Brand New Savage 17hmr....need help/suggestions

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

I picked up a brand new Savage 93R17. A left handed 17hmr bolt. It comes with scope mounts from the factory. I bought Weaver rings and a nice Meuller scope. Took it to the range today. (on a bench rest)

@ 50 yards, the first shots were almost two feet to the right. Adjusting the scope windage bottomed out with the rifle still shot about 14 inches to the right. Elevation was fine.

There's a little play available in the scope rings. Meaning, where the top and bottom pieces of the rings come together, I can adjust the screws to slightly (in theory at least) move the scope in the right direction.

Upon visual inspection, the mounts don't appear to be aligned incorrectly. There might, might be some adjustment where the rings clamp to the mounts. (sort of grasping at straws here) If needed, I have another scope I can throw on it, to make sure it's not the scope.

Any words of wisdom for what I should be doing next?

 

[fredhorace77]

imo don't loc-tite anything. if installed properly you should never need loc-tite on a 17hmr. sounds like you are installing the rings and or bases incorrectly. try searching for a video on YouTube on how to properly install rings and bases. if you still can't get it zeroed you may need windage adjustable scope rings. I also have a savage that the receiver holes were drilled off. use windage adjustable rings and you should be able to fix it

 

[hogpatrol]

Try the CCI 17gr TNTs.. They've shot great in all the Savage 17s I've used.

 

[firearmdoc1]

+1 for what fred posted. Millet makes scope rings you can adjust the windage with.
Good luck

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Upon cleaning and inspection this morning, I discovered an important thing:

For the screws that hold the top of the rings in place, the left side of the forward ring was not tight. That would be consistent with making a gun shoot to the right. I also re-tightened the rings. There is an ever so slight amount of play, where one side can be tightened to where it's completely flat with the bottom half of the ring...but the other side will have a slight gap. So I tightened the front ring's left side completely flush with the bottom ring. And did the same thing with the rear ring's right side. I'll take a trip to the range soon to see what happens.

As for the mounts and how the rings attach to the mounts. They seem to be pretty idiot proof. The mounts either screw in correctly or they don't. Doesn't seem to be any room for doing it wrong. (unless they were inaccurately drilled at the factory.) And the rings attach to the mounts with what looks like idiot proof slots. No room for messing it up. (and won't I look like the fool if that turns out to be it.)

If the ring adjustment I've done this morning doesn't fix the problem, then I'll start looking at how the rings attach to the mounts. I think that offers the biggest/next opportunity for reviewing.

 

[fredhorace77]

imo. ur analyzing this "front right top half bottom left side screw" stuff too much... install them, tighten them down and go shoot. if the thing will not zero then either the base/ and or rings is out of line. its simple, you are wanting to make the scope look at the same place the barrel is looking...when that happens your zeroed. one other thing, I wouldnt worry bout getting the gap between the top and bottom halves out. u can crush ur scope tube doing that. just tighten them some what equally. if u have installed properly you shouldn't have any play at all

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

Another thing. I noticed when I put the rings on for the first time. It seemed like they didn't sit flush with the mounts. Slightly tilted. There's a horizontal ridge in the mounts, and the rings have an ridge that's supposed to fit in there for proper alignment. Looks like the ridge of the ring is slightly too large for the mount. I also didn't like the rounded edges of the mounts, looks like the rings had a difficult time grabbing hold properly. I'm going to my local store to investigate.