Savage Stealth in 6.5 - First impressions.

[Betterlate]

Hello, Palmaris if you had to use a file my guess is that the royal arms grip is hard plastic.And 2 how do you like it for trigger control?

[Betterlate]

Most shooters Ive spoken to Prefer sand bags front and rear to reduce the hard surface bounce off bi-pods and mono-pods unless the ground is soft.

[Palmaris]

Hello, Palmaris if you had to use a file my guess is that the royal arms grip is hard plastic.And 2 how do you like it for trigger control?
Hello Sir.
I "tuned" that grip to my liking. I would rate that plastic very soft, easy to cut. I used half moon file and sandpaper, finished by bid blasting. Regarding tandem of pistol grip and trigger control-again, I cut that grip a lot to fit to my hand, so feels really good and finger placement on trigger is perfect. Just keep in mind, due to my injury long time age I am short half on index finger, about 1/4", that is reason I have to "massage" grip.

[Bhowell]

A couple pics from this weekend at my parents ranch in North Texas.

Dad trying out the rifle.
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/bretthhowell/Mobile%20Uploads/04EB85EB-88D0-4EEF-B460-151F5F06448B_1.jpg

350 Yard Setup
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/bretthhowell/Mobile%20Uploads/0E29193B-57AE-4869-83CF-8B1ED0F0ED35.jpg

[Bhowell]

Anyone have recommendations for metal targets? Looking for something about 12"x24" that will last.

Here's a hole in a metal brace after a hit at 350 yards.
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/bretthhowell/Mobile%20Uploads/68563568-B045-48B3-8721-FE983AF16DFB.jpg

[Palmaris]

Wow!!!
Very nice scene and beautiful target range!!!

[Betterlate]

Hello Sir.
I "tuned" that grip to my liking. I would rate that plastic very soft, easy to cut. I used half moon file and sandpaper, finished by bid blasting. Regarding tandem of pistol grip and trigger control-again, I cut that grip a lot to fit to my hand, so feels really good and finger placement on trigger is perfect. Just keep in mind, due to my injury long time age I am short half on index finger, about 1/4", that is reason I have to "massage" grip.
Thank you Sir, I think I'll try it, if it uses up more of my hand without trimming except for front area to fit chassis it should work out good.I hope to some day to have my Stealth look as nice as yours great job.

[Betterlate]

img_4308.jpg

[orbitup]

Anyone have recommendations for metal targets? Looking for something about 12"x24" that will last.

Here's a hole in a metal brace after a hit at 350 yards.


Plenty of good targets out there just google "AR500 targets". I got this one off Amazon and it's great.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F0KVN1U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[icker96]

If you got your barrel replaced with 24" non-fluted, what are your thoughts? I'm thinking about going that route

[CBryars2]

I like mine non fluted. I asked Savage tech and they said fluting cut wieght a little, mainly for looks. I wanted as stiff as possible since hanging a 10.5" can on barrel. Looks good. Still working on load with suppressor so all I know right now is sub-moa.

[DenverDave]

The Lupold MK4 20moa rail works with both 8-40 and 6-48 screws, no modifications required.

You can special order 8-40 rails from Seekins.

[Chamdaddy]

New to this Forum. I purchased a Savage Stealth 6.5C around the Holidays and was excited to have a low recoil, long-range rifle to manage some Feral hogs and Yotes. The first time out to the range with some factory loads, I was afraid I just dropped a $1000 on the worst shooting gun I own. I could not get a 2" group at 100 yards to save my soul. When I was done I looked over at the guy at the nearest bench and saw he was shooting a Savage Stealth in 338 Lapua. He too was frustrated because his scope was about to fall off because the screws in the base were working loose on every shot. I inspected my gun and when I pressed down on the front of the scope I could see gun oil squeeze out from under the base. I went home and removed the scope and found that I could remove the base screws with my fingers and a torx bit. How this made it out of QC at Savage is beyond me. I cleaned the receiver threads and screws with solvent, applied some Loctite-Blue and re-secured the base. I now have a sub-1/2moa shooter. I have made it through my first round of load development using 100, 120, 130 and 143 grain bullets and four different powders for each. It is more difficult to find a bullet/powder combination that does not shoot well as opposed to one that does. Since H4350 has been declared "EW" (Extinct in the Wild) I had to try available powders. In my first round of development using 130gr Berger VLD-Hunting bullets and Varget I was able to get two consecutive powder graduations that gave me 0.2 and 0.3 MOA at 100yards(pics attached, I hope). My next round will go to 5 shots and varying seating depths. So if you're not getting the accuracy you expect, check your scope base and receiver bolts for torque, appears to be a common issue.
http://i.imgur.com/tX3wovIm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iH4flk9m.jpg

[CBryars2]

Was checking my rails again, both 338 and 300 were loose. One was stripped on bolt tip. Found a replacement I had and used it. Interesting, some were torx head and some hex head. Really weird. Need to replace all to standardize for tools. Good advice on Chassis also, found rear was about 25 inch pounds, checked and seems 50-60 is more normal.

I can get .3-.4 (if I'm doing my job) with Berger 130 OTM and H4350 on my 6.5.

I wonder if the oil is a clue on the rail. Really heavy, wonder if keeping locktite from setting. What is a good solvent?

[drybean]

You missed the Dime both times!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chamdaddy]

Some people suggest just rubbing alcohol, but I used my Hoppes Blast and Shine with Acetone and MEK. Be sure to clean the entire area particularly both Male and FM threads, however come back with a quality gun oil on a cloth for the area beneath the base where it touches the receiver but avoid the threaded holes, otherwise rust will set in on the unprotected metal.

[Chamdaddy]

You missed the Dime both times!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see, the dime moved.

[Bhowell]

New to this Forum. I purchased a Savage Stealth 6.5C around the Holidays and was excited to have a low recoil, long-range rifle to manage some Feral hogs and Yotes. The first time out to the range with some factory loads, I was afraid I just dropped a $1000 on the worst shooting gun I own. I could not get a 2" group at 100 yards to save my soul. When I was done I looked over at the guy at the nearest bench and saw he was shooting a Savage Stealth in 338 Lapua. He too was frustrated because his scope was about to fall off because the screws in the base were working loose on every shot. I inspected my gun and when I pressed down on the front of the scope I could see gun oil squeeze out from under the base. I went home and removed the scope and found that I could remove the base screws with my fingers and a torx bit. How this made it out of QC at Savage is beyond me. I cleaned the receiver threads and screws with solvent, applied some Loctite-Blue and re-secured the base. I now have a sub-1/2moa shooter. I have made it through my first round of load development using 100, 120, 130 and 143 grain bullets and four different powders for each. It is more difficult to find a bullet/powder combination that does not shoot well as opposed to one that does. Since H4350 has been declared "EW" (Extinct in the Wild) I had to try available powders. In my first round of development using 130gr Berger VLD-Hunting bullets and Varget I was able to get two consecutive powder graduations that gave me 0.2 and 0.3 MOA at 100yards(pics attached, I hope). My next round will go to 5 shots and varying seating depths. So if you're
http://i.imgur.com/tX3wovIm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iH4flk9m.jpg

What velocity are you getting? And how much powder?

I've been pretty happy with Hornady 140 ELD-Match ammo except the FPS is only 2660.

[Chamdaddy]

Bhowell,
These were 35.8gr and 36.1gr of Varget but only getting around 2600fps. I have another good node around 37.5 gr producing 2715fps. However I am showing really good initial results with ReLoder 16. Using Hornady 143gr ELD-X and 43.3gr of RL16 I was getting 2800fps and was not showing any pressure signs yet, I only stopped because it was beginning to compress the load. I have a series of the Berger 130's with RL16 loaded waiting for some good weather, I expect it to give me around 2900fps at the top end. RL16 seems to produce about 100-200fps more than Varget and IMR 4451 in my other initial test loads. Interestingly enough my H4350 loads gave me good velocity but only mediocre groups and vertical dispersion.

[bearcatrp]

RL-17 worked good for me when I had my 10-T 6.5cm. 42.0 gr @2795 fps. Tried a little higher but started getting case swipes. Grouping was sub MOA. Was looking for RL-16 but finally found 1 lb of H4350 to try. Didn't group well with more powder than RL-17. Ended up selling the rifle and getting a 338LM.