.243 Remington sps accuracy?

[Khoffer2525]

Hi I'm new to the forum. The question I have is what kinda accuracy can I ask for out of a new Remington varmint sps in..243? I have had the trigger done to 2.5 pounds but thats it. I'm shooting bergers 95gr vld's and Berger 105 gr vld. Best group with the 95's is about .6 and the 105's .7-.8. Can I expect better then this out of this gun? From what I have been reading getting sub .5 moa especially from these bullets is hard to do out of this gun. Is it possible or am I asking too much from this gun? Any help would be appritiated thanks.

 

[Minesweeper3433]

For a factory barrel you are doing pretty good. I have gotten smaller in SPS barrels before but it is a crap shoot some do some don't. Never gotten smaller than .35 or so and that was a really nice looking 308 barrel.

 

[Khoffer2525]

Thx for the reply. I've only tried a few different powders. First was H1000 which did well basically I'd get 2 shots in the same hole and then one flyer. Then I tried H414 which seams to work well so far don't have the same hole punched but also don't have any flyers and groups are smaller. Would be nice to get rid of that flyer.

 

[.260 james]

I have a remington factory barrel that was a new take off and it shoots about .6" with the berger 95 gr vlds as well. It is a short barrel, after recrowning and fitting to my receiver its about 21.5" but it does alright for the use i have for it. it will be my crawling and stalking gun for antelope and a blaster of coyotes and p-d's . The bergers and 55 gr. nosler varmagedons are the only thing I have been shooting out of it with decent accuracy. It fouls pretty bad though. The 55s at a speed of 3750 seem to really crude up the barrel fast. But I have shot it hot 'cold, clean and dirty and it keeps a good hunting level of accuracy. Hey for $35.00 from a local gunsmith it will be fine for a hunter.

 

[stebbins243]

Try the reloader 17. It helped and seemed to be more stable than h414. Also make sure the bullets arent to long for the twist rate you have. Mine seemed to like the 85 gr bergers the most folowed by the 87 v-max and 85 gr sierra hpbt. You may have too much bullet for the twist in that barrel. I know i did when i played with the heavy gr bullets. My groups tightened up when my grns went down.

 

[bheadboy]

i would make sure the bbl is free floated, that seems to help more than anything, if it touches clear it up

Bob

 

[fredhorace77]

A friend of mine is a long time benchrest shooter and gunsmith. He always told me a good rule of thumb is a varmint type gun should shoot .75 or better and a hunting type rifle should shoot 1.5" or better. And these groups being 5 shot groups at 100yrds. Anything better than this is a plus for the gun.

IMO your gun is doing par especially for the plastic stock that comes on the sps remingtons

 

[K22]

In my experience you cannot make a blanket statement about factory rifle accuracy. You could get a tack driver or a lemon. It's somewhat the luck of the drawn.

However, I've been able to acheive sub .5 moa accuracy on a number of my Rem Model 700's with a few minor adjustment.

First thing I did was free float the barrel. Have not seen a 700 yet that didn't shoot better by removing those pressure points at the front of those plastic stocks.

For the 243 I've found that IMR 4350 works in all my 243's (three) with 80 grain and heavier bullets. My favorite bullets are the 85 Sierra BTHP and the Nosler 90 BT. These are very accurate bullets in my rifles.

Another relatively inexpensive thing you can do is have the action bedded. This can make a huge difference in accuracy or replace the stock with a McMillian or Bell and Carlson stock that has the bedding block in it.

Incidently, the most accurate rifle I've ever own is a Remington 700 Varmint 223 with the factory stock which has the aluminum bedding block which free floats the barrel. This rifle with tailored reload shoots in the 1/4 moa range. Other than adjusting the trigger to 2.5 lbs, nothing else was done to this factory rifle.

This is not a isolated case in my experience, some of shooting buddies have 700's that shoot in .5 moa range again with tailor reloads and free floated barrels.

 

[Khoffer2525]

Thanks for the replys. I have a Mcmillion A5 on the way, should be here in a week and a shilen trigger but can't find a left handed safety for it. The groups I'm shooting are 3 shot groups, shot one today at .39 with the 105 behind 38.5gr of h414 and a 6 shot group at 300 at 2.2 in a 20 mph crosswind, which I was happy with. When doing group size are you supposed to shot 3 or 5 shot groups? I have a load with a 75gr amax that is about .5 all day at a 100 but the reason I went with the Remington is because I wanted to shot the bigger bullets and a longer barrel. I also have a tikka in .243 and anything between 55-85gr was pretty much .5 or better but it has a 1-10 twist and only a 22" barrel and is a pain to customize. I think once I get the new stock and trigger on it will hopefully tighten up some.

 

[fredhorace77]

In my experience you cannot make a blanket statement about factory rifle accuracy. You could get a tack driver or a lemon. It's somewhat the luck of the drawn.

However, I've been able to acheive sub .5 moa accuracy on a number of my Rem Model 700's with a few minor adjustment.

First thing I did was free float the barrel. Have not seen a 700 yet that didn't shoot better by removing those pressure points at the front of those plastic stocks.

For the 243 I've found that IMR 4350 works in all my 243's (three) with 80 grain and heavier bullets. My favorite bullets are the 85 Sierra BTHP and the Nosler 90 BT. These are very accurate bullets in my rifles.

Another relatively inexpensive thing you can do is have the action bedded. This can make a huge difference in accuracy or replace the stock with a McMillian or Bell and Carlson stock that has the bedding block in it.

Incidently, the most accurate rifle I've ever own is a Remington 700 Varmint 223 with the factory stock which has the aluminum bedding block which free floats the barrel. This rifle with tailored reload shoots in the 1/4 moa range. Other than adjusting the trigger to 2.5 lbs, nothing else was done to this factory rifle.

This is not a isolated case in my experience, some of shooting buddies have 700's that shoot in .5 moa range again with tailor reloads and free floated barrels.

what i mean thru my previous statement was that he uses this rule of thumb for factory rifles he test..i guess i should have mentioned that he is also a writter for precision shooting magazine and anytime a company sends him a rifle to test and do a story on he notes if the rifle will shoot this rule without any modifications done to it...simply just as it came from the factory. I guess when you test guns you have to have some type of blanket statement like this because not all shooters are going to or are able to make the type of modifications that you listed.

 

[fredhorace77]

Thanks for the replys. I have a Mcmillion A5 on the way, should be here in a week and a shilen trigger but can't find a left handed safety for it. The groups I'm shooting are 3 shot groups, shot one today at .39 with the 105 behind 38.5gr of h414 and a 6 shot group at 300 at 2.2 in a 20 mph crosswind, which I was happy with. When doing group size are you supposed to shot 3 or 5 shot groups? I have a load with a 75gr amax that is about .5 all day at a 100 but the reason I went with the Remington is because I wanted to shot the bigger bullets and a longer barrel. I also have a tikka in .243 and anything between 55-85gr was pretty much .5 or better but it has a 1-10 twist and only a 22" barrel and is a pain to customize. I think once I get the new stock and trigger on it will hopefully tighten up some.

three shot groups are fine...five shot groups are fine...i personaly shoot 3 shot groups in my hunting rifles and 5 shot groups in my varmint rigs. its all personal prefernce though

 

[jonbearman]

I hope you have the correct twist rate to support the heavier bullets. I use the 75 grain vmax and 87 grain bthp. I never run the heavie's.

 

[roninflag]

Khoffer- don't know what you are shooting at but- 87 and 88 berger, 85 to 87 horn and 85 grain sierra with I4064 or varget. great in my sakos and remingtons.

 

[Khoffer2525]

I'm trying to develop a load I can shoot deer out to 4-500 yards and long range coyote hunting. And possibly some long range target stuff 6-800 yards. It's pretty windy here most of the time and the bigger bullets are better in the wind and have enough energy to kill deer at 4-500 yards which is why I'd like to use them. I've found 2 loads for both the 95 and 105 bergers that are .4 at a 100 yards. Gotta see how they do at longer ranges.