Package rifles

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Farm south of North Bay
Some rifle makers package a low end rifle with an el-cheapo scope.

I was watching a fellow shoot a Savage 308 with the Vortex Crossfire it came with. His 100 yards groups were around 3 inches.

I offered to make him some match ammo. His PMC 150gr FMJ were not going to bring out the best in that rifle.

I took his rifle so I could make the ammo with an appropriate bullet seat depth.

I bore scoped the rifle. If copper is worth $2.50 a pound, I could make some money. So I cleaned with a good copper solvent (Wipe-Out). He said he was using Hoppes #9. That stuff is ok as an after shave, but not much use for cleaning.

I thought it would be a good idea to check the scope base screws for tightness, and give them a dab of blue Lok-Tite. When I took the scope off, the rear scope ring spun around the scope. It had not had the ring tightened on the scope...

The I decided I should bed the rifle. When I put the Allen key on the screw, it wobbled. It was loose.

He had been shooting a rifle with a loose scope and loose action. It is a wonder he hit anything at 300 yards.

I loaded him 400 rounds with Sierra 168 HP Match bullets and 100 rounds with 165gr soft points, for hunting.

With a clean barrel, and bedded action it now groups around 1 1/4" Not bad for a light 20" hunting rifle.

I wonder how many other rifles are in service with loose scopes and actions?
 
Ganderite said:
Some rifle makers package a low end rifle with an el-cheapo scope.

I was watching a fellow shoot a Savage 308 with the Vortex Crossfire it came with. His 100 yards groups were around 3 inches.

I offered to make him some match ammo. His PMC 150gr FMJ were not going to bring out the best in that rifle.

I took his rifle so I could make the ammo with an appropriate bullet seat depth.

I bore scoped the rifle. If copper is worth $2.50 a pound, I could make some money. So I cleaned with a good copper solvent (Wipe-Out). He said he was using Hoppes #9. That stuff is ok as an after shave, but not much use for cleaning.

I thought it would be a good idea to check the scope base screws for tightness, and give them a dab of blue Lok-Tite. When I took the scope off, the rear scope ring spun around the scope. It had not had the ring tightened on the scope...

The I decided I should bed the rifle. When I put the Allen key on the screw, it wobbled. It was loose.

He had been shooting a rifle with a loose scope and loose action. It is a wonder he hit anything at 300 yards.

I loaded him 400 rounds with Sierra 168 HP Match bullets and 100 rounds with 165gr soft points, for hunting.

With a clean barrel, and bedded action it now groups around 1 1/4" Not bad for a light 20" hunting rifle.

I wonder how many other rifles are in service with loose scopes and actions?
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I picked up a used savage axis 243 with the package 3-9 weaver scope at a local auction, for no good reason except the price was right. The bore was copper fouled and took some effort to clean but it shoots sub inch with every load i tried, so far. They shoot well.
 
More than you think, our LGS has no clue on how to mount scopes properly, and or get a rifle ready for a customer, you buy the rifle and put you go with out them checking it over… so if it happens here it must be happening in a few other places!!
 
I've seen several Axis rifle/scope combos with issues, loose rings, bases, slack action bolts etc. In my experience the scopes they stick on the Savage combos are usually garbage as are the aluminum rings.
 
Ganderite said:
Some rifle makers package a low end rifle with an el-cheapo scope.

I was watching a fellow shoot a Savage 308 with the Vortex Crossfire it came with. His 100 yards groups were around 3 inches.

I offered to make him some match ammo. His PMC 150gr FMJ were not going to bring out the best in that rifle.

I took his rifle so I could make the ammo with an appropriate bullet seat depth.

I bore scoped the rifle. If copper is worth $2.50 a pound, I could make some money. So I cleaned with a good copper solvent (Wipe-Out). He said he was using Hoppes #9. That stuff is ok as an after shave, but not much use for cleaning.

I thought it would be a good idea to check the scope base screws for tightness, and give them a dab of blue Lok-Tite. When I took the scope off, the rear scope ring spun around the scope. It had not had the ring tightened on the scope...

The I decided I should bed the rifle. When I put the Allen key on the screw, it wobbled. It was loose.

He had been shooting a rifle with a loose scope and loose action. It is a wonder he hit anything at 300 yards.

I loaded him 400 rounds with Sierra 168 HP Match bullets and 100 rounds with 165gr soft points, for hunting.

With a clean barrel, and bedded action it now groups around 1 1/4" Not bad for a light 20" hunting rifle.

I wonder how many other rifles are in service with loose scopes and actions?
Click to expand...
Contrary experience on my part. I bought a brand new Savage 110 in 243 with a Vortex Crossfire for my oldest (from Tenda). All aligned and torqued to spec. Shot 1,1/2" at 100 out of the box, 3 x Norma Whitetail 100s, 4 rounds after that it consistently gets 1".

I find Hoppes #9 is fine (and smells really nice too :D) if you give the bore a once over with a copper brush first. I've never really needed anything more aggro than that. Even with my used Husqvarnas, all the bores needed was a little more brushing, and Hoppe's did the rest.
 
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A friends rifle had every tightened down and not loose but mid moose hunt he noticed that the claw on one side of one of the scope rings was sheared off and missing.
He just happened to look at it while bored sitting in a tree stand and happened to shoot a moose about half an hour after that. Who knows how long it had been like that.
 
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A few years ago I was out shooting with a friend, He had a Savage package in 300 wm that His Dad gave Him[His Dad obviously didn't love Him], no matter what you did with the cheap rings, they would come off the bases after one or two shots, I set Him up with some spare rings I had, problem solved except it was still a Savage.
 
Twenty-five years ago, so B&W times for some CGNers, my BIL was motivated to get back into hunting by his SIL. They chose .300 WM Savage package rifles. I had already settled on the same cartridge a few years before. I don't know how much tuning the rifles needed, but you can be sure the BIL set the two up the same. One rifle got a mulie that made the Saskatchewan record book, and the other rifle got another mulie that was just outside the minimums. A couple hunts later, I watched the SIL offhand nail a buck between the eyes as it peeked over the dunes.
 
The first rifle I bought for my son was an axis package in .308, the scope sucked and had to be cranked hard to the left to line up with the bore. Tossed that scope and rings, put on a Leup with Burris posi rings. It shot great, then we got a deal on a LH Tikka in .270 and never looked back. I will never buy another package deal from any mfr.
 
Package rifles may have a bad reputation for poor shooting caused moreso by the type of shooters who typically by them. Likely not overly experienced shooters I'm guessing.
 
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I was hunting with a friend this season and he has missed everything he has shot at this year except his first buck he shot at 40 yards. I asked him when the last time he confirmed zero was and with what ammo. 7 years was his answer and he has no idea what ammo he used to zero. So probably a lot more than a guy would think.
 
AB3006 said:
I find Hoppes #9 is fine (and smells really nice too :D) if you give the bore a once over with a copper brush first. I've never really needed anything more aggro than that. Even with my used Husqvarnas, all the bores needed was a little more brushing, and Hoppe's did the rest.
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Hoppes #9 will not clean carbon nor will it clean out baked on carbon in the bore or the ring ahead of the chamber.

A bore scope will tell all on this subject. Without one, I was guessing.
 
I bought a CZ 600 Alpha in 7.62x39 this spring, used some cheap Amazon rings to mount a cheap Bushnell Banner scope on it…. Basically created a cheap “package”…. Damn thing shoots less than 1 MOA at 100 metres. Total cost was $710+taxes. New rifles and scopes, even cheap ones can be good right out of the box, but are probably not as durable as older ones.
 
CaribooBC said:
I bought a CZ 600 Alpha in 7.62x39 this spring, used some cheap Amazon rings to mount a cheap Bushnell Banner scope on it…. Basically created a cheap “package”…. Damn thing shoots less than 1 MOA at 100 metres. Total cost was $710+taxes. New rifles and scopes, even cheap ones can be good right out of the box, but are probably not as durable as older ones.
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lol my buddy did this, amazon rings for his 22LR. We went to the range, not enough windage to get it on paper at 30 yards. I took it all off. Put it all back on, set it up... Tried changing front and back, flipping them, ect... Couldnt get the thing on paper at 30 yards.... Eventually got some proper rings from cabelas... No issues.

Musta got the Friday afternoon ones from amazon lol
 
I should be thankful I read Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in my youth and knew what torque was about before turning my hand to scopes.
 
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