Hi all, I don't post much here. I'm more of a lurker but I have a problem I'm hoping some savage lovers can help me with.

I have a model 16 pre AT in 243, standard factory 22" barrel, that I put in a bedded and free floated Boyd's laminated stock. I spent the better part of last summer working up hand loads for her and by the end of the fall I could put 2 different bullets into sub 1" groups pretty consistently. She went into the safe last fall and never got hunted. I decided to pull her out last week and give her some love on the bench and maybe a trip or two to find some woodchucks.

The problem is this gun will now not shoot less than a 3" group with the pet hand loads she loved last year. I've run through 60 rounds in the last week and I can't get ANY consistency out of this gun now. I thought maybe it was the stock screws, so I re torqued them, but it made no difference. I even changed scopes thinking I broke the one that was on it but that wasn't it. The final straw was taking my 7mmRM cannon out and putting 5 in an inch after not touching that gun for a year. I also shot 2 different ARs and can keep those in 1" groups without a problem, so I'm pretty confident it isn't me flinching.

So, I'm looking for ideas or suggestions on what the heck went wrong and ideas on how to fix it. Like I said, I bedded the action and free floated the barrel, and she has sat in my safe for about 6 months untouched.

Thanks in advance for the help.