Finally got B.Mag from Savage that works!
Finally I got my savage B.Mag back from savage. It's my third one! The first one I was an early adopter with a low serial number. It just wouldn't group. Second one would not reset the firing pin unless i jimmied with the trigger and it had a terrible head space problem with a lot of blow by on the cartridge in the chamber. I saved those shells to compare to this one I got. The great news is that this third one works as it should. It is a 1:8 twist sporter. Everything works better on this gun right down to the magazine. I have it mated to a Boyd's rimfire hunter with a BSA 17 Super Mag scope. Took it to the range with the Chrony in tow. Zeroed on the 45 yard range initially and took the readings on the shots. Mean on the 20 (Federal American Eagle) grain is 2993 fps with a max deviation of 30 fps. **** good! Shot the 25 (Winchester) grain with a mean of 2544 and max deviation of 44 fps. This 25 grain is ammunition i've had since last year.
Then I took it over to the 100 yard range and dialed it in further. Shot groups on my 25 grain at 100 yards are 1 inch. It might have been less if i'd have had a sled. I was using sand bags. Even with a hot barrel it consistently held. Then I let it cool off for a while. The first bullet through it was high and then the rest were right back on the money. Then I decided to try to shoot the corners off the boards which you staple your targets to. It was predictable and reliable the whole day. I put 175 rounds through it.
The great news is the condition of the brass. NO evidence of blow by or burnt outside casing. The were just as shiny coming out as going it. NO split casings. I wish the gun would have been this good over a year ago when I got it but third time seems to be a charm for me. I'll still take it to the range to see if it holds zero. I am not quite confident yet since I've had so much problem with the other ones but it looks very promising. By the way, zero at 100 for 20 and 25 grain is the same.
I hope all of your guns are shooting. Obviously Savage went back to the drawing board on headspace and barrel twist (and probably the bolt and magazine). Even the safetly works perfectly in the Boyds stock. Savage customer service did not let me down. I just had to be extremely patient.
Cheers and happy hunting.
