 52smk when the weather breaks. Also didn't plan on a rebarrel any time soon but my smith called and got his hands on a kreiger 8 twist mtu so I think that might be in the works. So what u can take from this thread is : I don't believe a crooked chamber affects accuracy. But I'm gonna put several 5 shot groups together and you can compAre to your factory rifle results or use elfsters 100yrd bolt gun shoot out for comparison.
Any updates on your sub-MOA turd?
I couldn't get the 69smk's to shoot in my 20" 1:9. I also tried a bunch of various factory ammo… and a bunch of hand loads with other ~69g -77g bullets...no joy… Then I stumbled onto a fantastic load when I tried some 73g bergers! OH MAN! Completely transformed the gun. Now I LOVE shooting that thing! The bergers are well worth the price IMO. I'm using 24.5g of RL-15 for ~ 2800fps
You know what would be great?
If the folks that post to complain about how the rifle/scope/stock that they just bought doesn't look perfect would stop posting.
Think about what you're going to buy, inspect it, shoot it a lot then post with a real complaint.
Seriously, you bought a rifle and took it to a gunsmith to find things to nitpick about on an internet message board before taking it to the range then find out it shoots and still feel perfectly comfortable talking about it with your foot firmly in your mouth?
If the folks that post to complain about how the rifle/scope/stock that they just bought doesn't look perfect would stop posting.
Think about what you're going to buy, inspect it, shoot it a lot then post with a real complaint.
Seriously, you bought a rifle and took it to a gunsmith to find things to nitpick about on an internet message board before taking it to the range then find out it shoots and still feel perfectly comfortable talking about it with your foot firmly in your mouth?
If I were being a smart ass I would've brought up your spelling and proofreading.
I'm happy that you bought a factory rifle and are shooting it well.
It's very disappointing when you buy something new and it doesn't work as advertised.
My point was that you you went about the whole thing backwards.
"edit Now that's some hilarious irony^"
I'm happy that you bought a factory rifle and are shooting it well.
It's very disappointing when you buy something new and it doesn't work as advertised.
My point was that you you went about the whole thing backwards.
"edit Now that's some hilarious irony^"
I recently purchased a new 700 SPS Varmint chambered in .223. Only mod was I put it in a Bobby Hart laminated stock. Sighted this rifle in @ 100yds. I have Leupold 4.5-14x50 LR/T MILDOT Reticle glass. With factory UMC 55 gr bullets (from Y2K) I consistently had 1" groupings at 300 yds off the bench. I'm not complaining. I just saw that this rifle has been recalled for the trigger assembly. So instead of shipping it back, I am gonna' put Timney triggers in this and my .308 Police. I guess it is hit or miss with the 700's as far as quality control. My .308 Police has never left me unhappy with its performance. It is bone stock with Leupold 8.5-25x50 LR/T MILDOT Reticle glass. I've had it out to 500 yards pretty regularly and I am able to consistently hit IDPA style steel targets at that distance.
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