Why are factory savage rifles accurate?

[mikecr]

I think it's floating bolt head, barrel nut, and fine tenon threading.

 

[djporter]

Has anyone ever heard of a Savage bolt galling?

 

[Indianhead15613]

People always talk about how accurate factory savages usually are out of the box, despite the bores looking truly terrible.


Does anyone one know what Savage does right that tends to make them so accurate so often?

Zero headspace , all barrels are hand straightened , it's a lot of things

 

[Phys86]

Zero headspace , all barrels are hand straightened , it's a lot of things

What do you mean zero headspace and the barrels being hand straightened?

 

[jpx2rk]

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

I usually run a few wet/dry patches thru mine after each session as I never know when I will shoot them again unless I'm just shooting that one for giggles. I usually don't use a brush, just some wet/dry patches to get the powder fouling out. I usually shoot 3-5 foulers anyways, so...

 

[jdh47]

Savage did to Remington what Remington did to Winchester decades ago. They made a decent shooting rifle easier to manufacture and cut costs. It's not really fair to compare present day M700's with Savages. Go back to the 60's and compare That M700 to your shiny new Savage and you'll get similar results. Everything has it's faults and the M700 could have benefitted from some refinements. Remington rested on it's laurels and managed to make some terrible management decisions. The sad fact is older Remington M700's were manufactured by shooters and designed by people that competed with them.
I'm not cutting Savage at all. They do make a quality product at a reasonable price. Good for them.

 

[okie]

I think the OP got it right. Their accuracy is inversely proportional to esthetics.
Excellent company. Great products.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

The barrel straightening station, bolt head, stocks that when torqued work correctly. All help mitigate rough bores, chambers not concentric to the bore.

 

[bsekf]

All they lack is a good trigger.

 

[darkangel_r2]

When you guys say you don't clean it till around 300 rounds, does that mean you don't even run some wet patches down the bore after a session???

Keep the copper get rid of the carbon. The copper evens out the tooling marks lol.

 

[mattri]

Surprised Kevin Thomas hasn't chimed in yet- he's a huge fan of Savage rifles

 

[MGYSGT]

Those chatter/machine marks do smooth out a bit at about 200 rounds.

 

[M-61]

(tend to true action

I may have this wrong but doesn't a floating bolt head somewhat solve this?
And YES. They are accurate. I have a few Savages for their actions
A few years ago I bought a LRPV in 6BR. Had no ammo so bought a box of Lapua.
After sighting in I shot the 5 shot 100 yard group below. Almost made me give up handloading.
I saved the target because never have I had a factory rifle with factory ammo shoot anything close to this.
Embarrassingly my handloads have never matched this.

 

[M-61]

Zero headspace

Lost me.
The headspace may be close to what someone calls for and I guess is interesting.

the barrels being hand straightened?

That's scary to see. Guy looking at a barrel and hitting it with a small sledge.
It does appear to work.

 

[Nealm66]

Lol, ya, the term barrel straighteners usually refers to a couple of beers where I’m from, but that’s only for rock shoot matches

 

[joshb]

I have a theory!
Years and years ago, my father and I would drive up to Labrador to do some Salmon fishing. The last 50 miles of the drive was a dirt road that was maintained by the locals with a grader. It looked like a washboard. Driving slow over it was horrible! Bumpity bumpity.. but if you sped up the ride got smoother. I found out (much to my father’s chagrin) that at 60-70 miles an hour, the ride was pretty smooth! Pop didn’t like drifting thru the corners, tho, but that’s off track of the subject at hand.
You look at a Savage barrel and it looks like a washboard. If the bullet is just skipping across the high points and goes where it’s aimed, oh well!

 

[Cloudrepair]

Has anyone ever heard of a Savage bolt galling?

I got a old one from somebody and the bolt head looked like it galled on something (this was a old one with a resessed barrel like a Remington) so I took a old long action bolt body cut it to size, drilled and reamed the pin in new place and updated the bolt head to the new style with new head and barrel.

The body of the bolt didn't look bad though

 

[spudgun]

When you guys say you don't clean it till around 300 rounds, does that mean you don't even run some wet patches down the bore after a session???

1 pull with a bore snake and put it away...

 

[EOD Rob]

I may have this wrong but doesn't a floating bolt head somewhat solve this?
And YES. They are accurate. I have a few Savages for their actions
A few years ago I bought a LRPV in 6BR. Had no ammo so bought a box of Lapua.
After sighting in I shot the 5 shot 100 yard group below. Almost made me give up handloading.View attachment 1294744
I saved the target because never have I had a factory rifle with factory ammo shoot anything close to this.
Embarrassingly my handloads have never matched this.

I love it!

 

[Old Navy]

I have a theory!
Years and years ago, my father and I would drive up to Labrador to do some Salmon fishing. The last 50 miles of the drive was a dirt road that was maintained by the locals with a grader. It looked like a washboard. Driving slow over it was horrible! Bumpity bumpity.. but if you sped up the ride got smoother. I found out (much to my father’s chagrin) that at 60-70 miles an hour, the ride was pretty smooth! Pop didn’t like drifting thru the corners, tho, but that’s off track of the subject at hand.
You look at a Savage barrel and it looks like a washboard. If the bullet is just skipping across the high points and goes where it’s aimed, oh well!

It looks more like the inside of a galvanized pipe to be more accurate.