Remington Model 700 LSS Limited, 257 Wby Mag, Range Report!
03-13-2009, 12:00 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Coralville, IA. USA
Posts: 3,802
Remington Model 700 LSS Limited, 257 Wby Mag, Range Report!
I picked up my new Remington M700 LSS Limited, 257 Weatherby Mag, from my dealer today. I bought it through gunbroker.com from Frank's Guns in Marcy, NY ("foreverfree" on gunbroker), and the transaction went perfectly and the rifle arrived quickly and in perfect condition.
My first impression unpacking it from the box is that it is a very attractive rifle. The matte stainless barreled action is well finished and the matte blasted finish is not too rough like some bead-blasted matte stainless finishes I've seen. The bolt is nicely jeweled and the action is very smooth. The metal to laminate stock fit is excellent and the barrel runs true down the barrel channel in the stock. Like most Remington 700's, the barrel is not free-floated. There is the usual pressure point hump in the barrel channel about 1.5" from the tip of the fore end. The bottom metal appears to be aluminum and is very lightweight. The fit is very good and the finish matches the action perfectly. The barrel is 26" long and is a magnum contour, and the rifle feels well balanced. The muzzle has a recessed target crown. The black/grey laminated wood stock has machine-cut checkering in the right places to provide a positive grip on the weapon. It also has an attractive backward-sloped 45 degree fore end tip and a comfortable monte-carlo raised cheek piece.
This rifle has the X-Mark Pro trigger. I was a little apprehensive about it after reading mixed reviews. Some people love it, and others hate it and there isn't much middle ground. Overall, I like it. I adjusted the pull weight screw down and would estimate the trigger pull to be about 3 to 3.5lbs. It is remarkably crisp, but does have a bit of noticable overtravel. The overtravel adjustment is different than the old style Rem trigger as it floats in the trigger mechanism and effects both overtravel and safety engagement. Needless to say, I did not and will not mess with it. The sear engagement is good and the trigger is crisp with no creep I can feel, so I'm not going to mess with that either. Both the sear engagement and overtravel screws are obviously NOT mean to be messed with. This is evidenced by the fact that Remington put some sort of very tough epoxy over them to seal them up tight. The pull weight screw is secured only with the usual nail polish seal like the old trigger, which is easily removed by a needle or any other sharp pointed instrument. Overall, I'd say that the X-Mark Pro trigger is pretty good for a stock trigger, as it can be easily adjusted to a good hunting weight trigger. It is not quite as good as the old-style trigger can be, but the old trigger needed more work to get it as good or better than the X-Mark. It's definately not a target trigger by any means. My only real complaint is the trigger itself. The trigger is very wide and it has a smooth curved face. The result is that the trigger feels a little "slippery." It would be much better if it had the old-style vertical grooved texture. The safety is very positive on this rifle as it firmly blocks the striker and the trigger, so it should be a little safer than the old trigger. The safety lever requires more effort than I like, but it would be very hard to accidently bump it to the "fire" position, which is good.
The rifle also has the new "Supercell" recoil pad. The fit to the stock is OK, but not quite perfect. The pad itself is a smoother and more dense than the R3/Limbsaver recoil pad, but it still has a very good amount of give. It's advertised by Remington as being so effective that it makes an 870 pump recoil softer than an autoloader, so we'll see how it really does. The 257 Wby Mag should kick about like a stiff 270 Win, so it's not exactly a mule, but if the pad is as good as the Limbsaver/R3 it should be a very comfortable rifle to shoot.
Overall, I'm very impressed with this rifle as far as first impressions go. I will pick up the scope for it this afternoon, which is a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x50mm mil-dot that I got for a VERY good price! The mil-dot reticle and 50mm objective wasn't my first choice, but the deal was better than the Z-Plex and 44mm obj. version, which I just couldn't pass it up!
Hopefully I'll get the time to whip up some handloads for it and get it out this weekend to see how it shoots. I just hope it shoots as well as it looks. That is, after all, what really counts.
I will post a range report after a I shoot it. But so far I'm very happy with it. As much as I love my Savage 114, this rifle is definitely a much nicer looking and handling rifle. Now if shoots as well as the Savage it'll be a real keeper!
Mike
My first impression unpacking it from the box is that it is a very attractive rifle. The matte stainless barreled action is well finished and the matte blasted finish is not too rough like some bead-blasted matte stainless finishes I've seen. The bolt is nicely jeweled and the action is very smooth. The metal to laminate stock fit is excellent and the barrel runs true down the barrel channel in the stock. Like most Remington 700's, the barrel is not free-floated. There is the usual pressure point hump in the barrel channel about 1.5" from the tip of the fore end. The bottom metal appears to be aluminum and is very lightweight. The fit is very good and the finish matches the action perfectly. The barrel is 26" long and is a magnum contour, and the rifle feels well balanced. The muzzle has a recessed target crown. The black/grey laminated wood stock has machine-cut checkering in the right places to provide a positive grip on the weapon. It also has an attractive backward-sloped 45 degree fore end tip and a comfortable monte-carlo raised cheek piece.
This rifle has the X-Mark Pro trigger. I was a little apprehensive about it after reading mixed reviews. Some people love it, and others hate it and there isn't much middle ground. Overall, I like it. I adjusted the pull weight screw down and would estimate the trigger pull to be about 3 to 3.5lbs. It is remarkably crisp, but does have a bit of noticable overtravel. The overtravel adjustment is different than the old style Rem trigger as it floats in the trigger mechanism and effects both overtravel and safety engagement. Needless to say, I did not and will not mess with it. The sear engagement is good and the trigger is crisp with no creep I can feel, so I'm not going to mess with that either. Both the sear engagement and overtravel screws are obviously NOT mean to be messed with. This is evidenced by the fact that Remington put some sort of very tough epoxy over them to seal them up tight. The pull weight screw is secured only with the usual nail polish seal like the old trigger, which is easily removed by a needle or any other sharp pointed instrument. Overall, I'd say that the X-Mark Pro trigger is pretty good for a stock trigger, as it can be easily adjusted to a good hunting weight trigger. It is not quite as good as the old-style trigger can be, but the old trigger needed more work to get it as good or better than the X-Mark. It's definately not a target trigger by any means. My only real complaint is the trigger itself. The trigger is very wide and it has a smooth curved face. The result is that the trigger feels a little "slippery." It would be much better if it had the old-style vertical grooved texture. The safety is very positive on this rifle as it firmly blocks the striker and the trigger, so it should be a little safer than the old trigger. The safety lever requires more effort than I like, but it would be very hard to accidently bump it to the "fire" position, which is good.
The rifle also has the new "Supercell" recoil pad. The fit to the stock is OK, but not quite perfect. The pad itself is a smoother and more dense than the R3/Limbsaver recoil pad, but it still has a very good amount of give. It's advertised by Remington as being so effective that it makes an 870 pump recoil softer than an autoloader, so we'll see how it really does. The 257 Wby Mag should kick about like a stiff 270 Win, so it's not exactly a mule, but if the pad is as good as the Limbsaver/R3 it should be a very comfortable rifle to shoot.
Overall, I'm very impressed with this rifle as far as first impressions go. I will pick up the scope for it this afternoon, which is a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x50mm mil-dot that I got for a VERY good price! The mil-dot reticle and 50mm objective wasn't my first choice, but the deal was better than the Z-Plex and 44mm obj. version, which I just couldn't pass it up!
Hopefully I'll get the time to whip up some handloads for it and get it out this weekend to see how it shoots. I just hope it shoots as well as it looks. That is, after all, what really counts.I will post a range report after a I shoot it. But so far I'm very happy with it. As much as I love my Savage 114, this rifle is definitely a much nicer looking and handling rifle. Now if shoots as well as the Savage it'll be a real keeper!
Mike
03-14-2009, 05:47 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Coralville, IA. USA
Posts: 3,802
RE: Remington Model 700 LSS Limited, 257 Wby Mag
ORIGINAL: ReDoT
good thing you handload...i have wanted a .257wby for a while now.......have you seen factory ammo lately...DAMN!!!!
good thing you handload...i have wanted a .257wby for a while now.......have you seen factory ammo lately...DAMN!!!!
Mike
03-16-2009, 05:59 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Coralville, IA. USA
Posts: 3,802
RE: Remington Model 700 LSS Limited, 257 Wby Mag
Just got back from the range, and in a nutshell, it's a keeper!
I'm VERY impressed with the accuracy of this rifle right out of the box. I was expecting it to average around 1.5 " groups at 100 yards, but the actual average is 0.795" at 95 yards. This is the average of the 6 measured groups I fired, but even with the sighters and the 20 rounds that were fireforming brass, this is very representative of the accuracy. Some of the fireform loads (7mm Rem Mag, sized down in the .257 Wby FL die and fireformed with a 68gr charge of IMR-7828) ran right in the 1/2-3/4" range. The load groups I measured were the six I fired for the actual load workup, which were used 270 Wby brass necked down to .257 cal, so the shoulders were already correct. The load work up was with the Wby brass, Fed 215M Match primers, IMR-7828 and Barnes 100 grain Tipped TSX bullets seated at 3.170". Overall, the rifle shot wonderfully. Below are the two targets that I shot for the workup. These groups were shot with a minimum of three minutes between shots, and minimum 5 minutes between groupsto allow for adequate cooling (the 257 Wby gets HOT, fast!).
One comment I'd also like to make is about the Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x50mm scope that I have on this rifle. This is, by far, the finest riflescope I've had the pleasure of using. Looking through it in the store didn't even come close to how good this scope is once I got it outdoors. The clarity of the image is awesome, and the resolution is so good that at 14x at 95 yards I could easily read the print in the boxes on the targets below. These was no haziness, no fuzzing around the edges and the image was bright a very clear. I have an el-cheapo Konus Pro 3.5-10x44mm on my Savage, and after looking through the Zeiss all afternoon, when I took the Savage out to shoot a couple groups at the end of the day, the difference was amazing. The Konus is a pretty decent scope for about $100, but it truly sucks compared to the Zeiss. I guess the old adage is true that you get what you pay for, and the Zeiss is worth every penny. The turret adjustments track perfectly, and adjusting one turret had NO effect on the other. In other words, if you adjust the elevation, the bullet tracks true vertical. Secondly, the adjustments were absolutely repeatable. After I got my zero right where I wanted it, I reset the turrets to their zero. Then I turned both turrets through their entire adjustment range both ways, then back to the established zeros and shot a group that was EXACTLY where it was supposed to be. Not even my Nikon Monarch is that precise. I probably over-scoped this rifle a bit (but the deal I got was too good to pass up), and if my heirs don't like it they can remove it when I'm dead.
So I'm very impressed with this rifle, which is essentially stock-out-of-the-box, except for the trigger weight adjustment. A good bedding job might improve the accuracy a little bit, but with as good as it's shooting right now, I don't think I'm going to mess with it.
Mike
I'm VERY impressed with the accuracy of this rifle right out of the box. I was expecting it to average around 1.5 " groups at 100 yards, but the actual average is 0.795" at 95 yards. This is the average of the 6 measured groups I fired, but even with the sighters and the 20 rounds that were fireforming brass, this is very representative of the accuracy. Some of the fireform loads (7mm Rem Mag, sized down in the .257 Wby FL die and fireformed with a 68gr charge of IMR-7828) ran right in the 1/2-3/4" range. The load groups I measured were the six I fired for the actual load workup, which were used 270 Wby brass necked down to .257 cal, so the shoulders were already correct. The load work up was with the Wby brass, Fed 215M Match primers, IMR-7828 and Barnes 100 grain Tipped TSX bullets seated at 3.170". Overall, the rifle shot wonderfully. Below are the two targets that I shot for the workup. These groups were shot with a minimum of three minutes between shots, and minimum 5 minutes between groupsto allow for adequate cooling (the 257 Wby gets HOT, fast!).
One comment I'd also like to make is about the Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x50mm scope that I have on this rifle. This is, by far, the finest riflescope I've had the pleasure of using. Looking through it in the store didn't even come close to how good this scope is once I got it outdoors. The clarity of the image is awesome, and the resolution is so good that at 14x at 95 yards I could easily read the print in the boxes on the targets below. These was no haziness, no fuzzing around the edges and the image was bright a very clear. I have an el-cheapo Konus Pro 3.5-10x44mm on my Savage, and after looking through the Zeiss all afternoon, when I took the Savage out to shoot a couple groups at the end of the day, the difference was amazing. The Konus is a pretty decent scope for about $100, but it truly sucks compared to the Zeiss. I guess the old adage is true that you get what you pay for, and the Zeiss is worth every penny. The turret adjustments track perfectly, and adjusting one turret had NO effect on the other. In other words, if you adjust the elevation, the bullet tracks true vertical. Secondly, the adjustments were absolutely repeatable. After I got my zero right where I wanted it, I reset the turrets to their zero. Then I turned both turrets through their entire adjustment range both ways, then back to the established zeros and shot a group that was EXACTLY where it was supposed to be. Not even my Nikon Monarch is that precise. I probably over-scoped this rifle a bit (but the deal I got was too good to pass up), and if my heirs don't like it they can remove it when I'm dead.
So I'm very impressed with this rifle, which is essentially stock-out-of-the-box, except for the trigger weight adjustment. A good bedding job might improve the accuracy a little bit, but with as good as it's shooting right now, I don't think I'm going to mess with it.
Mike
