Currently looking for some insight on how to set up a Remington 700 for punching paper / steel at around 800 yards. Only bolt guns I have experience with are the Springfield 03 and Enfield MkIII, and this was shooting at coffee cans at 100 yards or so in my youth. Other than that, rifle experience revolves around the A2. No issues putting 10 on a “E” target at 500m and typically the spotting discs (6"?) overlapped, although this was quite a few years ago. On going to a bolt gun, initially I was looking at going the SA route for a nice long range weapon but the cost/reward just didn’t seem to pan out. Anyway, enough background.
What I am looking at:
700 SPS Tactical AAC-SD - The 700 is must for me, particular model for the following criteria. It is a .308, I can get decent ammunition. Threaded, I can suppress it if I choose to.
Optics - I think I got a decent handle on this. Initially I was thinking a Schmidt & Bender 3-12 x 50 PMII LP until I realized the dent in the bank. Then looked at a few fixed 10x’s and am currently looking at variables up to around 20x. I got a bit more evaluation to do on this part.
Anyway, the purpose of this rifle will be to get a decent group at 600, this is the limit of the local range. Get some nice hits on a “E” target at 800 and see what I can do 1000, anything beyond the 600 is the occasional Sunday afternoon at the farm, let us call it rifle therapy.
Big holes for me are mounts / rings. I don’t even know what I should be looking at. Other than that I turn to the collective wisdom of this board for any other things I should look at or consider. All insights are welcome.
I too am a AAC SD owner. With the goals you’ve stated I would recommend a 4-16 Vortex PST. They sell for around 850, have excellent customer service and real good reviews on Snipers Hide. As far as a base/rings go… I would recommend any one piece picatinny style base. EGW, Nightforce, Badger Ordinance, Larue all make quality bases. Preferably with 20moa built in. There are ALOT of choices with rings. I use Burris XTR without a single problem.
That should get you started and have a little wiggle room incase you want to go over 1k yards. I’ll eventually replace the stock on mine as many aac owners do
I confirm whats already said, yes to Rem 700. The AAC seems like a good option. I went with a 20 inch 5R that came threaded and HS Precision stock. Added the Timney and my only .02 cents to add is:
Get a shooters pack for the butt stock to lift your head just a little and get perfect cheek weld.
I took my AAC-SD 308 out to the range yesterday and even with the crappy stock, trigger [and shooter] I was getting 1.5-1.75" groups at 200 yards and hitting a 10x12 inch steel plate at 800 yards consistently. Scope was 10x and ammo was American Eagle 150 Grain Boat Tail
I’m pretty sure with a better stock, trigger and practice I will get those groups down to an inch or less.
I’m kind of in the same boat as the OP, except I already have the rilfe(Remington AAC). I bought it a week before I deployed, so needless to say I haven’t settled on any optics or anything at all for it really. Guess I’ll see what happens as I get closer to getting home. Maybe this thread will lead the way for my choices.
I went with EGW base and rings. They are good quality, U.S. made, and they stock them both on SKDtac.com. So far I have been very pleased with them.
I bought the 20 MOA HD base and the low rings which make for a nice, low mount for my Leupold 3.5-10 with enough clearance for the bolt handle. Depending on your scope, you may need higher rings.
I should have mentioned those were only three shot groups and I only started seeing that grouping towards the end of my sight in. I suppose claiming that kind of accuracy with only three shot groups is a bit misleading.
I have been looking at bases and rings, thanks to all for the suggestions. 20 MOA, check.
On the trigger, thanks for the suggestions on the Timmney, I have been looking at this, I will try out the stock before changing anything out mostly for comparison reasons.
For those of you that have these, are you running cans, any kind of brake/flash hider, or just the thread protector?
I plan on running a can on mine when I can fit it in the budget. IMO theres no use in a brake, .308 doesnt recoil that bad. Been running the stock thread protector on mine.
