12FV Build- Opinions needed

[shamu25]

The Choate is great for the price. Solid, heavy and fits well and rather inexpensive. I bought the barrel and vice and head space gauges and watched YouTube to learn how to do my own. Quite a lot of fun . Should have bought the barrel threaded. Had about 700 total into the gun not including the brake. Also working up your own hand loads is tons of fun.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

I just bought a stealth chassis at Numeric for 301 shipped. Bought 2 MDT poly mags for $70 shipped from Brownells using $10 off plus free shipping.

[frumpb681]

I just bought a stealth chassis at Numeric for 301 shipped. Bought 2 MDT poly mags for $70 shipped from Brownells using $10 off plus free shipping.

Post some pictures when you get it please.

Picked up a crossfire 6-24x50 yesterday and some cheap rings at the LGS. Really happy with the scope so far. Tried Hornady 129gr and S&B 140gr today and it seems the S&B has grouped the best so far. Any suggestions for medium 30mm rings that won’t break the bank? The ones I have now are letting the scope slip a little after about 40 rounds today.

Next will be a cheek riser I think. Would make the factory stock much more user friendly.


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[celltech]

Any suggestions for medium 30mm rings that won’t break the bank?

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Talley lightweight 1 piece mounts...

[frumpb681]

Some updates from Sunday while I was zeroing the scope- the first picture here is to prove to myself I don’t suck horribly using an old 11 in 223 with a cheap Tasco that sits in the garage for coyotes:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190115/d8a3771cb287cddc2cf52a895c42fc1b.jpg
The shot to the left was the very first shot (getting used to the heavy trigger after shooting my accutrigger). The rest of the group is 2 different types of ammo that I had laying around. Still a decent group at 100 yards. This rifle has a factory hardwood stock and spotter barrel.

Groups with the 12FV:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190115/4876955e6edb3a19e2a469b5d2bb141a.jpg this was my best 5 shot group at 100 yards. As you can see it measures roughly 2 inches.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190115/d485f8d853f640efeb1b770ec0e31f6f.jpg
This was the other target used for sighting in. Couldn’t get a definite zero since it seemed my shots were hitting randomly. On this target I was trying bipod+rear bag, front+rear bag, front bag only, etc. as well as 2 different 140gr rounds and Hornady American whitetail 129gr just for curiosity. The targets are 1” squares/intervals FYI.

Call me crazy but shouldn’t this rifle be grouping better?

[Robinhood]

could be you... could be a heavy trigger... could be the scope or the way it is mounted..... could be your rest..... could be your ammo....could be the rifle

[Apollo117]

Describe exactly what you are doing when you shoot.

Are you pulling your head off the rifle to view the impact through a spotting scope, load ammo, or adjust the rifle position? i.e. is the position of your head, body or the rifle changing shot to shot? Are you applying a consistent trigger squeeze each and every shot? Are you shooting at a range surrounded by other shooters or are you at a private range? What is the total time taken to shoot the group?

Have you checked the torque on the action screens, mount screws, ring screws? Is the barrel fully floated? If so, does the barrel remain floating after a five shoot group?

The group with your .223, and two different types of ammo, indicate that your form is probably good. It's hard to say since two types of ammo affected the group.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Post some pictures when you get it please.

Picked up a crossfire 6-24x50 yesterday and some cheap rings at the LGS. Really happy with the scope so far. Tried Hornady 129gr and S&B 140gr today and it seems the S&B has grouped the best so far. Any suggestions for medium 30mm rings that won’t break the bank? The ones I have now are letting the scope slip a little after about 40 rounds today.

Next will be a cheek riser I think. Would make the factory stock much more user friendly.


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I will do. Not sure how.long it will be. Shipping from Numeric. I didn't get a tracking number. Checked my order number on their sight and it says shipped as best i can tell. Again no tracking number.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

If your looking for premium groups you need match ammo and even then there are no guarantees they will do as well as hand loads.

To be honest loading with a single stage in an apartment is very doable. Otherwise you may be looking at some Fed Gold Medal Match or Hornady Match loads from the factory and that gets expensive quick. Plus you could possibly shrink those in half with hand loads. Maybe better.

My stock 12fv is 1/2 MOA or better with my loads. My smallest groups with factory stock are .36" and. 50" respectively. I've had more than a few at .5"-.6" groups.The gun can do it but hard to see where i am without a good cheek weld.

I advise bags to find out where you and your gun are. Setting them up and using them properly will give you as much consistency as you need.

Every tiny thing matters. How much pressure on the stock, how consistent the pressure is, trigger pull, paralax on the scope, etc. Can be very frustrating trying to figure out if its you, the gun, or the load.

Good luck. Keep shooting. Ill get those pictures loaded as soon as the chassis arrives and assembled.

[yzinger02]

Thanks for the input guys. This is on private land. Going to have my dad shoot it this weekend again just to eliminate myself. All screws have been loctited on the scope mounts and rings. Action screws are tight but no loctite. I'm not gripping the rifle hard to be conscious of possible stock flex. Barrel channel in forearm has been dremeled and checked for float when on the bipod. Going to keep trying different loads and see what happens. Maybe my expectations are unrealistic because you hear about so many 12's that are insanely accurate out of the box but I was just hoping for a little better since I sold my Axis with hopes of a better target platform.

Do you guys think it would be a waste of time to bed the action in the factory stock at this point? I'll be getting a new stock for it eventually but if I get good results with a block bedding job then I wouldn't be in a hurry to drop the cash on a stock/chassis.

[frumpb681]

Thanks for the input guys. This is on private land. Going to have my dad shoot it this weekend again just to eliminate myself. All screws have been loctited on the scope mounts and rings. Action screws are tight but no loctite. I'm not gripping the rifle hard to be conscious of possible stock flex. Barrel channel in forearm has been dremeled and checked for float when on the bipod. Going to keep trying different loads and see what happens. Maybe my expectations are unrealistic because you hear about so many 12's that are insanely accurate out of the box but I was just hoping for a little better since I sold my Axis with hopes of a better target platform.

Do you guys think it would be a waste of time to bed the action in the factory stock at this point? I'll be getting a new stock for it eventually but if I get good results with a block bedding job then I wouldn't be in a hurry to drop the cash on a stock/chassis.

Scratch that- found a stealth chassis on Numrich for cheap. Now we play the waiting game until it gets here. Anyone know if these chassis’ come with a mag? The description didn’t say anything about it.


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[charlie b]

My vote would be that the barrel needs to be broken in.

Clean it good. Use a good copper remover like KG12. Then use some bore paste paying special attention to the throat. Clean and go shoot again. If you haven't broken in the barrel might be a good time to do so. Otherwise it may be a couple hundred rounds before you see good groups.

Some barrels shoot well out of the box. Some don't. My 12 required a good break in and throat polishing before it started to settle down.

[yzinger02]

My vote would be that the barrel needs to be broken in.

Clean it good. Use a good copper remover like KG12. Then use some bore paste paying special attention to the throat. Clean and go shoot again. If you haven't broken in the barrel might be a good time to do so. Otherwise it may be a couple hundred rounds before you see good groups.

Some barrels shoot well out of the box. Some don't. My 12 required a good break in and throat polishing before it started to settle down.

Thanks for the insight charlie. I did a "break in" with cleaning between each shot for 5 rounds then increasing rounds between cleanings etc. But i don't have any copper remover. I'll have to get some and give it a good scrub. So far I'm around 100 rounds down the tube so i hope you're right.

[CFJunkie]

ysinger02

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this can help you with your new rifle.
It takes me at least 25 to 50 rounds to get accustomed to a new rifle.
If your rifle is a bit different than what you have been shooting, it could easily take longer.
I shoot almost 6,000 rounds a year with good target rifles and I still have days when I don't feel comfortable in setting up. Those days, I don't shoot as well.

Also, I agree with all the posters who recommend using match ammo.
Since you didn't say you intend to hunt with this rifle, I would consider getting some Hornady ELD-M match ammos in both 140 and 147 grain weights.
It is not as expensive as some ammos and it shoots great in my rifles.
I have one 6.5mm CM Savage that likes 142 Sierra SMK and 147 Hornady match ammo.
The other likes 130 TMK and 140 Hornady match, the best.
Your particular rifle will have its own preferences and you need to experiment to discover what it likes.

I am a great believer in high-powered scopes for accurate rifles that you want to use to make single ragged holes in paper.
An accurate rifle just won't deliver to it's capabilities with a scope that was lying around on your bench before you decided to use it.

A low power scope with a hunting reticle will obscure at least 1/2 inch of the aim point at 100 yards and you can't be sure of a precise aim point if you use a scope like that and expect excellent accuracy.
My good rifles have high quality scopes - most of them are at least 30X.
I have 3 NightForce Benchrest 8-32X and 4 Sightron fixed 36X target scopes on my good rifles. The NightForce scopes are more expensive but the results I get with them were worth buying them.
I prefer scopes with target reticles that allow me to consistently aim at 1/10 inch or less POAs at 100 yards.

Your 6.5mm CM will obliterate your aim point with a hole 0.243 to 0.264 depending upon the thickness of the target paper.
At 100 yards that is the center-to-center size of my best groups so keeping the aim point intact is the key to shooting small groups.
So set my scope so
my POI is slightly high when I am shooting groups so the aim point doesn't get messed up.

One last observation is based upon my own experiences. The shooter, the 'nut behind the trigger', is the biggest contributor to shooter induced variations that are the cause of groups that spread out.
I have worked for years on trying to get a consistent set up so I am not influencing the POI.
With a new rifle, you an easily be setting up out of the perfect position because you are used to a different stock, cheek weld or stock length.
One of the posters correctly identified varying your eye position behind the scope as a cause of growing your group size.
I have found that as little as 1/8 inch change in eye position creeping up on the scope can cause a 1/4 inch rise in POI at 100 yards. A shorter stock length can cause that.
In my best groups, 1/4 inch is going to mess up a good overall size group at 100 yards.

Lastly, horizontal stringing can be caused by not getting the stock in the same position on every shot.
If the rifle recoil causes your scope to move off to the right, you have the stock seated to the right of the slot inside your shoulder bone.

The recoil is pushing your shoulder back and the barrel moves to the right.
If the stock is seated in the right place, the recoil will come straight back and your scope will be viewing the aim point after recoil.

All these seemingly little details can cause significant increases in group size.
And each of them are additive.
Both my Savage 6.5mm CMs average .353 and 0.383 respectively for all the 5 round groups that they have shot over the last year.
Not all the groups are at the average, so I have lapses just like anyone else.

Trying to be consistent setting up sometimes doesn't work.
Last weekend I had a bad day with my Savage .308 in 25 degree temperatures, maybe because I was so bundled up to keep warm that I couldn't feel the stock position in my shoulder.
The result was lots of horizontal stringing.
I averaged over just over 0.6 inches for 5 round groups with a rifle that averages well under 0.5.
I wasn't happy with that, but I will be shooting again this week to see if I can correct the problem.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Mine got here today. Ordered last Friday. You will need 1 screw for the front. The shorter screw fits the back on the chasis. Congrats man! I am about to post a picture of mine. They do not come with mags. Mine arrive tomorrow. I just got two of the 8 round MDT poly mags to start.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

This is what it looks like in the Chassis. Mags come tomorrow

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7877/46718561652_c13a9ce1de_b.jpghttps://farm5.staticflickr.com/4804/45856330225_bc56b22934_b.jpg

[yzinger02]

This is what it looks like in the Chassis. Mags come tomorrow

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7877/46718561652_c13a9ce1de_b.jpghttps://farm5.staticflickr.com/4804/45856330225_bc56b22934_b.jpg

Looks awesome! Can't wait to get mine. Looks like it was made for it. Thanks for the heads up, do you have any idea what size screw I need for the front? Also, where did you order your MDT mags from? Says they're sold out on MDT's website.

[frumpb681]

Installing my EGW 1 piece rail tonight I noticed the rear mount hole in the receiver is tapped at an angle. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190118/26d696637b38b4d1b4ceeea67fb6c3a2.jpg
If you look at the picture you can see the screw trying to go in but it binds after about 1 or 2 threads of engagement. I think I’ll be okay with 3 screws on the solid base, but do you guys think this is something worth contacting savage about?


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[charlie b]

Looks like it is cross threaded. If you take the base off and insert the screw does it go in crooked as well? If it will go in straight then the hole in the base may not be aligned?

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Looks like the scope base holes are a bit off center. Dont think its a savage issue. If you didn't force it...good for you. You still may be able to mount it but its going to take aligning both screws and starting them slightly. Then move from screw to screw as you add just a 1/4 turn until they all go in straight.

A better way might be to sent it back and get another one from EGW or who ever the retailer is.