Savage Bvss New shooter

[Snappyobx]

I just won a auction for a bvss which turned out to be a model 12 lvp in 308.Our club has a monthly 440 yard shoot and this should be a fun gun to compete with.Already has a Vortex diamondback 6x24 mounted.Anything I should check or keep a eye on?

[charlie b]

Nope. That's what mine was before I rebarreled it. Shoots really well.

Mine liked shooting off a rest and rear bag better than a bipod or soft bag but that may have just been me.

[Dave Hoback]

Nothing in particular. Good rifle. Have fun with it.

[Whynot]

At 440 yards you wont need to do very much dialing- but that scope doesn't have a zero stop on it...... so once you get it sighted in for what you are going to shoot (and zero out the turrets) it is a good idea to find out how much up and down elevation you have (and write it down) so that if you ever wonder if you got off a revolution you can quickly check it.

[charlie b]

I have a Diamondback on my .308 and it works well. I have lost track of turns before when going from 200 to 1000yd. Mine is the 4-16x model.

Are you reloading and have you fired rifles much?

I don't like a lot of recoil. The 175 Sierra Match Kings do really well in mine, but, the recoil causes me to tire quickly. I prefer the 155's, mostly Bergers but Hornady 155 ELD match bullets do ok too. Most of the 5000 rounds through my .308 barrel have been cast loads, 210gn and 165gn.

[Snappyobx]

Thank you for the feedback.I am not a green newbie I have been reloading for a long time but only for short distances never beyond 100 yards.This is my first nice savage rifle.I have Varget and Aa 2520 I will try some Smk 168’s first and see how it does.
Does this barrel require a break in at all?I have heard all the different methods on this.I usually clean the barrel when it is new fire 20-25 rounds and clean again.Who makes savage barrels?Is it a premium barrel.Thanks again

[Dave Hoback]

Thank you for the feedback.I am not a green newbie I have been reloading for a long time but only for short distances never beyond 100 yards.This is my first nice savage rifle.I have Varget and Aa 2520 I will try some Smk 168’s first and see how it does.
Does this barrel require a break in at all?I have heard all the different methods on this.I usually clean the barrel when it is new fire 20-25 rounds and clean again.Who makes savage barrels?Is it a premium barrel.Thanks again

Don’t need to break in any particular fashion. Some people have their own little cult following of break in and swear by it. I find it humorous. I don’t do anything special. I shoot it, take it home & clean it. Then shoot it again when the mood catches me right. That’s all. Shoot it & clean it. It’s steel. Ya can’t wear in steel a certain way. It wears with use.

Savage makes their own barrels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IibJgngkbLU

[Robinhood]

Don’t need to break in any particular fashion. Some people have their own little cult following of break in and swear by it. I find it humorous. I don’t do anything special. I shoot it, take it home & clean it. Then shoot it again when the mood catches me right. That’s all. Shoot it & clean it. It’s steel. Ya can’t wear in steel a certain way. It wears with use.


I agree. Let the barrel tell you when to clean

[charlie b]

Yes, the barrel is made by Savage. It looks premium since it is nicely fluted SS, but, it comes off the same production line as the rest of the Savage barrels.

I use Varget in most of my .308 loads (and 6BR and .223). My rifle didn't care for the 168SMK's that much but others have had good luck with them.

They will collect copper. I found that frequent cleaning helped 'smooth' it out faster, ie, every 20 rounds or so. Cleaning here means getting as much copper out as you can. I use one of two copper cleaners, ProShot Copper Solvent or KG-12. I mostly use the ProShot since it turns the patch blue if there is still copper present. The KG-12 works faster but you have to look in the bore to see if there is copper remaining.

Breaking in is normally done on premium lapped barrels to get rid of the radial marks made by the chambering reamer. Basically you shoot and clean until you don't get any more copper fouling. Trying to do that on a Savage would be frustrating. It worked well for my Shilen barrel (1rnd clean, 1rnd, clean, 5rnds clean, done). Just takes a few extra minutes during the first range session.

[PhilC]

Interesting to note Shilen's position is just shoot it, they added a "break in" process only because so many asked for one. LOL.


Shilen, Inc. introduced a break-in procedure mostly because customers seemed to think that we should have one.

https://www.shilen.com/faq.html#question10

[Snappyobx]

So my Savage was delivered today did a quick barrel clean.Torqued the scope base and caps down.Ran a Varget load behind 168 gr Smks and it shot awesome.shooting steel at 440 hit the same spot consistently.Nice trigger this gun is a huge upgrade for me and the quality really shows.

[Dave Hoback]

Glad to hear you’re pleased. Enjoy it my friend

[charlie b]

Glad it shoots well for you. I still like mine a lot.

[GaCop]

Don’t need to break in any particular fashion. Some people have their own little cult following of break in and swear by it. I find it humorous. I don’t do anything special. I shoot it, take it home & clean it. Then shoot it again when the mood catches me right. That’s all. Shoot it & clean it. It’s steel. Ya can’t wear in steel a certain way. It wears with use.

Savage makes their own barrels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IibJgngkbLU:tea::thumb:

[GaCop]

I recently finished a build on an old stagger feed action using a Savage factory varmint weight fluted barrel. 80 rounds down the tube now with no special cleaning. This barrel definitely likes the 168 grain SMK and A-Max far more than the 175 grain pills at 200 yards.

[Philf]

Every time I go to the range the guys say
those are good shooting rifles. I have a BVSS in the 223 and it’s a good shooter, a 308 would be nice to go along with it