What to do with a complete dud of a rifle

I bought a 112 Magnum Target, the single-shot 338LM model with the laminate stock, assuming it would be as accurate as the half-dozen or so other Savage rifles I have. But alas, it will barely hit the broad side of a barn. In other words, I'm lucky to hit a 16" x 16" paper target at 100 yards. This is Not Good.

I upgraded the muzzle brake to an APA Fat B*, bought an alluminum chassis, bedded the action into the chassis, set it up with an Atlas 5H bipod, Nightforce ATACR on top in a Spuhr mount, meticulously worked up handloads with high BC bullets and low S.D. muzzle velocities ... it's all been a giant waste of time and money.

Other than swapping the barrel for something custom, what can I do to get lemonade from this lemon? Why would a single-shot target action act this way?

And while powerful calibers like this can promote flinching, I shot some rough groups (or attempted to) in basically a free recoil setup with the bipod and a rear bag and me only touching the trigger.

Have you contacted Savage about it?

Tony

I'll gladly take it and even pay the shipping to relieve you of the headache. :tea:

In all seriousness if you can put it back into factory configuration send it back to Savage as Tony indicated

16"x16" at 100 yards? Savage should have been contacted long ago.

Have you had someone else shoot the rifle?

By all means call savege. I have a mdl 16 in 260 Remington that I fooled with for a year and a half and never could make it shoot better than 3" at 100 yards. I called Savage and was told to return it. Savage re barreled it and I'm not sure they didn't put a new receiver on it too. From my experience Savage stands behind their guns.

What bullets and grain of bullets did you use? My 110 FCP in 338 was having issues getting on target. I have a Burris XTR II 4-20x50 on it. Couldn't hit crap at 100 yards. Went over to the 50 yard targets. Still missing. Rangemaster said to shoot 25 yard target. Thought he was nuts. Got on target though. Went back to 100 yard line. 2 shots, on target. The 338LM is a powerful round. Likes its distance to air out. I am shooting Hornady 285 ELD-M. What rail do you have on it? I had a 20 MOA. Changed it out to zero MOA rail. Zero issues since I have enough turret to adjust out to a mile. Was banging steel @1000 yards a few weeks ago with ease. If your using just one type of bullet, try a different one. Some barrels are just finicky on what it likes. If you have access to 2 hundred yards and a good spotter, that will help. BUT, after trying different bullets and still no luck, send it in to savage. Won't cost you anything. Another possibility, you tightened the screw to much when putting it in a new chassis. Had same issue with a 10T in 6.5 creedmoor. The chassis makers said use 60 lbs torque. To tight. Did 45lbs and was working great. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. I'll bet if you put it back in original chassis it will shoot lights out.

Have you replaced the scope? Heavy recoil can mangle even a good scope.

Try another scope if you haven't already. If results are similar, box it up. No amount of tinkering with stocks is going to fix that, in my experience.

Classic example of not nailing down the problem and changing everything else.

After all the basic you check the scope (put a known good one on the rifle) put the original on the other gun.

Screw checks on all and clearance. Then contact Savage.

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By all means call savege. I have a mdl 16 in 260 Remington that I fooled with for a year and a half and never could make it shoot better than 3" at 100 yards. I called Savage and was told to return it. Savage re barreled it and I'm not sure they didn't put a new receiver on it too. From my experience Savage stands behind their guns.

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If they put a new receiver on it the SN would have been changed.

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Originally Posted by RC20

If they put a new receiver on it the SN would have been changed.

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Not if it's current production. If it's determined that a receiver is out of spec, it will be replaced with one re-using the same serial number. The bad receiver is then destroyed. This saves tons of paperwork.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

Not if it's current production. If it's determined that a receiver is out of spec, it will be replaced with one re-using the same serial number. The bad receiver is then destroyed. This saves tons of paperwork.

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Contact Savage. They will take care of you.

Mine was replaced with a new serial number receiver. Only shot the new one once, but it seems to be much better than the last one. And my old one wasn't nearly as bad as you describe.

Wow, lots of feedback, thanks!!

I haven't contacted Savage yet, but I guess that's my next step.

I haven't had anyone else look at it yet. Bullets I've tried are Berger 300gr Hybrid, Hornady 285gr ELD-M, G9 232gr Competition Series solids, and Lehigh 245gr Match Solid. The rail is a 20 MOA Nightforce. I've tried action screw torque settings between 35 and 60 in/lbs, didn't seem to make a noticeable difference. Original (temporary) scope was an SWFA 12x42, then the Nightforce. I also tried a Burris XTR II 4-20x50.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

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Originally Posted by RC20

Classic example of not nailing down the problem and changing everything else.

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Ha ha, probably. I've only shot handloads out of it, so it has basically been guesswork to know if I had a good load through a bad rifle, or vice versa.

You are taking it all well and that does impress me as we have slapped you around a bit (or a lot)

Don't tell Savage it was reloads.

I don't know if you are new to all this, it seems not.

If you run the reload spread, worst you might do is 2 inches with that kind of gun regardless of the load and not likely even that.

By that I mean start at the lowest level and work up to max level 1/2 grain at a time.

The worst shooting gun in the world that doesn't like the load or bullet will have two decent areas in that spread.

That kind of group spread is so far outside the box as to be stunningly bad, you would think the barrel looks like a pretzel.

One other confirming step is to buy a box of match factory, if that does not do it then nothing will.

I will apologize. I am a mechanic/technician and now they call me an engineer (but ignore most of what I tell them!)

Our shop joke about our Manager is that when a conveyor quits working right, he wants to replace the whole building.

I don't know how many times I have seen people replace virtually an entire engine instead of focusing on the problem and figuring out the right trouble shooting steps

Good lesson to anyone new, ask first, we can save you a lot of money.

I figure for all you have done you could have a new barrel by now!

Sounds almost like they sent you a smooth bore.

More like a barrel with a swivel end that randomly scatters them.

A smooth bore would be more accurate!

A friend of mine is having similar problems with his 111 Hunter in 338 LM. He can't hit paper at 100 or 200 yards with factory 250 grain rounds. He had his Night-force 8X32 scope in high Night Force rings. I changed those to medium height rings to bring the scope closer to the bore. Tried bore sighting with my collimator and found the spud is too short to clear the muzzle brake and enter the bore so tried unscrewing the muzzle brake. The damned thing is screwed on so tight the barrel ended up turning in the receiver about 1/2" ruining the head space and the MB is still tight like it was welded on! The smooth barrel nut is still in place too. Everything on hold now until a "GO" gauge gets here tomorrow..

I submitted a service request two weeks ago and have not heard anything back from Savage. I'm very disappointed, but can't say I'm surprised.

What I'd love to know is; what are my odds that a re-barrel will finally make this rifle worth owning, or is there something about the action/bolt that is so far gone I should dump the whole thing in the trash? In other words, assuming Savage will not help me, can it be made to shoot straight, and at what cost?

Lets start with basics. Have you checked the barrel to make sure nothing is touching? I have never seen a chassis where this is needed but I don't keep up with the chassis market at all. Have you taken the rifle apart to verify everything is lined up? Have you checked your bedding work? Have you tried shooting it without the muzzlebrake or with the factory one to see if that is the issue? Can you verify barrel twist? I don't know, I doubt, that savage may have some how put the wrong twist in your barrel and that is the issue.

I am not a fan of cannons like this, but it is rare to find a Savage that doesn't shoot right out of the box and rarer to have problems after everything you have done.

Call savage. I bet you have better luck with a real person on the phone.

I had a friend with a 7mm short mag that literally would not consistently hit a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood with hollow points @100yd, he switched to ballistic tips and it was a tack driver. Nothing else changed.
Go figure

I'd like to shoot it at 100yrds to see if I could hit anything with it.