Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but..........

I purchased a Savage Long Range Hunter and am very happy with its accuracy. I probably put 150 rounds through it already and I believe I could hit with it at longer than 100 yard ranges with ease. I built a custom rifle on a Stevens 200 long action and a custom barrel from Savage Barrels and I am surprised at how accurate a rifle, that I screwed together on my kitchen table, can be with barely any copper fouling during break-in. With that said, I've observed the following:

1. Any brass that was fired in the long range hunter, sized or otherwise, will not fit in the custom rifle. The bolt won't close.
2. The brass from the long range hunter, sized or otherwise, extends above the Wilson case gage's upper limit. From the instructions, this exceeds SAMMI specification for "maximum" cone to head dimension.
3. I used the Forster go-gauge and a thin shim to set the head space on the custom rifle.
4. The brass fired in the custom rifle, sized or otherwise, measure somewhere between the Minimum and Maximum step on the Wilson Case gage. Perfect.

I believe the Savage Long Range Hunter chamber is set too loose allowing the brass to "fire form" to specifications exceeding SAMMI limits and I don't know how to fix the fired brass. I have Hornady and Redding dies screwed down, touching the press. If I reset the LRH head space, I'll have $200 of Lapua brass that I cannot use. I don't believe it is affecting accuracy, however, the custom built rifle is more accurate.

I'm not sure what to do here. I was thinking of doing nothing to the LRH and just dedicating the over-sized "fire formed" brass to this rifle. The 150 to 200 pieces of brass should last a long time as this is a hunting rifle, not a target gun.

Any opinions?


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