High expectations dashed

[DHuffman]

That's hardly a load work up in my opinion. 2 different bullets with 2 different charge weights and 2 different seating depths.

Pick one bullet and one powder and seat it .010 in and cover 1.5 - 2 grains of powder in .2 increments and I bet you'll find a good load. If I'm wrong I'm wrong but you didn't put in the work and give the rifle a sporting chance before you started bashing it.

 

[DHuffman]

Hear ya Bro”

I would try this prior to ordering a barrel
View attachment 1096575
Varget powder
CCI br4 primers
107 smk
CBTO seating or a little jump

5 shots and report back

Jim

Mine shot Varget @ 29.5 with a BR 4 and a 105 HVLD with that in mind I'd start at 29.2 and I got bolt lift at 30.3

 

[JFrank]

^^^Solid advice from DHuffman
Just gotta shoot a ladder and find out
J

 

[NWnewguy]

I have a bunch of Savages that don't get much use anymore, but I still feel a bit of fondness for, so I thought I would share my experience. I bought one of the LRPV 6br's with the HS Prec. stock and accu-trigger. It's a dual port and fit and finish is standard factory rifle. I tested a few different Hornady V-max bullets, as coyote, prairie dog and ground squirrel were what I was planning on shooting once I had worked up a load on paper. With the twist rate of this barrel which if I recall is 1-10, as long as I shot 87gr or less, it was consistent at just below a 1/2" with no real effort. With a little more effort on the reloading side (this was before I had an auto-trickler) and more concentration at the bench it would do almost consistent .3" groups. I felt like I had gotten pretty fortunate as it shot well and when I cleaned it, the barrel felt very smooth. Then I got a bore scope. When I first took a look down the barrel with a scope, I thought they must have rifled it with an impact drill. It looked rough all over. Lots of chatter, but it was fairly consistently spaced. I would have never guessed if I had seen that before I shot the first shot that it would be a sub 1/2 MOA barrel. I wouldn't give up on yours yet. Break it in and let the speeds come up. Use a little JBs bore paste and smooth it out a tad.

One more story about a rifle that wouldn't shoot. I was friends with a fine fellow named Russ Haydon who built some fairly decent benchrest rifles. One weekend he finished and delivered a nice Bat action, Kreiger barreled 222 rifle to a fellow and we went to the range in Tacoma to give it a test run. The gentleman that had paid his hard earned cash took the first test drive and after three 5 shots groups and three cleanings, the rifle was grouping 1&1/2"-2"at a 100 yards. People don't generally expect to pay $3500 to get a rifle that groups like a Walmart special Henry lever gun. About this time Russ started sweating in the balmy 52 degree Pac North West weather and suggested that I give it a try. I sat down and fired an effortless first group (for me) in the mid 2's. Russ finally took a breath and realized what the problem was and then he ran off another group that was in the mid 2's. Take what you will out of that story, but I have found that a lot of the time, if I'm not shooting well it's because I can't get my mind out of the way.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

and I have seen both of those bullets shoot so bad you'd think the scope was loose.

 

[Ggmac]

Like I said, raise the price of the gun a couple hundred bucks and put a decent barrel on it. Anyone can buy one for $300/$400 so why not do it right to begin with.
I bought a new Remington 308 PSS a few years back and had the same problem. Took it to S@S and $1100 bucks later I had a rifle that would shoot. I guess it wasn't a top shelf product either. I understand that you cannot compare custom stuff to mass produced stuff but it doesn't excuse plain old poor quality.

Mike

Shoot the dang thing at 100 with some decent loads , worked up for YOUR rifle . DONT WORRY WHAT THE BARREL LOOKS LIKE !
Almost every post here on savage barrels is exactly what you see . Break it in , work up loads , use flags and a good rest . If you insist on judging a new rifle by shooting a few untested groups and looking up its barrel , give up now . It takes time and some / ok a lot of EFFORT on your part to get a new rifle shooting bug holes .
Good luck

 

[Riesel]

I fear the battle may already be lost. The psychological Gremlin has embedded itself and is as hard to overcome as a bad flinch. Bore scopes may have been the ruination of many good barrels.

A deep breath and a start over may be needed.

 

[Ggmac]

Thank you SPJ. All of your targets pictured look like mine at 100 yards!

The loads I put through the rifle were as follows;

Lapua brass
105gr ELD M
29.5 gr Varget
CCi 450
0.010 jump

Lapua brass
105gr ELD M
30.0 gr Varget
CCI 450
0.010 jump

Lapua brass
105gr Hornady BTHP
29.2 Gr H4895
CCI 450
0.015 jump
This was the best load at 100 yards.

Lapua brass
105gr Hornady BTHP
29.5 gr H4895
CCI 450
0.015 jump

I believe any of these would be 1 MOA loads at 100 yards and could be tweaked a little one way or the other to dial in some small groups. I had to start somewhere so listed above is where I started.
I have shot this rifle out to 900 yards with less than stellar results. Frankly my DPMS AR-15 Bull 20 kicked its but at 400 yards. So something is not right.

I'm not new to working up loads and my intention is not to bash anything or anyone. I have no intention of giving up on this rifle and I will continue on until I arrive at an acceptable result based on my abilities and knowledge. I am sure that it is very possible that a really bad looking bore could shoot great and a really great looking one could shoot bad. If you start out with a good looking bore and it won't shoot despite all your efforts you can feel pretty comfortable that it's a dud for some unknown reason. If you start out with a bore that looks like forty miles of bad road (which mine does) and you expect it to shoot well and for some reason it does, that's pure luck. I will call James at Northland tomorrow and order a new barrel for this gun. My problem is once again, if you advertise the rifle as a precision piece of equipment the component parts should reflect that statement. The barrel on this gun does not.

From the Savage website;

"Demand precision that's up to any challenge. The Model 12 Benchrest delivers with the Target AccuTrigger™, which can be adjusted from 6 ounces to 2.5 pounds, and a full-profile stainless steel barrel that's button rifled and perfectly balanced with the wood laminate stock. The rifle also offers an oversized bolt handle and single-shot, dual-port Target Action."

Yes, I realize that the above is a subjective statement but it is what it is.

Respectfully submitted,
Mike

I'm confused, your very first post said yesterday , indoor at 50 , now you said you shot this at 100 and out to 900 with less than stellar groups ? WHAT GIVES ? You either have one heck of a range , both indoor 50 yds and outdoor 100 all the way to 900 . Dang your too fast , slow down , take a breath and stop using that time warp machine . It'll shoot .
I'll tell you what , send me just the barrel and I'll prove it . I put money were my mouth is , always ! Just be prepared to eat crow and pay up .

 

[Whit holman]

Be sure and check front base screw it may be tight but not holding the base tight
I have had to shorten the front screw on all of mine. Take front screw out if the threads of the berral are bent over you found the problem

 

[hogpatrol]

Plenty of good advice posted. I definitely wouldn't change barrels on a four load test. I'd jam them starting out, then work my way back. Jumping as a starting off point can make load development a wasteful guessing game.

 

[flintcreek6412]

I am not a 6BR guy but I shoot with several and all of them jam their bullets. It's how 6BR likes to shoot from what I'm told. Could just be a Berger thing too. But worth a try.

 

[Nature Boy]

I fear the battle may already be lost. The psychological Gremlin has embedded itself and is as hard to overcome as a bad flinch. Bore scopes may have been the ruination of many good barrels.

A deep breath and a start over may be needed.

I was thinking the same thing

 

[ratbuster]

and I have seen both of those bullets shoot so bad you'd think the scope was loose.

Dusty knows of what he speaks. Before you do anything else buy a box of either Berger 108, Sierra 107 or Berger 105 Hybrid. With methodical load development using one of those bullets it should be a shooter.

 

[Dgd6mm]

If all else fails, I'll give you $20.bucks plus shipping for your barrel.

 

[pirate ammo]

If I ever took a borescope to my Fal, I'd probably fall out, but it still shoots good.

 

[Drolds72]

I am bored at work and want to do an experiment. PM me your mailing address, and I will mail you 16 berger 105 hybrids. you shoot em at 29.4 thru 30 grains of varget in 4 shot groups, either with a small jump or touching, and show us the results in that barrel. (offer good for OP only!)

 

[Greyfox]

Never look at a Savage barrel with a borescope. It's always a mistake. I've had more Savage rifles and barrels than I can recall and all of them shot well, some better than others, but all shot well. Listen to the advice on this thread. It's possible that something is bad wrong, but that's not usually the case.

Rick

 

[Evan]

Dusty knows of what he speaks. Before you do anything else buy a box of either Berger 108, Sierra 107 or Berger 105 Hybrid. With methodical load development using one of those bullets it should be a shooter.

I disagree; the 105 ELDM are perfectly fine. If he was trying to eliminate a troublesome flier in a 5 shot string, then sure, buy the more expensive bullets to try. I've never had trouble getting hornady stuff to shoot sub half MOA consistently in every rifle I've got. But here again, maybe his barrel is quirky and doesn't like them. Maybe it's going to like Sierras alot. Hard to know without having some to try.

I agree with above that you should at least load touching the lands to start, not jumping, and run a ladder up to find max. Also, your rifle may not like varget, or at least your lot of varget. Do you have some RL-15 to try?

My RPR, which is a consistent 0.5 or better gun, didn't start really shooting for me until maybe 100 rnds or so in. Just another data point.

 

[steve123]

Like I said, raise the price of the gun a couple hundred bucks and put a decent barrel on it. Anyone can buy one for $300/$400 so why not do it right to begin with.
I bought a new Remington 308 PSS a few years back and had the same problem. Took it to S@S and $1100 bucks later I had a rifle that would shoot. I guess it wasn't a top shelf product either. I understand that you cannot compare custom stuff to mass produced stuff but it doesn't excuse plain old poor quality.

The reason I plan on a custom barrel and/or mods when I buy any less expensive factory rifle, it's a lottery.

I had a Savage once - for two days, and was very happy to get rid of it for a loss.

 

[Whit holman]

Mine likes 29.4 Varget 105 hybrids
This is not hot in mine but work your way up