Savage Hunter XP .223 Now with updated trigger

[d4ve]

Just bought a Savage 11 Hunter XP in .223 (my first centerfire) that I am hoping to slowly transform into boom stick so accurate it shoots negative MOA. Then I remembered that the internet told me that Savage guns are negative MOA accurate right out of the box and so I took it out and put through 30 rds just to check. I was going to go with the stevens 200 but locally they always seem to be out of stock, back order only, or close to the same price as this one was (460) and not have the scope or the detachable mag. Anyways here are some pictures of the unboxing, disassembly and shooting of afformentioned boomstick:


First Look by davedamen, on Flickr

Contents of box:

Unboxing by davedamen, on Flickr

No bench for me just prone with a cheap bipod from the bed of a pickup:

Shooting position by davedamen, on Flickr

The target is just to the left of the old wooden cattle fence just cardboard wired to some stakes:

View of the target by davedamen, on Flickr

First 5 shot group using AE 55gr actually shooting at a target out of picture, boresight was about 4" low and 12" right:

1st Group by davedamen, on Flickr

I was supprised at how loud this thing was. I have been shooting .22lr for the last few years and I was expecting this thing to be louder but not painful. Improvisation to the rescue:

Improvised Hearing Protection by davedamen, on Flickr

2nd group was right off the target as I adjusted the my windage the wrong way and over calculated my elevation. My third was a bit of a guess as I didnt bother to count clicks when I did my first adjustment. Again I was shooting at a target out of frame, the target I was aiming at was about 14" to the left:

3rd group by davedamen, on Flickr

4th group was alright elevation wise but again I adjusted my windage backwards so I was about 20" to the right. The last of my AE 55gr ammo:

4th group by davedamen, on Flickr

5th group, first group with Winchester whitebox 45gr varmint rounds. Getting close to proper zero. It is actually the target I was aiming at that is shown in the picture:

5th group by davedamen, on Flickr

6th group acually shows some potential (about 1.25") and looks like only 4 shots but the hole in the 8 ring is actually two. I think I need cobble together a rear bag as a half limp fist resting on a box of viper .22lr was not super comfortable:

6th group by davedamen, on Flickr

All in all it was a little windy and a little bubba methodology but looks like I should be able to MOA from this gun out of the box and hopefully much better with some aftermarket accessories and more time behind the trigger.

Of course after my hard day at the range I had to tear the old girl down and clean her up good. So here is a picture of it naked:

Sans Stock by davedamen, on Flickr

Now for the experts out there whats with the trigger group on this thing. I thought that it would the same as the pre accutrigger model 10/110. It looks like it will still take the rifle basix sav-1 trigger but I am not sure. I was also hoping to follow these steps http://www.varminthunters.com/tech/savage/ but I think only the stoning portions will apply and I dont want to do any fiddling unless I can drop a riflebasix trigger in to fix my screw up.

Anyways thanks for looking. As I start adding parts and doing modifications I will update.

Dave

 

[Mystic Precision]

The RB1 does fit.

The factory trigger can be lightened to a degree and adjusts similar to the accutrigger

Bedding and handloads will really help to shrink those groups.

Jerry

 

[Hotwheels81]

Check out my "little Stevens that might" thread to see what my experiance with factory VS handloads were... The RB1 trigger is a very nice touch over the 6-8lb factory triggers but if your used to opening a lot of beer cans i guess the factory trigger could be manageable

 

[jjohnwm]

I've always strived for sub-MOA accuracy from my rifles...I never even thought of going for "negative MOA"!

Does that mean that each shot erases one of the existing holes in the target?

Kidding aside, you don't need to actually remove your barreled action from the stock for simple cleaning. Constant removal and replacement will probably demand constant fine-tuning of your zero.

Cool hearing protectors...does that actually work at all? If it does that's a nifty bit of improvisation.

 

[warrenb]

When did they start making the dbm package guns in .223? I had to make convert one. Or have I been living under a rock.

You need ear plugs. I bet you shooting improves once you take that brass out.

 

[d4ve]

Thanks for the confirmation on the RB1 trigger Jerry. I have been looking at the oversize bolt knobs and the egw bases that you sell and I think that those will be my first accessories. Trigger work and bedding are my next step two steps, the handloads will have to wait as I need to get a kit but hopefully that wont be too far down the road.

I am subscribed to your thread Hotwheels. I was jealous when I saw you had found a stevens 200 in .223 for $369 local. The only local stevens .223 I have seen was $440 and after some of the horror stories I read about cabelas and wholesale online purchases I thought I would stay away from them, plus it was still over $400 to get them shipped. I got this one at cabelas in edmonton for $440 and I saw that somebody managed to sell the scope and rings for around $50 so I figured it was a bit better deal with the dbm option.

John, the improvised hearing protectors totally help. Certainly not as comfortable or effecient as squishies but definately took the worst of the noise out of the report. I mostly took the stock off to get a look at the trigger group as well as to check out the stock construction.

Warren, this hunter xp package is new for 2012 I believe. I think it is the same as 11fcxp package that they offered for the last few years. The mag seems alright, holds 5 .223 not the advertised 4 which I thought was nice.

 

[Hotwheels81]

What is the action screw spacing on your stock? 4.4" or 4.25"?

Just my .02 here but I would invest in better optics and reloading before you drop a pile of money on "bling"... I are using my Lee 50th kit with a set of there premium dies for all my reloading for my Stevens project and you can see the "lightning in a bottle" effect going from 55gr factory ammo to 69gr Sierra match kings... If you want fast results spend $250 on reloading gear instead of on accessories...

What part of the country are you in? If your close to VV, GP or foxvegas lemme know, would be fun to do some plinkin!

 

[d4ve]

I have the 4.4" spacing. I have a 3200 10x40 bushnell with burris zee rings I want to put on this gun for the time being, it is on my 22 right now. I just figured that I would maybe try and sell the scope, rings and bases that came with the gun before I put a bunch of rounds through it hence the egw rail and then I figured I might as well get the $25 bolt knob at the same time to save on shipping. I figure that by the time I got the scope assembly sold I would have enough once fired brass that I could start reloading.

 

[d4ve]

So I thought I would kill my evening by operating on my trigger assembly. I have been doing some internet research and determined that my trigger assembly has a lot in common with the accutrigger. Although it doesnt have the accusear it does have a trigger spring that aligns with the very rear of the tang:

Post Op Trigger group by davedamen, on Flickr

Once I pulled the sucker apart I I found that spring looked like it would thread out but it was held in place by yellow gunk:

Yellow Gunk by davedamen, on Flickr

I got in there with a pick and worked enough of it out that I could thread the spring out then cleaned the rest out with a .17cal brass brush. This ruined the tip of the brush but let me freely thread the spring in and out, which I think is identical to the accutrigger spring.

I threaded the spring all the way into the trigger, it was half a turn to a full turn out from factory, and tried the trigger pull which was still very heavy. Unfortunately I have no way of testing but from what I have read I would guess at least 6lbs.

With the spring all the way into the trigger the spring was only engaged about 1/16", by that I mean that if I was to trim the spring down at all it would not put any tension on the trigger assembly which would leave the sear loose. I figured that if I streched the spring so that it was permenantly deformed I would be able to trim it down some and still have it keep tension on the sear. I measured the spring post strech:

Spring Length Pre Op by davedamen, on Flickr

Streched it about an 1/8" longer:

Spring Length Mid Op by davedamen, on Flickr

Trimmed 180deg from where it starts to bend in to the center of the spring to form the locating tit, and then rebent a new locating tit. By the time I had rebent the new tit I was back to about original length:

Spring Length Post Op by davedamen, on Flickr

Then I stuck it all back together and now I have a much lighter trigger pull. Safeties all work properly and no slam fires so I think I am good. One of the nice things is that I can do the same as the accutrigger and thread the spring out to increase the tension back to where it was which gives me a little room to trim it again and lighten the pull even more.