Australian Long Range Shooter Magazine

The online magazine for the precision rifle shooting enthusiast.

For information and advertising Contact wadcutter@optusnet.com.au

Remington SPS Stainless 300 WSM

This weeks test rifle was a Remington SPS Stainless in 300 WSM calibre. Loaded up with some Winchester Supreme 180 grain ammo it makes a useful hunting rifle for just about any medium to large game in Australia.

Topped off with a nice light Leupold scope this outfit was quite well balanced and would be easy to carry about the hills all day long. All up with scope it weighed in at about 9lbs.

Now some lighter rifles in 300 WSM, can have recoil levels that make shooting unpleasant. This was not the case with this rifle. The soft recoil pad also helped to dissipate the recoil making this rifle quite nice to shoot.

After quickly bore sighting the rifle. It only took a couple of shots to get the point of impact right where I wanted it for a 200m zero.

I then put the rifle aside for a few minutes to let the thin sporter weight barrel cool down before trying the rifle out to see how it grouped.

Once cooled completely. I lowered the rifle into the sand bags and lined up the target.

Conditions were perfect with just a slight left to right breeze. So I fired off two shots at the 200m target . Through the spotting scope I could see that they both landed inside the 40mm centre square. I felt the barrel temperature with my hand and even with only two shots fired the barrel was quite hot so I again put the rifle aside to cool.

While it cooled in the shade, I fired a few shots through my .308 target rifle in preperation for an upcomming match . It is always good to rotate rifles while group testing rather than trying to fire groups with a hot barrel.

With a sporter weight barrel it is common for groups to open right up after the second shot due to barrel heat changing the point of impact.

On a hunting rifle your first shot is what counts and that will be with a cold bore shot. You need to know where these will land.

So after playing with the .308, I fired off one more shot with the 300 WSM. It landed right next to the other two, inside the 40mm centre square to form a three shot group just over 30mm at 200m. Not bad for factory ammo and a stock factory rifle. These WSM cartridges sure do shoot well.

About the only thing that I could fault with this rifle was the trigger. It was very heavy. In fact it was crap. If it was my rifle it would be quickly replaced with an after market trigger.

Home

austargets.com 2012