Newbie with Savage 12 F class in 6 BR

[waldosworld]

I need some help. I went to break in my new gun last week and had a few issues.

#1. when squeezing the trigger, sometimes it would 'kick back' and not allow me to fire the gun, I had to open and close the bolt.

Possibly finger position on the middle blade of the trigger not pulling it straight back?

#2. when sighting in at 100 yards, I could not get any better than a 1 inch group.

Load data:

Varget 27.5 grains
Amax 105's
Bullet jammed into the lands, little pressure to close the bolt
Winchester small rifle primers,Before anyone says anything, I have not been able to get CCI small rifle primers yet.)

I have a wilson seating die and an RCBS 2 die set as well.

Any suggestions on what to do.

I have put about 40 rounds through it so far.

Any help would be appreciated.

Would like to start shooting at 100 yds and take it out to 300 for the short term. Getting past 300 is an issue around here.

 

[Jeffsavage]

I have a Savage target action on my rifle and it sounds like you have the trigger set to light. Take the stock off your rifle and adjust the trigger a little heavier, and the problem should go away. I have a Douglas barrel on my rifle and it seems to like the Berger 105 target b/t with H4895 alot better than Varget and Vmaxs.,Also try Wolf small rilfe mag primers with your loads)Good luck.

 

[Travelor]

First, close the bolt SLOWLY, slamming it closed will cause the sear to not set and thus your problems,it's in the instruction booklet).

Second, increase your powder to 30 grains and seat the bullets .010' off and you should be much happier. As always, work up to increaed powder charges in .5 grain incriments.

I am using Wolf SR Magnum primers and love them, but they, like all others, have become unobtainable right now. The Winchester primers should be fine.

George

 

[sdneil]

PM SENT

 

[waldosworld]

Thanks for the help, I will try increasing the powder and backing the bullets off the lands.

As for the bolt, I am not slaming it down. In fact it has not tripped the trigger since I have had it. The problem I believe is getting use to the accutrigger. I have a tendency to just use the very tip of my finger and what appears to be happening is that I am not pulling the center blade back entirely before contacting the 'trigger' itself. There for casuing the trigger to jump forward and having to reset the trigger by opening and closing the action again.

Another question, what should the action screws be torquesd to? or is this a trial and error type setting?

 

[memilanuk]

When using the very tip of your finger, most people tend to 'push' sideways ever so slightly. This will cause a small amount of drag between the safety blade and the trigger itself. The trigger will move, and trip the sear, but the safety is not fully depressed yet and will block the sear from completing the firing cycle.

Put the pad of your finger on the center of the blade, and pull straight back. Alternately, dial the trigger up to about 10-12 ounces and get used to it for a while. It's a good deal less hairy once you get away from the ragged edge at the low end.

Action screws... 50-65 works for me.

Powder... bear in mind that from the factory the bolt necessarily has a somewhat large firing pin hole and the 6mm BR is kind of a high pressure cartridge when you get up to those powder charges,30 grains or so). You may end up cratering primers before seeing any other signs; at that point I would recommend sending the bolt to Gre-Tan rifles and getting the firing pin hole bushed and the pin turned to fit. Makes a world of difference. The good news is the gun may shoot just fine right at or just below the point at which you get cratering anyway,29-30gr).

 

[CoverDog]

My gun is a stock Savage F class in 6mmBR

I have been using Varget in Lapua cases with what I would consider good but not great results. Mid to upper .2's and low .3's These are ONLY 3 shot groups @ 100yds. I was wanting to see the crono results.

Used RL 15 to see if that would make a difference.
No real pressure signs, primers were not cratered, nor flattened had nice rounded edges looking through a jewlers loop. All specs were within acceptable ranges when mic'd. FPS were 2925. So I continued with the 31.2 loads. Checking each case after every shot.

The group with the 31.2 of RL15 and Berger 105VLD .0015 into the lands and a BR4 primer SHOT ON HOLE at .110' Crono readings were as follows:


High 2935.8
Low 2926.1
SD 4.8
CV 0.16%
MAD 3.4
CV 0.12
Avg. 2931.1
ES 9.2

I think I have found a starting point

 

[Forum Boss]

First, I'm not saying that CoverDog's load listed in the above posts won't work IN SOME BARRELS. Jason has used a similar 31.0+ load in the past.

HOWEVER, this load is WAY, WAY too hot for many 6BRs. With the 105s we recommend starting no higher than 29.5 grains of RL15 or 203B.

You have to work your way up to this kind of load gradually.

Just be careful guys. In my barrel, which has a tight 0.236 bore and 0.080 freebore, 31.2 grains of RL15 would probably blow out the ejector, and the case, of course, would be ruined.

FYI, I was getting 2920 fps with 30.5 grains of RL15.

 

[CoverDog]

Moderator & waldosworld.... that was an oversite on my part not to mention that this load needed to be worked up gradually to be used in YOUR GUN. This was not a starting load for my gun, but it is where we ended developement.

This load was developed when temps. were in the 70's with little humidity. It has been decreased as the temps rise.

Again as the Moderator has said this type of load needs to be carefully worked up to and pressure signs need to be checked often in Any load as you progress.

 

[waldosworld]

Thanks for all the help so far.

I was able to get out again today for a couple rounds.

I bumped up the powder charge to 28.5 grains and didn't see any pressure signs.

groups tightend a little, pretty windy today.

No issues with the trigger this time. I had the pad of my finger on the trigger this time instead of the tip.

Is there any one in the rochester, NY area that could help a new guy out with load development for this cartridge?

 

[waldosworld]

Thanks again to everyone with the comments.

I was able to get out over the weekend again and had a bit better luck. I found that my grip on the gun was causing some of the problems.

Also going to bump the powder load up to 29.5 grains and
see what we can do.

Again, if there are any shooters in the Rochester NY. area that would be willing to help out a newbie with load development and case prep. I would be all ears and very thankfull for the help.

Waldo

 

[mwood]

don't live in Rochester now, but grew up there, so I get up there a bit.
Where do you shoot?,for when I visit)
Are there matches up there?
My direct e-mail is mwwood2001@hotmail.com
Can't help on the Savage...I shoot a Cooper 6BR