climbnjump
Member
There have been several threads on the Remington 700 VTR that have hashed over the triangular barrel, muzzle brake and the plastic stock. I was looking for a .223 bolt with a 1-9 twist and had looked at the VTR a few times. However I didn't like the muzzle brake and the fact that the 22" barrel was really only 20" after counter boring for the brake.
In early Feb., I was in the local Cabela's and saw a VTR on their rack in .223 with no muzzle brake. It also had a 24" barrel in place of the regular 22" barrel. I called Remington Customer Service and found that this was a special run of VTRs made to Cabela's specs. Was the barrel still a 1-9 twist? Yes, I was told, as part of the VTR line, the .223 did have a 1-9 twist.
So last Saturday, I bit the bullet and bought one, had a scope mounted and took it to the local indoor range on Sunday. I broke in the barrel with "1-shot-clean" repeat 10 times. Then "3-shots-clean", repeat 5 times. Total of 25 rounds at this point. I then shot 5 Black Hills Red Box 50g V-Max rounds. Not a bad group under the circumstances - under .5" at the range's max distance of 50 yards. Next I fired 5 BH Red Box 60g V-Max rounds. This group was fairly impressive with 4 of the 5 shots grouping under .25" - shooter error on shot #3 which I pulled a bit - picture attached.
The next group was also impressive, but for a completely different reason. I fired 4 BH Red Box 68g match rounds and the spread was just over 3" and none of the holes were round. The 4th bullet was almost completely sideways at the target - picture attached. (Hmmm... Can you say "keyhole"?) I knew the ammo was good because I had shot rounds out of that same box through my AR-15 with a 1-9 twist and had good accuracy (for an AR with a 16" barrel and crappy trigger).
I fired two more groups with the VTR, one each with the 50g V-Max and 60g V-Max. At 50 yards, both of those 5 shot groups were under .5" and could be completely covered with a dime.
So when I got home from the range, I ran a patch down the barrel, marked the cleaning rod and measured. Yep, 1-12 twist. Called Remington again. They said I could send the rifle in and if they found it had the wrong barrel, they would replace it.
Okey dokey, then. Obviously the rifle I ended up with wasn't quite what I thought I was buying and it won't shoot the heavier bullets. Still, would you send in a rifle for a barrel replacement if the current barrel was giving you sub-MOA groups with off-the-shelf ammo when barely broken in? I'm thinkin' I'll just use it the way it is...
In early Feb., I was in the local Cabela's and saw a VTR on their rack in .223 with no muzzle brake. It also had a 24" barrel in place of the regular 22" barrel. I called Remington Customer Service and found that this was a special run of VTRs made to Cabela's specs. Was the barrel still a 1-9 twist? Yes, I was told, as part of the VTR line, the .223 did have a 1-9 twist.
So last Saturday, I bit the bullet and bought one, had a scope mounted and took it to the local indoor range on Sunday. I broke in the barrel with "1-shot-clean" repeat 10 times. Then "3-shots-clean", repeat 5 times. Total of 25 rounds at this point. I then shot 5 Black Hills Red Box 50g V-Max rounds. Not a bad group under the circumstances - under .5" at the range's max distance of 50 yards. Next I fired 5 BH Red Box 60g V-Max rounds. This group was fairly impressive with 4 of the 5 shots grouping under .25" - shooter error on shot #3 which I pulled a bit - picture attached.
The next group was also impressive, but for a completely different reason. I fired 4 BH Red Box 68g match rounds and the spread was just over 3" and none of the holes were round. The 4th bullet was almost completely sideways at the target - picture attached. (Hmmm... Can you say "keyhole"?) I knew the ammo was good because I had shot rounds out of that same box through my AR-15 with a 1-9 twist and had good accuracy (for an AR with a 16" barrel and crappy trigger).
I fired two more groups with the VTR, one each with the 50g V-Max and 60g V-Max. At 50 yards, both of those 5 shot groups were under .5" and could be completely covered with a dime.
So when I got home from the range, I ran a patch down the barrel, marked the cleaning rod and measured. Yep, 1-12 twist. Called Remington again. They said I could send the rifle in and if they found it had the wrong barrel, they would replace it.
Okey dokey, then. Obviously the rifle I ended up with wasn't quite what I thought I was buying and it won't shoot the heavier bullets. Still, would you send in a rifle for a barrel replacement if the current barrel was giving you sub-MOA groups with off-the-shelf ammo when barely broken in? I'm thinkin' I'll just use it the way it is...
