Savage 10 FCP HS Precision 308 help

[volt2amp]

I finally recieved my rifle last thursday and yes it came with the HS tactical stock. This weekend, I took it to range and used some cheap Magtech ammo to site in scope to paper. After about 10 rounds, I ran couple of patches down the tube and then switched to Federal Gold Medal Match with 168 SMK. I did notice it was considerably harder to chamber a round with the federal. After 3 shots in the same hole I had the fourth in the chamber and they called to clear the range. I went to eject the unfired round and while it did throw the brass it left the bullet in the barrel. It took considerable effort for me to get this bullet removed. I have since tried to put another round in but the force required is just to great. I do not want to take another chance of getting another round stuck in the rifle. I have been given alot of advice from guys at the range but it seems to differ. Some say headspace, some say needs reamed. I do have a mic and Hornady OAL guage and bullet comparator, but not sure what I am suppose to be getting. The Fed GMM rounds measure 2.800 end to end. What do the members here think?

thanks,
volt

[mrrabk]

Volt,

My FCP HS also had a very "tight" chamber/throat/head space as compared to my other rifles. These seem to be built just a bit tighter in these areas for accuracy.
Use your tools to gauge your head space and land depth. Just for info, my two .308 (one being the FCP HS) are very different in areas. One has a head space (using fire formed cases) of 1.628 and the HS is 1.627. Not much difference here, but the distance to lands is very different. The HS is .068 shorter to the lands than the other. Now, looking @ FGGM 168's, I found their COAL 2.800, but when measuring to the ogive, these factory rounds wind up .006 off the lands in the HS and .062 off the lands for the other. Big difference and it would be even conceivable that your chamber is even tighter/shorter causing a jamming of the bullet into the lands which can raise pressures a lot!
Now, the rifle should head space and feed factory stuff, so you might want to call Savage, They are great to work with. But before you do, do the measurements and verify that the rounds weren't seated short on the bullet depth and cases where sized right. Doing the foot work up front strengthens your case, but more importantly, gives you the info you will need to load rounds for each specific rifle and get the most accuracy.
Hope this helps, keep us informed. I'm curious what your free bore length is compared to factory rounds of the same weight, bullet style. Just remember, "hunting" rifles are set up "loose" so the money shot is not compromised and precision rifles are set up to wring every bit of accuracy....but this requires us to be interactive with knowing our equipment.

[bodywerks]

Sounds like you got one of the short throat savages. Send it back. FGMM 168 ammo is the standard by which accuracy is judged when it comes to savage rifles and there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to chamber it. I'll have to look at my 168 data again, but I'm pretty sure i loaded them about .015 off the land and had an oal around 2.810.
My current go to load is the 155 scenar under 45.1gr varget and i am loading them to 2.820 which is about .008 off the lands.

[jhelmuth]

Check the headspace with a go gauge. If this comes out to be OK (amd I'm fairly positive that it will), then I have little doubt that the bullet is engaging the rifling (jammed) too early probably due to the freebore being too short (at least for the "stuck" rounds). Fed. GMM uses a sealer on the bullet in the neck. My guess is that the leade is so short that the action of jamming the bullet into the lands was sufficent to "break" that seal and thereby allowing it to be pulled from the case when you pulled back on the bolt to remove the cartridge.

Should be easy to determine by using your Hornady OAL gauge and find the length to just touch the lands...

[volt2amp]

Using my oal gauge I think the factory GMM rounds are going .014 into the lands. so it looks like the longest i could load a SMK would be 2.786.

[jhelmuth]

As I suspected.... so - you might want to consider what bullet you want to shoot, and at what seating depth. Make up that "dummy" round and take it to your fav. smith and have him lengthen the leade for it.

Alternatively, you could also roll-your-own and set the seating die to give you the desired length. I'm sure handloading will be way better than buying factory loads, but you will figure out what works best for you.

Just a suggestion.

[volt2amp]

As I suspected.... so - you might want to consider what bullet you want to shoot, and at what seating depth. Make up that "dummy" round and take it to your fav. smith and have him lengthen the leade for it.

Alternatively, you could also roll-your-own and set the seating die to give you the desired length. I'm sure handloading will be way better than buying factory loads, but you will figure out what works best for you.

Just a suggestion.

you dont think i should send it back to Savage to correct?

[stangfish]

I would at least call them with your data.

[bodywerks]

The problem with just accepting the short amount of freebore is less than optimal seating depths when/if you do reload. The draper the bullet is seated the less optimal the conditions for allowing the rapidly expanding gases to get the bullet moving. Not to mention that many of the lighter bullets use enough powder that the load is composed. If you have to seat the bullet deeper just to clear the lands the load will be increasingly compressed.
At the very last contact savage and tell them what's going on.

[volt2amp]

I have done more measuring to be sure all my data is good when i call savage. I measured all the shot brass to be sure it is consistent and I had different readings with headspace comp with the Federal. I noticed a ridge around the firing pin holes on the GMM primers that were giving me inconsistent readings. I have removed the primers and remeasured everything. The hornady headspace readings on unfired gmm was 1.621 and on my fired brass the reading is 1.6235, it grew during firing .0025. < I havent been able to tell what these measurements mean, there is no instruction with the hornady headspace kit. Also after remeasuring I now think the GMM will be about .017 into the lands with a coal of 2.800

thanks for all the advise, you guys have been great
volt

[bodywerks]

Weird double post...