Remington 700 VTR...anyone shot one?

[Dave L.]

Looking at the Remington 700 VTR, street price seems to be about $750.
Anyone have any experience or technical info on them? Such as stock/finish/barrel/muzzle break?
Looking at the .308 model (http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_700/model_700_VTR.asp).

TIA,
Dave

[olds442tyguy]

http://www.snipercentral.com/vtr.htm

I've fondled a few of them and they feel really nice. Apparently the triangular barrel profile doesn't lend itself to stellar accuracy though. The review above also points out some other key facts that lead to the assumption Remington has much better buys than the VTR.

[Damascus]

A friend of mine has a black one in .308... Man, don't buy one! All you're paying for is that triangular fluting... which may help cooling, but does NOTHING for accuracy. Get yourself a Remington 700 SPS Varmint (26") or Tactical (20"). Both of these use the same exact stock as the VTR, but have regular heavy contour barrels. The stocks on these rifles is pure CRAP! No bedding whatsoever, no free floating barrel, etc.
Did you know that the 700 SPS V and T use the exact same barreled action as on the 700P, PSS, and all other variants using a heavy barrel! Compare the 700 SPS Varmint (26" .308) and the 700P - both have 26" heavy contour barrels. The ONLY difference is the stock, the SPS-V has a cheap old Remington stock, and the 700P has a H-S Precision stock with bedding blocks and a free floating barrel.
I don't particularly like the 700P's stock, I prefer the vertical grip tactical style stocks, so since I knew I'd be chaning the stock, I was able to save a ton of money by buying the SPS Varmint and then installing a Bell & Carlson Tactical A5 stock (you can get them here (http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/the-108/mcmillan-a5-stock-tactical/Detail), a great deal!)... this makes it look like a real "sniper" rifle, almost like an M40. It has an adjustable cheekpiece and a FULL length aluminum alloy bedding block.
When I first got my 700 SPS Varmint, I mounted my Nikon Monarch 4-16x42 on it, and took it to the range (we were shooting Federal 168gr. GMM), and it averaged about 0.77 MOA, whereas my buddy's 700 VTR averaged about 0.915 MOA.
2 weeks later when I installed the B&C stock, my groups shrank from 0.65 to 0.48. Then I started handloading for this rifle, and got my groups down to 0.410" (average of five 5 shot groups @ 100 yards)...
So, this is why I say, unless you really really want that triangular barrel, you'll get a lot more out of a SPS Varmint or SPS Tactical!

[Dave L.]

Thanks guys, I already have a serious precision rifle built off a M700 action, I was mainly just looking for a deer rifle in .308- with more than the standard "light" contour barrel.