RE: Has anyone fondled/fired the new Remington VTR?
Got one last week in 308the gun is very accurate even though the barrel does touch a little on the forend. The trigger needs some work I would say it breaks at over 4.5 pounds. This is not a big issue if a buck is standing in front of you but sitting at the shooting bench it can be something to snuff at. I will send it off to my gunsmith to work on the trigger and forend. All and all I am the first redneck on my block to have one.
I purchased a VTR in .308 friday, put a nikon buckmaster 4.5x14 scope on it and took it to the range saturday. After braking in the barrel properly with a box of cheap monarchs 150 grain, and some hoppes, I put several other boxes through it alternating between clean barrel groupings and dirty barrel groupings and finally zeroed with winchester ballistic silvertips in 168 grain. I shot 13 rounds to bring my final grouping on dead zero at 100, you can only see 9 holes on my target with my last three right on top of eachother. Stock felt good, ergonics makes it melts into your shoulder. Weight is perfectly balanced, literally. Muzzle brake reduces recoil but not as much as I was anticipating, does prevent climb though very well. Trigger was unbelievable for a factory trigger. I had them test it at Cabellas, 3.81 lbs. out of the box. I was suprised everytime I pulled it. Crispness of it is the best trigger I have pulled, I even think it outperformed my accutrigger. This rifle makes perfect sense for the deer hunter, no matter where they are hunting, stand, stalk, ambush. Lightweight for a bull barrel, accuracy second to none. For the stand hunter, you could literally put a rag on your stand and shoot the triangle barrel off it, easily. Flat surface on top of a flat surface.....should perfect. As opposed to a round barrel sitting on the stand, you need something to rest it on. Overall, WOW, I can't say enough of this weapon. If you are a hunter of any animal on four legs, you should strongly consider this gun. IMOHO. OUT.
I've seen them at a local dealer. I'm not really all that keen on the triangular barrel for purely cosmetic reasons.
As for the fairly new X-Mark Pro trigger (it's been around for a couple years now, I think), I have one on my M700 LSS, and it's not a bad trigger. Unlike the older style trigger, it cannot be (easily) adjusted for sear engagement or overtravel, because the safety in the new trigger also blocks the sear as well as the trigger, and the sear and overtravel adjustments can alter the function of the safety. They CAN be adjusted, but I am not knowledgeable enough to try it. Remington also makes it pretty clear that these are not to be messed with by using a fairly tough epoxy sealer on the hex screws rather than the normal, easily removed, "fingernail polish" seal on the screws of the old trigger. To get the new sealer off you really need to use a heat gun. The only adjustment that is easily made is the pull weight. I adjusted mine easily and safely down to what feels like about 1.5 lbs. The pull weight screw only has the nail polish seal and is easily scraped off with a needle or such. One thing I did notice is that the trigger is very crisp, with very little creep or overtravel. The tiny amount of creep it does have is very smooth, suggesting that Remington does a good job of polishing the sear surfaces as the claim in the ad copy. The new, very wide, trigger shoe might also help in the perception that the trigger is lighter than it might actually be (I don't have a trigger pull gauge to measure mine, I go by feel only). What I don't like about the trigger is that the face no longer had the vertical grooves for positive traction. The trigger face is smooth, making the trigger feel a little "slippery" to me. I don't care for it as much as the old trigger face, but I've gotten used to it.
Overall, I'd say that the X-Mark is no better or worse than the old syle Rem 700 trigger. I think that with professional work the old trigger can be made to feel slightly better than the X-Mark could be, but the X-Mark, with one screw, can feel almost as good as an old trigger after a good trigger job, and you can do it yourself. I also think that the new safety is a positive improvement. It blocks both the trigger and locks the sear, unlike the old safety that just blocked the trigger. This, I think, would make the rifle safer in the event it's very harshly handled or dropped. My only other gripe is that they didn't reincorporate a bolt lock feature into the safety as either a three-position safety lever, or a two position bolt-locking safety with a button override like Sako or Browning X-Bolt.
For the stand hunter, you could literally put a rag on your stand and shoot the triangle barrel off it, easily. Flat surface on top of a flat surface.....should perfect. As opposed to a round barrel sitting on the stand, you need something to rest it on. Overall, WOW, I can't say enough of this weapon.
Not trying to be a jerk, but I think that you'd be well advised not to rest the barrel on ANYTHING to take a shot. The upward pressure on the barrel could easily shift the point-of-impact and cause the harmonics of the barrel to change dramatically, causing very unpredictable results. If you rest any part of the weapon on something to steady the shot (which IS a good idea), it should be the fore end of the stock only. The barrel should not touch anything if you can help it.
+1 Driftrider's comments. My buddy recently purchased a Remmy VTR and brought it over so we could scope it. It's a .308 and seemed pretty nice. The trigger was quite good. We put a Sightron Big Sky on it...he loves the gun now.
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If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
I have fired the VTR in a few calibers and have been impressed with them all. cmore you may want to check your rifle over again the stock that the VTR sets on has two plastic knobs molded into the forend, its a pressure beddind system and gives the apperrance of the barrel setting on the forearm. if it's shooting moa or better work your trigger and leave the rest alone otherwise your getting into aluminum bedding blocks, and piller bedding systems. it's kind of a pain with injection molded plastic stocks.
Has anyone fondled/fired the new Remington VTR?
