Thanks for all the reply and suggestions!
Wrap some 80 grit sandpaper around a wooden dowel or broomstick and sand out the high spots in the barrel channel. It will take you longer to disassemble and reassemble than it will to do the job. Try a 4 inch square black aiming mark on white paper and shoot at the corners. Try different ammo. That's where I would start. After that I would look at bedding.
had a similar problem with my stevens 200. Adjusting and re-tightening bolts didnt work. Just dremeled away abit of material on the contacting side, and also at the very front that was touching the bottom of the barrel.
For the channel ,sand paper wrapped around a deep socket will make it happy.
As suggested sandpaper the channel out more, favouring the side that was tighter and make sure you have enough clearance to slide a thicker business card without touching. Barrels and stocks ‘flex’ as the rifle is fired and may still ‘bump’ together if you don’t have enough separation. For the amount of money invested in a Savage this could be a quick cheap fix whereas a chassis will cost you more than you paid for the rifle. The bipod can also change the harmonics of the overall system, helping or hurting accuracy if the stock isn’t rigid enough.
I have tried removing a bit of material by scraping with Xacto Knife, However It seesm like I haven't removed enough material.
The stock indeed has a lot of protrusion on the infill support, which I've cut and sanded some away, but not all of them yet. Guess that's result of injection molding.
While paper now pass through easier it is still not the "No resistance" like there's nothing there, but more of a "We're in close contact but not quite close enough, and just wide enough for a paper to barely glide through", ie the width you'd typically find CW Paddle contact distance at.
Now the Queston is should I keep going or should I stop? From reading all the comment it says I should Keep going until a paper will slide without any issue and there shouldn't be any "stickiness" in moving the paper
What’s the trigger pull like?
I have a 243 and the pull weight was ridiculously heavy, lightened it up and the groups were sub moa after that and consistent
Trigger pull was set to lightest allowable by the AccuTrigger, it still felt heavy compared to the other gun I got but I have no way of quantifying it.
Some thoughts...
What is the actual capability of the rifle? Some shoot better than others. Is the rifle a sound sub-minute performer?
Can you consistently shoot sub-minute with a rifle capable of sub-minute performance?
Forget FMJ ball for precision. Performance of a rifle can vary with different cartridges. That S&B Match might or might not be the best performer in your rifle. That one group is about a minute. Might or might not be representative.
With bipod and toe bag, sub-minute performance is possible, if the rifle, ammunition and shooter are capable. Maynard's suggestion to shoot at the corners of a black square is a sound one, as is the suggestion to try different ammunition. A precise, repeatable sight picture is easy to get, shooting at the corners of the square.
Pressure from the bipod can affect the forend and barrel contact. Plastic forends flex. Are you shooting with the bipod in "neutral" or are you trying to preload it?
By all means, sand out the channel to insure clearance.
Capability of the rifle I'd say It should out shoot me. I barely have any experience with centerfire benchrest, and with Rimfire at 20 Yd prone I shoot 2MOA group with Canadian Match.
Consistency maybe not so much, I typically shoot 1'' group @ 100yd with my other rifle that is capable of subMOA, especially when in a rest.
Maybe that's due to the cartridge, 6.5CM is more laser beam than .223 probabaly.
so far the S&B HPBT is more consistent than the S&B FMJ stuff, but I should probabaly buy a bit more brand and try them each out.
For the bipod, I shoot by leaning into it slightly, maybe in that sense I preloaded bipod? It does make my shooting more consistent when I try to do that, so I'm not sure.
I'll take the suggestion for the Black square corner and use that next time I'm on range.
Does it use "bedding blocks" or "pillars" I'm guessing that stock might have a considerable amount of "flex" in it, so therefore you may need alot more room in the barrel channel, also if you are shooting off a bipod that can put more pressure in that area. A word of advice, most people don't realize how important the torque value is on the action screws, even 15in pounds under or over, can result in a POA-POI shift.
Try shooting it supported near the mag well on a bag and see how it groups? you may have to replace the stock? or at least send it back to have it serviced?
It uses neither bedding block nore pillar, I believe for Savage's Axis II as it is a budget rifle, after all.
For Torque, is there an easier way other than using a Torque screwdriver? I usually tighten to finger tight using long end, than give it a push from 3 o clock until it locks up. Bottom line is I try to keep 2 screw consistently torqued, but maybe far from the accurate/target torque.
And as of Stock, like Buck1950 have said; the send it back probabaly means I'll be out one less rifle(stirkethrough: toy) to use with cheaper and more affordable ammo as I have 223 as cheap as $.70 a round, but 6.5CM will start $2 a shot minimum.
As of suggestion for supporting near the mag well: I guess I'll try to add another support bag towards the front. the mag doesn't extend outward and instead sits flush with the bottom of the stock.
Unfortunately 'send it back' is usually not good advice for a Savage due to border issues and the time the gun will be 'away'. Unless you don't mind a wait, I'd look at 'fixing it' yourself with some of the suggestions. As for 'centering' the barrel, did you really loosen the action screws enough? Hard to believe it won't move if they are loose. And 'supporting' the barrel in the correct position while you re-tighten them is critical, as is the correct torque like mildot said. You may need to shim the action to 'align' it a bit?
Polishing the internal bits of the action can reduce the trigger-pull, also replacing the 'safety-blade spring' with a proper sized bit of a lighter spring (try part of a bic-pen spring) will reduce the pull a # or so. And Savage makes a 'Varmint' Trigger spring if you can access one from the USA. (a CDN gunsmith may have one, too)
And Tiriacs's point about ammo is well take, too. That S&B may not 'be the one' for your rifle. I've found Hornady Superformance in 73g or 77g work well in my 223-Ruger American Standard, going sub-moa if I'm careful. You had nearly MOA in that upper-left group.
There are lots of possible mods to improve this rifle, if you have the time and inclination.
Shimming the action seems like a more reasonable result, I'd say. I just need to add a bit of material to the left of the action and in theory that will offset the barrel by enough it will be free floating.
I guess I'll try Hornady Superformance; however the barrel is 1:9 twist, which seems a bit low for the heavier stuff. Still Will try that When my wallet spares it.
