6.5.55 Vertical Stringing

[JRSpicer426]

I recently changed my stock on my Savage 110 to a Boyds stock and bedded it with Devcon. The barrel is a full bull barrel, 26 inches long. The reason I switched stocks was because it was wearing the old flexible OEM stock. Now all of a sudden Im getting verticle stringing after 10 rounds. The barrel is fully floated the whole length, including when hot. The gun is now more evenly balanced than before, so front heavy should be less of an issue. Firing pin and trigger weights have never been messed with. Any ideas what else could be addressed?

 

[BoydAllen]

What bedding material did you use? Does the stringing only show up after the rifle is warmed up, but not initially? How was it bedded, pillar or skim? Sometimes you can have good looking bedding that still stresses the action. If you stand the rifle on its butt and alternately tighten and loosen the action screws, (just a quarter turn or so) can you feel even the slightest movement between the barrel and the forend tip? If you can, a rebed may be needed, because you are bending the action slightly, as you tighten the action screws. Did the same barrel shoot well in the old stock?

 

[JRSpicer426]

The bedding was skimmed on, and the stringing only shows up after its heated up. No pillars were installed. Ill have to check the stock movement in a few weeks as my main hunting rifle is being borrowed so this will be my main hunting rifle and its all set up. A rebedd might be in order after Janurary with a pillar job as well. Actually despite the stringing, my cooler groups were the tighest Ive seen so far. Just got to work the kinks out. How do you know how tight is too tight for action screws?

 

[jlmurphy]

The barrel may have internal stresses that cause it to bend when hot, it is not unusual in factory barrels. Premium barrels are stress relieved to eliminate this problem. If you have access to a dial indicator, you can lock the barreled action down and run hot water through the bore and see if the muzzle moves when hot. I've done this before. Unfortunately there is no easy fix. One other possibility is that the clearance between the barrel and stock is tight, causing the bottom to retain heat and expand more than the top, try increasing the clearance.

 

[DOGCAPPER]

If you dont mind cutting the stock, mill several slots in the bottom about 3/16 x 1.75 inch long ...heat from the barrel will generate circulation helping cool the barrel....Look at the Savage 12F stock..
LT

 

[WyleWD]

Not to diminish your concern, but .... assuming this is a sporter weight barrel, I'd be most concerned about the first shot, second shot, and third shot's placement. If they're Ok, I personally would be happy with it. In my opinion the first shot out of a cold barrel on a hunting rifle is the most important. If it is where ya want it to be consistently..... no need to worry much about the 10th shot and more. ;D ;D

All of my sporter weight barrels start becoming a little unpredictable after about 6 or seven shots.WD

 

[beartrack]

Double check to make sure there is absolutely NO contact of the stock on that rear tang, also. Savage rifles are finicky about that (or at least mine was).

 

[tsiero]

Try a string shooting it free recoil if possible as a test.

 

[BoydAllen]

IMO proper bedding should come before much testing of loads. While it is OK to do a little testing of a hunting rifle to see if you got lucky, and the rifle is accurate enough for relatively undemanding work, if you want to know that you are getting the best that a particular rifle has to offer, without wasting barrel life, and components, you should go ahead and pillar bed (and then check the job with a dial indicator) at the beginning. The other step that should be done is to properly mount the scope. This is often neglected, and can also affect accuracy.