New to me Savage tactical rifle

Silverado

Silverado

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 98.6%
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Yesterday I recieved a nice Savage 10FP with the HS Precision stock from another CGN.

It's currently wearing a Bushnell 3200 10X Tactical (Mil-dot) scope.

My first impressions are mixed, but it shows promise.

I hate the scope, just as much as I hated the last one I had just like it. It will be for sale very soon.

I dislike the Accutrigger, just like I disliked the last one I had. Kudos to Savage for a factory trigger with a nice light pull, and very crisp. However, I have short fingers and broad hands; I find that I'm not contacting the trigger shoe squarely, but rather in an oblique fashion while trying to actuate the safety dongle thingy. I was hoping the large palm swell of the stock would improve this, but alas no. I think I'll swap it for a Rifle Basix or Timney.

When I checked the throat length, I found it to be quite short. The OAL with a 155 SMK Palma bullet is only 2.720" touching the lands. This is where I loaded my test rounds; just kissing the lands.

I find the mag system well built, but when loading a single in the chamber and then seating a full mag of 4 rounds, the first single is very difficult to extract. All others fed from the mag extract fine.

I really like the HS Precision stock. It's quite comfortable to get behind both on the bench and prone. I find the tactile feel of the stock finish very pleasing just as I did the stock on my 700LTR. Those guys make good stuff!

Initial test groups are promising. It was raining fairly hard, no wind, but starting to get dark so I was a little hurried.

As I didn't feel like marching through the rain too far, I only put paper at 100y. It took me a few rounds to get the scope on, so I was a bit hurried trying to get some groups in before the light was totally gone. That said, I didn't bother trying to chronograph these strings.

45.5gr of IMR4895 gave me a 5 shot group of 0.863" O/O, or 0.555" C/C.

46gr of IMR4895 gave me a 5 shot group of 0.794" O/O, or 0.486" C/C.

That's the best I can measure them given that the paper got pretty wet; the dark rings around the bullet holes were nice and sharp, but the paper tore pretty badly.

I'll post scans of the targets when I get them hosted on my FTP.

The 2 lower loads were similar, but larger groups.

These, especially the last one, show indications of being MAX LOADS in this rifle. I had anticipated that given what the load manuals say, and running the loads and OAL's in Quickload.

Tomorrow I'll try some loads with Varget, and also some with 178gr Hornady A-max's, but things are looking good so far. Once I get a rough idea if the other powder &/or bullets are going to do noticeably better, I'll stretch her legs out to 200 and 300m.
 
looks like you are well on you way to figuring out this rifle.

Personally, I would skim bed the action and pay attention to fully encase that recoil lug.

Otherwise, I would tune my loads in smaller increments (around these accuracy nodes) at 200yds and look for the load that has the best accuracy AND the least vertical.

1/2 min is about all I would expect from a Savage and you are right on the money.

Jerry
 
Exactly what I plan to do Jerry!

WRT range, I plan to do my load development at 200 and 300m... when it's not dark and raining LOL. I don't think 100y is much of an indicator in this case. I'll also use a chrony to see what the loads are doing velocity and SD/ES wise. I plan to mess with the load in .1gr increments.

On the skim job, are you saying the recoil lug needs to have bedding compound front, rear and sides? I've always been under the impression that only the rear of the lug is usually bedded?

For me the theme of this rifle is 'VALUE'. There are some fellas up here with some pretty nice custom TR rigs, and I plan to show them what a SAVAGE rifle with a ~$400 (Falcon on the way) scope using ammo loaded with LEE equipment can do!

BTW, the groups were shot from a bench, rifle on a Harris bipod and rear bag.
 
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Yes, there are lots of people who suggest a different way of bedding the recoil lug.

I want the entire recoil lug to be supported because ALL recoil forces should be controlled here - NOT the action screws.

When a rifle recoils, it will go back and twist. There will also be some forward motion as the parts rebound (way more in a braked rifle).

If the lug has gaps on the sides or front, the lug does nothing to control the recoil forces in those directions. That transmits the forces to the action screws - BAD IDEA. The action is round so wants to roll under any force.

Having worked on a few alum chasis stocks from various manf, you can tell when the bedding is poor and the rifle been shot. Look in the action screw holes. Most of the time you will see thread marks 'burned' into the alum.

Usually only part way around hole - where the screw was jammed up against the stock.

That is caused by high freq vibration where the action screws is getting banged around. Simply put, that means the bedding is not working and there is slop.

The most common solution is to use high amounts of torque on the action screws to try and clamp these parts together. Again, bad idea as it puts huge strain on the action, bending it in most cases. Then it forces the screws to be under huge tension - something they are not designed for and guess what....

They will stretch. Why action screws keep loosening.

Now I am hearing some suggest using blue loctite AND torque. Crap, that is putting a band aid on a chopped off limb. More bad ideas.

I think the start of the this taping of the lug likely came from gunsmiths who were getting tired of working to get those Rem lugs out of the bedding. The shape of the Rem lug will lock into the bedding causing all manner of grief. Been there, used the same cussing.

so putting in the gap, makes it a no brainer to remove. Easy, quicker, more money per bedding job. Good for the smith, bad for the rifle.

Another smart design in the Savage rifle is the sig taper in the lug. These lugs never get locked in place and once the bedding cures, it is fully supported from torquing. Great stuff.

you may not gain a huge increase in acccuracy but your groups will be much more consistent with no flyers. That really shows up at LR when you are tuning the vertical out of your loads. Can't do it if your action is wiggling around.

When bedding, keep an eye that the action is not bent when you tighten the action screws. The worse stock I worked on needed to be built up 1/8" to get the action to sit level/stress free.

You could see the action bend when the action screws were tightened and loosened.

fun stuff...

Jerry
 
@ Jerry: Just looking at the underside of the action and the Al bedding block...

Should I avoid the small 'tab' at the rear of the lug up near the barrel nut, or bed that in as well? It has a fairly large relief area cut out of the aluminum around it.

Thanks.
 
JOOC, what is the finish on this rifle? Savage lists it as matte blued, but it sure looks more like parkerizing or something to me?
 
Here are the pics of the groups from last night. OOPS! Those are huge LOL. I'll resize them.

Savage%201st%20groups%20001.jpg

Savage%201st%20groups%20002.jpg
 
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Does anyone know of the Canadian ordering procedure (phone or website) and the price of the weapon out of box? Is this shipped with the crappy glass that the 30-06 is shipped with?
 
Yes, bed the whole front end of the action and the barrel nut if there is alum under it.

When it cures and you pull it apart, there will be negative of the barrel nut and the indents where the wrench goes. I knock those off so that it is smooth. They do line up again as long as you don't move the nut. I change my pipes all the time so get rid of that to ease barrel swaps.

When done properly, the action should be a snug fit in the stock. Feels like you don't need action screws to fire. Should be a glove fit.

You might find your loads need a bit of tweaking but you are still testing so that is ok.

Enjoy...

Jerry
 
cdwstann said:
Does anyone know of the Canadian ordering procedure (phone or website) and the price of the weapon out of box? Is this shipped with the crappy glass that the 30-06 is shipped with?
Click to expand...

If you are talking about the tactical Package, it comes with a Leupold tactical scope. Frontier has one listed on their web-site, send Marlin a PM, he is fantastic to deal with.
 
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