Screwed or OK?

Ok; read about how good Savage centerfire were - accurate, dependable, economical etc. I read what I could, took some Milsurps (for trading material) down to the local gun dealer and ordered the 11FLNS (left-handed 7-08, accutrigger, no accustock). Price was alittle more than the Axis's he had on hand. Didn't care for the feel of the Axis.

So I now I'm all over the internet looking for specifics about this rifle. As my luck would have it everybody was complaining about the 1:11.5 twist rate and I have it (I tested it myself with the cleaning rod.

The rifle was to fill a gap bewteen my .223 and 8x57 Mauser. As a handloader I thought (past tense) that some 7mm "heavies" would cut into the Mauser's world. Now it looks like even the 140 grainers will be marginal.

For those with this same "problem" - how bad is the accuracy with 140 grain? Where do you see improvement- 130 or 120 grains? I can load 150-220 gr. for the 8mm so that's not a big deal (except its a Milsurp M48 Yugo without a scope , so long range is out.

Need some real world inputs on the 140 grainers. No cash now for a rebarrel. Thanks in advance.

With bullets 140 grains or less you not not have a problem. I have the exact rifle an using 120 Nosler Ballistic Tips I get about .75 inches for 3 shot groups. It shoots 139 Hornadys and 140 Noslers it is about the same.

I did have one problem with my rifle though and you might want to check also. The left hand rifle appeared to be in a right hand stock with the right hand bolt handle cut filled and a cut made on the left side. On my rifle the cut was too far back and the bolt handle was rubbing the stock. Accuracy was 3-3.5 inches at 100 and I was really disappointed. I struggled for two years to get the rifle to shoot. I was in the process of changing the barrel to .22-250 and by accident I found the problem and filed it out. Immediately the gun became a shooter with both barrels..

Thanks! the stock looks like a lefty all the way. I had a Rem 788 in a left-hand 6mm once. The bolt was on the left and the ejection port was on the right! Glad to hear that 139-140 greain bullets are OK. Chief reason for this 7-08 was hunting deer and medium game.

I have a 7-08 mod 16FCSS 1-11.5 twist
Shoots 130 gr SMK's very well although it is not a hunting bullit
Have shot some 9/16" groups with 139 gr Hornady SST
Also have some 140 gr Barnes tripple shock that are doing less than moa at 100 yds

Thanks again. I'm beginning to feel much better about this purchace.

The 140gr SGK loads I use are lights out on whitetail here in South West Missouri. Been using it for about 6 years now.

Thanks heard alot of good things about the SGK's in most all weights the 7-08 shoots.

Will be interested to hear how this evolves for you. I just bought a 7mm-08 barrel, 22" sporter. I'll be trying the 139/140s as well. Keep us posted on how it does.

It may be a while. I was going to use the Leupold split-bases that they had in stock at the gun store. Lucky for me I tried them when I was still in the store and found they didn't work (even though according to the packaging they should). So I'm going to order the Burris bases, reloading dies, bullets etc. The gun store wanted $32 for Rem Core-lokts and $19 for Privi (only 140's were available). No thanks - I'll "roll my own". But...........it will have to wait until next payday!

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Originally Posted by Aimhigh

It may be a while. I was going to use the Leupold split-bases that they had in stock at the gun store. Lucky for me I tried them when I was still in the store and found they didn't work (even though according to the packaging they should). So I'm going to order the Burris bases, reloading dies, bullets etc.

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Older Savage receivers had a flat area on the rear receiver ring and took two different shaped scope bases front And rear. Newer actions have "round back" receivers and take the same base at both ends. I presume your gun shop tried to sell the older style bases.

Going back over a year of posts there was a discussion about if the round rear matched the front rear. If memory serves, many did not. Place a straitedge on the front and see if it matches up with the rear. If they do not it could be a problem by putting stress on a scope tube and messing it up. Wont take much misalignement to cause a problem.

El Lobo

The split bases were both round. The problem was the bolt would hit the windage knobs. If you reversed them the base would interfere with the ejection port. If you look at the reviews on the Midway website for the Leupold 2-piece bases (product no. 855592) you can see what I mean. Some found a way to adapt them but it still looked bad. Then look at the Burris (Midway product no. 115307) reviews - 5 stars across the board.

Oops, mistyped. It should have said "See if the front ROUND reciever matches the rear ROUND reciever". What was found was that heat treating caused many recievers to warp putting scope base mounting holes out of alighnment with the bore of the rifle and the rear of the round recievers were not level with the front, or vice versa. I strongly beleive that much cursing about bad scopes was a result of this finding. Putting a slight bend no matter how small can mess up the internals of a scope.

El Lobo