Savage 111 Long Range Hunter .338 Lapua Magnum- it had a tight chamber.

I traded for this- a AK I was in $400, and a Howa 7mm08 I was in $400

It came with reloading dies and a chamber gauge & Harris bipod.

I found a seller with 250 once fired Swiss rorge brass and got em all for $250

Now I just read about a guy who blew up his tight chamberd savage .338 LM - he left the cleaning rod he was beating brass out of the chamber with, in the chamber and fires more ammo. He lived but destroyed a savage 110. I built a reply, to that thread- and then decided to start this thread.

This post has more pics.

When I bought my savage it had a tight chamber.

Factory .338 worked perfectly. But at $50 for ten rounds- ummm- NO...
As soon as I put my fired brass in the press for resizing I knew there was going to be a problem.

The brass I had fired in the rifle was still capable of being put in a chamber gauge.

The brass I bought to reload with had to be resized to fit the gauge.

I tried chambering three different resized rorge oncefired brass -they fit in the chamber gauge- all chambered in the rifle too- but had to be ram rodded out. ****.

I immediately bought a reamer and some buffing compound.

I noted where the chamber was dragging on the brass and reamed the chamber and buffed it to a polish.

Now the weapon works perfectly.

Here are my first 25 reloads thru the Savage long range hunter. It weighs 9lb w bipod on. The recoil is like a .243. Muzzle brake works perfectly.

Savage has now corrected their tooling issue. No one is reporting issues with tight chambers in .338 LM -recent production-


200 gr SP spitzer
95 grains of H1000

No issues with a tight chamber. I'm in the gun $900 now reamer kit has been sold to recoup costs. I'm adding the hit I could not recoup to the value I had in the trades.

Being handy is a good thing. I learned a bunch doing this smithing project.


I also am moving my loads to a 300gr Berger on 90grains of H1000. That's next.

The 200gr spz I found for $15 shipped on the EE are fun but next time I post on this thread it will be at 200-500m.

They shoot ok.


Pics are 100m w a 3-9x I had layin in the parts box. Need a SWFA 12 or 16x..

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...32099304D5.jpg


First round- bore sight- and corrections

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...42F8660E46.jpg

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...1602037609.jpg

Got it a bit too hot and group opened up-
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...5AFDC4B0FB.jpg


http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...1C878C6F47.jpg

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...63439D5C96.jpg

Things I need: powder tricker - I had to double throw 47.5 to get to 95 grains. I weighed the combo and loaded to book OAL.
Chrono- I have no idea what speed I've got.
A better stock.
A better scope.
More H 1000 :)

That's what I call trading up!