Remington SPS Tactical

Another great offering from Remington Arms and Raytrade is the Remington Model 700 Tactical with Magpul stock and in a favourite of mine, the 300 ACC Blackout cartridge.

Tactical rifles are all the rage but this Rem Tactical can be had as standard in a Hogue stock, upgraded to an A B Arms Mod-X Gen III, or as here, a very useful and what I call semi-Tactical/hunter stock. Adjustable to suit the shooter, the Magpul is a good choice and the short barreled Remmy is sound moderator friendly and with 300 Blackout you have an ultra-quiet steel clanger or efficient small species deer rifle. Overall, a handy, well-made, tough and as the range tests proved very accurate rifle.

Stock adjustable

Magpul use a reinforced polymer to form their synthetic stocks and all have an anodised aluminum bedding block for perfect and consistent bedding of action to stock, to maintain optimum accuracy. It offers a cost-effective upgrade to the standard Hogue stock, having an adjustable length of pull with inserts, more practical cheekpiece height for scope use and a semi Tactical Profile that is in vogue these days. Being an out of the box drop in stock Raytrade supply these so that a short-actioned Remington Model 700 just fits perfectly. Magpul have also made the stock M-Lok compatible; so, accessories that fit this are easily used.

The Magpul ‘bolt action magazine well’ also upgrades the hinged floor design to accept detachable AICS spec magazines, in .223 or .308 length and I had 5- or 10-shot options. These are made of ABS and so do not rattle and feed reliably, even in the shorter 300 ACC Blackout as tested.

The forend is profiled with slab sides and has grip via a raised finger groove, full length and shallowing at the tip and has three vents per side.

The barrel channel allows a free-floated system that will accept all Remington barrel contours, even the VTR triangular profile and up to Medium Palma i.e. 0.920-inch measured 5.5-inches from the action. There is good rigidity via a tapered beam design, so no flex at all and it feels light but solid. The butt section has a 60-degree grip angle for a natural hold and has a ribbed front section and moulded in chequering to the grip.

As an adjustable stock, the length of pull can be varied from 13.0- to 15.0-inches via 0.50 spacers that are supplied. The recoil pad is rubber but there’s an adaptor to fit other aftermarket models. The comb is high anyway but optional cheek risers are available to alter the height but it is supplied with the 0.25-inch standard option, which was good for me.

These M-Lok slots on the forend and bottom allow sling swivels to be mounted and bipods can be fitted to three drill points for studs if you like; I would like at least one fitted as standard personally. Finally, you have 1.25-inch Footman loops to left and right of the butt stock for sling attachments, to allow the rifle to sit flat to the back.

Action

The short action is your typical Model 700 steel tubular design; the overall finish on this Tactical model is the tough scratchresistant satin black oxide finish. The 700’s action is timeless and has been modified, copied and altered more than any other modern-day action. The ‘three rings of steel’, as Remington put it, is the two large forward locking lugs that make for a precise and strong lockup and forms the strength around the recessed bolt head and action ring. It’s a timeless action and one that can be modified to take a vast array of aftermarket products, hence the Magpul stock.

The action top is supplied with a one-piece Picatinny rail, so great for ease of scope mount fitment or NV/thermal device. The semi dog legged and flattened bolt knob remains with pressed in chequering and the metal bolt shroud stops exhaust gases or debris getting to the shooter.

You have a small extractor inset into the bolt face, which works and a small plunger is your ejector system. The interface between barrel and action has a proper recoil lug that seats the action neatly into the Magpul stock for a strong and consistent union.

The trigger is the X-Mark Pro trigger that is adjustable, which helps fine tune the rifle to your preference. This single stage trigger had no creep but is a little heavy at 4.85lbs. The safety is nice and simple with single lever on the right side that is back for SAFE and forward to FIRE; easy to use, uncomplicated and works and if you ‘ride’ the lever with the thumb, it is pretty quiet too.

Barrel and handling

Befitting a Tactical rifle, you can either go for an ultra-long, heavy barrel or short and heavy one, this Remmy had the perfect profile, Heavy Varmint but short, so that you had all the benefits of a rigid barrel for more shots before it heated up and weight loss for better handling, especially when a sound moderator is fitted.

At 16.5-inches long, it’s really short and a perfect match for the 300 BLK round that does not need length for performance. At the muzzle, it was 0.865- inch with a 5/8th 24 pitch threaded muzzle and inside had a fast 1 in 7 rifling twist rate. That fast twist rate is essential to stabilise the heavy bullets used for the subsonic loads but is fine for the light bullets.

Even with a sound moderator fitted, you have a short and very maneuverable rifle, so good for lamping in the confines or 4x4 or woodland stalking, where overhead foliage can be a pain.

Group Therapy

Now the fun part! I fitted the expensive but utterly superb Kahles K318i Scope for precision aiming and an MAE 38mm muzzle can STS mod for a quieter life.

I had some factory ammunition, both Remington and Barnes, distributed by Raytrade and Hornady 300 Whisper, which are compatible seeing as the Black Out is a copy of this round. I only had supersonic factory ammo so had to reload all the subsonics. The 300 ACC Blackout is basically a clone of the vaunted 300 Whisper round.

This is a round based on the 221 Fireball round, although AAC or Advanced Armament Corporation state a .223 case i.e. shortened; well, that is a .221 Fireball! It was originally developed in 2011 for use in the M4 Carbine tactical system and as with the Whisper was a designed for super and subsonic use.

A 110-grain bullet could be launched at 2400fps, whilst for silent subsonic use, a 240-grain plus round could achieve a stealthy 950fps. Its length was perfectly suited for the M4 platform but as a sporting round I love the ability to be used for silent pest control, as well as supersonic small deer species.

First up, were the Hornadys; these V-Max 110-grain loads gave 2371fps for 1373ft/lbs energy, which is pretty efficient and would be good as a woods small species deer load in Great Britain and Roe in Scotland. It’s accurate too; 100-yard, threeshot groups were under an inch consistently, often 0.85-inch.

Barnes 110gr Tac-TX loads achieved 2324fps and 1320ft/ lbs for tight 0.75-inch 100-yard, three shot groups. I really like the long black tip for increased expansion from these bullets.

Remington, with its 120-grain OTFB bullet, achieved 2180fps for 1319ft/lbs average for five shots and solid 1.0- inch groups at 100-yards. Reloads is really where the 300 Blackout performs in my view. I load a lot of 300 Whisper and 300 Blackout, so had plenty of reloaded ammo to try out.

Conclusion

The styling is not personally for me but the Magpul stock is proving very popular, as it crosses the boundaries of Tactical design with Sporter handling. It feels really solid and ready to tackle anything. I had no feed problems with short or longer super/subsonic rounds and with the MAE sound moderator and Kahles Tactical K318i scope attached proved superbly accurate from that lovely short barrel.

Another good value and performing gun from Remington and Raytrade.