Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 700 VSSF Issues - anyone else?

Bought a new 700 VSSF in 204 a year ago - promptly injured my hand and couldn't do any shooting. Started to wring it out this winter and . . . 4.5" group with 32 gr factory loads and 1.1" with 40 gr factory loads. Fired cases are concentric. I know I have to do a check on stock bedding (should be good - bedding block) and assure optics are good. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a problem like this, and how I go about sending the thing back to Remington if I can't find/fix it. Anyone send one back? Results??

I have the 700 VSSF in 22-250 in what I call version 1 that I bought a long time ago when they first came out.

I have had no problems and this one just happens to be one of my most accurate rifles. Many buddies that I've shot stuff with will comment on how accurate it is.

Sorry to hear that you are struggling with yours. With the reputation these rifles have, if it doesn't come around a trip back to Remington would seem to be called for. We buy this type of rifle to shoot those little tiny groups.

Granted the 4.5" sucks but what's wrong with 1.1" with factory ammo? No secret the rifle will prefer some loads over others...

A stock rifle shooting MOA with factory fodder is a keeper in my book and can almost always be made more accurate with some load development. Just thinkin out loud! Best of luck.

Shorter bullets with the wrong powder can produce horrible groups in an otherwise accurate rifle. That's been my experience with a .243, .308 and 350 rem mag.

I'd suggest avoiding the lighter bullet loads. While I understand the frustration with shooting groups that large, I've had factory ammo and hand loads do just that in the above mentioned rifles. And I've shot sub moa with the same rifles when I found the combo the gun liked, mostly handloads but also with some factory loads.

Depends on where the throat is. I have a Ruger M77 T that is at the gunsmith for the second time. It would absolutely not shoot factory ammo (the first year) and wasn't predictable with handloads.
Throat was way long, chamber way fat. Sent it back, with targets, Ruger replaced the barrel. A little better but not much, same issues.
Had it cut back and a smaller neck, shorter throat, but did not ask to have the chamber shrunk, too. Both the smith and I thought it would be fine. Nope.
So -- got the reamers on order, a minimum, no throat and a separate throater. We'll see. But the SAAMI dimensions make no sense to me. Wasting a lot of potential.

Update:
Decided to give the rifle a fair shake. Carefully went through a barrel break-in of sorts, shooting groups and cleaning thoroughly after every group. Discovered the fiberglass was high behind the tang, and there was no bearing on the bedding block at the rear action screw. I wrapped some fine sandpaper around a 1-3/8" dowel and corrected that. I also noticed the front action screw on had about two threads engaging. I checked the scope base, changed the rings and tried a different scope. The best load was Remington 32gr. Factory loads averaging 2" at a hundred yards. Finally I called Remington, the nice lady sent me an e-mail authorizing factory service for, 1) trigger recall, and 2) point of impact.
I took the rifle to Williams Gunsight in Davison, Michigan with my paperwork where the gunsmith told me . . . "2" groups are within Reminton spec" and he could do nothing with the rifle. I left in shock, pretty sure the "V" stands for Varmint . . . 2" is simply not acceptable for a $1200 varmint rifle. Still trying to cool off enough to figure out what to do . . .

my remingotn 700 vssf 22-250 has never shot a group over an inch with any load. my go to load is .5".

I had a 22-250 in the VSSF-II that I couldn't get to shoot better than 3/4" so I sold it. I could have done a bunch of stuff to help accuracy but I just wanted something else. Got a buddy with the first version in .223 that bugholes with Winchester Whitebox. Tiny, tiny groups and a blister pack scope. About makes a guy sick.

Just severely disappointed. Lotsa Remington's in my safe. Always had good experiences. Never bought an M700 that wouldn't shoot under an inch. I saved a long time and had very high expectations. I guess I expected the factory to stand behind their product, especially one that's supposed to represent the high end.

Had a Sendero 300 Rum that shot a 4" pattern. After going through all the steps I sent it back. They did rebarrel it, but it still shot about 3". Had a custom built out of it after that. Problem solved...

I'm loathe to spend another $350 on a $1200 rifle just to get it to shoot. I would have just bought a Cooper.

I have been thru this crap with Remington and will never buy another one of their rifles without a custom barrel.

Mine needed the following

New trigger
new crown on the barrel
recoil lug was not centered
firing pin had slow fire a couple times in each 25 rounds fired, replaced.

Cases came out of the chamber like bananas.

New barrel, shoots consistently under 1/2"

Factory gun a tragic mistake by Remington as it was garbage.

I've already learned that lesson. If I do buy another Remington 700, it'll be through Red Hawk Rifles; might have the same factory barrel, but at least one gets a semi-trued action, a decent aftermarket stock, an installed Timney trigger option (100 bucks more), and at least a semblance of an accuracy guarantee. Around a grand.

I'd like to write to Remington and give them a chance to fix it. Obviously going through the call center and to the factory service center is not going to work. Anyone know who I should write to?

If you want half inch guarantee @ 100 for 3 shots with match ammo, buy a Cooper. If you cant exceed that by half consistently, then its not the rifle. BTDT X 3

I had the exact same experience with a Remington VSSF II .204 Ruger a few years ago. I was so disgusted with Remington that I sold the gun for parts. I got the same story as yours from their customer service folks. The Remington certified gunsmiths in Des Moines shot the gun, confirmed it shot as I said, then proceeded to tell me it was "good enough" and that I should learn to shoot better. I was positively livid.
The best mine would shoot at 100 yards was 2" including factory and handloads. It shot 39 and 40 grainers sideways through the target. The prettiest key-holes you can envision.
Sadly I sold an original VSSF in .223 that shot sub 1/2" handloads all day long years earlier.
After parting out the Remington I bought a Cooper. Funny they don't tell you they shoot that amazing little target at 33 yards in a tunnel with a 36X scope. At least that's what they told me when I inquired and asked what the powder charge was on their test load. It did shoot a couple groups right at 1/2" but 5/8" was the norm. It got sold.
I now have a custom Kreiger-Stiller-McMillan-Jewell-Nightforce contraption. I went 1/10 on the twist and used a match (short leade) reamer. It drills one hole 5 shot groups with boring regularity. It's more fun when it's hard to miss :-).

So -- not everyone loves that SAAMI 204 throat. I knew I wasn't nuts.

I thought I would throw my $0.02 in the ring. After tinkering with rifles for 40 years I would place my bets on two things. 1. Bedding 2. Muzzle crown.

Especially #1 after what you have mentioned in your posts. Remington 700's are very easy to pillar bed with the kits that are out there now. Do it yourself or have someone do it. Then shoot the rifle. If still no go, then have the muzzle crowned.

If not those two things, then it must be a bad chamber which is highly unlikely and would be visible and would be covered by warranty.

all the best, dxr

No sir you aren't nuts.
See a lot of factory 204 fat barrels on the used market.

Hawk R,
I can consistently put 3 shots into .25 @ 100 with 3 different Coopers.
Sorry your 204 was a bummer. Seems the norm.

Me too, actually the Cooper was a .223. I love the looks of the Phoenix. I suppose I could have spent more time looking for the magic recipe but it honestly never gave me the impression it was going to do 3/8" consistently with any combination. I'd still love to have one if I knew it was going to shoot sub half regularly.

Also had a sendero in 300rum. Was not headspaced corectly. Remington sent me a new gun.

Swifty,
If I bother with a 20, it will likely be a custom-throated Tactical. I like having a neck, and a throat that can be chased for at least a little while.
My "problem child" WANTED to shoot, but the stacking of issues like a big chamber and a long throat plus "new" brass with lots of production bugs, took off the shine in a hurry. Sorted, fired brass, it would shoot. Virgin brass, all over tarnation.

Got a pair of them in 223, after 3600 rounds through 1 and 3100 through the other, and 1 in a Swift on its 2nd tube, still all of them will put 3 in half the guarantee.
Accurate buggers. Typical 3 shot groups, 5 opens up a bit due to the driver.





Understand and agree completely. 4000 fps + is a bummer. Chased the velocity demon once or twice and it cost me.
Damn fun though. No matter what you do its going to erode the throat quick if you shoot it much.

Approach the problem analytically, and accost the usual suspects.

1. Is Scope known and reliable? Parallax free at 100 yds?
2. Make sure rings and bases are tight, but not binding.
3. Check crown with 10x and Q-tip for burrs.
4. Pull bolt and check rear lug surface to make sure you have engagement on both lugs.
5. Stand rifle vertically on the butt. Loosen both screws, and allow recoil lug to engage bedding block. Tighten front screw firmly, but not to full spec. Grasp barrel and stock lightly at the forend near the stud with one hand and tighten rear screw firmly. If you felt barrel movement, you have a bedding issue. If not, tighten both screws to full spec. Make sure front screw is not too long and contacting the bolt.
6. Check to see of barrel is free floated.
7. Drop the trap door on the BDL floorplate and see if mag box moves freely. If not, you may have a bedding issue. Disassemble, remove mag box, and reassemble as described in #5.
8. While floor plate is dropped, cycle bolt to make sure it is not binding. If bolt will not drop freely rearward when rifle is vertical (Barrel pointing to ceiling) you have stress on the action.
9. Check head space and free bore.
10. Shoot and report back.

Am pretty sure Mike Walker passed away. He was the last "real" man at Remington.
Maybe the zillion-dollar-a-year CEO of whatever international corporation Remington is part of this month would be willing to help?

IMO , it is not the 204 chamber that is the culprit , but in this instance a crappy job by Remington putting the rifle together

I see many , many fat barrel 223 on the used market too, hell plenty of 22/250 as well....doesn't have a thing to do whether they shoot or not


I only have 3 factory 204 myself , all shoot sub MOA with ease

Yep, I do too. Problem with most factory rifles is that they hardly ever send out a rifle with a minimum spec chamber and throat. And that is a big problem for accuracy.
Plus the fact that most folks also want to send the rounds down range with balls to the wall speed (the main reason I wont even think about buying a used 22.250, Swift, or any other ultra velocity rifle.) which sometimes is not the most conducive to best accuracy.

Another reason that a lot of them get put on the used market is because people look for instant gratification and expect a rifle to shoot .5 - .25 groups without having to work at it just because its a fat barrel and supposedly has inherent accuracy.

Their bench techniques suck, they use a cheap ass rest, sand bags that move all the time or a gawd awful lead sled. They put a round down range every 15 seconds, don't look at the wind, send fliers out 3 inches and say that its the rifle even though the wind jumped 10 - 15 MPH right when they pulled the trigger.

I figure its probably about 40% rifle 60% shooter that causes all the problems. If the driver sucks, then even a 3000.00 rifle will probably suck too. YMMV

Another culprit is poor thread fit of barrel to action, as in max spec threads in the action and min spec threads on the barrel tenon.

Have you ever seen a barrel being removed from an action where as soon as it's broken loose the action flops around on the end of the barrel even though the threads remain nearly fully engaged?

Yup, seen even worse than that.
Had a guy that used to show up at the range in a big van, every once in awhile he would get in the back of the van with a rifle. Being the curious and down right nosey old coot that I am, I went down on about the 3rd such occurrence.

Seems he had a barrel vise and action wrench in the back, so being nosey I ask what's up. Well the guy says I re-barreled this thing, but I ordered the wrong threads. OK says I.
Next thing he says is It shoots pretty good till the barrel loosens up, then I just get in here tighten it back down and its good to go.
Think I should just order the correct barrel.
I left.

I have a VSSF II in 22-250 that I turned into a switch barrel, with a 22-250AI barrel and the original, my only beef with the rifle is the bolt face, the firing pin hole has a bevel on it, which causes primers to crater, which results in hard bolt lift on every round fired.
Groups are very very good, so I can't complain about that.
Sorry to hear your woes with your rifle.

Cheers.

Have the firing pin bushed. Should clear up the bolt face issue.

Ive a new varmint SF in 223 that I ordered last month.
Its plenty accurate for me at 100yds with factory ammo.
Its got the 1/12 twist and loves the Fiocchi 50 and Hornady
55 grn Vmaxs.. Under .40" box stock before and after
I put a HS precision stock on it ( non bedded). They still
Make some good rifles but sorry to hear yours is not
Working out.

Further Update:
Took the rifle to Dick Williams in Saginaw, the other Remington factory service center. Since the first shop took no interest whatsoever, I still had the paperwork. Was waited on at the counter by a gunsmith. When I told him what I was experiencing, he listened and agreed that the rifle would shoot better. It just came back a couple of days ago . . . Loaded up some of the popular 39 gr Sierras and proceeded to shoot a 1/2" group. You bet I'm pleased!
What did they do? Exactly as Drx-ring above suggested . . . Cut a new 11 degree crown. The receipt also says "bedded recoil lug". This is a rifle with a factory aluminum bedding block, but recall that when I got it, the rear screw had no bearing on the block because the fiberglass behind it was too high. He bedded th lug, leaving the bottom of it free. He also relieved and bedded the first 1-1/2" of the barrel. I'm so pleased that it shoots the way you'd expect when you spend almost a thousand dollars on a varmint rifle.
I can't say enough good about Dick Williams' shop. You can bet you know where I'll send anyone who asks in the future!!

Bedding, crowning, and a trigger tune are always worth a shot. Glad it worked out!

It is heartening to know that there are some guys out there who still take some pride in their work. Cool that it ended up being a shooter! There are a lot of little things that annoy me with the way Remingtons are put together, but I've not ever had a bad experience with one. Quite the contrary. My dad loved the VSSF platform, and owned a few of them over the years. They just LOOK accurate.

So glad to hear it worked out!

Post-script on this story . . .
last summer I went to a 'turkey shoot' party a local hunting camp was having. One of the events was a 300 - yard shot. $10.00, cold barrel, sit down and send ONE shot downrange. (of course I sighted in at 300 and practiced a little . . . )
I wish I knew how to post a photo - bullseye was a little black dot of 1/4 inch. I missed it by about a 1/4 inch. Needless to say, I won the pot!!
39 gr. Blitz King ahead of Reloder 10x

Chuckh 02: Thanks for the update and congrats on winning the Turkey Shoot!
I have a BUNCH of Remington (and other brands!) Rifles in caliber 204 Ruger and they ALL shoot VERY well - at least!
To keep things simple, some time back, I switched ALL my heavy barrel 204 Ruger Rifles over to the Sierra 32 grain Blitz-King bullets.
All of my 204's shot the 35 grain Bergers the best but the 32 grain Blitz-Kings were very nearly as accurate and MUCH easier to come by.
I checked my loading log book for all 8 of my 204's and I just never tried the 39 grain bullets.
Maybe I will give them a try this spring?
Again good for you on the great shot there at 300 yards.
Long live the 204 Ruger.
Out of morbid and overbearing curiosity did the "pot" you won pay for that Remington?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I like the VSSF well enough that I have bought 3 used ones over the years. I had the intentions to rebarrel them but 2 of them shot very well. I didn't even shoot the 3rd one before I rebarreled it. I paid $600 for each of them. Two of them have had the firing pins bushed and the third one with another Remington will be sent off soon. I used fluted Krieger barrels and they nearly look like factory rifles. They are chambered 22-250AI, 243 and 6.5-284. They all shoot between 1/4 and 1/2 inches consistently.

I never had a 204 but my Son has a 700, not a VSSF, in 204 that shoots great. If I was you I would take the check list that Grand posted and work through it. Good Luck

Glad to hear that Chuckh !!!
Just read the whole story from way back….understand your agony and happiness when you find someone who is truly professional.

I’ve had a few and loaded for a few other VSSF’s. A couple 223 and a couple 22-250. They were all sub .5” five shot group rifles with preferred loads. I never bedded them or did anything to them other than adjust the triggers to an acceptable level. I did have a very early 700 VLS with the narrow fore stock that shot poorly. Probably averaged 1.5” groups at 100. I called Remington and they had me send it back. It came back with a letter saying the original barrel was out of spec ( whatever that means) and a new barrel installed. Of course they “detuned” my nice trigger work but after that it was a very accurate rifle and shot as well as any other bull barrel factory rifle I’ve ever been around.

I’d call Remington back and tell them you’re sending it back…. If that’s possible.