Cant get Savage 11 - .308 to group

[thehebs]

Have you tried any different powder? I like Varget but have found H4895 shoots better. I'm using imr4007sc right now with 175s
This is a target on mine at 100 last weekend.

I'm now working on the load from max of 48gr to 49.5gr to check it. I'll take the best then adjust oal. I found most my rifles shoot better with a jump

Just switched to 4064 due to availability compared to varget.

 

[nastynatesfish]

I think 4064 is a long time used powder for 308. Again if start at 2.790" to bullet tip not ogive and give a try. Get the node shoots best and then work oal

 

[NateHaler]

IMR 4064 is outstanding for .308 Win. It and Varget; you cannot go wrong with either.

 

[thehebs]

I received my FAT wrench and got the action screws properly torqued (went with 40 in-lbs as it seemed to be the consensus and suggested specs from savage). I went ahead and started over with my varget ladders now that I have a good seating depth, and action screws properly torqued. I did 2 ladders for varget and 2 ladders for 4064 at .5 gr increments.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aqradj0S_qvndHl0Q2Q5Sm1FQ3d0N1hiaDRHMF9QRXc&single=true&gid=7&output=html

I tried to come up with a more systematic approach to finding the nodes than just going over the targets, and beating myself up about which charges I THOUGHT were the most consistent. I measured the distance between every 2 charge weights for each ladder. I then averaged the distances for each tween-charge for the 2 ladders for each powder, and subtracted .308 to find a good average group/distance between all of the charge increments. I then took it out a step further, and added each tween-charge distance and divided by 2 to find the average tween charge for a 3 rung group.

I pretty much just reassured the nodes for varget around 42.5 and 45. I will probably skip the 42.5 load and stick with the 45 for the velocity as I plan on taking this out to 600 yards, and 45 also had the tightest 3 rung group. The 4064 only showed 1 promising 3 rung group around 42.5 gr. I will take each of these charges and load up some groups for those charges, and +/- .4gr in .2 gr increments.

I also impulse bought some lapua brass, and went ahead with the 175 SMK purchase. I will probably stick with the 168 load dev for this week/end, and start with the 175 gr SMK + lapua brass+ 4064 load dev next week.

Thanks for all the help so far guys. I feel pretty confident now that I will be able to finalize a sub moa load with this rifle.

 

[savageshooter86]

might be more helpful for some of us to give input(if you still want it) to post photo of the ladder test you ran

How far did you shoot these 2 ladders at?

 

[thehebs]

might be more helpful for some of us to give input(if you still want it) to post photo of the ladder test you ran

How far did you shoot these 2 ladders at?

Sure, let me add the charge numbers to the holes in the picture I took of the targets. Will post shortly.

I shot them at 200. I would probably shoot them at 300 in the future, but I have to qualify to get off of the 200 yard range and to move to the 600 yard range at my local club, which has been the main reason for me trying to get this thing to shoot sub moa.

 

[thehebs]

might be more helpful for some of us to give input(if you still want it) to post photo of the ladder test you ran

How far did you shoot these 2 ladders at?

Sure, let me add the charge numbers to the holes in the picture I took of the targets. Will post shortly.

I shot them at 200. I would probably shoot them at 300 in the future, but I have to qualify to get off of the 200 yard range and to move to the 600 yard range at my local club, which has been the main reason for me trying to get this thing to shoot sub moa.

Varget Ladders: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1BwrODVtbJV9Rz9KoY9iYv9yQUkvFbruuIvMR4z0zdZY/edit?usp=sharing
-- You can see that that the 44.5 and 45 holes are super tight on both targets. In fact, I took the targets and overlayed them to get a hypothetical 4 shot group consisting of the 2x44.5's and 2x45's, and the group measured .371" at 200 yards.... I honestly think I could pick 44.7 gr as my final load and be done with it.

IMR 4064 Ladders: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1DCoYMZhhva7FglYnqX6qzwRqTj152ZgtpxbLD10PmHA/edit?usp=sharing
-- You can see that in the right target, the 42.5 and 43 are in the same damn hole. I kinda pulled the 42.5 shot in the left target, but you can still see that they are very close in elevation which is really all that matters in this test.

 

[thehebs]

We are supposed to have shitty(icey and windy) weather for the next week, so I scrambled to get some groups loaded and through paper this afternoon. I only had 29 of the 168's left and was going to designate them all to the varget to give me 3 x 4 shot groups of .3 gr increments around 45, but I ended up running out of powder just after 2 groups of 3, for 3 loads 44.7, 45.0, and 45.3. I really want to get more varget and put more groups up before I call this conclusive, but my second 44.7 group I put up a .594". The first group was a 1.129" which isnt great, but the average is still sub moa

I will try to get some higher resolution data (more groups, and higher round groups) when I can get some more varget and better weather. I will post some 4064 + 168 gr data next week and also get started on some ladders for the the 4064 + 175 gr smk's in lapua brass.

(for the haters)

 

[NateHaler]

3 shot groups aren't nearly as indicative of accuracy as 5-shot groups, IMO. Nor is one group of any number of shots good enough, IMO.

Shoot five consecutive 5-shot groups. Then you have real data on which to proceed, or not. 8)

 

[thehebs]

3 shot groups aren't nearly as indicative of accuracy as 5-shot groups, IMO. Nor is one group of any number of shots good enough, IMO.

Shoot five consecutive 5-shot groups. Then you have real data on which to proceed, or not. 8)

Yea like i said, I knew I was running low on varget. I was going to try to do at least a couple 4 or 5 shot groups, but ran out of powder and had to stick with 3.

 

[Erik Cortina]

To make it shoot you need to replace the barrel, trigger, stock, and action with components from a Remington 700!

All joking aside, keep working on it, the accuracy needed depends on the intended use for this rifle. I think if a Savage shoots under an inch you can't expect much more. Rebarrel if more accuracy is needed for your intended purpose.

 

[thehebs]

To make it shoot you need to replace the barrel, trigger, stock, and action with components from a Remington 700!

All joking aside, keep working on it, the accuracy needed depends on the intended use for this rifle. I think if a Savage shoots under an inch you can't expect much more. Rebarrel if more accuracy is needed for your intended purpose.

Yea I am just trying to squeeze the smallest groups possible out of it bone stock. Then eventually I will either get a dedicated bench rest rifle, or convert this one.