JwestAK
09-04-2016, 08:54 PM
Hello everyone,
I just recently purchased a new Savage Trophy Hunter package to use on my upcoming hunt and have been having nothing but issues with it. I have attempted to get the thing sighted in 3 times now with unsatisfactory results. The first day at the range i couldn't get the rifle to group better then 4 inches at 100 yards shooting off of a bag. After leaving the range i took the rifle home to give it a good cleaning and noticed that there seemed to be some slight crown damage which i didn't notice when i purchased the gun so i can only assume it happened while at the range? Anyway, i continued with the cleaning and also pulled the action out of the stock to make sure there was nothing else out of the ordinary. I found that the front action screw hole had metal debris left in it from being tapped and as a result, the screw was binding up. I cleaned the threads out and ran the screw through it to verify which then pushed two burrs up into where the bolt locks.:mad: I was finally able to get the burrs removed and then re installed the action into the stock and stored the rifle.
After a couple days i headed back to the range with a second box of ammo (180gr Fusion). Again i couldn't make the rifle group any better then the first day. I even ran a few 150gr rounds through it with no improvement. Frustrated i went home and began to inspect the rifle some more, i noticed some copper in the barrel and went and bought some Patch Out cleaner. I cleaned the barrel out until the patches were not coming out blue anymore. I also noticed some cut marks that ran through the rifle lands inside the muzzle of the barrel, almost like from a pilot on a crowning bit or something? I also pulled off the Nikon scope and mounted a Leupold 3-9 in its place.
Range trip number 3. I headed back the the range in one more final attempt to see if cleaning the barrel and a new scoped had fixed my problems. I purchased another box of Fusion 180gr (the bullet i planed to hunt with) and rented a lead sled to reduce as much human factor as possible. First up 25 yards, punched the same hole twice. Hopeful moved the target out to 50 yards, first two rounds 1/2" left of center and within 1 moa of each other. Next two rounds 2.5" left and 2 inches high, still within 1 moa of each other however. Moved target out to 100 yards and the first 4 shots were 6 inches left and 1-4 inches high.:confused: Adjusted windage and continued. The rest of the shots were either to the left or right of center, and the rest climbing to the right.
After the range i inspected the barrel again. it was a copper mine after only 20 rounds down a perfectly clean barrel. The muzzle was also unevenly fouled, roughly half the barrel had copper in the grooves and the other half did not. The most fouling was in the same groove as the previously mentioned crown damage. I also put a bore scope down the barrel and it looks worse then the coloring you see at the muzzle.. All that being said, after the last trip to the range i am still not happy with the consistency of the groupings. Am i that bad shooting from a sled or do i need to have Savage take a look at the rifle?
I should also note, the sled was rested on the front action screw to prevent forearm flex. The forearm is not touching the barrel in its resting state, and the tang does not appear to be resting on the rear of the stock.
http://imgur.com/Pn3rQ5H
http://imgur.com/G0DrZsv
http://imgur.com/f0Lv5yc
http://imgur.com/iKcvgHr
http://imgur.com/bQSOOxh
I just recently purchased a new Savage Trophy Hunter package to use on my upcoming hunt and have been having nothing but issues with it. I have attempted to get the thing sighted in 3 times now with unsatisfactory results. The first day at the range i couldn't get the rifle to group better then 4 inches at 100 yards shooting off of a bag. After leaving the range i took the rifle home to give it a good cleaning and noticed that there seemed to be some slight crown damage which i didn't notice when i purchased the gun so i can only assume it happened while at the range? Anyway, i continued with the cleaning and also pulled the action out of the stock to make sure there was nothing else out of the ordinary. I found that the front action screw hole had metal debris left in it from being tapped and as a result, the screw was binding up. I cleaned the threads out and ran the screw through it to verify which then pushed two burrs up into where the bolt locks.:mad: I was finally able to get the burrs removed and then re installed the action into the stock and stored the rifle.
After a couple days i headed back to the range with a second box of ammo (180gr Fusion). Again i couldn't make the rifle group any better then the first day. I even ran a few 150gr rounds through it with no improvement. Frustrated i went home and began to inspect the rifle some more, i noticed some copper in the barrel and went and bought some Patch Out cleaner. I cleaned the barrel out until the patches were not coming out blue anymore. I also noticed some cut marks that ran through the rifle lands inside the muzzle of the barrel, almost like from a pilot on a crowning bit or something? I also pulled off the Nikon scope and mounted a Leupold 3-9 in its place.
Range trip number 3. I headed back the the range in one more final attempt to see if cleaning the barrel and a new scoped had fixed my problems. I purchased another box of Fusion 180gr (the bullet i planed to hunt with) and rented a lead sled to reduce as much human factor as possible. First up 25 yards, punched the same hole twice. Hopeful moved the target out to 50 yards, first two rounds 1/2" left of center and within 1 moa of each other. Next two rounds 2.5" left and 2 inches high, still within 1 moa of each other however. Moved target out to 100 yards and the first 4 shots were 6 inches left and 1-4 inches high.:confused: Adjusted windage and continued. The rest of the shots were either to the left or right of center, and the rest climbing to the right.
After the range i inspected the barrel again. it was a copper mine after only 20 rounds down a perfectly clean barrel. The muzzle was also unevenly fouled, roughly half the barrel had copper in the grooves and the other half did not. The most fouling was in the same groove as the previously mentioned crown damage. I also put a bore scope down the barrel and it looks worse then the coloring you see at the muzzle.. All that being said, after the last trip to the range i am still not happy with the consistency of the groupings. Am i that bad shooting from a sled or do i need to have Savage take a look at the rifle?
I should also note, the sled was rested on the front action screw to prevent forearm flex. The forearm is not touching the barrel in its resting state, and the tang does not appear to be resting on the rear of the stock.
http://imgur.com/Pn3rQ5H
http://imgur.com/G0DrZsv
http://imgur.com/f0Lv5yc
http://imgur.com/iKcvgHr
http://imgur.com/bQSOOxh