First Savage

[bg380]

After what seemed like a long wait, the Trophy Hunter in .260 that I ordered finally arrived at the LGS on Friday and I picked it up late Saturday afternoon. I've read the manual, given her a good cleaning and checked the torque on the scope mounts and rings. Monday morning it is off to the range to sight her in. If you haven't guessed by now, I am a pretty excited camper. Will report on the range trip tomorrow.

[Hallbilly]

Be as excited as you want, Merry Christmas, Happy birthday. "Don't you love the smell of new gun oil in the morning".

[BigDave]

After what seemed like a long wait, the Trophy Hunter in .260 that I ordered finally arrived at the LGS on Friday and I picked it up late Saturday afternoon. I've read the manual, given her a good cleaning and checked the torque on the scope mounts and rings. Monday morning it is off to the range to sight her in. If you haven't guessed by now, I am a pretty excited camper. Will report on the range trip tomorrow.

Awesome. I just got my first Savage too. Its so new i dont have a scope for it yet. (coming from SWFA). One thing. You really may want to check your scope mount to see if it lies perfectly flat on your action. The scope rails are always straight, but often the action front and rear are not the precise same height. With no rings or scope on remove both rear screws. Leave full torque on the front screws. If the rear raises up where you can slide a piece of paper or more in the gap then you need to bed just the rear of your scope rail. Usually the front doesn't need any attention. I do check both.
My action happened to be 100% perfect. I needed no bedding. But it is a very good thing to check. It costs nothing and only takes a minute. There are tons of viceos on how to bed a scope rail. Its super easy. If you have already done this, then maybe this post will help some one else. Its called Precision Rifle even if you dont shoot over 300 yards it's very Zen to go through the motions to check everything.

[Hallbilly]

Same here. Got my first Savage a few months ago, brand new Weather Warrior.
Between the two rear screws there was a .010" drop toward the stock end, took me some time to believe what I was seeing.
I'm a toolmaker so machined my own one piece rail, along with corresponding taper, now it fits like a glove.
I've been asking about this issue and apparently it's not uncommon across many makes and models, cold metal bedding appears to be the answer.
Apart from that I have no compunction in saying that this is the most pleasing center fire I've ever owned.

[jsmith]

I just got the TH but in 223. Be very leary of the scope mounts and rings that it came with. I ended up replacing them with leupolds. I also replaced all the plastic bottom metal with the metal bottom metal and a new boyd's stock. Completely different gun now. Love it.

[bg380]

Guys,
Thank you very much for the comments and advice. The Trophy Hunter does not have a scope rail, it has two individual scope mount bases. Do I need to check them for flatness also? How do you do it?

Thanks.

[olddav]

I'm guessing you would use a straight edge and look for a rocking point. If you don't see one then should be good, but I'm just guessing.
Come to think of it I'm not sure you even need to check the mounts.

[rebelwolf10]

Guys,
Thank you very much for the comments and advice. The Trophy Hunter does not have a scope rail, it has two individual scope mount bases. Do I need to check them for flatness also? How do you do it?

Thanks.

If you have a good straight edge remove to scope rings from the bases and lay it across the two bases and look for any gaps at the end of the bases. For example if the rear base was low you would likely see a gap at the front of the bases. Also try keeping the edge flat on one base while sliding it over the other. If it catches the edge or shows a gap you'll need to adjust. While you are there use the straight edge along the sides of the bases to make sure they are square to each other. I use a fairly common metal ruler for this kind of stuff. Hard part is making sure you have a good edge to measure with.

[Hallbilly]

Good advice from these chaps.
Sorry to harp on about this, hopefully your receiver is spot-on.
I like the idea of using a one piece rail, it's a solid straight backbone which should give the best potential alignment for your scope. Some people feel a drawback is that access to the chamber is restricted, I must have small fingers, not a problem for me.
I found that my receiver was wonky with this one test.
Finger tight both individual mounts to the receiver, then finger tight the ring bases to the mounts, then fit the scope and finger tight the rear cap to the rear ring base.
When I did this, the scope would not seat into the front ring base, in fact I had about a 1/8" gap. You can appreciate that if you have this issue and force the scope down into the front base there will be allsorts of nasty stress applied.

[BigDave]

Guys,
Thank you very much for the comments and advice. The Trophy Hunter does not have a scope rail, it has two individual scope mount bases. Do I need to check them for flatness also? How do you do it?

Thanks.

Checking for straightness is always important. But realize a significant number of owners shoot guns with slightly misaligned rails/rail for all their lives and never notice a problem. All lot depends on how far out you shoot and how accurate you want/need to be.

Most hunters shooting inside say 300 yards may not really have an issue with a slightly out of whack rails or rings. People shooting paper out to 500 yards and beyond have to be concerned with all the minute details. Most long range precision rifle shooters will ditch two piece rails and carefully fit a quality one piece rail. Why? Not 100% sure. From what I can tell, it much easier to tell if a one piece rail is true to your action using nothing more than a thin slip of paper.

If you ever want a one piece rail, Amazon sells an EGW for $35 for Savage. Not sure if it will fit a Trophy. But that is the price point.

I torque the front screws down on a one piece rail. If I cant slide a piece of thin paper under the rear mount, its good. I double check by slightly lifting the rear mount(no screws) and slide a paper in. Allow the rail to clamp down on it. Remove the paper. It should almost tear coming out. That means your rail is true to your rear action. reverse and repeat for the forward portion. Its usually the rear that is lower. Why? IDK.

Dont for a minute feel you need to do this. Just trying to put things in perspective...BUT..

if your two piece rails are out of true, dont mess with them. Buy a one piece rail and bed the end that is lower. It will usually be the rear.

Lots of You Tube videos on this. Watch them all as there is one really bad one out there. He GRINDS the bottom of his scope rail thinking that is necessary for the epoxy to adhere to it. Not. Just degrease. No grinding please!

Your rail with VERY RARE exceptions will be 100% flat. its the receiver you need to be concerned with.

[bg380]

Thanks guys, you have given me a lot to think about. Will hit the YouTube videos tonight to learn about bedding the scope rail. Then I guess I will start to look for a rail.

[rebelwolf10]

Thanks guys, you have given me a lot to think about. Will hit the YouTube videos tonight to learn about bedding the scope rail. Then I guess I will start to look for a rail.

Glad to share with you. I would recommend a one piece rail if you dont already have bases. If you have some already then put them on and check. If they are good then go with them. I mean if it's like a couple thousands off you'll likely never notice it. Big gaps and I'd say scrap them and get a single.