Help.
Here is the preamble. My buddy bought a Savage 12 (stainless, heavy barrel, pre-accutrigger) mounted in a Chote Maj. John Plaster Sniper stock, in .223 many moons ago. He never shot it and it has been sitting in his safe for years. Just recently he has gotten around to putting a scope (Vortex Viper 4-16x50) on it and start to shoot it.
Here is the problem. It doesn't shoot worth crap. At first we bought some cheap Federal AR-223 55gr ammo. I wasn't expecting much, but the groups are far worse than expected. Usually 2-3" groups at 100 yards. Good shooting conditions, off a proper rest and bench. Then I thought it was just a matter of getting some lead down the pipe to break it in. However, after 100 rounds, it hasn't really gotten better. Then I thought that perhaps he isn't a very good shot. So I borrowed the gun, and cleaned it out well, with solvent and copper remover and scrubbing until the patches come out spotless. Then I tried shooting the crappy ammo with identical results. So I cleaned it again, with JB Bore Paste, and cleaned it to sparkling again. Then I tried the "good stuff". I ran a box of Federal Gold Medal Match 69gr Match Kings through it. It should at least group well with that. Again, crappy groups, likely 1.5"-2" groups. Then I ran a box of Hornady TAP 75gr through it. Same results, but a little bit better, around 1.5" groups, with one group being .75" (somehow). So far I think this gun has about 120 rounds down the pipe.
The groups all seem to be fairly vertical in shape. The Hornady TAP was actually darn near perfectly vertical. The Federal GMM seemed to be mostly vertical, but leaning to the right a little. The cheap 55gr ammo was looser, but again, looking like a vertical spread leaning to the right.
These groups look too regular to be random. I would have expected a more shotgun-like distribution if it was simply crappy ammo. But the good ammo seemed to just highlight the vertical-right-leaning spread. So I suspect there is something mechanical going on. The scope appears to be fine, and average POI doesn't seem to shift. The scope base is on and loctite'd down. The rings are still tight, no loose screws can be detected, so I don't think it is that. If you are familiar with the stock, you will know that the barrel channel if very generous, so there isn't any free-floating issues.
Could it be bedding? I haven't had the opportunity to disassemble his rifle, since it isn't mine to do so. From what I have read this Chote stock has V-shaped aluminum bedding blocks. I wonder if that could be a problem. One exterior hint that raises a eyebrow with me is that the rear tang seems awfully tight against the stock, giving an almost "melted" look, like the stock plastic was heated and formed around the tang. To me that is too close, and makes me suspect that perhaps the bedding blocks aren't being engaged properly, or at least the tang touching the plastic stock is causing some stress.
Any ideas on what to look for to get this fixed up? The gun should shoot much better than it is, especially with the match-grade factory ammo. I can accept that it just doesn't like the cheap AR-223 ammo.
PS: I also own a Savage 12 (w. accutrigger). While the GMM didn't perform great in mine, it still averaged about 0.7" groups. I doubt it is my shooting technique or rest, since on the same day my gun found out it really liked 25.5 grains of Varget with a 69 gr Sierra MatchKing, giving me 0.35" groups.
Here is the preamble. My buddy bought a Savage 12 (stainless, heavy barrel, pre-accutrigger) mounted in a Chote Maj. John Plaster Sniper stock, in .223 many moons ago. He never shot it and it has been sitting in his safe for years. Just recently he has gotten around to putting a scope (Vortex Viper 4-16x50) on it and start to shoot it.
Here is the problem. It doesn't shoot worth crap. At first we bought some cheap Federal AR-223 55gr ammo. I wasn't expecting much, but the groups are far worse than expected. Usually 2-3" groups at 100 yards. Good shooting conditions, off a proper rest and bench. Then I thought it was just a matter of getting some lead down the pipe to break it in. However, after 100 rounds, it hasn't really gotten better. Then I thought that perhaps he isn't a very good shot. So I borrowed the gun, and cleaned it out well, with solvent and copper remover and scrubbing until the patches come out spotless. Then I tried shooting the crappy ammo with identical results. So I cleaned it again, with JB Bore Paste, and cleaned it to sparkling again. Then I tried the "good stuff". I ran a box of Federal Gold Medal Match 69gr Match Kings through it. It should at least group well with that. Again, crappy groups, likely 1.5"-2" groups. Then I ran a box of Hornady TAP 75gr through it. Same results, but a little bit better, around 1.5" groups, with one group being .75" (somehow). So far I think this gun has about 120 rounds down the pipe.
The groups all seem to be fairly vertical in shape. The Hornady TAP was actually darn near perfectly vertical. The Federal GMM seemed to be mostly vertical, but leaning to the right a little. The cheap 55gr ammo was looser, but again, looking like a vertical spread leaning to the right.
These groups look too regular to be random. I would have expected a more shotgun-like distribution if it was simply crappy ammo. But the good ammo seemed to just highlight the vertical-right-leaning spread. So I suspect there is something mechanical going on. The scope appears to be fine, and average POI doesn't seem to shift. The scope base is on and loctite'd down. The rings are still tight, no loose screws can be detected, so I don't think it is that. If you are familiar with the stock, you will know that the barrel channel if very generous, so there isn't any free-floating issues.
Could it be bedding? I haven't had the opportunity to disassemble his rifle, since it isn't mine to do so. From what I have read this Chote stock has V-shaped aluminum bedding blocks. I wonder if that could be a problem. One exterior hint that raises a eyebrow with me is that the rear tang seems awfully tight against the stock, giving an almost "melted" look, like the stock plastic was heated and formed around the tang. To me that is too close, and makes me suspect that perhaps the bedding blocks aren't being engaged properly, or at least the tang touching the plastic stock is causing some stress.
Any ideas on what to look for to get this fixed up? The gun should shoot much better than it is, especially with the match-grade factory ammo. I can accept that it just doesn't like the cheap AR-223 ammo.
PS: I also own a Savage 12 (w. accutrigger). While the GMM didn't perform great in mine, it still averaged about 0.7" groups. I doubt it is my shooting technique or rest, since on the same day my gun found out it really liked 25.5 grains of Varget with a 69 gr Sierra MatchKing, giving me 0.35" groups.
