$600 savage shoots sub 1/2 moa at 500 meters

uncledillers

uncledillers

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So here is my first rifle build. It started off as just just a barrel swap. But with a little to much time creeping the EE it turned into a full build.

26” Shilen stainless select match barrel chambered in 22-250 1-8 twist. Never shot, never installed. I ceramic blasted it to give a nice satin finish.

Action is originally from a savage 11 fcxp3 in 308, side bolt release. It was a large knob bolt handle ( like the ones on the savage 10 PC)
Its wearing a timminy trigger set to 1.5-2lbs.

It is sitting in a Mcmillan A2 rifle stock, which is the best rifle stock Mcmillan makes.( I hate thumb hooks on the bottom of stocks.) This is where the “build” really started, you see the stock was not intletted for a savage, hell it wasn’t even inletted for a short action. I ended up making custom aluminum pillars



and bedded them the action, bottom metal and a mag all at the same time to ensure everything was straight and lined up.



This was a mistake.

I didn’t take into account the extra room the mag needs to tilt out. So I had a ##### of a time getting everything apart again. And ended up breaking the mag release latch and the rear tab of the magazine. That just ment I have a custom one of extended stainless mag release latch now. And ended up re-bedding the action.
I also ended up making a new trigger guard out of solid aluminum as the one sourced with the bottom metal had the bottom bolt release.



Through out the process I chipped the top shell of the stock in a couple of places and had to repair them, so that required a new paint job.

Savage action…….EE
Shillen match barrel……..EE
Timiney trigger…….EE
McMillan A2 stcok………EE
Savage bottom metal horse traded
EGM 20 MOA rail… horse traded
Aluminum pillars……custom
Aluminum trigger guard….custom
Extended stainless mag latch….custom

Total rifle cost $ 675





Now to do up some loads to see what will shoot. So far on the block are Barnes 70gr tsx, Hornady 75gr AMAX, Berger 80, and 90 gr VLDs.
 
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As with any fine build you can get about 50% back if you're lucky... but you can probably do better in this case... lol
 
For the rest of you noobs, EE is "Equipment Exchange"... I had to Google it. (If I'm wrong, please correct me... I'm desperately trying to make sense of these abbreviations)

OP, looks gorgeous!!! One question: Why did you decide to go with the McMillan stock? I'm not criticizing, I just want to know what factors you considered over the competition. Simply curiosity, nothing more.

At the end of the day, looks like a kick ass rig!!! Congrats on the new rifle and happy shooting!!! :)
 
JohnnyKCCO said:
For the rest of you noobs, EE is "Equipment Exchange"... I had to Google it. (If I'm wrong, please correct me... I'm desperately trying to make sense of these abbreviations)

OP, looks gorgeous!!! One question: Why did you decide to go with the McMillan stock? I'm not criticizing, I just want to know what factors you considered over the competition. Simply curiosity, nothing more.

At the end of the day, looks like a kick ass rig!!! Congrats on the new rifle and happy shooting!!! :)
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I had spent a long time trainning with a McMillan A2 years back, so I guess it just holds a lot of personal nostalgia. That and I got a outstanding deal on this one.
 
Chinbullco said:
Needs a longer magazine. Great looking trigger guard.
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I am glad you dig the trigger gaurd. I put a ton of work into it. No machining was used. Only drills, pencil grinders, hand router and a lot of filing. I think the 10 rnd mag will do fine for my needs. Plus there is not a lot of options on the savage for mags.
 
update with grouping pictures

So I have been doing a lot of load testing.

The berger 90gn were a bust, the 1-8 twist wasnt enough to stabalize the 90gn vld,
I tried 75gn Amax , in FL sized lapua brass, under imr 4895 and cci br2. and they shot well, defiantly sub MOA. But they need to be jammed, which I prefer not to do.

I had really great results with the berger 80gn vld. they prefered to be set back .080 thou from the lands. I was using the lapua brass, but fire formed to the chamber this time.
Best results came from 31.8 grains of CFE 223. With that load I was getting 3028 FPS and the next picture is ta 5 rnd group at 100y, from the said load.

`



I also tried the same bullet, brass combo, but with Reloader 17, the followig picture is my last load development shoot at 500m
the best group was 34.9 grains RL17, with a velocity of 3194fps, and a groups measuring 2.070"
 
Buster95 said:
How have you made the trigger guard?
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I started with a solid block of aluminum, 3"x 2" and 3/4 thick. Used band saw to cut rough shape. I used a drill press and a bunch of holes to open up the center, and trigger slot.I then used a pencil grinder ( dremel tool) and a lot of file work to finish it up.
 
Maybe this is a dumb question, but how did you figure exactly how long your aluminum pillars need to be?

Edit: I guess they can only be as long as the thickness of the bottom of the stock? Sorry Im new to this and just trying to wrap my head around it.
 
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156821 said:
Maybe this is a dumb question, but how did you figure exactly how long your aluminum pillars need to be?

Edit: I guess they can only be as long as the thickness of the bottom of the stock? Sorry Im new to this and just trying to wrap my head around it.
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No worrys, its not a bad question, because if you dont get it right length, than your magazine might not function properly.
If you have a existing stock, you can just use a depth gauge and measure from the top of the mating surface, between the action and bedding, and the bottom of the stock where the bottom metal contacts.
 
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