Glass bedding a Savage

[carrollshooter]

I have a new Savage 12 VLP DBM in 308 that I thought should shoot better than 1.1 MOA 5 shot groups. I have bedded it three times with the last having a bedding area 2" long under the barrel just ahead of the barrel nut. None of the bedding jobs has resulted in any accuracy change. I can sometimes get 3-4 shots in the twos but one or two will go way out. I can and do shoot better than that with lighter rifles and lesser scopes. Federal Gold Medal Match shoots about as good as my best handload. I notice that there is little bedding area around the rear action screw. I have tried bedding around the rear tang also but see no difference in groups. Is there any special technique to bedding the Savage? I am used to 700's and 70's and have had good success with bedding them.

 

[Klayton83]

i doubt its the bedding because the savages come pillar bedded and the barrel already free floated. make sure that the barrel is never touching even when the rifle gets hot. make sure the barrel is good and clean. my savage barrels that i have had fouled quickly and took a lot of cleaning. make sure your crown is good and that thing should get under 1 moa for sure..... (you cant expect much better than that with a factory rifle)

 

[minnesota]

i doubt its the bedding because the savages come pillar bedded and the barrel already free floated. make sure that the barrel is never touching even when the rifle gets hot. make sure the barrel is good and clean. my savage barrels that i have had fouled quickly and took a lot of cleaning. make sure your crown is good and that thing should get under 1 moa for sure..... (you cant expect much better than that with a factory rifle)

Since when do the savages come pillar bedded? Are you talking about the heavy barrel models?

 

[kdvarmint]

i doubt its the bedding because the savages come pillar bedded and the barrel already free floated. make sure that the barrel is never touching even when the rifle gets hot. make sure the barrel is good and clean. my savage barrels that i have had fouled quickly and took a lot of cleaning. make sure your crown is good and that thing should get under 1 moa for sure..... (you cant expect much better than that with a factory rifle)

Since when can't you expect better than 1 moa from factory Savage! Own 2 plus 1 for son. All 3 shot .75 To .25 With a little load work. 308,243,22-250

 

[RonAKA]

I agree that model should shoot better than 1.1 MOA. My LRPV will do many groups in the .2-.3, and a few in the .1's. But, I do have an issue with the occasional flyer that opens the average up to the .3 range. I looked at a picture of it at the Savage site, and there seems to be two black dots on the side of the stock about where the action screws should be. What is that about? Crossbolts? Does it have pillars? Mine is bedded on an aluminum block, and I have skim bedded over top of that.

This all said I have got my best groups with a 68 grain Berger. If I go down to a 62 grain Berger, then groups open up to 1.5-2.0 MOA. It shows the gun is sensitive to the bullet. All tweaks have failed to make that particular bullet shoot.

 

[Travelor]

Savages are VERY tempermental cpncerning bedding and screw torque. First do not ever bed the tang on a Savage - stop the bedding at the front of the trigger hanger.

This was an article Savage put out through http://savageaccuracy.com/


Tuning Savage Actions Using Action Screw Torque Settings

This article originally appeared in the SAVAGE ACCURACY Blog

Stan Pate is the Captain of Savage’s National Championship F-TR Team. In this article, Stan explains how to adjust the action-screw tension on a three-screw Savage target action to achieve the best accuracy. The procedure described here can be used for any Savage action, including the two-action-screw models. However, the optimal settings for each particular rifle may vary slightly.

Match shooters need to get that extra accuracy edge from our ammunition and firearm. It is easy to get one of the Savage rifles to shoot accurately — even to match standards. If you are looking for that little bit more from your rifle, then please read a method that I have found that works for me. For those of you that are familiar with tuning a receiver (such as a match rimfire action), this article will be nothing new. For the rest of you, this might be new material. The goal here is to find the “sweet spot” for the rifle in relation to the torque settings used on the receiver screws. The proper torque settings [can vary] from rifle to rifle, but they will usually have a noticeable effect on consistent group sizes. A properly-torqued rifle will optimize the “harmonics” of the barreled action using the receiver screws so that the gun delivers peak consistency.

Here is the process I have found that works for me in tuning a Savage rifle receiver to peak accuracy. To use my process you first must already have a load that shoots accurately and consistently in your rifle, and I always use a fouled barrel like I’d be shooting in a match. This process works for me in both the model 10 (two receiver screws), and the model 12 (three receiver screws).

Seat Recoil Lug and Start with Front Action Screw(s)

On the model 12, I will first ensure that the recoil lug is seated securely against the stock by just lightly tightening up the front receiver screw then gently but firmly bumping the butt pad against the floor. Next I will tighten up the front two receiver screws to 30 inch-pounds starting at 20 inch-pounds and working up to the 30 inch-pounds in 5 inch-pound increments, and always tightening the front screw first and then the second screw. Once the front two receiver screws are torqued to the final torque setting, I will set the rear receiver screw to 5 inch-pounds and shoot a 5-shot group [to evaluate accuracy].

Increase Torque Incrementally on Rear Action Screw

After the group is shot and I am satisfied that I called all of the shots as good shots I will allow the rifle to cool off to about the temperature that the fist group was shot at. I will then add 5 inch-pounds to the rear receiver screw and shoot another five-shot group and allow the rifle to cool again. I repeat this process until I have tightened the rear receiver screw to 40 inch-pounds or have seen the groups get smaller and then start getting larger again. Once you have seen the groups decrease and then start to increase in size then you will have found the area of torque to work in. You can then can fine tune this to the exact inch-pound torque settings.

Tuning a Model 10 with Two Receiver Screws
The Savage model 10 action, which has two receiver screws, uses the same process as the three-screw model 12. Measure your group sizes and place the measurements in front of you so that you can see the bell curve showing where your best groups were achieved. NOTE — there may be a better way of doing this and if you should have one, I’d be very interested in hearing it. Good shooting and I hope to see you all on the range. – Stan Pate

This is on the Palma rifle using the torque settings of 30 inch pounds on the front two receiver screws, and 15 inch pounds on the tang screw, it is approximately 1/2″ center to center.

This is my second torque setting which for this rifle and this load is the optimal setting of 30 inch pounds on the front two receiver screws and 25 inch pounds on the tang screw, this group is approximately .180″ center to center.

This is the third torque setting which for this rifle is moving away from the optimal torque setting toward the heavy side of the scale. This torque setting results shows that you will usually see a “bell curve” of accuracy as you move into the optimal torque setting. This group is almost .7″ and the torque setting was 40 inch pounds.

 

[FURMAN]

Travelor has given some very good info and is correct with not bedding the tang on a Savage. All VLPs are pillar bedded. Your rifle should be capable of shooting .5moa or a little better. I have never had an issue with needing to do anything out of the ordinary for action screwing torquing but as Travelor pointed out some of the experts say it helps.