.223 Remington groups

[crustyrusty]

I bought a savage axis .223 Remington from Walmart for 254.99 plus tax. It came with the soft synthetic stock. as soon as I got home shooting 55gr factory rounds I was shooting about 1-1/2 groups at 50 yards. so I invested the money and time and started to hand load for my rifle(which,by the way is a 1-9 twist). I bought 69gr hpbt and 75gr hpbt prvi partizan bullets.At first my 50 yard groups shrank to just under 3/4 " ,,and my 100 yard groups shrank from 3-1/2 down to 1-1/2..
In these groups I was getting vertical stringers a lot and some horizontal fliers as well..I put approximately 350 rounds thru it and I could not get it any better. so I watched various you tube videos on accurizing your rifle and the common denominator was either a scope change or bedding the stock. so I took the stock off and lo and behold I discover that savage used a 2 piece recoil lug on this rifle,, the lug stayed in the stock and just a hole in the receiver for the lug.. Now I am a retired Dental Tech and I had a bunch of denture acrylic on hand so I took my dental handpiece and took my carbide burrs and reduced the forward pillar area.....then I filled it in with denture acrylic!! Now that same stock is rock steady and tight... Now when I shoot ANY weight bullet I have eliminated all of the fliers and stringers,, the gun now shoots nice round groups!! My first group at 50yards was less than a dime!! And my first group at 100 yards was a 3 round group that measured 3/4,,, again it didnt matter if I shot 55gr, 69gr or 75gr they ALL shot the same.... So my next purchase for this rifle is a Boyds stock!!

 

[Paddyd]

I've always been a Savage fan. They are cheap and most are more accurate than rifles costing many times more. In your case you should look to lightening the trigger. If you go to Gunshack.com you can buy a target spring for the accutrigger and get it down to about 1.5lb. Another plus with a Savage is the way they mount barrels. You can get a CBI or a Shilen prefit barrel and change it yourself at home. Since they use the barrel nut system they all come with minimal headspace so your brass lasts longer. I bet if you experimented with a few handloads you'd see those groups shrink down to at least 1/2"

 

[crustyrusty]

I've always been a Savage fan. They are cheap and most are more accurate than rifles costing many times more. In your case you should look to lightening the trigger. If you go to Gunshack.com you can buy a target spring for the accutrigger and get it down to about 1.5lb. Another plus with a Savage is the way they mount barrels. You can get a CBI or a Shilen prefit barrel and change it yourself at home. Since they use the barrel nut system they all come with minimal headspace so your brass lasts longer. I bet if you experimented with a few handloads you'd see those groups shrink down to at least 1/2"

yeah Thats my hope that my groups will keep on getting smaller!! I forgot about the trigger! I dont know what it breaks at but its at least crisp!! I will shoot this barrel until its dead then I am leaning to a Wilson tube as a replacement!

 

[jpx2rk]

I suggest you fine tune your loads a bit more (if possible) try another powder or primer combo with your current bullet inventory, or try a different rest/bag to see if your groups improve. Changing stocks may/may not improve your groups enough to warrant the cost of the stock, unless you just want to dress it up some/hate the plastic stock. I have 3 Savage FV12's, all 3 will shoot under MOA at 100 yds with hand loads, and they still have the OEM tupperware stock.

 

[snowpro440]

Have you looked at the sierra manual for the recommended accuracy load for the 69gr. sierra ? This load works very well once you fine tune seating depth.

 

[nilebartram]

Changing the stock is a big plus in shrinking groups. I got rid of the plastic stock, got a wood Accu-stock, pillared and epoxy bedded it. Got the trigger down to 12oz's. What a change. I will wait to replace the barrel. This is no bench gun, (I have plenty of those), but it is a super varmint rifle, my fun gun. nilebartram

 

[crustyrusty]

I have many powders to try and a friend on here has Quick Load and has run a few loads for me,,, its nice to see how different powders react to different loading densities and speed of powder burns I currently use CFE223,BLC-2, IMR-4320, IMR8208xbr, H-414, and believe it or not but IMR 4350( which so far gives me the best accuracy under the 75gr hpbt)

 

[crustyrusty]

Have you looked at the sierra manual for the recommended accuracy load for the 69gr. sierra ? This load works very well once you fine tune seating depth.

I found out the hard way that I can either single feed the round or deep seat the round and have a repeater.. I destroyed a 40.00 magazine trying to get more COAL out of it.. suffice to say I wasn't successful.... does anybody offer a massaged ammo magazine that has a longer COAL? it would be the best of both worlds!!