I posted this over in the gunsmithing section, but since there seems (sorry, haven't the enthusiasm at the moment to read all 929 posts in this thread!!!) to be some chamber hinkiness going on with the 10 TR, perhaps someone can relate how they resolved what I'm seeing with my Savage 10 FCP-SR in .308 Win.
I’ve just recently acquired a Hornady straight OAL gauge in an effort to improve the performance of the reloads I am making and found some very puzzling results that seem to indicate I have a VERY short freebore.
Using the OAL gauge with appropriate modified case and a Sierra Match King 175 grain bullet I get readings from the base of the case to the ogive of ~2.121”. Using a Hornady AMAX 168 grain bullet I get ~2.107" and with a Hornady Match 168 grain bullet I get ~2.112”. (This seems reasonable given the varied shapes of the bullets.)
I decided to measure a set of five 175 grain Federal Gold Medal Match (which use Sierra Match King 175 grain bullets I believe) reading ~2.206” and these definitely jam into the lands a good way. Difficult to measure, but I would venture the assumed 0.085" (i.e., 2.206" - 2.121”) is not far off.
Since the Federal Gold Medal Match COAL is a smidge under 2.800” I’m therefore looking at about 2.715” COAL to use the 175 grain Sierra Match King in an effort to just kiss the lands, which frankly seems a bit strange.
Is there any history of odd chambering on this series of rifles? I did find a post somewhere where someone indicated that Savage occasionally uses a .308 Obermeyer reamer and this sounds a lot like it might be the case here (shorter freebore.)
What really concerns me is a staggering amount of jam into the lands with a common commercial load – roughly 1/12”!! That just cannot be correct, can it?
Should I refrain from firing the rifle until it is inspected? I’ve got 600+ rounds down the pipe, including GMMs with all my fingers and toes accounted for, so I guess this isn’t a timebomb, but being limited to a 2.715" COAL without jamming seems off.
Said rifle is now making the trip to Grech for a look see. Any idea how long that might take?