Remington 700 AAC-SD w/ 16.5" .308?!

[Co-gnARR]

Thanks everyone for the valuable input. It seems like a coin flip with this platform. While most of you guys have acceptable performance, it's obvious that a bad apple is nearly unusable in any practical application. 4-5 MOA at 100 yds is worse than my .44 mag carbine. I was looking for 2-3 MOA (max!) at 200-300 yds. I may or may not achieve that with this model.
Euro, I appreciate your linked thread. I read that when you were actively posting (well, the first dozen pages) and your experience was enough to make me put this particular platform into my "pass by" category. I totally forgot about that when I saw this little rifle at the store. The guys said it was a novelty, and wasn't likely to sell anytime soon. I interpreted that as the possibility for "clearance price" at the end of the quarter and considered taking the plunge if I saw markdowns on it. Not sure if it's worth it...as mentioned, there are other better choices out there. I will continue my research. Thanks again, guys.

[Turnkey11]

I almost bought a 20" Rem 700 AAC-SD .308 a few weeks ago, but the Hogue Overmold stock pushed me away. That thing is ridiculously flimsy. Instead I left with a 20" 5R .308 with an HS Precision stock... I had a hard time spending what I did, but I know I got a MUCH better rifle. This thing is stupid accurate!

I put a Timney 510 in it and it might be the perfect rifle for what I was looking for.

I wish there was a market for those stocks, theyre starting to take over my closet.

[SeriousStudent]

I wish there was a market for those stocks, theyre starting to take over my closet.

I had one of those gummy bear stocks, and hated it so much I threw it in the backyard for my GSD to chew on. He did so, and it gave him a bad case of gassy farts.

Hogue can't even make a dog toy without ****ing it up.

[Max713]

Holy sh*t... I'm not the only one.
Girlfriend bought me one for Christmas, knew I had been wanting one for a while.
I put a Leupold Mark AR 6-18x40 on it with a Mark 4 base and PRW rings.
Took it out to sight it in last weekend... I could not hit sh*t! Granted I'm not the best shot in the world, but I know I was shooting better than that.
Best I could get out of 5 shots at 100 yards was a 5" group, if that. Honestly I didn't even measure they were so bad. I was using freedommunitions 150gr FMJ ammo. Definitely nothing match quality, still.
Going to pick up some match grade ammo and see what I can get out of it...
Consensus is I need to call and say the gun can't hit a dinner plate at 100 yards???

Sure looks good for hardly being better than a wooden club!


Like I said, I'm no precision shooter... But I shot this group the same day with my 16" BCM AR with a Leupold 1.5-4, using the same freedommunitions ammo. This one was at 50 yards, 55gr V-Max 223.

IMG_6738 (1) by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

[Koshinn]

Holy sh*t... I'm not the only one.
Girlfriend bought me one for Christmas, knew I had been wanting one for a while.
I put a Leupold Mark AR 6-18x40 on it with a Mark 4 base and PRW rings.
Took it out to sight it in last weekend... I could not hit sh*t! Granted I'm not the best shot in the world, but I know I was shooting better than that.
Best I could get out of 5 shots at 100 yards was a 5" group, if that. Honestly I didn't even measure they were so bad. I was using freedommunitions 150gr FMJ ammo. Definitely nothing match quality, still.
Going to pick up some match grade ammo and see what I can get out of it...
Consensus is I need to call and say the gun can't hit a dinner plate at 100 yards???

Sure looks good for hardly being better than a wooden club!


Like I said, I'm no precision shooter... But I shot this group the same day with my 16" BCM AR with a Leupold 1.5-4, using the same freedommunitions ammo. This one was at 50 yards, 55gr V-Max 223.

IMG_6738 (1) by Max Jacobsen, on Flickr

I guarantee it's the stock.

If you want to keep using it, remove the bipod and shoot it off a bag or some other rest... no sling, no bipod.

[Eurodriver]

I guarantee it's the stock.

If you want to keep using it, remove the bipod and shoot it off a bag or some other rest... no sling, no bipod.

You "guarantee" it? How can you say something like that when the rifle pictured isn't even a 16.5"? There is something wrong with these guns; the 20" AACs shoot very well. That's literally the exact same advice I was given by folks. Instead of ditching the rifle as I should have, it only caused me to dump more and more money into it. I'm very bitter.

The thread linked to above is evidence. I was shooting 5 MOA and had a professional bed my barreled action in an HS Precision stock and throw a Timney 510 in it because "It's the stock, I guarantee it". My precision wasn't improved until the only factory part left on that gun was the receiver. Am I happy with it? Yes, but for the money I've got in it I could have built up a Surgeon action with the same parts and still came out ahead.

I hope replacing the stock makes it better, but don't be unrealistic Max. A stock isn't making a sub MOA capable stick a 5 MOA shooter. Before you end up $2,000 in the hole taking advice from people who haven't had this problem, try to return the rifle to Remington. I had already cut up the stock when I spoke to them, but if you decide to keep it you've gotta be in for the long haul... Use a dremel to cut away the stock from the barrel and use a torque screw driver to evenly torque the action screws. It will be a complete waste of your time (I did it, too) but it will show you the barrel is the POS and that it isn't the stock.

Here are pics from when I took it to the range after throwing it in an HS Precision stock that was bedded and putting a Timney 510 on it. You can see I was shooting BH Match and FGMM.

I have nothing against Koshinn, but I spent a few weeks being angry as **** at people who kept giving me "Guarantees" about what I needed to do to get my rifle to shoot because no one wanted to accept that Remington 16.5" barrels are complete shit.




This is how it shoots with a Krieger barrel



...trying to tell me it was the ****ing stock. Give me a break.

[Koshinn]

You "guarantee" it? How can you say something like that when the rifle pictured isn't even a 16.5"? There is something wrong with these guns; the 20" AACs shoot very well. That's literally the exact same advice I was given by folks. Instead of ditching the rifle as I should have, it only caused me to dump more and more money into it. I'm very bitter.

The thread linked to above is evidence. I was shooting 5 MOA and had a professional bed my barreled action in an HS Precision stock and throw a Timney 510 in it because "It's the stock, I guarantee it". My precision wasn't improved until the only factory part left on that gun was the receiver. Am I happy with it? Yes, but for the money I've got in it I could have built up a Surgeon action with the same parts and still came out ahead.

I hope replacing the stock makes it better, but don't be unrealistic Max. A stock isn't making a sub MOA capable stick a 5 MOA shooter. Before you end up $2,000 in the hole taking advice from people who haven't had this problem, try to return the rifle to Remington. I had already cut up the stock when I spoke to them, but if you decide to keep it you've gotta be in for the long haul... Use a dremel to cut away the stock from the barrel and use a torque screw driver to evenly torque the action screws. It will be a complete waste of your time (I did it, too) but it will show you the barrel is the POS and that it isn't the stock.

Here are pics from when I took it to the range after throwing it in an HS Precision stock that was bedded and putting a Timney 510 on it. You can see I was shooting BH Match and FGMM.

I have nothing against Koshinn, but I spent a few weeks being angry as **** at people who kept giving me "Guarantees" about what I needed to do to get my rifle to shoot because no one wanted to accept that Remington 16.5" barrels are complete shit.




This is how it shoots with a Krieger barrel



...trying to tell me it was the ****ing stock. Give me a break.

Ok, I guarantee* it is the stock.

*YMMV, the stock is a piece of shit and you'll likely at least half your group size by switching it out, but you may have other problems as well, such as a friday afternoon barrel on tooling that's at the end of its life. As you well know, even great companies can turn out a lemon every once in a while... and Remington isn't a great company and the 700 AAC-SD isn't a high end rifle. That being said, the Hogue stock is guaranteed to be a major problem if you use a bipod or sling while shooting. It may not fix every problem your particular rifle may have, but changing it to something more rigid and properly bedded (if necessary) will be guaranteed to shrink your groups significantly. Also, group sizes with plinking-grade ammo aren't representative of what a rifle can do. Max was using 150gr FMJ from Freedom...

My brother's AAC-SD went from 4-5 MOA to about 1 MOA by just switching the stock. Yes, the barrel length is different but as the stock is the same, that wouldn't make the stock less likely of a culprit. And the pictured rifle IS a Rem 700 AAC-SD in .308, just with a 20" barrel iirc. Euro, if you switched to your current Krieger barrel but kept the Hogue stock, you would be printing groups much larger.

[Eurodriver]

Ok, I guarantee* it is the stock.

*YMMV, the stock is a piece of shit and you'll likely at least half your group size by switching it out, but you may have other problems as well, such as a friday afternoon barrel on tooling that's at the end of its life. As you well know, even great companies can turn out a lemon every once in a while... and Remington isn't a great company and the 700 AAC-SD isn't a high end rifle. That being said, the Hogue stock is guaranteed to be a major problem if you use a bipod or sling while shooting. It may not fix every problem your particular rifle may have, but changing it to something more rigid and properly bedded (if necessary) will be guaranteed to shrink your groups significantly. Also, group sizes with plinking-grade ammo aren't representative of what a rifle can do. Max was using 150gr FMJ from Freedom...

My brother's AAC-SD went from 4-5 MOA to about 1 MOA by just switching the stock. Yes, the barrel length is different but as the stock is the same, that wouldn't make the stock less likely of a culprit. And the pictured rifle IS a Rem 700 AAC-SD in .308, just with a 20" barrel iirc. Euro, if you switched to your current Krieger barrel but kept the Hogue stock, you would be printing groups much larger.

Exactly. The 20" AAC-SDs shoot notoriously well, whereas the 16.5" are almost universally piss-poor shooters. In fact, I have never seen a 16.5" shoot very well and every 20" I've ever seen or heard about has been a sub MOA laser beam..

No doubt replacing the stock will help, the Hogue is a POS but I'm saying here and now (with images to boot) that my rifle still shot 5 MOA with no improvement on accuracy using different types and weights of match grade ammo after being professionally bedded in a new stock. There was absolutely no noticeable improvement for the $600~ I spent on the bed job, stock, and trigger. Instead of dropping more money on that rifle just to take a gamble, he should try to return that POS before its too late. I think we generally agree with each other, except that you think the gun can be saved and I just want him to run for the hills. Sell that bitch on gunbroker for $400 with the caveat that it shoots like crap. Some idiot Fudd will think you are just a bad shot and buy it off you.

That 700 was the bane of my existence for like 4 solid months. It was like having a boat. Back and forth to the gun smith. Phone calls to Remington. Even progressively less polite handwritten letters were exchanged. Forgive my harsh tone; I just don't want to see OP go through the same BS.

Co-gnarr, my advice is to go outside and light twenty $100 bills on fire.

There, I just saved you some time.

[Koshinn]

Exactly. The 20" AAC-SDs shoot notoriously well, whereas the 16.5" are almost universally piss-poor shooters. In fact, I have never seen a 16.5" shoot very well and every 20" I've ever seen or heard about has been a sub MOA laser beam..

No doubt replacing the stock will help, the Hogue is a POS but I'm saying here and now (with images to boot) that my rifle still shot 5 MOA with no improvement on accuracy using different types and weights of match grade ammo after being professionally bedded in a new stock. There was absolutely no noticeable improvement for the $600~ I spent on the bed job, stock, and trigger. Instead of dropping more money on that rifle just to take a gamble, he should try to return that POS before its too late. I think we generally agree with each other, except that you think the gun can be saved and I just want him to run for the hills. Sell that bitch on gunbroker for $400 with the caveat that it shoots like crap. Some idiot Fudd will think you are just a bad shot and buy it off you.

That 700 was the bane of my existence for like 4 solid months. It was like having a boat. Back and forth to the gun smith. Phone calls to Remington. Even progressively less polite handwritten letters were exchanged. Forgive my harsh tone; I just don't want to see OP go through the same BS.

Co-gnarr, my advice is to go outside and light twenty $100 bills on fire.

There, I just saved you some time.

That's a valid point of view and good advice. He should just get a Surgeon from the start Tell the girlfriend.

[Max713]

And the pictured rifle IS a Rem 700 AAC-SD in .308, just with a 20" barrel iirc.

Mine is the 16.5" version as well, also chambered in 308.

Exactly. The 20" AAC-SDs shoot notoriously well, whereas the 16.5" are almost universally piss-poor shooters. In fact, I have never seen a 16.5" shoot very well and every 20" I've ever seen or heard about has been a sub MOA laser beam..

No doubt replacing the stock will help, the Hogue is a POS but I'm saying here and now (with images to boot) that my rifle still shot 5 MOA with no improvement on accuracy using different types and weights of match grade ammo after being professionally bedded in a new stock. There was absolutely no noticeable improvement for the $600~ I spent on the bed job, stock, and trigger. Instead of dropping more money on that rifle just to take a gamble, he should try to return that POS before its too late. I think we generally agree with each other, except that you think the gun can be saved and I just want him to run for the hills. Sell that bitch on gunbroker for $400 with the caveat that it shoots like crap. Some idiot Fudd will think you are just a bad shot and buy it off you.

That 700 was the bane of my existence for like 4 solid months. It was like having a boat. Back and forth to the gun smith. Phone calls to Remington. Even progressively less polite handwritten letters were exchanged. Forgive my harsh tone; I just don't want to see OP go through the same BS.

Co-gnarr, my advice is to go outside and light twenty $100 bills on fire.

There, I just saved you some time.

This thread makes me sad...
I wanted this damn thing to work! I'll be calling Remington to see what they have to say today.
I'm definitely not prepared to dump $2k into this thing to get it sub-MOA, I've got higher priorities than that (Like an Angstadt Arms 9mm dedicated SBR )