116 Accustock Question

Hi everyone! Long time shooter and reloader but a new member here! I wanted to run an issue by everyone here and see if anyone has any suggestions. Sorry if this is long winded. J

I just recently purchased a model 116 Bear hunter in a 338 win mag that I cannot get to group with handloads at all, best is 3” at 100. After trying Nosler Accubonds, partitions, Hornady SST’s and Barnes TTSX, I broke down and bought a box of Federal Premium 210 Nosler Partition. After trying this load, the best could do was 1.5” at a 100.

In my troubleshoot steps, I checked all the typical items, torque on the scope base, rings, barrel is free floating, front and rear action screws set to 40” lbs and even swapped scopes. Even cleaned out the copper as well with Bore-tech CU2. When I pulled the action out of accustock, I was a little surprised to see the rear part of the action had a heavy witness mark from the rear post of the accustock but the front of the action had no marks. Looking closer the sides of the action had witness marks as well from the accustock block with the marks being a bit darker closer to the barrel nut. Another thing that had me scratching my head is the recoil lug is leaving a witness mark on the left hand side of the block but not on the right. There is also a witness mark on the back side of the lug where it’s making contact with the front post of the block. After wearing out my google search engine I found others have had this issue and the one where the bottom metal was the issue. I did check mine and did not find where it was rocking in there but the bottom of the block in the stock has witness marks from it. These marks are from the outside corners of the metal up by the hinge pin and about half of the front tang. May have to upload a pic to give a better idea.

Thinking the fit wasn’t correct, I contacted Savage and they requested it to be shipped back to them. 3 weeks later I got it back with the results of the test firings and said it had passed and was shooting .9” groups. When I called them they said they made a stock adjustment and that was it, no other details.

So my question should the front part of the action be making contact with the front bedding post? Is the witness mark from the lug normal or should I bed it? Bottom metal witness marks normal?

Ideally the front should make full contact. Otherwise the action torque values are somewhat variable. If you pull the magazine you can use a feeler gauge and measure how far out the receiver from stock fitment is.

That said aid I have a 116 that doesn’t make contact. It shoots well so I’m not messing with it, but it’s always on my mind.

That definently makes sense with the torque value bein variable. Back before I sent it back to savage, I took the action out of the stock and added some playdough between the front of the action and the bedding post. After torquing it all down to 40”lbs I took the action out and found the playdough was flattened. As I carefully peeled it off, I measured the thickness and if memory serves me correctly, it measured .018. Since I’ve gotten the gun back I have not rechecked this but after shooting it last weekend, I pulled the action back out and still no marks on the front of the action.

Hey Magnum, You didn't say if the grouping improved since you got it back from Savage. Does it shoot the 0.9" they claim?

Sorry about that, when I typed up my original post, I was trying to do so in the middle of a meeting and not get caught. haha.... So they sent me back the 100 yard range evaluation report, showing all the test they ran it through. Headspace, function fire, target passed 100 yards, and the .9" group it shot with Barnes Vortx 225 grn TTSX. Once I got my scope put back on and sighted back in, I started shooting it at 100 yards and thats when I found the same issue with the groups. It seems like it shoots a little worse as the only known decent hand load i have, barnes ttsx behind 71 grans (I think) of IMR 4350, and could not keep it within a 2" grouping.

Here's the one thing I noticed afterwards, I went and checked the torque on the front action screw and found I was able to tighten it back down a little before the torque wrench click on 40"lbs.

I'm working on uploading some pics here and will post them in a few.

Here is a pic of where the bottom metal meets the bedding block after they worked on it.

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/z...12620bd15f.jpg

I also removed the magazine from the bottom metal, reinstalled the action into the stock and with the front action screw torqued to 40"lbs, I can barley get a .003 feeler gauge between the action and the front bedding post.