Wow! that sounds like no fun at all. I have never had to deal with Savage Customer Support but it sounds terrible.
About the rifle itself though, I am almost positive it was something that could have been fixed by proper torque and thread lock somewhere on the rifle, provided the scope rings were decent. With that said, if you ever run into this issue again on another rifle start from the bottom up.
Take action out of the stock and clean around where it beds.
Clean the threads and clear any obstructions in the action.
Place action back in the stock, apply blue thread lock to and loosly install both action screws, ensuring the recoil lug is against the stock. Tighten the front screw, then the rear screw. Torque them down in same order (each stock might be different but my XLR chassis suggested 60-65 in/lbs)
Moving up to the scope base, remove and clean threads and obstructions. Apply a dab of blue thread lock and install the scope base. Typically can be torqued anywhere from 15-25 in/lbs.
Then install your scope ring bottoms ensuring that when you place your scope on you can move it back and forth to get good eye relief. Once satisfied use a dab of thread lock on the fasteners and torque them to specs or about 30-40 in/lbs is what mine were.
Place scope on the bottom rings and situate about where you want it. Place top rings on and thread lock the fasteners yet again (noticing a pattern?) screw them down by hand lightly until they are all even and back each one out half a turn or so to allow scope movement.
Level your scope, tighten the scope rings and torque to specs or roughly 15 in/lbs.
Its my guess that the issue was ring related, I had a brand new scope and rings sent to me, installed and zeroed fine. a few shots later POI was off. and it continued to be erratic. I had the rings as tight as they could go. Turns out in the manufacuring process, they milled out .005 too much on each half, and would appear to be a snug fit but the recoil is enough to move them.
Sorry it didnt work out for you
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