Remington's Model 700 SPS Tactical 300 Blackout

I am hiding from my wife. I was supposed to shock chlorinate the well this weekend with the hope of getting our drinking water to taste and smell more like chateau lafitte and less like chateau lafeet. It’s not that I am lazy, its just that over the past forty eight years I’ve grown quite fond of my wife and am not sure exactly what our tolerance is for heavily chlorinated drinking water. Anyway…

Introduced in 2012, the 16.5″ barrel Remington’s Model 700 SPS Tactical is available in 223 Remington, 300 Blackout and 308 Winchester. The 223 Remington and 308 Winchester models are also available with a 20″ barrel. What got me to this project rifle was a recent change in Maine’s hunting laws that makes the use of silencers, with few prerequisites, permissible and prior experience with the 300 Blackout cartridge.

The Remington’s Model 700 SPS Tactical has some features that separate it from other variations of the Model 700. As an example. the 16.5″ barrel ends in 5/8″-24 threads that accept threaded flash hiders, muzzle brake and suppressors. When not using a muzzle device, the supplied thread protector is installed.

The stock is a Hogue Overmolded Ghillie™ Green unit. A very solid piece, featuring pillar bedding, a soft surface and stippling within the pistol grip and forearm gripping areas. The Model 700 Tactical has the traditional two position thumb safety and hinged floorplate to facilitate unloading.

Sonic is more than onion rings and chili dogs

The 300 Blackout is kind of a pee wee cartridge. Even in supersonic form, even in my handload supersonic form, the Blackout puts only a couple hundred foot pounds of kinetic energy on the 223 Remington, and it does so at the peril of flat trajectory. Of course, part of the attraction of the 300 Blackout is that is delivers its potential from a 16.5″ barrel, rather than the 24” barrel 223 Remington ballistic standard.

For hunting purposes, the 300 Blackout bullet’s cross section is greater than the 223 Remington. The 300 Blackout’s unexpanded bullet wound channel is larger; 0.078″ square inches versus 0.039″ for the 223 Remington. Blood in game animals runs from cut tissue to the permanent wound channel. Setting aside damage to a vital organ, a 14″ deep wound from a 223 Remington has 3.93″ of surface area, while the 300 Blackout wound surface area is 7.88″.

The relationship of small case capacity, low pressure and comparatively expansive bore volume make for slower gas velocity and less pressure at the muzzle, all factors that make it easier to suppress the 300 Blackout at supersonic or subsonic velocities. Supersonic bullets and resulting subsonic pressure waves will always cause a mini sonic boom, but overall noise levels will be reduced dramatically. With subsonic ammo, the clack of the impacting firing pin is the greatest source of noise. Even without a suppressor, the 300 Blackout is a relatively quiet round. There is no recoil of consequence.

Left to right – Remington UMC Ammunition 300 AAC Blackout Subsonic 220 Grain Open-Tip Flat Base rated at MV 1050 fps and ME 539 ft-lbs. Federal American Eagle Suppressor Ammunition 300 AAC Subsonic Blackout 220 Grain Open Tip Match rated at MV 1000 fps and ME 488.

  Live fire performance

The Advanced Armament SR7 was installed on the Remington Model 700 Tactical with a 90T 1/2×28 Blackout® Flash Hider Mount in just a few seconds. It is multi caliber silencer that also works well with cartridges such as the 300 AAC Blackout, 6.8 SPC and 5.56 NATO.

Factory ammo performed to the plus side within 25 fps of the manufacturers ratings. I’m sure the closed breech and suppressor were responsible for the velocity gain.

If you’ve not shot a suppressed compact rifle chambered for the 300 Blackout, you’re missing out. I spent an afternoon shooting the Remington offhand, from a rest, standing, kneeling, sitting and prone. Quiet, no recoil of consequence, accurate. It was a pleasure to shoot. Factory ammo was shot to assess precision at 100 yards. I’ve shot some rifle with a lazier twist that had difficulty stabilizing bullets over 180 grains. This was not the case with the Remington Tactical as it shot virtually all of the ammo it was fed well. I would attribute its performance to the heavy hammer forged barrel, solid pillar bedded stock and tight 7″ twist. Shooting factory ammo MOA or better, I went ahead and handloaded some supersonic ammo.

Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet material and length will alter net case capacity,  pressure and velocity results. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These data represents maximum loads in our firearms and test equipment and may easily be excessive in other applications. All loads should be reduced by 5%,  and developed following safe handloading practices as represented in established reloading manuals produced by component manufacturers. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.   Cartridge: 300 Blackout  Firearm:  Model 700 SPS Tactical  Min – Max COL: 1.780″ – 2.260″  Bullet Diameter: 0.308″  Primer: CCI 450  Barrel: 16.50″  Reloading Dies: Lee Precision  Max case length: 1.368″  Groups: 3 Shots – 100 Yards SAAMI Specification and MAP 55,000 PSI

COL and Capacity   Load Data & Performance Bullet Type Bullet Weight C.O.L. Inches Net Grains Water   Powder Charge Grains Muzzle Chrono FPS Muzzle Energy Ft/Lbs 100 Yard Group Size “ Sierra MatchKing #2123 HPBT 135 2.075 19.3   H110 18.5 2262 1534 0.9 Sierra MatchKing #2123 HPBT 135 2.075 19.3   Lil’ Gun 18.0 2222 1480 0.7 Berger VLD #30510 HPBT 168 2.260 18.5   H110 16.8 1983 1467 1.0 Berger VLD #30510 HPBT 168 2.260 18.5   Lil’ Gun 16.2 1989 1476 1.1 Berger VLD #30512 HPBT 175 2.260 18.2   H110 15.9 1865 1352 0.9 Berger VLD #30512 HPBT 175 2.260 18.2   Lil’ Gun 15.2 1888 1385 0.7 Hornady Match #30903 BTHP 225 2.260 13.0   H110 12.0 1451 1052 1.2 Hornady Match #30903 BTHP 225 2.260 13.0   Lil’ Gun 11.8 1477 1090 1.1

Conclusions, but not by jumping

I think I like the Remington Model 700 SPS Tactical 300 Blackout best as a supersonic 168 grain deer slayer. Suppressor on to keep the db’s way down, but still plenty of energy, penetration and expanding bullet choices for handloading. An overall nice packaging of the rifle and cartridge.