Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Remmy 700 VLS

Folks,
A friend called, told me to try his 700 VLS .22-250 .
He may want to sell it. I’ve never seen one but I read it’s got a 26” barrel.
Is it too heavy or too long to coyote/fox hunt with?
Does anyone on The Fire hunt with one? Are they accurate? It’s got a big Vortex scope on top.
Thanks to all for your help
Semper Fi
Soup

Have a VLS in .223.

Correct on the 26" barrel.

Too heavy to hunt with? At 11# scoped and ready to roll I say yea, it's too heavy for my liking. Would probably cost you coyotes being long and cumbersome. It's a superb range gun or woodchuck/pDog rifle though.


Are they accurate? Mine is probably the most accurate factory rifle I've ever owned.

Ky221,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I picked up the rifle tonight. It’s in “ excellent “ condition as far as I can see. Glass is a Vortex Viper 6.5X20X44 on a Weaver base and I’m not sure whose rings but the rings have 3 Allen screws on each side . Nice trigger. Also gave me 50 rounds loaded with 52 grain Bullets.
Soup

I have the synthetic version in .22-250 and mine also shoots bug holes. Hard to go wrong with one of these!

Original VLS with checkering and black tip or the newer slick version and beavertail forearm?

It has checkering on the pistol grip and no black forend.
Soup

I was looking over the rifle today, it really is in nice shape----but heavy!
For groundhogs it would be really good, but I'm not so sure about coyote hunting.
I thought about having the barrel wacked down to 22" or 20" but I've no Idea what the effect would be on accuracy or actual weight loss.
Also, I don't really walk far, a half mile would be a long walk. We only have about 100 acres to hunt. I've also got a feeling it's going to sell VERY right.

What the hell I'm 73, getting a new hip in October and my hunting partner is only 9 months younger and getting his shoulder replaced so we may not get out until January!!! Punching paper is better than bingo!!!!!
What do ya'll think?
Semper Fi
Soup

I wouldn't cut the barrel down. Seems like it would handle extremely awkward.

Don’t cut the barrel. It’ll still be the heavy Remington Varmint contour. Plus, that laminated stock is fairly heavy. Something with a 20” sporter barrel with a synthetic stock would be much better for coyotes. Get a smaller 3-12x40 scope. You’ll be in the 7# range with a much slicker handling setup.

I've got 5 or 6 different VLS Remingtons, in different calibers. Between those and the Ruger VTs I have, I wouldn't touch anything on them, except I have replaced the stocks on the ones I shoot the most. Some guys may go "uggggh", but I put Hogue Rubber Stocks on like 4 of the rifles, mainly because I can bounce them around, and it doesn't phase them. The rubber stocks don't get scratched up.

Unlike Soup tho, I am able to take them out and do large volume shooting. The targets being Oregon sage rats. Sometimes that has been sending as high at 600 plus rounds down range in an afternoon. Followed by another day of doing the same. That was combination of 223 and 22.250 some days, but most commonly the 223s with volume shooting. And of course for economy and not wearing out the barrel, that involved loads with Blue Dot powder. I've got several with 25 to 30K of rounds down the barrel, and still blowing up these little digger squirrels with an 80 to 90% hit ratio,
out to 250 yds pretty consistently. Don't really shoot further, because I don't need distance bragging rights like prairie dog shooters. I just enjoy myself turning in the red mist factor.

I've shot coyotes with the rifles also. They just showed up at distance to eat squirrel remains.

My "shooting bench" is portable. The Hood of a 4 Runner, with a front mounted spare tire on it, with an old blanket on the hood, and a hunk of plywood, just put on with one end just below the hood, and the other end, resting on the front mounted spare tire.

Loads with Blue Dot have been using 40 gr, 45 gr, 50 gr, 52, 53 and 55 gr bullets of all types, what ever was cheap. Depending upon bullet weights, velocity varies from 14.5 grains of powder and a 40 grain ballistic tip or vmax, at 3350s fps, on the top end.... to a 55 grainer with 12.5 grains of Blue Dot with an MV of 2600 fps... With a pattern of say 3 shots every 2 to three minutes, I've shot 600 rounds in an afternoon, and the Blue Dot loads never heated up the barrel enough to have to wait for it to cool down...

Normally I would set up, with two or three rifles and rotate them every 15 to 20 shots...sometimes just one...the only real reason for 3 rifles, is one is for 100yds and under....another for 150 to 200... and then maybe the 22.250 just for the shots over 200 yds.... in the 22.250, that was usually 50, 53 and 55 grain Ballistic tips or V Maxes, fueled with 18 to 19 grains of Blue Dot.

Life span of the brass in 223? 40 to 50 shots or more...the 22.250? don't know.. didn't shoot them as much... but then I've had plenty of brass that had 30 plus reloads on them, some as high as 40 and 50.... normally put in 20 round batches in zip lock bags with the recordings of the load and bullet and dates loaded on 3 x 5 cards put in snack zip locks, inside a quart zip lock with the loaded ammo.

Never had to rebarrel any of these varmint rifles yet, and they've seen a lot of trigger time. The most fun you can ever have with your clothes on.

Gents,
Tonight I got to wondering if any bedding was done on the rifle. So I removed the action from the stock and don’t you know the action is bedded then the first 4 inches of the barrel channel is glass bedded free floating the barrel. I tried to run a dollar bill under the barrel Friday and it was no sweat !
I’ll try to shoot it tomorrow. I think I need a .22-250 bolt gun .
Semper Fi
Soup

Is there a specific torque weight for 700s ?

45-in lbs for alloy BDL bottom metal.

If only I could find more BlueDot, I haven’t seen any locally for years, and don’t have a lot left.

My suggestion is get a smaller scope i.e less power. Something in the 3-9,3.5-10 or 4-12 range will work better on coyotes. Those choices will still work for groundhogs out to however far you shoot them.

IIRC I had a Leupold 4.5-14 on this Remington 700 .22/250. I killed the bigger dog at around 50-60 yards and the smaller one at 10 yards. I had the scope set on 6x.

Great rifles. I have them in 223, 22-250 and 243. I put a Hogue stock on the 223 because I use it more and it gets bounced around on the 4 wheeler and in the truck. All ive had and shot are extremely accurate.

Dad had one, it was in a Boyd's laminated thumbhole stock. That 22-250 shot well.

Dad shot this target in his early or mid 80's after I helped him with the handload.


He shot a lot of prairie dogs & sage rats with that rifle!

It seemed like a great rifle for sitting in one place and popping burrowing varmints. A bit heavy for a walk-around coyote rifle.

Regards, Guy

Guys,
I'd like to know if anyone uses a VLS for coyote hunting. Some guys don't walk too far and I'm curious if the VLS would work?
Thank you.
Soup

Why wouldn't it?

Slower to swing and have to watch how you set up as to not catch a bunch of stuff with the longer barrel. I carried an original VLS for a few winters as well as a Winchester Heavy Varminter.

Carried a 26" barrel Savage 12FV 22-250 for about 15 years as well.

Oh it will certainly work. I used to drag along my 220 Swift VSS for coyotes if I was expecting to be in an area where there would be longer shots. I once came upon 12 of them eating a dead cow. I emptied the gun on them! I nailed one at 500 yards with it when he made the mistake of stopping and looking back at me. DRT! I finally burned the barrel out of that one.

I’ve shot the version you have in 22-250 on prairie dogs. It kills em real good! Take it out and give it a go!

If you don't mind packing it around it will definitely work. Ive killed several with the ones i have. If i were walking any distance to a stand I'd pick a lighter option though