260 LRP review

Hello,

I have been lurking for a while now and learned a lot, so thank you all for that. I wanted to give a little review on my experiences with my Model 12 LRP in 260 rem. I wanted to get into the long range game, but like most did not have unlimited funds. Rather than blow my whole budget on a full custom rig and have little left for optics, i elected give this new offering from savage a try and throw a quality piece of glass on top. I havent found too many reviews for this rifle online so maybe some of you will find it intersting.

Here are the specs:

Savage Model 12 LRP 260 rem; entirely bone stock out of the box, the only thing i did was torque the action screws to 35 in-lb (front) and 30 in-lb (rear)

Scope: Nightforce NSX 5.5-22x50 NPR1 reticle
Base: Ken Farrel one piece steel 20 MOA
Rings: Fen Farrell steel Standard height
Bi-Pod: Harris rocker w/ leg notches 6"-9"
Eagle Stock pack with two layers of mouse pad underneath

I now have about 450 rounds down the barrel and overall i am very pleased with the rifle. The HS stock seems to be of good quality, it is very rigid and the barrel is centered in the channel and fully floated (i have no experience with other higher end stocks so i cannot compare).

I really like the target accutrigger, I don't have a pull gauge, but i would guess it came out of the box at under 1 lb. It is very clean breaking with no creep or over travel to speak of. I have had it trip itself a few times when closing the bolt hard, but it does not bother me much. Maybe i would reconsider if the groundhogs ever learn to shoot back.

The bolt and action feel like a typical savage to me, no surprise there.

I am reloading for the 260 on my rock chucker single stage. I am using a forester mirco seater die, in combo with lee collet neck sizer. I did run the brass through a redding body die after the third firing because the bolt was getting stiffer to close.

I began my load development using with 139 scenars, a fresh box of lapua 260 brass, H4350, and some CCI200. The rifle shoot a decent overall with a few 5 shot 1/2 groups at 100yds but many groups where closer to 1 inch. Whether it was me, or the gun breaking in, the consistency i was hoping for just wasn't quite there.

After tinkering with 2 boxes of the scenars i decided to give 140 grn berger VLD hunting bullets a try. I could tell right away that the gun seemed to prefer the bergers over the lapuas. After a bit more load development i have settled on a load (for now at least) with the bergers that consistently produces 1/2" at 100yds for 5 shots. All of my load development was done using the harris bi-pod up front and a sand bag for the rear

140gr VLD hunting
41.0gr H4350
2.920 col (about .01 into lands on my chamber as best as i can measure)
fed210m primer
lapua brass

I have only shot 5 through the chrono but they where around 2790-2800 fps

I have stopped cleaning the gun about 250 rounds ago, other than on pass with the boresnake every 50-70rds. this gun definitely seems to like it dirty.

I shot this load at 300 yds for the first time the other day and produced a 5 shot group around 1 5/8". i was very pleased with this, i have only been into shooting and reloading for about two years. And the only training i have ever had is what i have read on the internet.

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...y/DSCI0045.jpg

Here are a few pics of the gun, sorry for the poor quality

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...y/DSCI0068.jpg

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...y/DSCI0058.jpg

260 LRP, I had one ::) Try 120 gr SPH with H4350 that's flatbase bullet ;) currently I shoot 260 from CBI barrel and have no problem hitting grasshoppers @100 ;D

thanks for the great writeup. I've been thinking about getting a heavy barrel Savage in .260 as well ... perhaps justifying it as a "beanfield" rifle for deer hunting (to go along with the sendero I already own ::) ::)). I spend more time punching paper than anything else, though, and for that purpose you can't beat a heavyweight rifle that shoots bug holes.

Your experience with this rifle sounds a lot like the experience I have had with my Savage Precision Carbine in .308. I had a tough time getting it to shoot consistent groups at first. I was trying various flat base bullets and getting inconsistent results. When I switched to Sierra boat tails in the 165-168 grain range, I stopped getting the lazy groups I was having before. With Varget powder, it also helped to run it full bore (worked up to max loads). It's favorite load so far uses old school IMR 3031 powder and either a 165 gameking (for whitetails) or a 168 matchking (for paper) at rather leisurely speeds. It will put 10 shots into about an inch at 100 yds if I am patient enough. That sort of shot after shot consistency with no flyers tells me its a good load.

thank you for posting your load development and sharing which bullet/load your particular gun likes more at this time.
did the 5 shots you chronod correspond to the 5 shots at 300 yards? the reason i ask is because horizontally there appears to be about 5/8" spread on that image. can one use windage when describing this plane; if not what is the more common term used?
does 10fps spread correlate to ~ 1.625" at 300 yards? based on my primitive understanding i think a higher spread would be responsible for the variation at 300 yards; is generally correct?
also i have read many posts talking about how critical the berger vlds need to be seated. could you tell me generally what they like more in layman's terms? are they seated deep or shallow what about neck tension?
these are trivial questions to anyone that is considering loading and if you would rather not hand out these answers i understand. if you choose to provide some answers there is little need to go into much details as i will use your answers as a base for my future research on this subject.
thank you for your time.

Great write up, however; the rifle should shoot better cleaned and fouled. 250 rds is a bit much. I clean after an 60 or 80 rd match which totals about 100 rds. The verticle stringing could be a bedding issue or it could be your heart beat, especially if shooting off a bipod and unsupported in the rear (no rear bag). I too am looking at the 6.5 for 1000yd. F-class. It is a toss up right now.
I am starting to lean towards a 280 Ackely Improved or a 7mm Rem Mag now that the major bullet mfgs are stocking 180 VDLs in 7mm
Best regards,
Grit

Nice outfit !!

Stick with the 140/142s.......

Graf sells 144 gr SMK's.........yes 144 gr

great gun, i had one and won a 200 yard match with it right out of the box loading 108 scanars and using N 155 powder and .o1o out from lands, it would shoot .7 inch at 200 yards 5 shots so keep working with it you are on the right track.

Congratulations on your rifle! On a related note, I'm trying to sort-out optic/mount on my rifle. I have a scope (Weaver Tactical 3-15X50) ordered, and I'd never had a scope with that big an objective lens. I now get a sense of the barrel clearance, and I'd also intended to go with a standard rail like yours. I now think I might go with an extended rail JIC I need to work with eye relief.

Thanks for the write up. I bought the same rifle last August and have used it to shoot in local 600 yd informal BR matches. It routinely stays inside of 4" at that distance when I stay on top of wind changes. I recently put it in a Savage F Class stock that I bought used. I only shoot it in one match with the F Class stock and my groups stayed between 3"-4" for 10 shot groups.

I've only used 139 scenars and 142 SMK bullets and at 100 both bullets stay between .3 and .8 depending on velocity. I have some Bergers that I will start load development with for matches coming up this year.

Very nice review !
I will agree with someone else that posted before me, the vld's are finicky with seating depth . Maybe you already know, but if you don't, some rifles like the bullets jumped .020 -.040 . Don't be afraid to try that.

My 6.5x47 would not shoot berger 130's, until I tried jumping them around .025. What a huge difference it made !

http://s136.photobucket.com/user/fra...Sav12.jpg.html