savage 116 accuracy

mikepos said:
I'm not too worried about spelling but lack of puncuation makes me skip reading the post, not worth the effort.

Back on topic, I know it's late but I want to mention my 114 american classic, shoots fmj american eagle 150gr buckshot patterns but shoots prvi partizan 180gr sp around moa. The type of ammo was never mentioned.
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Mikepos,
I have a model 11 in .308. Its sprays win and fed 150gr factory ammo all over the place too! 165 and 180's typically shrink the groups more than half! Ironically milsurp is much more accurate than the commercial 150gr ammo, however sounds like yours isn't with the AE.

Savage uses a 1:10 twist on their .308's , most others go 11 or 12. Now that shouldn't make a huge difference but will definately favour the heavier bullets - at least in theory. I assume mine does a bit better with the milsurp (which are probably around 150 gr as per usual) as they are longer, than the other 150's I have used.

Perhaps a monometal 150gr would do better, due to them being longer?

I am happy though as I see the 165's being a great all-round weight in the .308
 
Seeing how I just picked up my Savage 116 rifle in the same calibre on the 27th it should be interesting to see if mine behaves the same way.

I was also going to pick up the same scope too...but I'm leaning towards a 3-9 40x, rather than the OP's 4.5-14
 
I have a new Savage 116 Stainless in .30-06 Sprngfield which has a 2.5-10x40 Bushnell 4200 scope on it.
Remington ammo is dirt cheap at Lebarons so I bought a bunch of .30-06 ($16.36 per box) to break the rifle in and to generate a supply of brass.
It shoots decent 1" groups with the factory 150 grain Remington core-lokt pointed soft points and 1.5 - 2" groups with the 180 grain core-lokts which I discovered after I pushed 3 boxes of each through the rifle today at the range while breaking the barrel in.
The above mentioned groups are well within MOM (minute of moose) hunting accuracy but the rifle being a Savage should be capable of much better.
I've always had good luck with the reasonably priced Sierra Game King and Hornady Interlock bullets.
Now that I have a supply of once fired brass I want to develop a good hunting hand load for the Savage 116 that pushes a quality 180 grain soft point bullet like the ones I mentioned.
Can someone else who owns a Savage 116 help me out?
I could start from scratch using the manuals but perhaps somebody can fast track me to a good load to fine tune for my particular rifle.
Specify powder, powder weight and primer used, bullet seating depth (ie. 'seated to 1st. or 2nd. cannelure' or loaded cartridge OAL), maximum load, compressed charge or not, whether crimp is light heavy or none, full length resize or neck re-size, and chronographed velocity and accuracy achieved.
 
Not the same rifle but close. I have the 114 euro in '06 and factory rounds sucked. I worked up a load using win brass, IMR 4350 @ 55gr1, CCI primers and Hornady IL 180 gr rn. First 3 shot group at 100 was 3/8" a
nd the second was 5/8" with stong winds.
 
I just sold a 114 american classic and it did bad with cheap american eagle 150gr fmj but did 1" 3 shot groups with 180gr sp prvi partizen, both at 115 yards. Even that size groups were bigger than they should be because of a wobbly bench. The savage was a shooter for sure but I never worked up a load for it. IIRC it had a 1-9 rate of twist which suits the 180gr bullets.
 
99savage300 said:
Not the same rifle but close. I have the 114 euro in '06 and factory rounds sucked. I worked up a load using win brass, IMR 4350 @ 55gr1, CCI primers and Hornady IL 180 gr rn. First 3 shot group at 100 was 3/8" a
nd the second was 5/8" with stong winds.
Click to expand...

Good group.
I scouted Handloads..com and I saw IMR 4350, Sierra Matchking and Gameking 165-168 grain SPBT and HPBT bullets and CCI-200 primers spoken about in great favor in relation to the Savage 116 in .30-06.
My groups with the factory ammo spread out when I went from 150 - 180 grains so I'm thinking the barrel twist rate favors the lighter bullets so the 165 grain bullets might be better than the 180s.
Handloads.com also mentioned Norma brass which costs a lot even if you can find it here in Canada. Remington brass will have to do now that I've got 120 once fired rounds of it.
I hope that Epps has the IMR 4350 powder and the Gameking bullets.
I'm going to full length size instead of neck size because I will be using the rounds for hunting and I don't want any extraction problems in the field.
 
kayaker1 said:
Mikepos,
I have a model 11 in .308. Its sprays win and fed 150gr factory ammo all over the place too! 165 and 180's typically shrink the groups more than half! Ironically milsurp is much more accurate than the commercial 150gr ammo, however sounds like yours isn't with the AE.

Savage uses a 1:10 twist on their .308's , most others go 11 or 12. Now that shouldn't make a huge difference but will definately favour the heavier bullets - at least in theory. I assume mine does a bit better with the milsurp (which are probably around 150 gr as per usual) as they are longer, than the other 150's I have used.

Perhaps a monometal 150gr would do better, due to them being longer?

I am happy though as I see the 165's being a great all-round weight in the .308
Click to expand...

LOL I forgot I posted that and on the same page repeated myself months later... mine was a 30-06 and I like heavier bullets here in NB, 165-180gr so I was all set... just got an a7 and if it does what the savage did I'll be very happy. :adult:
 
Rosebud said:
Good group.
I scouted Handloads..com and I saw IMR 4350, Sierra Matchking and Gameking 165-168 grain SPBT and HPBT bullets and CCI-200 primers spoken about in great favor in relation to the Savage 116 in .30-06.
My groups with the factory ammo spread out when I went from 150 - 180 grains so I'm thinking the barrel twist rate favors the lighter bullets so the 165 grain bullets might be better than the 180s.
Handloads.com also mentioned Norma brass which costs a lot even if you can find it here in Canada. Remington brass will have to do now that I've got 120 once fired rounds of it.
I hope that Epps has the IMR 4350 powder and the Gameking bullets.
I'm going to full length size instead of neck size because I will be using the rounds for hunting and I don't want any extraction problems in the field.
Click to expand...

Actually I couldn't believe the groups. I was starting to think the rifle was a lemon, but with the results on paper, I guess I am wrong about the lemon.
I need to get to the range to make sure of the load, just don't have a free minute. When I do I will post the confirmation results.
 
If I won an Alaskan moose hunt in a draw and had to be at the airport tomorrow morning with my gear packed I'd hunt with that Savage and those factory Remington 180 grain core-lokt cartridges.
1.5 MOA is moose hunting accuracy and I've seen some pretty big moose shot with factory ammo made by Big Green from rifles with iron sights.
30 years ago we'd think nothing about grabbing an old Lee Enfield .303 BR bought at an army surplus store for $25 with a box of ammo thrown in and go moose hunting.
Now a moose gun has to have 3000 ft-lbs. ME and print 1/2 MOA groups or it isn't suitable.
My first Wyoming moose was shot with, you guessed it, a Winchester Model 94 in .30-30. It had a Weaver K-4 mounted on it with an oddball mount from B-Square that was further jury rigged in our shop so that the scope was elevated above the rifles top ejection port.
If 3 bullets landed in an aluminum pie plate on a fence post at 35 paces the gun was deemed ready to hunt.
I just know that Savage can do a whole lot better than 1.5 MOA and me and my ancient old RCBS Rockchucker are up for the challenge.
 
435er said:
hullo, i'm having some trouble with new rifle and am ,looking for some input. i bought a savage 116 fcss in 30 06 with a 4.5-14/40 vx 3 leopold, from what i've seen and heard about savages i was expecting it to be fairly accurate but at 100 yards the best groups i can get are 3.5 inches and up,i honestly am not that bad of a shot. i have the bases and rings tight. any input would be appreciated thanks.
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I just order a model 16 FCSS in .308 because of the Accu-stock and Accu-trigger. Yours has the Accu-stock as well, did it not? The Accu-stock is suppose to be more rigid for accuracy, so why do you need to bed the stock or replace the barrel for that matter?

Not trying to be a jerk, just want to know for my own rifle.

Is the Accu- stock just Accu-crap or what?:redface:
 
MDG3 said:
I just order a model 16 FCSS in .308 because of the Accu-stock and Accu-trigger. Yours has the Accu-stock as well, did it not? The Accu-stock is suppose to be more rigid for accuracy, so why do you need to bed the stock or replace the barrel for that matter?

Not trying to be a jerk, just want to know for my own rifle.

Is the Accu- stock just Accu-crap or what?:redface:
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As previously posted my Savage FCSS in .30-06 gave me about 1 MOA with 150 grain Rem core-lokt psps and 1.5 MOA with the Rem 180 grain core-lokt psps. This is not fantastic accuracy but good enough for hunting.
I fired 120 shots yesterday at the range breaking in the barrel and generating brass for reloading.
I'm going to START my hand loading development with the 165 grain Sierra Gameking bullet, 55-57 grains of IMR 4350 powder, CCI-200 primers, Remington once fired brass, C.O.L - 3.178 inches.
This load has been recommended to me by a friend and as such is UNTESTED in my rifle. He was getting around 2880 fps with his Shooting Chrony from a 24" barrel.
His groups were from 1/2 - 5/8 inches at 100 yards.
(this is an UNPROVEN load so use at your own risk)
And remember that each rifle, even rifles of the same caliber, make, year and model, are different. What works well in my gun might not work well or be safe in your gun.
 
MDG3 said:
Is the Accu- stock just Accu-crap or what?:redface:
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The proof is in the pudding.
A marketing fact of life is that where you find suckers with disposable incomes you'll find gimmicks to separate them from their hard earned dollars.
How can you separate the chaff from the wheat?
You buy a gun and take it to the range and test it or even better accompany a proud new owner to the range and watch or even help him test his gun.
I have limited faith in range reports as groups have been known to shrink by 50% when transcribed from the target paper to the keyboard. Especially those 'sponsored' range reports we read so often. They call it the ballistic bs factor.
It's cheaper to learn from the experience of others whether any of that accu stuff, triangular shaped barrels, etc. really works or is just bull crap and marketing hype.
 
I upgraded the barrel to a 26in match grade. Looking back it's hard to say whether it was the original barrel or the stock that was responsible for the poor groups initially, because i replaced both at the same time. Most likely both upgrades helped, and i don't regret either. Have you shot yours yet? Happy shootin.
 
I think that the synthetic stocks before the Accustock came out have a bad history for spraying bullets, because of the amount of flex in them. I recently bought a Savage 116 FCSS in .300Win Mag with the Accutrigger and Accustock. Its on order from Epps. Once I get it and take it to the range, if it does'nt shoot atleast 1 1/2" MOA or better(like the Savage website says is guaranteed) then I will be sending it back to the Factory.

I have heard that the Accustock really makes a big difference in the Synthetic stocks.
 
blueflash said:
I think that the synthetic stocks before the Accustock came out have a bad history for spraying bullets, because of the amount of flex in them. I recently bought a Savage 116 FCSS in .300Win Mag with the Accutrigger and Accustock. Its on order from Epps. Once I get it and take it to the range, if it does'nt shoot atleast 1 1/2" MOA or better(like the Savage website says is guaranteed) then I will be sending it back to the Factory.

I have heard that the Accustock really makes a big difference in the Synthetic stocks.
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IIRC the accustock addressesd concerns with flimsiness mostly based on perception or use of a bipod. The earlier stocks had no effect on accuracy and I don't recall seeing any credible reports of noticeable improvement in accuracy with the new stocks. I'm not saying there wasn't, but your condemnation of the older synthetics is misguided.
 
I have a savage 111 fcxp3, similar but no accu stock nor accu trigger, I upgraded the scope as well to a bushnell 3200, still had random shots, changed the rings and bango was shooting consistently just over MOA, maybe 1.5" groups i was SUPER happy! Also you have to fire at leastt 60-100 rounds to just break in your rifle. Plus shooting positions helped a lot learned some new techniques I've seen from other shooters, helped a lot in my bench performance.
 
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