is the savage 12 Fclass that bad of a gun??

[ttfreestyle]

i have read that the Fclass is not a good stock and its to front heavy......was thinking of getting one, need help..

 

[Josh11]

The stock is great for the price. If you get the stock gun, the 30 inch barrel is a heavy barrel. Im thinking of putting some weight in the stock to even it out. Or you could get the barrel turned, but if your like me, you would like to keep the barrel big. Just depends on the scope and all the stuff you use with the gun. Make sure you make weight in whatever class you choose.

 

[Taildrag15X]

The F/TR Rifles stock to me needs a couple of things, that's why you should call Savage and order your 12 F Class ( what ever caliber your after for either Class) with the PALMA Rifle stock, gives you the adjustable cheek and butt so you should be set.

 

[Steve Blair]

Mike is right about the 12 Palma but it is not a cheap rifle. If you find one for a good price, it is well equipped to be competitive in F/TR.

I have two 12F Savages, a 6BR and a .308, and have the following observations about the 12F.

• It is nose-heavy but not so much that it does not track correctly. In my Farley rest and Edgewood Minigater with Shehane stitch, the tracking is ok.
• The comb is not adjustable and I have considered changing that but have not, yet.
• The stock must be bedded. Savage's concept of pillar bedding is not the same as mine. The "pillars" they install did not touch the action in either rifle.
• The Accutrigger is ok, but I had Fred Moreo put a 4 oz. SSS trigger in each.
• Savage factory barrels are variable. My 6BR is very good. The 6.5-284 was not. I replaced it with a McGowen 30" X 10" twist .308 and like the results.
• When you look at the possible total cost, it would seem to make more sense to build a custom. The advantage with the Savage is that they usually shoot good to very good out of the box. You can enhance it as needed and budget allows.

[br]Just as a contrast, I also have several custom rifles with Stiller, Borden, Pierce, 40XBR and 700 actions. But I still like the big Savages. My .308, with Sinclair bipod, Sightron 10-50 (no sunshade) and Titanium NF rings, is 18 pounds, 2 ounces. It makes F/TR by .8 ounce.

 

[Taildrag15X]

I was only suggesting the PALMA stock for the F-Class Rifle, one can order it that way from Savage.

 

[Steve Blair]

Do you know how much Savage gets for them, Mike?

 

[nfhjr62]

My F/TR out of the box with 308 M118 ammo grouped .750 at 100 yards right out of the box with reloads using the new Berger 185 HPBT grouped .500 with Varget the chronograph battery died on me so no fps noted.

 

[ttfreestyle]

Savage told me the Palma stock had different screw spacing than the F class & the 12LRPV

 

[camac]

I like the F class stock for F class shooting but I did a few very cheap mods to mine. I first took off the recoil pad and bored two holes up the stock and filled with lead shot (still well under our open weight limit of 10kgs (22lbs) at around 19 lbs. This added weight balanced the rifle better and reduced recoil. I also shaved the bottom of the rear stock. There is a taper going forward to the pistol grip and has a tendency to lock up in the bags. A simple remedy with plane, sandpaper and recoat. Also rebedded - I agree with the guys comments above. The savage bedding system seems to work for some but I felt it annoying to "tune" so bedded and use only front and rear action screws now.

 

[robbor]

Many heavy barreled 24-26" guns are nose heavy, so its a safe guess a 30" extra heavy barrel is going to be nose heavy.
I have a new take off barrel from a F class 6.5-284, and i will say they do have a better chamber than a stock chamber. I dont remember exactly but my factory chambers are normally atleast .010 oversized in places and the 6.5-284 chamber was much better than that but has a long throat for the heaviest bullets.

 

[ttfreestyle]

ok so i understand the stock needs some work and im ok with that. i have a 12 lrpv in 6br now and love it..... can i expect the accuracy out of the Fclass that im getting from the 6 br or what can i expect...

 

[Steve Blair]

I know that other folks have done better, but this group was shot from a stock 12F 6BR at South Bay Rod & Gun's 300 yard line. It was early, before the wind comes up.

 

[ttfreestyle]

hey thanks, i am just learning to shoot prone style,(am a 22 lr bench guy). i am shooting about one inch to one and a half inch groups at 300 with a harris bipod. some have been better but not every time . thats with my 6 br, so the question is will the F class do better in 6.5x284 once i find its load. btw i know i need lots of practice...

 

[robbor]

1.5" at 300 is great in my book. I see tons of guys at the range that cant do that at 100. Id have trouble doing that at 300 on a good day.

 

[Steve Blair]

Rob is right, that is good shooting from the bipod. I typically shoot about ½ MOA at 300 from a Farley rest if the wind is not too bad. The terrain around SBR&GC is such that the wind is not very predictable. If the wind is blowing hard, all bets are off.

Take a look at the two attached images, terrain and satellite. You can see that it does not matter from which direction the wind comes, it swirls around in the range and plays havoc with trying to read it. It is good practice.

 

[ttfreestyle]

ok im going to get the F class in 6.5x284 today. (found a good trade on new one) hope it does as well as my 12 lrpv in 6 br, actually hoping better at 1000. thanks for all the info

 

[camac]

ok so i understand the stock needs some work and im ok with that. i have a 12 lrpv in 6br now and love it..... can i expect the accuracy out of the Fclass that im getting from the 6 br or what can i expect...

I have both these rifles and ended up with a few extra barrels now as well. The 6.5*284 factory barrel was very good (got it down to agging 0.3's and a very competitive rifle) BUT my LRPV 6mm was outstanding and as accurate as any bench rest rifle I have owned - luck of the draw I suppose (Just a pity it didn't come with an 8 twist to start). New barrels on these made them even better. HOWEVER The 6.5 took a lot of work with original barrel though. I was quite dissapointed at the start. I couldn't get it to shoot the heavy pills but once I discovered the Lapua 123's I was in heaven (just a little late for the barrel though). They perform equally well to the SMK 142's out to 1000 yards regarding wind drift (according to JBM calculations at 3150 vs 2950), shoot flatter and in my rifle had a significant improvement in accuracy - got me into the leading scores again.

 

[Kenny474]

If you are going to be practicing a lot, you may want to look into another barrel in .308 or another caliber that isn't so hard on the barrel, and only use the 6.5x284 enough to get it dialed in and shooting well and save it for competition. The 6.5 is known as a barrel burner and will only last to 1500 rounds at most if it's set back, and will probably start going south around 800-1000 rounds. It would be a shame to burn it up just getting to know the rifle and perfecting your technique. While the .308 isn't going to shoot exactly the same as the 6.5, it will still allow you work on technique without killing your barrel. The .308 is also legal for FT/R, so it could give you another class to compete in as well.

I have a 6-284 barrel with 600 rounds on it, and the throat isn't looking too hot already, and I don't load it all that hot.

 

[Taildrag15X]

Savage told me the Palma stock had different screw spacing than the F class & the 12LRPV

The Model 12 Bench Rest, 12 F Class, 12 F/TR and 12 PALMA all have the same single shot Target action, and should interchange stocks.

They are different than the never mentioned 12 LRPV, well just a little as some only use 2 action bolts not 3 due to being repeaters. I'm not sure about a spacing difference as all are made off the same Target style actions.

 

[memilanuk]

Sorry, but thats wrong.

The LRPV single shots, 12 F/TR, & 12 F-Class use the 'original' hole spacing.

Round-about the time they came out with the 12 Palma, Savage moved the front action screw hole back (so as to engage the 'meat' behind the bolt lug, rather than the thinner receiver wall) and the back action screw forward (so as to give a full rear pillar for bedding). The 12 Palma and 12 Benchrest use this newer design and the stocks will *not* interchange.