The quality of our rifles, optics and ammunition has improved so much in recent years, shooting a MOA or sub-MOA group at 100 yards has gone from something the shooting consumer hopes for to darn-near an expectation. It’s pretty much an expectation for this writer, too, and my most recent review firearm did in fact shoot MOA and better.

I must admit, though, I was not expecting this level of accuracy from a new handgun with a 12 1/2-inch barrel.

But that’s exactly what I got with Remington’s new Remington 700 Chassis Pistol (CP), with armbrace, and chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, when I shot a .58-inch group at 100 yards with five rounds of Sig Sauer ammunition.

The 700 CP is an amalgam of sorts. Handgun-length barrel. Bolt action. Magazine fed.  Magpul grip and magazine, and M-LOK-style handguard. SB Tactical armbrace. Threaded for a suppressor or muzzle brake. It is also available in .308 Win with the same length barrel and 300 BLK with a 10 1/2-inch barrel.

But with the above-noted rifle accuracy, the Remington 700 CP should also fulfill several check marks on the list of potential consumers. Tactical. Law enforcement, Hunters. Recreational shooters.

Once I received the new Remington 700 CP in 6.5 Creedmoor, I mounted a Swarovski Z6i 1-6x24mm scope onto the firearm. I gave the bolt action a quick squeeze of gun oil; a patch soaked in bore cleaner came through the barrel clean.

At my outdoor shooting, range, I used three brands of 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition to test the 700 CP’s accuracy and overall functionality: Barnes VOR-TX firing a 120-grain TTSX bullet; Sig Sauer’s Elite Performance Hunting with a 120-grain solid copper projectile; and Winchester USA Ready, loaded with a 125-grain open tip bullet.

Accuracy, as noted, was very good. Shooting from a rest at 100 yards, my best five-shot group was the Sig Sauer at .58 inch. The best grouping with the Barnes came in at .83 inch, with an average of right at 1.0 to 1.10 inch, and the Winchester hovered right at 1.3 inches on average.

The trigger on the 700 CO is Remington’s own X Mark Pro trigger, easily adjustable for pull with a 1/16-inch Allen wrench. Remington rates the adjustment range on the X-Mark Pro from 3.5 to 5 pounds. However, my Lyman Digital Electronic Trigger Pull Gauge measured the pull on my 700 CP at between 2.0 and 2.7 pounds, and it broke very cleanly.

The standard Remington 700 bolt action on the 700 CP was solid and dependable and functioned without a hitch. Initially, the bolt did clank a bit when being worked, but some gun oil and use quickly smoothed out the action.

The Remington 700 CP comes with one 10-round Magpul AICS pattern magazine. It loaded easily into the magazine and popped right out when I engaged the magazine release at the back of the mag well.  

The SB Tactical SB A3 collapsible armbrace worked well, opened easily and was simple to extend. However, no one is very likely to use it as an arm brace. First, the 700 CP itself is pretty stout, with a weight of 6.5 pounds. Add ammunition and an optic, and you are over 7 1/2 pounds. Try balancing that on your forearm.

Also, you would either have to install open sights onto the 700 CP or have an optic with a very long eye relief (a red dot would work, maybe a scout rifle-style scope) to actually be able to aim the pistol with arm extended.

And, frankly, with the accuracy potential of the Remington 700 CP, a shooter will want to shoulder this firearm.  

Now, customers will no doubt have (and should have) questions about the 700 CP’s 12 1/2-inch barrel in 6.5 Creedmoor and the resulting ballistics. The currently popular 6.5 Creedmoor began life as a long-range competition round, and that means longer-barreled rifles. In other words, ballistically speaking, what do you lose with this short barrel in the 6.5 chambering?

To answer that question, I first chronographed all three brands of my 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition with an RCBS Ammo Master chronograph. Firing 10 rounds, and with the 700 CP’s muzzle eight feet from the chronograph, the Sig Sauer averaged approximately 2,400 feet per second (fps), the Barnes and Winchester 2,350 fps.

I plugged the Sig numbers into my GeoBallistics calculator, adding the 700 CP’s barrel twist rate of 1:8. At 100 yards, GeoBallistics pegged the Sig bullet at 2,193 fps and 1,223 foot-pounds of energy (ft./lbs.). At 200 yards, the numbers were 1,996 fps with 1,089 ft./lbs. By 250 yards, those dropped to 1,902 fps and 963 ft./lbs. Bullet drop at the 250-yard mark was calculated at 4.1 MOA, or just a bit over 10 inches, with a 100-yard zero.

Hunters have often used 1,000 ft./lbs. of energy as the minimum energy factor for big-game hunting. I don’t know that 1,000 ft./lbs. has ever been definitively proven as the number, but assuming it is generally correct, the Remington 700 CP should do the job for hunting bigger game out to 250 yards and well past 350 yards for thin-skinned, smaller prey like coyotes.

The unique look of the Remington 700 CP will attract attention and generate questions, so the smart FFL retailer will make sure to have one on display.

“Setting it up on a bipod is a great idea, so customers can see just how portable this 700 CP really is,” said Dillion Jennings, Remington’s product manager for handguns and rimfire rifles.

“The long-range enthusiast will have a blast with this gun,” Jennings said. “In our shooting and testing, we’ve seen incredible accuracy out of that 12 1/2-inch barrel out to 500 yards and beyond. The tactical consumer has something to build on with this gun given the M-LOK compatibility, the threaded barrel, and the AR-style arm brace attachment.”

If you really want to appeal to the tactical crowd, considering tricking out a Remington 700 CP with a suppressor and a thermal or night-vision optic and displaying it prominently. Make sure you stress the 700 CP’s accuracy, too, as many people will automatically assume the shorter barrel will equal sub-par shooting accuracy.

“Once customers understand how accurate the 700 CP can be, especially in 6.5 Creedmoor, I suspect a lot of them will start wondering why they need a rifle with a 20-inch or longer barrel,” said Jennings. “I’d expect some 700 CP sales from these people.”

Of note, Remington introduced the first 700 CPO early in 2019, this one without the armbrace. That model is still being made and is available at a somewhat reduced price point, giving your customers another option.