Remington 700 SPS .308 Ammo/Upgrades

I shoot the Hornady Black 168 gr A Max. They shoot real good. And yes I use them on deer with great success in all my rifles

I had the same rifle. Bought it from a buddy a while back. From both of our experience, it shot the American Whitetail best. MOA or a little better. Even better than some of the match stuff. That was after he had a gunsmith shorten the chamber slightly. He couldn't get it to group at all and found the chamber had been cut too deep. After that it shot fine. I eventually sold it to fund something else.

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I'm looking to waste some money on something.

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Go get you one of those Tikka's - they're supposed to be the shite.

I have the same rifle but in a 300wsm. However, mine was 10 years newer than yours (read this as "mine was much worse quality than yours").

When I first started shooting it I tried "premium" ammo. I could not get groups under 2.5" @ 100 yards. I switched to federal fusion (after a lot of wasted money and experimenting on ammo), and my groups "came down" to 1.5" to 2".

After some tinkering I found a lot of problems.
-The stock was a piece of shite. It contacts the barrel, so per Remington "to give consistency". What this actually causes due to the flimsy stock is the harmonics of the barrel change with every shot and temp change.

-The taps for the scope were out of line, causing the scope to be mounted non-parallel with the barrel. This causes you to use a lot of windage to get it "straight", by doing so you are using the least accurate / consistent part of the scope.

-The trigger was gritty and inconsistent. There was like a 1 pound variance in trigger pull.

I put a HS precision stock ($350), timmney trigger set to 2.5# ($125), and had a pic rail tapped to match the rifle taps plus good rings ($160). I was going to add a new barrel but decided to try to "burn" through this one first and save the $500.

What this all got me was my groups shrank to a very consistent .55 moa (<2.25") @ 400 yards and under .50 moa (<1") @ 200 yards and in. All with the same "budget" federal fusions for around $635. I am very happy with the gun now.

However with the price of the gun I could have bought a Browning X-Bolt (or a number of other brands) that shoots sub .75 moa. If I didn't already have the gun that is the route I would have taken knowing what I know now.

Sidenote: The two biggest positives for a heavier barrel are:
1) Less picky with ammo due to harmonics being more consistent
2) If you are shooting a lot at once, the heat of the barrel will have less effect on POI changes

Both of these are not as necessary with a hunting rig and can be avoided by: finding the ammo the gun prefers and you normally won't shoot enough in a hunting scenario to heat the barrel.


You could do what I did for a lot less. The single biggest change came from the stock, then the trigger. IF you went with:
The stocky's stock with aluminum bedding block for $180
A good trigger job for $100
That would get you pretty well on your way for under $300.


Don't discount trying the Tubbs Final Finish + TMS Loaded Ammo ProPack. It is a longish process, but I have heard great things about it.



Hope this helps.

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At best it shoots 1 to 1.5 inch groups at 100 yds. What's the best I can hope for with this gun?

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1-1.5" groups are not that bad for a hunting rifle, especially if it's only been tried w/ one load. I guess I'm just cheap (no, actually I AM cheap), but before spending a lot of money, I'd first try and squeeze some additional accuracy from your gun using a little work on your end. You may've already done all these things, but I'd suggest at least looking at my suggestions near the end of this thread . It's not mentioned in the prior post, but you can also bed the action w/o much expense. You can do this using Youtube videos to guide you.

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What are some factory loads that I should try? Is it worth upgrading the trigger, stock, barrel, etc on this gun? I'm looking to waste some money on something.

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I don't shoot factory ammo, but I'd suggest a box of a couple different loads that are highly recommended. New stock, new trigger, new barrel......that's gonna run you a lot of money and may NOT make much of any difference. It's a betting game. How much do you want to spend? What is your accuracy goal? Heck, for just $337 you can buy a brand new Savage Axis II in 308 Win , complete w/ a
pillar bedded, synthetic stock and adjustable trigger. I've had a number of guns rebarreld, but it was always in order to change calibers. I've never had to debarred a gun due to inaccuracy of the factory barrel. I've also never had to change stocks to improve accuracy. I like having different guns so if I had money to burn, I'd probably buy a new gun in a different caliber instead of rebuilding your 308, especially since your 308 already has decent hunting accuracy.

Having said all that, it's your money so enjoy spending it. Keep us updated.

This was my best group of 5 shots at 100 yards. 12x scope. When I put the new trigger on i sanded down the stock and can run a dollar bill under now. This group was 168 gr federal match. The next tightest group was 150 gr hornady american white tail. The hornady eldx were all over the place.