New to centerfire benchrest

[OldEvo]

With just 5 years of rimfire benchrest experience I am stepping into centerfire benchrest, mostly because I enjoy reloading. After about 6 months of reading and listening I have started with a .308 Savage 12 Benchrest. I got as far as unpacking the rifle and sticking a bore scope in it where encountered a target shooters nightmare. I'm currently waiting on a response from Savage on the issue so I now have some time to revisit what may have been a poor decision.

Should I have not used my borescope? How many dreams are dashed by indiscriminate use of borescopes? How can a $40 borescope so easily ruin the value of a new $1600 rifle?

Maybe that maple Super Grade 70 was not a bad idea after all. I guess I would have used the borescope on it too.

Jeff
In the beautiful Northern Neck of Virginia

 

[mdram]

savage barrels are ugly, but the do usually shoot

 

[OldEvo]

80% of the bore looks good but there is a section an inch back from the muzzle that is a bit rough. Here is a small part of it. That oughta drag some copper off the side of those SMK 168s. I've never seen anything like it in any of my collection of old target rifles.

 

[Shooter13]

80% of the bore looks good but there is a section an inch back from the muzzle that is a bit rough. Here is a small part of it. That oughta drag some copper off the side of those SMK 168s. I've never seen anything like it in any of my collection of old target rifles.

View attachment 1482996

That looks like a D11 dozer ran over it!! Sheez!

 

[Straightshooter1]

With just 5 years of rimfire benchrest experience I am stepping into centerfire benchrest, mostly because I enjoy reloading. After about 6 months of reading and listening I have started with a .308 Savage 12 Benchrest. I got as far as unpacking the rifle and sticking a bore scope in it where encountered a target shooters nightmare. I'm currently waiting on a response from Savage on the issue so I now have some time to revisit what may have been a poor decision.

Should I have not used my borescope? How many dreams are dashed by indiscriminate use of borescopes? How can a $40 borescope so easily ruin the value of a new $1600 rifle?

Maybe that maple Super Grade 70 was not a bad idea after all. I guess I would have used the borescope on it too.

Jeff
In the beautiful Northern Neck of Virginia

I had a similar experience when I bought my Ruger RPR 6.5 PRC. I scoped the barrel and besides the usual factory barrel imperfections, I found large variation in the length of the lands . . . which seemed really odd to me and wasn't sure how that might effect accuracy or precision. I contacted Ruger and sent them pictures and they eventually had me send the rifle back to them for inspection. A couple months later I got a replacement. The new gun's barrel looked much better, but it was still a "factory barrel" and shot OK. Rather than wait as I wear out the barrel, I replaced the barrel after a few rounds with a Precision Barrel Blanks barrel and the scope showed it to be much better than the factory.

Now I have ~1500 rounds down the tube of the PBB barrel and have a Krieger barrel ready to install when it gives up. When the PBB barrel was new I scoped it and it had some blemishes in the bore, but nothing that I'd say was a serious flaw (it was cheaper than a Krieger barrel) and it's been shooting well. The Krieger barrel I have waiting looks as perfect as one might expect and I guess I'll see if it'll shoot any better than the PBB barrel.

 

[OldEvo]

Your right, it does look like dozer tracks.

I am hoping and expecting Savage will make it right.

 

[FNSafari]

Yuck! That is one godawful looking barrel section. Whether is shoots good, you'll have to put it on a target. The other issue is how long it will last given that kind of internal mess.

I bought a Sako 85 in .223 Rem two years ago. I bore scoped it and the first several inches of the barrel were filled with tool marks, gouges, striations...just awful. They were going to replace it but a year after I returned the original rifle the said they had none to replace it with. They did refund my cost plus tax. Will I ever buy another Sako/Beretta? Not on your life!

 

[jelenko]

80% of the bore looks good but there is a section an inch back from the muzzle that is a bit rough. Here is a small part of it. That oughta drag some copper off the side of those SMK 168s. I've never seen anything like it in any of my collection of old target rifles.

View attachment 1482996

I would really like to hear Savage's response - especially if they can say what caused that.

I take that the pic is pretty high magnification. Does that 'thing' go all the way around the bore? Is it raised above both lands and grooves?

 

[OldEvo]

On Savage's instructions I shipped the rifle back to them this afternoon. I never shot it as it would be a waste of those shiny new SMK168s. That rough section of the bore goes all the way around. I did not look at it in profile. It may take awhile but I will post again with Savage's response.

 

[1K Luver]

Holy cow - or something like that. While I have owned a number of factory rifles (usually Marlin, Remington, and Winchester) I have always built may competition rifles on custom barrels so I haven't experienced anything like that. It looks like whatever they used to rifle the barrel had some chatter at that point (dull tools are good for that) but I hope Savage Arms is embarrassed enough to scope a replacement for you that came out clean in the QA offices. Let us know how it all works out. As of this experience I ain't likely to consider Savage rifles in the future.

 

[OldEvo]

For context, here is that same bore near the throat.

 

[Downeast]

I have three of them of which one has a factory barrel in .308 that will shoot in the .2s if I do my part. 168 SMK's. I'm afraid to use a borescope. Might put a hex on it.

 

[JEFFPPC]

I have three of them of which one has a factory barrel in .308 that will shoot in the .2s if I do my part. 168 SMK's. I'm afraid to use a borescope. Might put a hex on it.

Stick to your convictions. A very good gunsmith and national record holder once told me, forget the first 10 inches of the barrel, the last 10 determine the accuracy. I don't think he was wrong. I have some UGLY throats in several barrels that still shoot small. Smooth the throats up with some Iosso and keep shooting.

 

[OldEvo]

In this case the rough section is about an inch from the muzzle. That's a pretty bad location. Regardless, I think a premium priced rifle advertised as a Benchrest model should have the entire bore at least as good as the last photo.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Any guess what the twist rate is after the "odd" spot,lol.

 

[OldEvo]

I'd be interested to know how much lighter the bullet would be after running through that cheese grater.

 

[FNSafari]

All those "railroad ties" running at right angle to the lands should not be there, in a good barrel at least.