Why are factory savage rifles accurate?
- Thread starter Phys86
- Start date
3Sigma
Silver $$ Contributor
I can only talk to my limited experience, but my two savages have tight chambers (for a factory gun) and short freebore. You can load to the lands and still meet mag length (looking at you, Remington), optimizing jump. Combined with the floating bolt head that reduces the need for blueprinting, you can get them to shoot .5 MOA pretty easily.
It is obvious to me that the rifling chatter is not significant to clean bore accuracy, but my savages to copper foul a lot sooner than other barrels.
It is obvious to me that the rifling chatter is not significant to clean bore accuracy, but my savages to copper foul a lot sooner than other barrels.
I can't tell you why, but from my experience with the Savage rifles, they have always shot very well, out of the box. And can be improved, even more, with some light bedding and a trigger replacement. In the end you have a fine shooting rifle, with not a lot of money tied up in it.
savage just seems to have a knack for putting out a decent product, no matter what and how some slam them.
savage just seems to have a knack for putting out a decent product, no matter what and how some slam them.
I do know they out shoot Rem, right out of the box. Savag was a one time a starter. for your kid. . I hope the keep up the GOOD work. Just my two cents Tommy Mc
NZ_Fclass
Silver $$ Contributor
I have a couple - the 17 Hornet works well enough. The Model 10 in 223 was OK for a starter FTR, but was hampered by it's 9 twist barrel. I quite like the action, so it's being re barrelled into 6SLR using a PTG bolt face. To be honest - if you want an accurate factory gun, the Tikka is probably a better bet ( the stock on the UPR model is really nice)- and the new CZ600 Range may even prove itself. But for the money, Savage.
Toolbreaker
Gold $$ Contributor
Just my opinion, but I think it's a combination of the separate bolt head and barrel nut retention, but not necessarily the barrel itself. Both of these together allow enough wiggle room to cover slight manufacturing variations in having the action face square, the recoil lug faces parallel, the bolt lugs squared and the barrel shoulder (as on other brands) square to the tenon. These variations on rifles such as Remingtons where some of these are fixed can stack up enough to create unwanted stresses and binding which will show up on target. Not too shabby for a few innovative ideas to reduce manufacturing costs.
It's not accurate to say Brand X factory rifle shoots more accurately out of the box than Brand Y. I personally have shot 1/2" groups from Winchester, Remington, Tikka, Browning, Savage, Interarms, and a bunch more I can't remember.
What determines accuracy is having a good barrel, a straight chamber, a stock not in an inordinate amount of stress, and a well tuned load. On occasion a factory rifle will have a great barrel and chamber but most of the time they are average. Even a poor barrel will occasionally shoot sub 1/2 MOA.
What determines accuracy is having a good barrel, a straight chamber, a stock not in an inordinate amount of stress, and a well tuned load. On occasion a factory rifle will have a great barrel and chamber but most of the time they are average. Even a poor barrel will occasionally shoot sub 1/2 MOA.
There it is.
I bought the Savage 112 338 Lapua rifle from a buddy (Randy Wise) that set the ELR World Record in 2019 with the factory 26" barrel. Other than an ARS chassis it's still stock. He told me before that match it had one of the worst looking barrel and chamber he'd ever scoped but it shot incredible so he went with it with good results.
I worked up a load with H1000 since I couldnt find any Retumbo that he used with a 300 gr bullet, I used 285s and it's killer to a mile. The brass has fine marks on it from the rough chamber. Thought about changing it out for a 30" but as long as it keeps shooting I'll leave well enough alone. I also have numerous other Savages and they all shoot great.
Topstrap
I worked up a load with H1000 since I couldnt find any Retumbo that he used with a 300 gr bullet, I used 285s and it's killer to a mile. The brass has fine marks on it from the rough chamber. Thought about changing it out for a 30" but as long as it keeps shooting I'll leave well enough alone. I also have numerous other Savages and they all shoot great.
Topstrap
The first savage I owned was a 7 mag older 110. Through a scope on it, sighted it in and went hunting with factory loads a couple weeks later and It lived up to the hype. Then I cleaned it. And cleaned it, and cleaned it till I got all the copper out. Should really be a tack driver now… nope, groups ipened right up for the first few rounds. Comparing them to other factory barrels maybe the surface of the barrel is worse but the dimensions of lands and grooves are tighter, but that is just a guess.
Retired Grunt
F Open Shooter
I just use Bore Tech Eliminator in my 12 LRP every 300 or 400 rounds, don't even worry about copper. I am close to 2800 Rounds and it is shooting better than when I started.
I have to lol at this. In the 1960s and 1970s it seemed that in almost every gun magazine article discussing a Remington rifle the author complained about the very short throat and how if only it was longer it would allow more powder capacity and better performance. It seems that Remington listened to their customers and corrected that problem. There truly is no pleasing everyone.
So based on one person’s very limited experience, it becomes gospel that no one rifle brand can possibly shoot better than any another. Good to know!
My current Savage M116 shoots 200-grain Speer .338” bullets into small enough groups to kill the moose and caribou I’ve used it for.
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My first Savage was a used model 12 F/V, 6.5 CM. I reload and worked up a load it liked.
Started shooting 600 yds and was getting groups of 3" to 6".
Shot like a tack driver, my first mistake was to clean all the copper out of the barrel, just because it was there. After a good scrubbing my groups opened up to 8-10" at 600.
After 18 rounds the group came back to less than 1MOA at 600.
Since that time I would not clean the barrel untill my groups started to open back up and then clean, clean, clean. Then shoot, shoot and shoot some more until the groups came back.
It seemed that it liked to be dirty and found that usual after 300-400 rounds it needed cleaning.
After 1200 rounds I needed to replace the barrel due to the throat errosion.
Gave the old barrel to I fellow I shoot with and he cut the chamber down and reamed a new chamber. Now I have a barrel ready to go when I shoot out the present one.
Started shooting 600 yds and was getting groups of 3" to 6".
Shot like a tack driver, my first mistake was to clean all the copper out of the barrel, just because it was there. After a good scrubbing my groups opened up to 8-10" at 600.
After 18 rounds the group came back to less than 1MOA at 600.
Since that time I would not clean the barrel untill my groups started to open back up and then clean, clean, clean. Then shoot, shoot and shoot some more until the groups came back.
It seemed that it liked to be dirty and found that usual after 300-400 rounds it needed cleaning.
After 1200 rounds I needed to replace the barrel due to the throat errosion.
Gave the old barrel to I fellow I shoot with and he cut the chamber down and reamed a new chamber. Now I have a barrel ready to go when I shoot out the present one.
I'm not one for keeping a savage in stock condition (tend to true action and rebarrel), but all mine shoot lights out. All are well under .5 MOA. All my rimfires are Savage with nothing done to them and they shoot great!
I remember when if you showed up to the range with a savage, everyone laughed! Now who is laughing there Remington?
I remember when if you showed up to the range with a savage, everyone laughed! Now who is laughing there Remington?
A buddy I shoot with calls my savages "salvage". The first one I bought was a 12fv in .204. It shoots berger 35 gainers into very small groups and does a great job on coyotes. I've since bought several others and all have shot well. Like others I shoot them until the groups go away and do a thorough job cleaning and then put up with 10 to 15 shots until they settle in.
I did notice it shoots better fouled than not, but I haven’t tried going that far. What I did do which seems to work is this: run patch out with accelerator through the barrel one time, then hoppes which seems to do better with powder fouling than patch out, then one more round ofbpatch out with accelerator. That seems to clean enough to keep it shooting well all the time and not enough copper building up to get it very dirty. I do this usually after deer season, or every 20-30 rounds if developing a load
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