Meet Jennay

[willcombs]

My previous hunting rig was an AR in 6.8mm, with an 18" heavy barrel, midlength DI gas system, 1:11" twist. The barrel was made by Ben Triplett at Bison Armory but otherwise it was a franken-gun. I would be doing him a disservice if I didn't clarify that his work is absolutely top-notch and that my selling it had nothing to do with lack of quality on his part. My decision to sell was based entirely on the limitations of the 6.8mm cartridge. It was a truly remarkable piece of machinery, absolutely lethal out to 350yds, outstanding as a hunting rifle, but it didn't fit the bill for doing everything I wanted it to do.

She went to a friend in Colorado:
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Bison%20SPR%20Listing/BisonSPR_zps8a014f53.jpg

Well at any rate, I wanted to have a precision rig that would also be tough enough to go into the field pull double-duty as a hunting rig. I figured good approach was that of a police sniper rifle. Lethal, hefty, lots of inertia in the barrel, but still "midweight" enough to be suitable for hucking around all over kingdom come if I need to. Did my homework, boiled it down to a Savage 10 FP-SR....
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Bison%20SPR%20Listing/Savage10FP_zps689278ac.jpg

....or a Remington 700 AAC-SD.
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Bison%20SPR%20Listing/700SPS-AACSD_zps2e6aa30b.jpg

I used to have a Remington 700 BDL in .30-06...
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Bison%20SPR%20Listing/Rem700_03b_zps261f5687.jpg
...so I was used to the Remington action design and considered myself a loyal Remington guy. Aftermarket options seem endless for Remingtons, too, so that was a plus. Went to the local gun shop and they said they would have to special-order it.
So I did.
They said they had no idea how long it was going to take and only made me put $50 down on it. Meanwhile, I set out to find .308 reloading dies and ammo.

Well, out with a buddy last weekend, I happened across this rifle...
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Bison%20SPR%20Listing/Savage10sm_zpsad3e52b7.jpg
...at Dick's Sporting Goods. It was less expensive than the R700 I'd already put on order, and it had better specs, and I was able to walk out of the store with it in my hands. I went home and did some homework, slept on it, and then I went back for it the next day, and cancelled my order at the other shop and got my $50 back. Time will tell if it was the wrong decision, but I doubt that it was.

There was a 2-piece rail set already on the rifle, and I had rings and a scope back home, so I brought them with me that morning and they mounted the scope for me for free. She's wearing the Millett DMS 1-4x24mm scope that used to be on my AR, in Millett rings, and also the Caldwell XLA 6-9" bipod from my AR.

Her name is Jennay. We's gon be like peas n carrots. :)

[Got Diesel]

Congrats on the new rifle. I'm sure that you will enjoy it and that she will treat ya right.

[bootsmcguire]

When I saw the title of this article I half expected to see a boat. I like the Savage better. Glad you made the right choice, enjoy.

[RatMag]

Sweet rifle!! I am willing to bet that she is a great shooter too!!

DK

[willcombs]

Well I took her to the range today!
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Savage%2010/IMG_1229_zps9d2fcae2.jpg
Lots of guys at school who are on the shooting team are moving back home for the summer so we had a group meet, and another buddy who already has his degree came along too.

Set up at 50yds to get onto paper.
1st shot - High and to the left. Adjusted.
2nd shot - Low and to the right. Adjusted.
3rd shot - On target.
4th & 5th to verify - Yep, good to go! :cool:

3-shot group @ 50yds:
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Savage%2010/IMG_1226_zpsc70e3018.jpg
Included my thumbnail in the picture for reference. That's still sub-1/2MOA, even with accounting for the short range.


Handed it to my friend Colin, he shot one round. He handed it to my friend Landon, who shot one round.
Left and right shots, respectively:
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Savage%2010/IMG_1228_zps93cbf241.jpg


Pushed the target to 100, took a couple more shots to adjust the zero. Here's the best 5-shot group I got at 100:
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Savage%2010/IMG_1227_zps40b37b52.jpg

Pushed the target to 200. Each shot, my spotter was giving me feedback that didn't match up with what I felt in my gut about where the shot went. Both my spotter and the RSO were telling me that I was shooting like 3 feet high, but it just felt wrong. So after four rounds, I decided to not waste any more ammo without understanding what my rounds were actually doing downrange. Decided to just go look at the target with my eyeballs. When I got to my target, I found four holes in the kill zone. Fairly spread out (about 6 or 7 inches), but clearly on target.

Out-of-the-box performance had me downright boggled. It showed both accuracy and precision when it got handed around, shooting dead-on for three different shooters on three consecutive shots. At 100yds, it still grouped very well (I attribute the spread to error on my part). Then, at the 200yd line, I still got 4 out of 4 rounds on target in the kill zone, even with bad feedback. There were many things learned today, but the one thing that stood out the most was that if the shooter does their part, this Savage 10FCP will deliver.

Ammo fired included:
- S&B 180gr FMJs (People look down on it because it's cheap ammo but those rounds performed very well.)
- S&B 147gr FMJs (Flew even higher than expected! lol)
- Federal 180gr FMJs (Did great)
- Hornady 168gr AMax (Didn't meet expectations. Performed well, but not at the levels I'm used to with AMAX bullets.)
All performed well, even the S&B's, but the Federals actually performed best. I'll be starting to develop handloads soon.

I cannot sufficiently express how pleased I am with this rifle. Right out of the gate, it shot beautifully. I need to figure some things out as a shooter in order to continue getting better with this rifle, but it put my rounds exactly where it was told to put them, and I can't ask for more because that's exactly what a great rifle does. Going into it, I wasn't entirely sure about how it would perform - yeah, sure I knew it could be made into a nice rifle, but I wasn't sure how nice it would be right away.

Well, suffice it to say that after today's session, I am now a Savage believer.

[stangfish]

Nice job. rather remarkable with the low power scope.

It took me a while to figure it out Forrest, I am kinda slow.

[willcombs]

Thanks stangfish! Application of fundamentals is all :)
Scope is a Millett DMS-1. It's a 1-4x power with a 24mm objective. Even with the small objective, it lets in plenty of light since it's only 4X magnification. I've heard of people who had problems with their DMS scopes, but this thing has served faithfully for years now and has taken a beating, but just won't give up the ghost.
The reticle is kinda funky, but once I learned the subtensions and how to really use the scope, I learned to like it real quick:
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o532/wcombs2012/Savage%2010/MillettDMSReticleDonutDot_zps81ced197.jpg
It used to be on my AR in 6.8mm, and it did everything I needed it to do within the effective range of the 6.8mm cartridge. But now I'm moving up to .308 and my effective killing range has increased dramatically, so I'm going to have to be gradually putting money aside for a nicer scope while learning the rifle in the meantime.

[rattfink]

Remarkable things have been done with 4 power or less.
Vasily Zaytsev used 4 power.
Simo Hayha used irons....