Remington 700 vls ( are they good)

NCVARMINT

New member

I sold my savage 12vlp in 204 ruger a while back ( and yes i am regretting it), so i am going to put a deposit on a new gun , and was thinking od a remington 700 vls in 204 caliber. Who has this rifle and what do you think of it, I was wondering if it needs to be bedded or does it shoot good without. I was also looking to get a vls in 6mm and rechamber it to a 6br using the factory barrel. thanks for any help

trevor
 
Spending gunsmithing money refitting a factory barrel is not a good idea unless you just don't want to spend the money for a good barrel.

Jack
 
Greetings from the Tennessee side of the mountain!

I have had two VLS rifles and they shoot better than I can shoot them. The .223 was bedded by me, and that's all that was needed to maintain better than .6 groups with most 50gr bullets. I have a limited production VLS in .260 that is the best production shooter I have ever owned.

I would vote for a .243 if I would by from the VLS production current flavors. However, if you're going to rebuild a new rifle just for a caliber, I would pickup a pre-lawyer-lock M700 and build it from the receiver up.
 
Thats funny I just asked my smith about that very thing today, I have been thinking about having him make me a custom 6br from the ground up, I have available a 700 rem in .243 as a starter action, he pretty much told me the same thing! after I asked him about rechambering it to a 6br. The cost of rechambering was 50% of the cost of a new barrel. Plus those factory barrels cant even be grouped in the same class as lilja, hart, douglas and the others, So what I am going to do is have a gun with 2 barrels, the factory one in 243, and a custom in 6br. I am hoping to make a long distance PD gun out of the 6br, and a med distance out of the .243

Jack
is it a must to go tight neck say .262 on the 6BR, or can you get real good accuracy without turning necks? And also what would be the perfect lenth of barrel and twist rate for bullets from 65 up to say 90gr. in the 6br?
 
Per say, all 700 actions are pretty good. Most of the time they're straight......but with Remington lately who knows. The 700 gives a solid platform to start with for the guys who don't want to move up to a custom action. Have a qualified riflesmith true the action and you can bed the stock. When it was done...i promise it will be a tack driver. I would have your riflesmith ream a custom barrel. If you don't want to turn necks I've heard plenty of guys getting excellent results with std. chambers. I have a tight-neck 22BR and I would take for it. Shoots with the 220 swift and .250 but doesn't burn up barrels like they do. 6BR is an excellant cal.....I can't understand why Remington won't put their little "wildcat" into production.
 
Well for now i was just going to use the factory barrel, i just mainly want something to shoot. The 2 caliber i am interested in right now are 204 and 6mm. I thought about a 6mm for deer hunting and all my other needs, do they kick much

trevor
 
I bought one in a 243 a few years back. I ended up bedding it and throwing in a timney trigger. I wasnt the best a bedding back then but i got the rifle to shoot .5" groups with Reminton's 90 grain ballistic tips. I wasnt satisfied with this so I bought an aluminum bedded HS precision stock and started reloading at the same time. My first time out at the range with the first group of 90g Nosler ballistic tip reloads and the new stock I ended up with a clover leaf and the biggest group I tested out of 5 powders was .75". I have only tried two differnt types of bullets through the gun since with the same great results. A 90g Serra FMJ that clovered with two different powders at 100 yards and a 70g Nosler balistic tip that shoots 3 bullets all in the same hole at a hundred yards you would have think you missed the target the other 2 shots. This gun will clearly shoot better than the average person will shoot it.
 
Thousands if you dont let the barrel heat up too significantly between shots and make sure you clean it after every few rounds or so. It also depends on if your going to shoot bullets close to or exceeding the 4000fps mark...the faster the bullet the faster the barrel is going to wear. P.S. the picture to the left has my VLS in it.
 
Quote:

I sold my savage 12vlp in 204 ruger a while back ( and yes i am regretting it), so i am going to put a deposit on a new gun , and was thinking od a remington 700 vls in 204 caliber. Who has this rifle and what do you think of it, I was wondering if it needs to be bedded or does it shoot good without. I was also looking to get a vls in 6mm and rechamber it to a 6br using the factory barrel. thanks for any help

trevor


I don't have a .204 but I do have a vls in .243 - still factory, haven't even had the triggor done yet.

38043_7.jpg


Doesn't suck.
 
I have a VLS in 243, I put in a Timney trigger, had the bbl. cut down from 26" to 22" (I just didn't like the extra length or weight) and it shoots great.

I can cover 5 shots @ 100yds. with a penny.

hunter966
 
NCVARMINT,

I really couldn't tell you how much velocity I lost as I don't have a chrony, but the gunsmith said it would probably be around 200fps. now that is just a guess.

As for the accuracy I really think it helped. Before the surgury I was covering 5 shots @ 100yds. with a quarter and after I am getting them covered with a penny.

I am shooting a 70gr. Nosler BT. on top of 42grs. of Varget and CCI BR primers.

I can't recall what Noslers reloading manual says the velocity is with this load but I am guessing that it is not shooting what they say it is.

The biggest thing I was after was a little lighter gun and a more manuverable rifle. I probably only save around a pound if that by cutting off 4" of the bbl.

hunter966
 
Thanks

Did you bed the action or not, i was wondering if it kicks harder than a 220 swift. I am realy thinking of getting a vls in 6mm

trevor



Quote:
NCVARMINT,

I really couldn't tell you how much velocity I lost as I don't have a chrony, but the gunsmith said it would probably be around 200fps. now that is just a guess.

As for the accuracy I really think it helped. Before the surgury I was covering 5 shots @ 100yds. with a quarter and after I am getting them covered with a penny.

I am shooting a 70gr. Nosler BT. on top of 42grs. of Varget and CCI BR primers.

I can't recall what Noslers reloading manual says the velocity is with this load but I am guessing that it is not shooting what they say it is.

The biggest thing I was after was a little lighter gun and a more manuverable rifle. I probably only save around a pound if that by cutting off 4" of the bbl.

hunter966

 
6mm rem is a really decent under rated round. It will kick about as much as a 243, which in that heavy of a gun is not going to be much at all.

I has a 700 BDL in 6mm for a while, the only 2 potentially negative things I ran across was the poor offering of factory loads for it, if you reload that is a non-issue.

The other thing, and this is not the fault of the cartridge at all, is that I bought it used and it had been abused (not taken care of at all) really bad by the previous owner and for all practical purposes was worn out or ruined barrel wise, not sure which. I traded it off for something else.

I would like to get a good sporter profile rifle in 6mm maybe someday for a carry and call coyote rifle.... like I need another one. Maybe have a custom barrel put on a 700 action. But that is down the road sometime.
 
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