Remington 783 Accuracy

I'd been reading about all these inexpensive rifles in the last few years that got generally good reviews.  When the Remington 783 came out it had some interesting features I was having trouble ignoring.  The Savage like floating bolt head and barrel nut, a fully free floated barrel, pillar bedded action, and adjustable trigger.  I had myself convinced I needed a 260 Remington, but the closest the 783 came was in 243, so a 243 it would be.  I could always change out the barrel later if I still had to have a 260 Remington.  Three hundred and fifty dollars later from Buds Guns and twenty bucks to my local FFL and I had the rifle in hand.

My first thought after seeing it was "hmm, looks pretty cheap".  Well, I guess it is cheap at $350 delivered.  What did I expect?  It has plain mat black bluing and a synthetic stock.  There is some heft to the gun and the stock is somewhat stiffer than I expected.  It has a nice soft recoil pad also.  I'm not going to get into a real review here since it has been done all over the net.  What I haven't seen was any accuracy testing outside of the questionable honesty of the normal mags, so that's what you'll get.

This isn't any custom barrel here.  In fact one writer said the bore resembled a coal mine.  With that in mind I slathered some JB on a patch and wrapped it around a nylon brush.  I gave it thirty strokes and reloaded a new patch with JB and gave it another twenty.  Cleaned it up and was good to go.  the scope is a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44.  I may review the scope in another article because I'm very pleased with it.  For now let's just say it's mounted on inexpensive medium rings and everything clears, but barely.

I ordered a box of Sierra .243 100g Gamekings and started loading.   I have about 55 rounds through it now.  You can see my best group so far below.  That is a 5/8" five shot group from 100 yards.  I shot six five shot groups that day.  Of them all the biggest group was 1-5/8", and if you took away the flyer in that group you were left with a nice four shot group of 5/8" again.  Yes sir, this 783 can shoot!  If Remington comes out with a polished blue version with a nice walnut stock I think they'll sell tons of them, no matter what the model 700 fans claim. 

17 HMR Acurracy Again!

I've been doing a little more shooting again, this time with a Remington 783 in 243 Winchester.  On my second time out to the range I figured I'd warm up with the 17 HRM before shooting groups with the 243.  I've been working on my technique and wanted to make sure I was in the groove before getting started with the 243.  I put ten rounds down the barrel, two groups of five at a hundred yards.  Here is the target.

 

I realize there is a shot pulled in each group.  What surprised me was the group on the left has four shots in about a half inch, and the group on the right has four shots in just under 3/8"!  You can bet I'll be testing the rifle out again on a nice calm day!

Savage 93R17 Trigger Again

I've had the Savage 17 HRM for quite a while now and I couldn't help but thinking it could shoot quite a bit better than it does.  In a previous post I reduced the trigger pull to a little over two pounds according to my fish scale.  It turns out that two pounds was actually 3.25 pounds so I tore it the gun down again and got to work.

First I polished the sear and trigger surfaces using a small fine stone.  I'm told these parts are case hardened so I didn't take much off.  Just knocked down the machining marks.  After putting it back together I checked pull weight and felt for grittiness (technical term).  The pull was still too heavy for my liking so I went to work on the spring.  After a lot of adjusting and testing I got a 2 pound 8 ounce pull.  The problem was now I could feel the trigger travel before and after the shot and wasn't liking what I felt.  There is a little shelf where the sear and trigger engage and I could definitely feel the two pieces sliding across each other until it went over the edge making a lot of creep.  I don't recommend this for anybody else, but I carefully went to work on trimming that shelf down and it worked.  There is still a little creep but nothing like it was.  Pull weight is still 2.5 pounds, which I think is just right for this gun.  You could throw the gun off the roof onto the driveway and it still wouldn't fire so I'm satisfied on the safety aspect.

I have a couple ideas stirring around my head for taking out the over travel so watch for another post.  One involves drilling and tapping for an adjustable screw and the other involves JB Weld!  After that it's another trip to the range to see if all these "adjustments" had any affect.  Until then, keep your stick on the ice.

200 Yard Surprise

I was working at the range the other day when In walked Roy and Pam.  They are a couple I've known for awhile and they always have interesting rifles.  We chit chatted for a few minute before I got called away to check the line.  A little while later Roy asked me if I wanted to fire his rifle.  He's a lefty and I shoot right and I didn't want him to have to change sides so I politely declined.  After a little coaxing I gave in and said "sure!  Why not."

On the bench sat what I think he said was a Rock River Arms Precision in .223 with a Geissele trigger and Bushnelle Elite scope, and unknown bipod.  We just slid the rifle and rear bag over to the left side and I was ready to go.  He had a series of targets set at the 200 yard line with the lower right one unfired on.  It took me a minute to find the target with the scope set at 25 power and some squirming around to get everything set.  Bang!  A little high and just left of center.  I grinned, told him I was in the bull and was getting up when Roy insisted a make a group of it.  I didn't know what size the target was but I was pretty impressed with where the first bullet landed and not disappointed with the next two.

After Pam retrieved the target I realized just how good that rifle was.  Three shots, .59" center to center at 200 yards!  Holy Cow!  Roy told me to keep the target so here it is.  The best 200 yard shooting I've ever done and with somebody else's rifle.  I'm looking at the AR platform in a whole new light!

Rubber Band Snap Cap!

I was doing a little work on my Savage 93R17 the other day and decided to check the trigger pull.  My trigger pull scale consists of an old milk jug and some string that I hang off the trigger with the action out of the stock.  You simply add or subtract water out of the jug until it just barely breaks the trigger.  Then I weigh the jug of water on my wife's kitchen scale that is accurate to an ounce.  With the trigger adjusted as light as it would go it broke at 3.25 pounds.

Not bad, but what does this have to do with snap caps you ask?  Well, during testing I threw a fired case in the chamber just to make sure nothing bad happened to the firing pin or chamber.  As I was testing, my super-human observation skills noticed the cocking piece on the bolt slamming forward!  Holy cow!  Who would have ever thought?  But, hey, that gave me an idea.  Instead of beating the crap out of an old case with every pin strike, I wrapped a rubber band around the back of the bolt.  When the cocking piece or whatever you call it slams forward it's cushioned by the rubber band.  See the picture below.

The beauty is this can be used on many bolt actions, not just Savages.  Even better, I must have a hundred of these snap caps in my desk drawer!

Keep your stick on the ice.