Heavy barrel 700 BDL Varmint in 7-08. Could not resist this one.

Treat yourself to some Lapua brass and a top end seating die.

Cool rilfe. I am jealous.

I am loading for a 7-08 now but not using Lapua brass. That's going to change.

Nice, good idea to get it, I would have a hard time passing one up. What is the serial # prefix? Guessing C?

Love it! Old school and beautiful.

Yes, C. I didn't get the year code on the barrel. Forgot to ask. Guessing 1985 or 86.

I found one online at Cabelas several years ago. Someone had replaced the walnut stock with a H-S Precision.

Too bad Imageshack pulled the same schitt as Photobucket, all the pics are dead now.....

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7629839/7_08_Nirvana#Post7629839

I'm kicking myself again over the one I passed on a while back.

Big Green had a short run, about ten years ago, of the SPS Varmint in 7-08. I picked up a new barreled action from a guy online, and stuck in in a VLS stock I had.

Ended up peddling it at a gun show without ever shooting it.

Nice find... My dad had one in the 90s. It shot TINY little groups. I bet that one will, too.

The ones I encountered had tan laminated stocks. This was back in the 1990s

I have it’s sister and it does shoot very well.
Enjoy it!
Rick

EXCELLENT RIFLE........ i have one in 222rem, 22-250, 6mm rem and 25-06..... all are shooters and gret rifles enjoy and good find, that 7-08 will be a fine shooter!!!

These have always been one of my favorites. I currently have a .222, .223, couple 22-250s and a 308. With one exception, at one time or another I've had them all including the somewhat rare 220 Swift. The one exception is the 7-08.
BTW, the correct model designation for these is 700 BDL Varmint Special.

Dennis.

Has anyone that owned these varmint specials do any bedding work to them? Maybe just the recoil lug? I really want to keep the factory stock on the rifle. Of course I will shoot it first and see what it can do.

I would like suggestions for a scope. My range goes out to 550 so high magnification above 15x is not needed. I may use this occasionally in a bean field for coyote and deer. The mounts that are on it will be replaced first thing.

Good snag, doubt you will regret it.

I usually bed the recoil lug and chamber area and free float the rest of the barrel. For heavy barreled 700s this has always worked for me.

VLS

Nice find.

Uncle has a 243 and a coyote hunting bud has one in 6mm.

All of these that I have been around over the years were shooters.

Nice rifle.

Well, now that hunting season is over, I put an older Zeiss Conquest on the Varmint Special. Shot 120 gr NBT's over 45 grs of Varget.

What a pleasure it is to shoot! Low recoil. The muzzle stays down and the rifle comes back softly.

Without any load tweaking, it shoots 3/4 MOA consistently. I have to shoot it again out to 550 yards at the range. Can't wait.

Same bullet in Lapua brass with 48.5/49.0 gr. of Big Game.

What velocity are you getting? I averaged 3037 fps with that 24" barrel.

Have a 20" barrel 7-08 that gets 2990 fps. The extra 4" did not put out much more speed.

Save for the 300 Win Mag there are few rifles I own that don't run Lapua brass. That's not an accident. Looks like a sweet rifle.

120 NBT, 51.5 grains Big Game (1/2 grain under max, work up) with a WLRM got me 3126 fps out of a 22 7/16” Tikka.



P

Congrats... I have a later VLS in 260 Rem, first year production...
and a barrel that was taken off of one...in 260... that was getting rebarreled to 6 BR...
the take off barrel was never shot, because the rifle was bought real cheap..
it had been on a shelf 3 or 4 years collecting dust, because no one bought it..

guess they are an acquired taste if not in a traditional varmint caliber...

myself, I love em!

Sakoluvr,
3143 to 3190 fps. The barrel is 22” and the 48.5 load seems to be a little bit more accurate than the faster 49.0 gr. load. Don’t take me wrong, I love Varget. As a matter of fact, it is my go to in my 6.5 Creedmoor and in my 308 Winchester. It is just that I get better results in 7mm-08 with Big Game.