HandgunHTR
Gold $$ Contributor
A while back I picked up a used Remington 700 BDL Varmint in .223 at Cabela's for a song. I pulled the barrel off with some help from a member here and sent the action and bolt off to LRI for some work. My intention was to put a Remage barrel on it. I was orginally thinking 6-223, but after some thought and a move to SC, I decided to go with a 7TCU.
I had Ragged Hole build me an 18" #4 contour Remage barrel with spiral flutes and a threaded muzzle. Picked up a PVA barrel nut, a Trigger Tech Primary trigger and a Mesa Precision Altitude stock (glacier color) and put it all together this summer. After a little modification to the mag box to allow for loading longer ammo, I had it cycling well.
I had a Sig Whiskey 5 scope sitting around so I mounted that up.
I loaded up some fireforming loads to get the barrel shot in and it shot very well. My 10" TC barrel really likes the 120 grain Nosler BT over H4198. It worked really well for half-scale IHMSA back when I used to shoot that, and I took a nice 6 point buck in GA with it back in 2009. I loaded up some ladders with H4198 and H322 and found that this particular rifle liked 23.5 grains of H4198 under the 120 grain Nosler BT.
With that load, I am getting right around 2350 fps out of that 18" barrel. Based on that, it makes it a legitimate 200 yard deer round. I am getting right around 6" of drop with a 100 yard zero.
As for performance on game, I had the good fortune to be able to use it on a GA buck and doe last weekend. The doe was at 93 yards and very slightly quartering away. The bullet entered about 4 inches behind the shoulder at about mid body. It exited lower 1/3, right at the back of the shoulder. Bullet performance was excellent with a caliber sized entry and an exit about 2X bullet diameter. The deer ran 35 yards and piled up right at the woodline.
The buck popped out of the woods about 40 yards from the stand and followed the woodline right towards the stand. At 30 yards he made a scrape and then turned out into the field. I was losing light quick so as soon as he turned I put the crosshairs right above his shoulder and squeezed off the shot. The bullet entered right above the on-side shoulder, through the top of the on-side lung, severed the blood vessels coming out the top of the heart, through the bottom of the off-side lung and exited out the bottom of the ribcage on the off-side. He was at 28 yards and quartered hard to me. He jumped at the shot, made three bounds and piled up trying to make the 4th. Total distance traveled was 18 yards. He ended up weighing in at 178 pounds.
Overall, I am very impressed with this set-up. The gun is very light and even with a 7" suppressor, it is very maneuverable in the stand or a blind. Recoil is next to nothing with the suppressor on it.
I am pretty convinced that this is the perfect short range whitetail set up.
I had Ragged Hole build me an 18" #4 contour Remage barrel with spiral flutes and a threaded muzzle. Picked up a PVA barrel nut, a Trigger Tech Primary trigger and a Mesa Precision Altitude stock (glacier color) and put it all together this summer. After a little modification to the mag box to allow for loading longer ammo, I had it cycling well.
I had a Sig Whiskey 5 scope sitting around so I mounted that up.
I loaded up some fireforming loads to get the barrel shot in and it shot very well. My 10" TC barrel really likes the 120 grain Nosler BT over H4198. It worked really well for half-scale IHMSA back when I used to shoot that, and I took a nice 6 point buck in GA with it back in 2009. I loaded up some ladders with H4198 and H322 and found that this particular rifle liked 23.5 grains of H4198 under the 120 grain Nosler BT.
With that load, I am getting right around 2350 fps out of that 18" barrel. Based on that, it makes it a legitimate 200 yard deer round. I am getting right around 6" of drop with a 100 yard zero.
As for performance on game, I had the good fortune to be able to use it on a GA buck and doe last weekend. The doe was at 93 yards and very slightly quartering away. The bullet entered about 4 inches behind the shoulder at about mid body. It exited lower 1/3, right at the back of the shoulder. Bullet performance was excellent with a caliber sized entry and an exit about 2X bullet diameter. The deer ran 35 yards and piled up right at the woodline.
The buck popped out of the woods about 40 yards from the stand and followed the woodline right towards the stand. At 30 yards he made a scrape and then turned out into the field. I was losing light quick so as soon as he turned I put the crosshairs right above his shoulder and squeezed off the shot. The bullet entered right above the on-side shoulder, through the top of the on-side lung, severed the blood vessels coming out the top of the heart, through the bottom of the off-side lung and exited out the bottom of the ribcage on the off-side. He was at 28 yards and quartered hard to me. He jumped at the shot, made three bounds and piled up trying to make the 4th. Total distance traveled was 18 yards. He ended up weighing in at 178 pounds.
Overall, I am very impressed with this set-up. The gun is very light and even with a 7" suppressor, it is very maneuverable in the stand or a blind. Recoil is next to nothing with the suppressor on it.
I am pretty convinced that this is the perfect short range whitetail set up.
