Gun Review: Remington Model 700 VS

Go on. Admit it. You want a precision rifle. For hunting. Target practice. Picking off zombies from your bedroom window. Does it really matter why? No. The only thing that matters is how much. A well-sorted precision rifle with pillar bedding, free-floated barrel, high quality bases and rings and killer optics will melt your credit card faster than a butane blowtorch. Alternatively, you can scratch that itch for Old School Cool with a Remington Model 700 VS. With a few odds and ends, you can built a precision setup that will exceed your shooting capabilities (in a good way) without breaking the bank. Yeah, let’s do that.


Why not? The Remington 700 bolt action rifle has been a tried and true platform since America embargoed Cuba (1962). The police still turn to the 700 (PSS) for sniper duty, while the Army and Marines deploy 700 variants (the M24 and M40). And no wonder. It’s rugged, simple and, above all, accurate.
The Remington Model 700 VS (Varmint Synthetic) features the legendary Remington 700 short action receiver nestled in an HS Precision composite stock. The rifle has a full receiver-length aircraft-grade aluminum bedding block for maximum stability.
Our VS came with a 26-inch free-floated heavy contour barrel and concave crowned muzzle, chambered in .308 Win with a 1 in 10” twist. The barrel and receiver have a matte finish, while the two-lug bolt is nicely jeweled. Remington sends the rifle from the factory drilled and tapped for scope mounts.
Nothing screws-up a precision rifle’s ergonomics faster than a narrow trigger. Some manufacturers forget that trigger control isn’t everything—it’s the ONLY thing. Fortunately, the VS’s adjustable trigger is wide enough to comfortably accomodate the index finger’s entire pad. It also sports a series of vertical grooves that give the shooter plenty of non-slip contact surface.

Remington has set the VS’s trigger to break cleanly and crisply at around three pounds with virtually no take-up and no creep. You get 4+1 chances to send lead downrange without reloading; there’s a hinged floor-plate magazine for unloading ease.
The main difference between the 700 VS and the PSS: the VS’s fore grip is not as wide, the bolt handle is smaller and the civilian rifles comes with only two sling swivels. In terms of accuracy, the mass-produced VS runs with the big dogs.
The $1200 Leupold Mk4 optic is the standard by which precision rifle optics are measured. Meanwhile, we fitted our VS with a $500 Shepherd Model 310 P2 on Leupold rings and two piece bases. The Shepherd P2 is a 3x10x40 adjustable objective scope featuring an innovative stadia reticle that provides a highly effective Bullet Drop Compensator (BDC) out to 1000 yards.

Shepherd P2 Reticle

Our test VS had a major issue right from the start. The extractor refused to grab onto and extract the empty casings. Tapping a spent casing out of the chamber with a cleaning rod after every shot doth not a great shooting session make.
Under most circumstances, the FTF would have been a deal-breaker. But the few shots fired proved the Remington rifle was capable of serious accuracy. Remington customer service told us to send the rifle to a factory-authorized repair shop in Las Vegas.
When the gun returned, the extractor still wasn’t working properly. Worse, the composite stock was chipped at the rear of the action. Remington sent me a new shipping label to return the VS to the factory. Nine days later, the Big Brown Truck brought the rifle back to papa.
The extractor was properly riveted and functional. Remington had polished the chamber. I added a Harris ultra-light bipod, a butt-cuff ammo carrier and a sling. Then it was time to get down to business.

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Category › WEAPONS