The Seven Project Part IV
The. 223 Remington Range Day
By Joseph D'Alessandro Editor | RealGuns.Com

A box of Winchester 55 grain ammo, $5.49. A cup of range coffee, 50 cents. A video of your wife shooting your chronograph dead ? .....priceless. I may be reported missing by the time you read this, so I better be a little more precise in my explanation. 

I had a hard time getting the PACT to read the 55 grain Winchester bullets, too much sun probably, so I cranked the sky screens up a little to get the bullets closer to the sensors. Then I asked my wife if she would shoot the next few groups while I logged the factory ammo velocity. Unfortunately, muzzle blast made the pan head on the tripod work loose and tip the front screen progressively upward, until it was in the line of fire. My compliments to PACT; it took a shot through the sensor before it gave up the ghost. Fortunately, this occurred at the end of the session when we were essentially done for the day.

I like this little gun and cartridge. I particularly liked sending a nickel's worth of bullets downrange instead of those one dollar .416 WM globs I'm normally throwing. The Remington feels heavy for its physical size, well, maybe a little too thick. This came in handy since I forgot my mechanical appendage rest, and had to result to using a few small sand bags. Yes, this basic support still works pretty well.

The .223 Remington provides a little muzzle jump to let the shooter know it's not a rim fire cartridge, but it was nice to be shooting a small gun that didn't kick the crap out of me every time I pulled the trigger. After a day at the range with the 1895G with hot 400 grain handloads, I was looking for a priest to perform an exorcism on that little gem, or last rights on me. Not the case here, lots of fun, inexpensive to shoot, and not bad on accuracy. I had some white box Winchester 55 grain ammo that shot at or under an inch until it was gone. I had some ill conceived handloads that went maybe 1 1/2" - 1 3/4", but I had some good ones that consistently put 3 shots under 1", I had a few at less than half that size.

A quick note on some of the accessories I added to the gun. The Latigo sling is neat, it really is easy to use and makes for a very steady hold while bent into pretzel like positions for sling assisted shooting. 

I'm very old, and it took several attempts to retrieve and revive me from the sitting position. Fortunately, the light at the end of a long dark tunnel I saw was only me getting too close to the ocular on the Burris compact scope, and not death brought on by loss of circulation. The Latigo can be purchased from Brownells for a modest price - nice piece of leather. 

The Burris Compact scope worked well, particularly just below 9x, and on down. The Warne mount system kept everything nicely in place. I did use the quick release features a couple of times, and the scope did return to zero. A very similar set up has made it's way to my Compact Model 70 .243, a decision based on the success of this combination. I bought my Burris scopes from MidwayUSA, now with their new much improved online ordering system, and the Warne components from Brownells. 

As the day wore on, the trigger pull gradually increased, making it more difficult to hold on target for recording group size. At the end of the day the trigger pull registered 5 1/2 lbs, or about 2 1/2 lbs too heavy for me. Still, the Model Seven was accurate for a sporting rifle, even comparable to some of the heavy barrel varmint rifles I've seen; 8/10ths on the left and 6/10ths on the right. Like I said, I liked this little rifle.

Inexpensive Winchester white box 55 grain ammo averaged 3214 fps, and didn't vary shot to shot by more than a few fps. It is inexpensive and available at very low sale prices, or in bulk quantities. I can reload for about $1.20/box with bulk bullets from Remington or Winchester. Even if I save $4/box, it would take some quantity to make a day in front of the loading press more than just fun. Where handloads really pay off is when premium ammo is desired. Federal runs about $14/box, Winchester X for about $11/box. I can put together loads with excellent bullets for less than $5/box and work toward higher levels of accuracy than factory loads might provide. The following are the results of this handloading effort -

Hand Load Data

Most of this data is related to maximum loads and none are starting points. These are not suggestions for others, only notes relating to my own handload results for this cartridge.

.223 Remington  - Model Seven Remington 12" twist   2.260" COL   C=Compressed   1.750  CL   RCBS Dies   CCI #450 Primers   20" Barrel

Bullet Mfg Weight Powder Grains Velocity Energy 3 Shot Group  Speer TNT 50 Win 748 29.0 3402 1285 1.3 Speer TNT 50 AA2520 29.0C 3387 1273 0.5 Speer TNT 50 IMR4198 23.0 3291 1202 0.7 Speer TNT 50 IMR3031 26.0C 3349 1245 0.5 Speer TNT 50 IMR4895 27.0C 3338 1237 1.4 Hornady SP/SX 50 Win 748 29.0 3390 1276 0.9 Hornady SP/SX 50 AA2520 29.0C 3373 1263 0.5 Hornady SP/SX 50 IMR4198 23.0 3306 1213 1.0 Hornady SP/SX 50 IMR3031 26.0C 3351 1247 1.2 Hornady SP/SX 50 IMR4895 27.0C 3345 1242 0.9 Combined Tech BST 50 Win 748 29.0 3418 1297 1.0 Combined Tech BST 50 AA2520 29.0C 3392 1277 0.6 Combined Tech BST 50 IMR4198 23.0 3319 1223 0.9 Combined Tech BST 50 IMR3031 26.0C 3354 1249 0.3 Combined Tech BST 50 IMR4895 27.0C 3339 1238 1.1 Remington PSP 55 Win 748 28.5 3358 1377 1.2 Remington PSP 55 AA2520 28.5C 3370 1387 0.7 Remington PSP 55 IMR4198 22.5 3269 1305 0.7 Remington PSP 55 IMR3031 26.0C 3326 1351 0.5 Remington PSP 55 IMR4895 27.0C 3278 1313 1.7

I expect to shoot this rifle frequently and I'd probably like to try optics with a bit more power to see if there is more accuracy potential in the Model Seven. I also penciled in for an article on cleaning up a trigger on an M700 Remington, it's a perfect candidate.

More "The Remington Model Seven":
The Remington Model Seven...a great place to start
The Seven Project Part I Quick Detach Mount System
The Seven Project Part II Handload Development
'The Seven Project Part III - even more development
The Seven Project Part IV
Handload Data - 223 Remington

Thanks,
Joe