A while back I bought a Remington 700 Varmint, built back in 1990, and chambered in 7-08. Back then, the Varmints had a great gloss blue, and came with a nice stock, if you were into high shine, with the ebony forend tip and grip cap.

Once I got this home, I could see that it had been shot very very little. Bluing still on the lugs, no wear on the bolt, and virtually no build up of carbon ahead of the case mouth. I bet there wasn't but a box or two down the bore. Plus the overall bluing was as close to 100% as you could get in a "used" gun. Just a couple of scratches on the BDL floorplate was the only blemish I could find.

This one got the stock replaced with a newer 1st generation 700 varmint stock (H-S Precision), with the aluminum bedding block. I decided to not bed it and see what it'd do first.

I happened to have an extra Nightforce with rings, and 20 MOA base laying around, so I got them mounted up, sat back and waited for the snow to get gone.

Looks good! Run it through the paces and report back.

Had the same rifle in 308 and it kept paces with a GAP in 308 I had at the time , my guess is it will run. Never bedded mine either as it turned out there was no need. Started a thread on snipers hide about it asking if a custom was worth the time and money...pissed a lot of guys off on there.

Looks like another fine rifle aalf. Gonna make someone a fine shooting rig in a month or so....grin

Now, now. Let's not get that notion started!

WTF else would I do with my sanity if I didn't think about barrel contours, rifle balance, minute changes in powder amount or seating depth, etc. etc. etc... Little kids are terrific, but I need a mental break pretty often!

Betcha less......

Nice , even with the extra NF you just happen to have !

Where is the complimentary coat of tan Krylon?

So you built that rifle for Kurt Cobane??

I sold the gun out from under it, and can't bring myself to move it.

It's nice to have a slave scope for grunge work.....

Just Rem-Oil on this one....

Courtney....duh....

My bust!!

So finally a couple of days ago the snow melted off enough to get into my one spot. It was almost 50, the sun was out, and the mirage was terrible. I ran the target out to 200, and on the first test with H-414 and 162 Amaxes, I couldn't even spot the bullet holes if they were in the red ring, even with the Swarovski spotter. The wind was a little switchy, mostly head on, with the mirage running a 100 mph. I got great velocity with the 414, but the groups kinda sucked, not sure if from the conditions or the powder. I didn't bother with a pic, although 3 out of 4 were under 2", with the worst being a "proof" load.

By the time I marked and charged out the first target, and walked back, the cloud cover moved in, and I could even see the rings on the target now through the scope....whoo hoo!

Next up was with R-15 with the 162's.....





With the conditions holding, next and last up was with Varget and the 162's.

On the 40 grain load, I saw the first shot way the hell right and wondered WTF happened, when I realized I held on the wrong bull...oops.




Next test is a shoot-off betwext Varget and R-15...at distance....

You gonna try the H414 load again with better conditions or are you canning that one?

Either way it is looking good so far,. 41 of varget might be it.

Pretty cool. I have a 7mm-08 Montana, with a barrel that seems fussy. Think I may try fire lapping it before I replace it, though.

Hey alf just curious but do you ever jump up in .5 gr increments when developing a load or do you think 1 gr at a time is sufficient without missing anything. Appreciate your thoughts.

Probably not at this point.



That and the 40 grains of R-15 are going to battle it out.....

Generally not in the medium sized cases like this. Seems to be a big waste of time and components. 223 size I do half grain splits, and the big stuff I'll go two at a time. I remember reading an article where a guy was loading for a 300/378 Weatherby and going 3 tenths at a time......

It sure make life easier when the extreme spreads and small groups meet on the same target. This one showed it with the last two powders.

The funny thing about this, is the groups were shot with some old brass from another long gone 7-08 made from an eclectic bunch of old 308 brass neck down and turned. Some R-P, some W-W, some W-W Super, and a few Norma cases, and none were sorted by headstamp for the groups. And to top things off, the primers were all punch out from other brass that I sold in the past.

Wonder what she'd do with some detailed Lapua and "new" primers?

Punched out primers are my favorite

Nice little rig Al! Hard to not love sub 1/2 Minute from a factory rifle...

Hmm learning over here thanks, I should have included this in my last post but where did you / do you start your bullet regarding seating depth when testing like this .. kissing lands?

Them be 200 yard groups.....

Yeah... Way sub 1/2 Minute.

Never kiss...seat the damn things in there, as long as the don't push the bullet back in, and/or stick in the lands, which is quite dependent on neck tension. After that, there's only one way to go.

Great shooting!......this really was a surprise...lol.

Think I need to get around to molying my 162's.

roger that thanks

Thanks...I'm getting a hankering to give 'em a go in my "good" 7-08.......

Aalf:
If you do not get the sort of accuracy you expect with "the damn rhings in there" in what kind of increments to you seat them back?
Thanks!
BBerg

Another dud sux rifle and boring results. Can't believe it made it through the test w/o an AD or losing the handle, who'd of thunk it.

Depends on several things, but most generally, if they don't shoot at a square mark, I'll go back to 10 thou off and seat back ten thou increments from there.

Most always for a plinker I shoot 'em in the lands and call it a day....

Ain't that the truth.....still time though....

Finally got a chance to run it out a bit and test R-15 vs Varget, so I got going at 6:30 to try and beat the conditions. Epic failure, as the wind never did lay down that night.

So if you like to shoot in different winds, today was the day.

Who's the idiot that claims wind at the bench doesn't matter?

600 yard pics:







300 and 400 yard targets:



Back to 500 yards:



Interestingly, when I switch powders, I'd shoot a couple to foul the bore with the "new" powder, then shoot the group. On the Varget load, I aimed at the bottom of the target and first one went center, next one left, then I went for the group and they started at the far left and came back to the middle, all with a center hold.


Back to 600:



The first Varget load, I lost one high left, but on the 2nd group, the wind switched a bit back to center, and shot a decent group, centered up.

On the R-15 load, the 1st shot went almost dead center, then the wind moved to a right/left quarter, and the 2nd shot went way left, so I held right, and further right for the next two, then held back to center for the last one, center hole at 6 o'clock. Not bad considering the conditions.

There doesn't seem to be a stand-out winner yet, but looks like I could do either and live happily ever after.

Next I want to go to 1000-1200, but at this point, I'm going to need an ark to get to my LR spot.

Thanks for the f/u.

Neat write up. How far are you running the bullets off the lands? Maybe you addressed this already?

I'm running them in the lands, at about a square mark.