When to give up on rifle?

[rmauch]

I am out of ideas and patience. I have a savage Model 11 .308 ( hog hunter). I have had the gun from about 3 years. If you not familiar the rifle has a 20” medium weight threaded barrel with 1-10 twist. It comes with savage’s plastic stock and has iron sights. The stock has been replaced and the iron sights removed. It has a Vortex Viper 4x12x40 for glass. Yesterday I reached my tipping point with it. I can’t for the life of life of me get it to shoot. At 105 yards it groups at 1.5-2.25 inches at 208 yards it jumps to the 6-8 inch groups, neither of which I feel is adequate. I have only gone out to 300 yards once with and it produced 12-15 inch group. I haven’t gone further out with due to the lack of accuracy. I have tired the following. The original bases and rings (Warne) have been removed and remounted x3 every time installed and torqued to spec. I have tried the following scopes Viper 4x12, Diamondback4x12, Leupold VXll 3x9, and a Primary arms1x6. I switched to a DNZ one piece mount and tried 3 out of 4 of the previous listed scopes.
As for ammo, It dislikes all 150 gr I have used. Which includes Remington cor-lockt, Hornady interlock, and Federal PSP. Moving up to the 165-168 gr. I have tired Hornady A-max and BTHP match, Federal Gold medal match, and BTHP match from Armscor. And finally 180gr hunting loads from Remington, Hornady, Federal, and Winchester. The heavier rounds group better but still not what I would consider good.
The stock has been replaced with one from Stockade gunstocks and torqued to their specs , trigger is set at 2.5 pounds. The barrel is free floated and Stockade doesn’t recommend bedding the action when using their stocks

My other .308 is a Remington 700 ADL 22inch barrel with the factory wood stock with a Vortex diamondback 4x12x40. The gun was bought new in 83/84 by my father. He is gone and it became mine. It is as factory as you can get. Even with the factory trigger set at around 6 pounds I can still shoot better with it by a considerable amount. Remington 150gr Cor-lockt produces three shot groups of at or below 1 inch at 100 yards, 2.5 at 200yds, 3.5-4.0 at 300yds, and 5.0-5.25 at 400yds. I am sure those could be improved if the trigger would be tuned or replaced, but I figure why mess with it. I know those numbers might not be that impressive to some but I am pleased with them especially using the Remington round. So I don’t think it’s me or maybe the Remington is that good.


Am I missing something obvious? I have been trying to think of something else to use, do, or try but I also starting to think I am might just have a money pit. At this point I want to sell\trade it away and move on. My Savage is like a bad girlfriend, I keep trying to make it work and she just keeps being a Bi*ch. Sorry for the long post.

[Robinhood]

After shooting that much I would get rid of the copper and carbon and start with some 175 match bullets. Your past time to send it back.

[wbm]

First I would put it back on the original stock and see if it shot worse, better, or the same. If the same or worse I would get rid of it or rebarrel.

[rmauch]

I have compared targets that I kept from when it had the original plastic stock on it and I Cannot see any significant difference between from the starting point to where I'm at now. And yes I'm that guy who keeps paper targets in folders so I can go back and look at them. Lol.

[DanielGelinas]

I had the same problem with a ruger mark 2 in .308. You just don't expect that from a .308...
I had the trigger adjusted (massaged), the rifle then was bedded. Still not a shooter.
I hand load and tried all sorts of bullets from 150 gr 165gr and 180 gr. Still no go.
A beautiful rifle which I had bought NEW about 6 years ago. My ruger 300 win mag and 270 both shoot 3/4 inches at 100.
Finally sold it last fall and bought a 22-250 model 12.
Good luck with yours.

Regards,

Dan

[dfrosch]

Have you called Savage?

[rmauch]

I did talk to savage about halfway through the three-year process. Not trying to knock savage but they weren't a whole bunch of help. They put the 2 inch group @ 100 onto the Remington cor-lockt ammunition and I was advised to try some of the federal ammunition. Federal gold medal match using a lead sled for the shooting platform was what the inch and a half group was achieved with. They also advised try to check bases,rings, and the scope

[65Whelen]

A list of thing I'd check, the crown, next pull the barrel, is the receiver square, are both locking lugs making good contact? Is the recoil lug and barrel nut in good shape?

[foxx]

I gotta think it's the barrel. If it were mine i would replace the barrel and, if it shoots, toss the original barrel. That might be more money than you wanna spend. If so, I would sell the whole rifle with a disclosure it doesn't shoot. (someone should buy it for the action) Problem is, there are so many good deals out there on new rifles you might not get much for it.

[Robinhood]

You have a good action and a great stock. A barrel from one of the prefit barrel makers out there and you are in business. Lots of chamberings go with that bolthead.

[taylorce1]

The stock has been replaced with one from Stockade gunstocks and torqued to their specs , trigger is set at 2.5 pounds. The barrel is free floated and Stockade doesn’t recommend bedding the action when using their stocks.

I don't care what the manufacturer says if I spent money on a new custom stock, I'm going to bed it. I want everything to have a custom fit, it just makes me feel better about things. However, I don't think this is you issue.

I'd replace the barrel, since you're already in so deep with the rifle. I might sell, but only if if youwant could put it back to original. A barrel is really all you have left that you can do easily.

[darkker]

Am I missing something obvious? I have been trying to think of something else to use, do, or try but I also starting to think I am might just have a money pit. At this point I want to sell\trade it away and move on. My Savage is like a bad girlfriend, I keep trying to make it work and she just keeps being a Bi*ch. Sorry for the long post. Life is too short to tollerate a bad girlfriend, or spend 3 years with a crap barrel. The obvious thing I would have done long ago was to re-crown it, but at this point I think Foxx has you steered in the correct direction. IF you want this rifle, throw the barrel in the fire pit and move on, otherwise sell it and go to plan B.

[rmauch]

I went over it again last night and double checked the things that were recommended here and on another form. I guess it's at best a 1.5 inch rifle with the current barrel. As you guys are stated that's really the only thing left to replace. At this point I think I'm just going to part ways with it. I know I'm going to take a loss on it, probably a considerable one, I'm just kind of done with it.

[gbflyer]

Been there too. Frustrating.

What sort of accuracy would be acceptable out of your 20" Hammer with factory ammo?

[6.5savageguy]

As far as you've gone with it I wouldn't part with it before trying a different barrel. Barrel swaps are easy. You could probably buy a used or new take off .308 barrel here in the classifieds cheap if you don't want to throw down the $300+ on a new custom tube.

You're almost all the way to having a nice semi custom rifle you just need to close the deal and get rid of the crap barrel.

[Zero333]

Before trying anything else, I would contact Savage again and tell them it will not shoot any better than 3" at 100y. Let them swap the barrel for free.

Don't let them tell you to "try this try that blah blah blah" like they already did the first time you called them.

[holescreek]

Just to eliminate everything, try using a different scope. I've sent more than my fair share of Vortex's back for free replacement. If another scope doesn't help at least you can cross it off the list.

[RC20]

What bothers me is not the poor shooting at 100, that can be a barrel or other factors.

Its the non linear opening up of the groups at 200-300. At worst that should be 5 inches at 200 and 8 at 300.

That gets into the shooter and you seem to be able to shoot another gun fine.

For a non linear result like that if it is not the shooter something is moving.

Have you checked the nut?

You have done more than due diligence on the scope and bases.

Even a bad barrel should stay linear. Once its off 2.5 inches at 100 it should be 5 at 200.

[boostless]

I would check the crown. There may be a burr or something inside the barrel from the rifling process, when you clean the gun does the patch go through the barrel smoothly? I've had barrels that open up enough to notice while cleaning. If after that I'd say throw a new barrel on it. I'd try to get Savage to do it before pulling money out of my own pocket, since you have had this problem previously.

[rmauch]

Thanks for the responses. The Stockade stock is going to a new home here soon. I plan on keeping the scope and DNZ rings. The barrel and action should be on their way out shortly.