Originally Posted by
theloyalsavage
Make sure you push rings forward against the rail slots, then torque tight. Make sure you lap the rings.
make sure you level the bolt race, then align scope crosshairs with a plumb bob located abou 40 a 50 feet away. Don not level scope with elevation cap which likely won't be true. Test scope adjustments for jumps indicating scope binding.
I had a feeling about this. I was going to take the cap off and level on the turret, then check it with a level at distance. The plumb bob at a good distance away is a great idea, thanks.
now sight system is robust.
Copper fouling - I hope you did a good barrel break in. If not 50 strokes of jb bore paste will remove the inconsistent gobs of copper that are now likely in the throat, which will cause aggravatin flyers.
Firing pin inconsistencies - make sure there's no globs of heavy manufacturing grease in the firing pin, it's pretty easy to disassemble the bolt, clean, then rub everything with powdered graphite before reassembling.
I havent been able to shoot the rifle yet unfortunately. Exams and weather have been hampering my efforts thus far. I will look into picking up some bore paste and check that the bolt is free of heavy grease.
stock/action system.
your stock has beddin pillars, so bedding may not be necessary. But remove the stock from the rifle and make sure no manufacturing debris in recoil lug recess or between action and stock. If you decide to bed, be sure NOT to bed the rear tang area.
when reinstall stock be sure rifle is vertical, then tighte, front screw to 35 in lbs.
tighten rear action screw to 10 in lbs. stock/ action now ready for "tuning"
shoot 10 shots, 1 minute wait between shots.
clean
tighten rear action screw to 15 in lbs
shoot 10 shots, 1 min wait between shots
clean
repeat, in 5 in lb increments up to 35 in lbs on rear screw.
you will likely find a sweet spot at a point where you have minimum movement and minimum action stress.
The 10 shots are needed to see what really can happen at each level of action stress.
ive done this action/stock tuning an found I could really reduce the magnitude of the Flyers that occur as barrel heats up.
Thank you very much for the detailed write up on this. I believe I will shoot around 100 rounds through the barrel before attempting this to get a feel for the rifle and to start seasoning the barrel. I will return to this once that is complete.
Now you're ready for serious load development.
check the shoulder on each fired case. If shoulder has no noticeable scratch marks (a well polished chamber), you will likely have better accuracy with neck sizing only.
if you see noticeable scratch marks (reamers first barrel or poorly polished chamber), I guarantee that full length resizing will give you better accuracy. Either way, that rifle will shot .5 moa or better with something.
Thank you for this tip, I plan on saving all of the brass to reload anyways so it wont be hard to determine this.
168 grain amaxs, and barnes 130 TTSX, shoot great in my 3 savage 308's.
have fun.
