Lock times again, Please

[Fjold]

I'm fighting the good fight against some Remmie lovers on another board.

Can someone give me the locktimes for Savage and Remington short actions, please?

[juliomorris]

I have heard the lock time is between 2-3.5 ms. I have heard some gunsmiths say savage is faster and some say it is slower. I personally don't think there is much of a difference. Most of the people on some of the other sites are gun snobs and do not like the Savage because it cost less(and out shoots remingtons). Me personally I have never had any luck with the model 700 but I love the 788. I love the fact that Remington quit making a rifle that will out shoot their 700 any day of the week. The only thing wrong with the 788 was the bolt handle and you couldn't shoot hot loads. But when it comes to factory rifles and even factory custom shop rifle the 788 or savage wins. Just ignore the Gun Snobs most don't know what they are talking about and if it doesn't cost a couple of grand it cn't be any good. Just like optics I have heard them tell people not buy a scope they can afford but to save up for a year to buy a Leupold or a NF. Never mind that actually shooting the rifle is what is going to make you a better shot. Yes glass is important.
This might help.
http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_locktime.htm

[borg]

I totally agree about the 788. I had one in .22-250 and it was outstanding right out of the box. Do you think a wolverine or a badger would win in a fight?

[GLZ]

http://yarchive.net/gun/rifle/lock_time.html

This lists the 700 LA at 2.5ms, -15% for the SA. Doesn't list the Savage. Dosen't the little tag on the accutrigger show lock times? Might have to run to the Gun Shop tomorrow to check it out.

[sharpshooter]

Remington short action- 2.6 ms.
Savage short action- 1.65 ms.
Stolle Panda- 3.2 ms.
Colt AR-15- 6.0 ms.
Contrary to popular belief, lock time is irrelavant to accuracy. If it was twice as fast or twice as slow, you will not know the difference, nor will it show up on the target.

[DreamMaker]

+1 on the 788! It's only claim to fame was its fast lock time, otherwise a plain Jane.

I've had my LH .308 788 for over 30 years. I bedded it last year, stripped the stock and just True oiled it. It now sports a Limb Saver and it's original 3x9 Bushnell Scope Chief VI. It's now a sexy blonde!

[rchouser]

Old guys stuff. My opinion is the Remington SP-100 action off their fireball pistol had the fastest lock time of any remington off the shelf (so we used them for benchrest rifles).

This was followed by the REM 788.

I had a 700 based 6 x 47 (not lapua) so I used the high speed spring and a titanium firing pin to speed up my 700 based bench gun. The Jewell trigger offset the additional trigger pull weight caused by the hi-speed fp sping. This is all from the late 70's.

Anybody who doesn't thinks lock time matters has never shot a flintlock. Click, Flash, hiss, bang. :) I must agree that between modern bolt actions, there is functionally no real discernable difference between them. On the other hand, I have spent several hundred dollars addressing the lock time on my AR Platform gun. (for me money well spent, cause it drives me crazy)

All this is just my 2 cents. thanks rc

[Eric in NC]

Agree on locktime having an effect on accuracy - flintlock shooters and anyone that has used Pakistani "click, bang" surplus knows that.

If you are talking about mechanical accuracy potential, then no - it has no effect and you might not even notice when shooting from a good bench setup.

But when you start shooting without a rest, it does make a pretty big difference (to me at least).

[ellobo]

I take exception to the notion that flinlocks are slow. They are slow only because most people dont know how to tune a lock or load for speed. Gotta have a good flint. A proper English style breechplug with a flash hole of the right size and positioned at the pan correctly (above center). A properly tuned lock will be exceptionaly fast and put the sparks in the pan directly on the priming. The priming should never cover the touch hole. If all that is done the firing time is so fast very few can percieve any slowness. My rifles are set up like that and I have shot a lot of perfect scores with them. Had a few hangfires as well, but my bad not the rifle.