New Rifle Build

I've recently built up a Remington model 700 Tactical in .308.

I've been ordering heaps of bits and pieces, and parting out a fair bit of cash lately, but I am starting to get there. I asked around, but eventually got a good deal of advice from the Sniper's Hide forum. Lots of experience in there, and some really helpful people. I soon found out how much more expensive it is to buy most things in Australia compared to the United States, so the international mail system has been getting a workout. I got quite a few good recommendations on different items, and I really would have been stuck without them. Thanks guys.


The Rifle


Started out as a plain Remington 700 Tactical and I tell you what, Remington sure spare no expense when it comes to packaging! A cheap and nasty cardboard box, with some pieces of foam chucked in for good measure and 'protection'.
I bought the rifle locally, despite the high cost (almost double RRP in the U.S) as it is a P.I.T.A to import firearms into Australia.

So here she is. Remington model 700 Tactical in .308 calibre with Hogue overmold stock and a 20" barrel, which has a nice heavy profile. I fitted her with a Harris bipod, which is the S-BRM 6"-9" notched-leg model.
Bipod purchased from Triad Tactical.


I also fitted a Pod-Loc, which is an essential addition to the Harris. It makes it easier to tighten the adjusting screw that adds tension to the swivel mechanism. You can have it completely loose, to swivel freely, or lock it up tight, with no movement at all! The Harris has two sling attachment points, with one at the rear of the bipod mount, and one that is part of the piece that grips the sling-swivel.
Pod-loc purchased from Bauer Arms.


The Hogue overmold stock is good as far as I can tell so far. It's a little flexible in the forend, for my liking, which I only really noticed when I fitted the bipod, so I'm going to bed the rifle (which I was going to do anyway), but with about 2mm of extra height at the front end of the stock. That'll give me all the clearance I need to keep that stout little barrel 'floated'. At least until I get my AICS stock.


The Eagle stock-pack was the next addition. A neat little pack, with storage for five .308 rounds (or similar size) on the outside, and a zip compartment, and a soft cheek pad, which ensures a good cheek-weld. Eagle products are very well made and the stock-pack was easy to fit, with three 'Velcro' adjustable tabs that wrap around the stock, and another adjustable strap that wraps around the butt pad. Once tightened up, very secure. It is well worth putting on, and removing again for those minor adjustments, to keep the adjustable straps tidy.


The pocket, while big enough for it's designed purpose, is not oversized at all. A tug cord on the zip makes for easy operation, and the non-slip, soft cheek pad is a nice touch.
Eagle stock-pack purchased from Triad Tactical.


Next thing to fit, was a T.I.S (Tactical Intervention Specialists) Quick-cuff sling. Great piece of gear, and the Talon M-24 Heavy Duty quick-release swivels are very well made, and strong. The sling attaches to the rear sling swivel on the rifle-stock, and the front swivel, I attached to the front Harris attaching point, but as the Pod-loc folds away once set, you could easily use the rear one. It's up to you.
T.I.S Quick-cuff sling purchased from Triad Tactical.


The Scope


The scope of choice for me, was the Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10X40 LR/T. Once again, advice from the guys on the Snipers Hide and previous experience with Leupold helped me narrow my selection down to this one. After a long wait due to short supply, the scope arrived and I was like a kid at Christmas.


Unpacking the box, there were a few extra bits and pieces that I wasn't expecting. In addition to the 7.62/.308 Win 168grn elevation turret, two extra elevation turrets were included, one marked out for 5.56mm 55grn and one for .300 Win Mag 190grn. Flip-up lens covers, a lense cloth, allen key, and instruction manuals for the scope and for the TMR reticle.


The model that I selected, model #60015, has M3 Windage and Elevation knobs. The M3 knobs are 1 MOA for Elevation and 1/2 MOA for Windage. As stated before, the Elevation knobs are also marked for come-ups for ranges from 100 out to 1000yards. Once you zero it, you re-adjust the position of the turret to indicate zero, and the scope does the rest, after of course you estimate the range.


This is where the TMR reticle comes in. It is set up with fine hash-marks which indicate precise incriments in Milliradians, which can be used to estimate the range to a target of a known size. See future blog on the use of TMR reticle.


The model #60015 also comes with an Illuminated Reticle. The Reticle is only Illuminated in the TMR section, at the centre of the cross-hairs, where the hash-marks are. This function can be turned on or off, and the intensity of the Illumination can be altered by means of the dial on the eyepiece. There are 11 brightness settings, and if the Illumination is switched off, the Reticle appears all black.


The optical clarity is as good as I have seen, and is not truly depicted with my limited photography experience. I know there are higher priced scopes with reputations for better clarity and extra features, they are two to three times the price of this scope, and I am quite happy with the clarity and quality of my Leupold.


The Rings and Base

I think that one of the worst mistakes you could make when building a precision rifle, is to cut costs on mounts and rings for the scope. A very significant part of the scope's accuracy will come from the connection between reciever and scope, so you need to use quality parts.


I selected Seekins Precision to link the two major components together. The base is one-piece Billet Aluminium alloy, with 20 MOA, and the rings are 30mm six-screw low (.823), also Billet Aluminium alloy. There are two torx-head screws to hold the ring onto the base, instead of the usual single cross-bolt, and the torx-head tuck away nicely, leaving no sharp edges to snag in a drag-bag or on clothing etc. Seekins products are guaranteed for life.

The workmanship on these components is great, with good strong anodising and sharp, precise construction. There are 15 slots in the picatinny rail, and the screws are torx-head, allowing for a good snug fit to the receiver. The base has a generous recoil-lug built in, to keep the stress on the receiver itself, rather than the mounting screws.

Each of the rings, which are manufactured as a matched pair, have six torx-head screws to hold the scope in place. These are designed for heavy recoiling .50BMG and .338 Lapua rifles and therefore should easily stand up to anything my .308 can throw at them. Once again, the precision of the Seekins product is nothing short of awesome. Very tight manufacturing tolerances must be in place, and credit should be given to the manufacturer. Seekins Precision. I have fully torqued these rings to the scope, and then removed them for adjustment, and not one single ring mark was evident.

To add a little extra protection to the scope and mount area, my mate gave me a BlackHawk scope cover, with muzzle/crown protector. Another good piece of kit, with plenty of adjustments possible due to numerous straps that are shortened or lengthened to suit different scope height, width and length and also adjustable for rifles with longer barrels.

Overall, I am happy with the setup I have come up with, and while it may be similar to many others out there, this one is mine, and it should provide me with many years of good accurate shooting for a short barrelled Tactical Rifle, out to about 800 metres. The 20" barrel loses a little muzzle velocity with it's shortened length, so it can only keep projectiles above supersonic speed to that range, however the stiff nature of such a short, solid tube gives inherent accuracy that I'm looking forward to testing.

The Range

Down to Little River, and the sighting-in process begins. There was a bit more wind than I was hoping for, so a fair bit of tape was needed on the targets to hold them firm. I had 'bore-sighted' the rifle prior to getting to the range, so I set up a nice large targets at 50 yards, just to get her 'on-paper', I checked the view through the bore again, and I started up.


Turns out, my bore-sighting was spot on, I'm going with luck, well before I claim talent :-), and the first three round group was near enough to zero. I put an old box of Winchester SuperX through her, and did a bronze brush between each of the first three rounds, then in between the following three round groups, as the rifle is brand new and I felt that this was adequate 'break-in'.


I changed targets to a grouping-style target, which I got from the Storm Tactical website. While still at 50 yards, I put a few more groups on paper, and while the groups are decievingly small, I knew that they would get bigger further out.



With a bit more than a box of the cheap Winchester gone, I moved the target out to 100 yards and began to test it out with various newer Hunting loads. I had Remington 150grn Core Lokt PSP, Federal 180grn Power Shok SP, Winchester 150grn XP3 and the top of the range, Federal 180grn Vital Shok with Barnes projectile. I've written in pencil on the paper, which ammo was which, and this accounts for the best groupings of the day with Hunting ammo. Two groups of an inch, one of .8 and one of .55. Couldn't recreate that one though.



I had selected some high quality Target loads, being Federal 168grn Gold Medal Match. Two things I noticed straight up; 1) I had to adjust for low shots from the Hunting loads and 2) This ammo is accurate. The groups shown here are my best for the day, and by the way, the squares on the target pages are not actually one inch. The dollar coin is one inch. The three groups here are about .75, .75 and .8 of an inch.

The rifle is complete for now, and I'm very happy with it. It's not bedded yet, and apart from the addons, like bi-pod and sling etc, it's factory. I've placed an order for a McMillan A-5 stock, and Badger Ordnance bottom metal, so once that gets here, we'll finish her off completely.

Can't talk now...........got some shooting to do. :-)