Savage getting it done.....

I shot the 300 yard UBR match at the Anderson Creek range here in Pa.
yesterday (7/1/23) with my chassis built 284-ELF wild cat. It's based on
the PTA action and set to 12 ounce red blade Accu Trigger. 12 ounces is
nothing on a 21 lb. rifle. Originally it was a 4 way tie for first place but a
target was protested and first place was a single winner putting me in a
tie for second. One of the shooters tied with me was Jeremiah Keefe who
placed 5th overall at Last years main Tack Driver event held in Orangeburg
South Carolina. The Tack Driver hosts the best of the best from all disciplines
to compete at 300 meter for both group and score. I am fortunate to be
shooting in the Pa. Tack Driver come the end of July then the main Tack Driver
in November......Having fun fellas !!!

Old Fart without the hat is me. Jeremiah is right behind me. Really feel naked
without my hat. I was 40 miles down the road before I realized it was still on the
table with my coffee.....

Total score would be a 264. First place had a 237 and second had 236's. We had
a shower prior to the start then the sun came out. Worst mirage I've seen. I shot
my sighters down on 35 power. Dialing up to 60 power, you only seen dancing snakes.

Good stuff Gary! And how many “customization” actions or “super SMOOVE” other manufacturers did your Savage outshoot, I wonder. ;) Amazing what a knowledgeable, skilled marksman can do with our lowly Savage Actions, eh my friend?

Do you still have my email? If you want you can email the pics & I’ll post them.

Sounds like a great time.....Congratulations !

Nice work Fuj.

Nice shootin' Fuj!

WOW! Big Congratulations.

Thanks fellas. 5 more days and a wake up I'll be at the Tack Driver Lite at Anderson Creek
here in Pa. 50 of the top shooters in Pa. will be shooting both group and score for the Agg.
We will be shooting at 300 yards using the IBS 200 yard targets to make things more lively.
Going to be fun.....And I won't forget my hat this time. I threw an extra one in the range bag.
Now I just need not to forget my range bag.....

Good luck Fuj. We are cheering for you :)

I’d come show some Savage Support there Fuj’…… Unfortunately my friend, I’m on the other side of Pa. And I can’t drive anymore anyway, LOL!

Seriously though, good luck tomorrow & more importantly, have a great time! Enjoy being out there tossing some lead brother. Show those ultra $$$ customs what a lowly, less than worthy, Savage can muster. :tea:

Congrats!

Nicely done!

Well done Fuj'!

Last UBR match of the year and at 300. Morning wind was a constant 15/20 mph but readable.
Second relay, all yardages had different direction and just could find anything to match up. I'll
admit, I'm not the best at hard switchy winds. I was in a 4 way tie for first after the first target.
Second target, I struggled to find the center, and threw too many 9's and a few 8's. I managed
a 5th out of 20 shooters.....I will note that I was trying out a new barrel, and still don't have it
figured out. I'll be out this morning with it. More later.

I'm on bench 7, and they still can't spell my name right !!Attachment 9961

I’m curious Fuj’, any other shooters using a Savage Action besides yourself?

Nice work Fuj.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dave Hoback

I’m curious Fuj’, any other shooters using a Savage Action besides yourself?

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There is one shooting a Savage 6br with a shouldered barrel and tuner, but only shoots the 100 yard
match's, and has placed, and one in the hunter class that places with his .308.

I have a new Lilja 3 groove barrel that we just chambered in my SA284. I just finished the break
in and preliminary load work. I have about a week to find it's likes, and so far it's been stubborn.

You ever run into anyone just stewing over their high dollar custom getting shown up by ya know… just a lowly Savage? I mean, how dare a Savage do better than any custom! LOL! I am annoyed hearing certain people say things like “I used to place high until my friends all got customs. Now I never score higher than them!” Or “Everyone who shows up to a competition with a Savage has it fail on them!” Yet these “facts” (according to some), don’t seem to affect you Fuj’. Maybe you just didn’t get the memo?, LOL!

It’s good to see you continuing to compete successfully with the Savage Action my friend. And proving comments like these just ignorance. Very uplifting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dave Hoback

Maybe you just didn’t get the memo?, LOL!

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It's actually because I don't give a damn !! Ya' know it's funny about the bad mouthing.
You generally only get that from the internet wananabes. Arm chair bench shooters if you
may. But you also have to look at various classes. There is only two things of issue with a
Savage, and that's the trigger and it's bolt lift. Both are non issues when you run a heavy
gun. I run a 22 lb gun. I would not run a Savage in a 10 to 13 lb gun. Where most run a 2
oz. trigger. I've mentioned before that all, and I mean all after market triggers for Savage
are junk in my book. I set my red blade triggers to 12 ounces then go to war.

In just about a week, I'm headed to Orangeburg SC for the Tack Driver shoot. 120 shooters
will go head to head shooting both score and for group. This is at 300 meters and 10 targets
over a 2 day period. The best in the country will be there. I plan on being in the top 120.....LOL

Good luck Fuj.

Where near Orangeburg? We were just in Columbia visiting my daughter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charlie b

Good luck Fuj.

Where near Orangeburg? We were just in Columbia visiting my daughter.

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I'm in the process of figuring my route, but looks to be a few miles west of Orangeburg
proper. Yeah, seems like I'm going back to the scene of the crime. North of there, I did
my basic, AIT, and a eight month permanent party stint up at Ft. Jackson.

The Tack Driver is held at the "Mid Carolina Gun Club" Couple of threads are going on
at "Accurate Shooter", and Jim Cline will be posting the scores as they come in.

Headed to the range for the last tuner test this morning. Pics if I don't forget the camera.

Bullet selection for such a short notice of getting the Lilja barrel done has been problematic
and I'm out of time. The 175 Sierra's has been a gold standard for me for many years. This
barrel does not like them !!. Only bullet available worth working with in a short time frame
is Hornady's 166 gr A-Tip. I went with a nine groove to work with the shorter 7mm's. and
this barrel does not want to cooperate !! I already have 200 rounds thru it and tuner test is
done. I have it shooting 1/3 moa at 300 meters but that's not going to cut it at this event.
It is what it is.

Shouldered 3 groove Lilja with Cortina V-2 tuner. Expensive paper weight at the moment.....Attachment 9973

That kinda sucks.

We used to stay at the campground at Ft Jackson when we had the RV. I spent most of my time at Ft Knox and White Sands during my time in service.

Visited the Mid-Carolina range once. Considered trying to join until we moved again.

Well, sad to say.....I spent all day Friday at the Mid Carolina Tack Driver range trying to make sense
of this new barrel/tuner combination. Nothing jived. Clean or heavily fouled, nothing would repeat,
and would progress to get worse. I just lost heart, and pulled out of two days of competition, so not
to look like a total Jackass. Time to take a break then rethink for next season......

Sorry to hear Fuj.

Winning the "Tack Driver" would be a dream come true for me. I don't know that I'll ever be able to make it or be competitive if I did but it would be a blast I'm sure.

Fuj,

You may have covered it before but why did you settle on 7mm instead of the others. Just curious as I will stick with my 6mm and .30.

Sent from my SM-P613 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charlie b

Fuj,

You may have covered it before but why did you settle on 7mm instead of the others. Just curious as I will stick with my 6mm and .30.

Sent from my SM-P613 using Tapatalk

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Never been a "carbon copy" guy. I shoot what I develop. Biggest problem with the 284/7mm is,
there are no bullets for the short game being made. Sierra had a great one a few years back but
quit making them. I bought out their remaining inventory to keep the ELF going for 2 more years.
I have an order in for Lapua's Scenars to test in my SA284 but probably won't see them for months
to come. And Berger has nothing either or does Nosler. Just long range bullets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fuj'

Never been a "carbon copy" guy. I shoot what I develop. Biggest problem with the 284/7mm is,
there are no bullets for the short game being made. Sierra had a great one a few years back but
quit making them. I bought out their remaining inventory to keep the ELF going for 2 more years.
I have an order in for Lapua's Scenars to test in my SA284 but probably won't see them for months
to come. And Berger has nothing either or does Nosler. Just long range bullets.

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Interesting. Fuj’, what would you call the differences between long rang & short range bullets? I’ve only ever thought of bullets as high BC or not. As a bullet reaches full velocity in the barrel & starts to decelerate the instant it leaves the barrel, what makes a bullet behave better at short range vs long range?

That was kinda why I asked the question.

And yeah, going against the grain is something I understand. Trying to shoot tiny groups with cast is one of those things.

Sent from my SM-P613 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dave Hoback

Interesting. Fuj’, what would you call the differences between long rang & short range bullets? I’ve only ever thought of bullets as high BC or not. As a bullet reaches full velocity in the barrel & starts to decelerate the instant it leaves the barrel, what makes a bullet behave better at short range vs long range?

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Your killin' me here Dave.....LOL Short game. BC is irrelevant. What I mean by that is; as ranges got longer so did
the boat tail bullets with there VLD and hybrid shapes. Shapes changed in the ballistics from a tangent ogive which
is a shorter bullet, to a secant ojive, and the hybrid is a mix of the two. In the same grain weight, a bullet with the
secant ogive will be longer and needing more twist to stabilize. More twist, more barrel torque in the bags. Longer
secant bullets are not as easy to find accurate seating depth as a tangent ogive bullet. A tangent bullet is generally
into the lands for its accuracy......You will find that in the short game, flat base bullets are used. Take a 30 BR with a
112 / 118 flat base bullet. Barrels are generally well under 24 inchs running 17 to 18 twist barrels. They will shoot
in the ones, and is one of the top "Score" rifles, where the 6ppc with its flat based bullets is the top "Group" rifle.
Either way, high BC bullets do not work in 300 yards and under. You'll get you head handed to you.

FB bullets have an advantage of a single critical 'edge' in the design. The BT has two 'edges' and a tapered section that all have to be near perfect to match a FB performance out of the muzzle.

The rest is like Fuj said. BC is much less important than perfect fit.

If you shoot like I do you won't see the difference :)

Sent from my SM-P613 using Tapatalk

How am I Killin’ you? That was unexpected. :disturbed:

I just never paid attention (or seen it paid to by anyone else) that high BC bullets could actually hurt the short game. I found it intriguing and I was curious from your point of view. If I annoy you I’m sorry. I always thought you & I were on good terms. Thank you for explaining the point regardless.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dave Hoback

How am I Killin’ you? That was unexpected. :disturbed:

I just never paid attention (or seen it paid to by anyone else) that high BC bullets could actually hurt the short game. I found it intriguing and I was curious from your point of view. If I annoy you I’m sorry. I always thought you & I were on good terms. Thank you for explaining the point regardless.

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Nothing was intended or was an annoyance on your part.....

Fuj,

Did you ever figure out the new barrel? Just curious.

Have run into a situation where most consistent velocity is not tracking with most consistent accuracy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charlie b

Fuj,

Did you ever figure out the new barrel? Just curious.

Have run into a situation where most consistent velocity is not tracking with most consistent accuracy.

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I believe I have, and it was not the barrel after all but the tuner attached to it.
I will avoid going into details at this time for certain reasons, but I will say this....
I removed parts that I believe do not belong in a tuner, and reassembled. I am
at a point in my last test that these parts I removed caused varying conditions
at each shot. Nothing was ever consistent or even close to repeatable. So as it
is right now, a new lot of bullets came in that were a year in waiting and I started
from scratch for the 2024 season.....At 100 yards last week, I did a fresh tuner test
moving two numbers at a time. I found a small window that looked promising and
repeated that area with the in between numbers.....I'm back on track !!
Attachment 10227

Congrats! I am thinking about a tuner for one of mine, just not really sure. I really think I need to get a bit better before I complicate things further with one.

Thanks for sharing with us. The PTA's make a terrific platform.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iowa Fox

Thanks for sharing with us. The PTA's make a terrific platform.

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Yes they are !! With a few ongoing mods and load development work,
I'm looking forward to 2024.

Fuj, do you ever take reloading gear to a match weekend? Or do you just make sure you load more than enough rounds for the match plus sighters?

The BR guys I knew way back when reloaded after a day or string and used only a few select cases. I just never paid attention to what they used.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charlie b

Fuj, do you ever take reloading gear to a match weekend? Or do you just make sure you load more than enough rounds for the match plus sighters?

The BR guys I knew way back when reloaded after a day or string and used only a few select cases. I just never paid attention to what they used.

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I pretty much load at home what I need. You'll see a lot of gear set up at big match's where
shooters are constantly checking / re-checking seating depths or adding / subtractiing charge
weights in between relay's.....Bottom line is, I love to shoot, and compete, but I don't get anal
about it. Quite a few of the top shooters here in Pa. I shoot with don't load at the match's.

Thanks, that's kinda what I thought.

The more I think about it.....Your going to find that "group" shooters are more apt to
load at a match where most "score" shooters don't.

That's interesting. I would have thought the reverse.

Fuj'

I have learned allot not only from this post but from your comments on my thread. THANK YOU. Fact is I should of listened to you when you stated I don't need a new barrel nut. After getting the new barrel and nut now I see why! I will indeed listen next time you make a suggestion.

I feel your frustrations about a rifle going out to left field on a match. But the learning experience afterwards I believe is "almost" nearly as good as placing. You should be very proud of what you have learned and corrected why it went south. To me you did not lose at all.

You say your not a Carbon Copy guy, well I am at this time as I am learning about all the modern changes in Savages and their potential for competition. Savage is not a Model 70 Winchester nor is a 700 Rem. with decades of mods for accuracy and precision. A Savage competition platform is definitely a new game and IMHO it has a bright future in competition.

Allot is owed to men like you. Especially when one is strongly considering the competition game with a Savage platform.



Larry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LDSILLS

Fuj'

I have learned allot not only from this post but from your comments on my thread. THANK YOU. Fact is I should of listened to you when you stated I don't need a new barrel nut. After getting the new barrel and nut now I see why! I will indeed listen next time you make a suggestion.

Larry

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I'll throw another can of worms in your direction. When I was still using a nut, I would step cut the tenon
on a 1.25" max varmint barrel and still use the nut. Now as of a couple of years back, I no longer use a nut,
and all match barrels are shouldered. Adds to the barrel stiffness factor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fuj'

I'll throw another can of worms in your direction. When I was still using a nut, I would step cut the tenon
on a 1.25" max varmint barrel and still use the nut. Now as of a couple of years back, I no longer use a nut,
and all match barrels are shouldered. Adds to the barrel stiffness factor.

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Makes a lot of sense eliminating the nut. Thank you

As this build grows and I learn more I'll put that as a must for my next barrel.

Later

LARRY