Bed the action or is it in my hand load?

[j8tnub]

Hi All,

I have a savage 16 .300 wsm (non accustock) and recently started hand loading my hunting rounds. I was shooting federal fusions and am now shooting Nosler Accubonds.

The hunting forum I belong to has mixed responses on how I can clean my groups up. It's either in my action or in my hand loads. I know the little bit of left & right is my shooting ability but I wanted to get some opinions here.

I am using RL19 and 180 gr Nosler Accubons with CCI magnum primers.

This group is with 63 gr of powder



And this one is with 65 gr.





The vertical stringing is causing some confusion to me. Not sure what to do. Mess with bedding the action, or mess with the hand loads some more.

The cases are set at 2.83 OACL per the nosler load data.

Any advice on what to try?

[Hotolds442]

Are they walking up consistently? If so, I'd check to be sure the barrel and rear tang are free floated.
If not, I'd be checking things like brass consistency (things like neck tension, internal volume, full vs. neck sizing, etc.), powder charge consistency, primer seating depth, or bullet seating issues.

[j8tnub]

They don't walk up or down. I can have one high, then one low, then one in between.

On the 63 gr group, the first shot is one of the touching holes, then the 2nd shot is the bottom hole, the 3rd shot is in the middle, the fourth is the 2nd from the bottom, and the 5th shot is one of the touching holes at the top.

What kind of things can I look for int he brass? No idea how to check neck tension.

What issues could I have with the bullet seating?

[Hotolds442]

Neck tension can be determined by measuring the neck before and after seating the bullet. If the brass length differs from case to case, and your seating die is set too low, you could be partially crimping some bullets and not crimping others. Trim them all to the same length and make sure your seating die is backed off. You could also have inconsistencies in the bullet base to ogive length on your Noslers, and if some are at or in the lands and others are not, that could cause issues. Velocity spread is a possibility too. Your powder choice might not be the best for your particular rifle. Check case capacity on about 5 fired cases by filling them with water and then weigh the water from each one. That's just a few things to start with.
My 11 in 300 WSM is at the lands at 2.914COAL with the 180 AB's, so you really shouldn't be jamming them into the lands at 2.830. Mine likes the AB's at .010" off the lands, and they still fit in the mag. Maybe try seating to 2.900 and see what happens.

[stomp442]

Vertical stringing is typically a bedding issue. Is the factory stock plastic or wood? Plastic stocks will flex especially with a bi pod on the end of them if thats how you have it set up but also just the weight of your cheek and shoulder in the gun can cause a normally floated barrel to touch someplace when firing. Also double check the action screws I have seen them work loose more than once in a plastic stock especially in large caliber like the .300. If the stock is a factory plastic I would recommend upgrading before wasting the money and time on bedding that one.

[j8tnub]

It's the factory plastic non-accustock.

Who makes good synthetic stocks for hunting? Something that won't break the bank?

It is free floated but the sides by the front swivel are a little narrow. Thinking about opening those up just a tad.

[Robinhood]

Who makes good synthetic stocks for hunting? Something that won't break the bank?

Nobody

[GaCop]

Take a look at Boyd's web site for one of their laminate stocks. You will have to glass bed their stock and if you so choose, add pillars before bedding.

[jonbearman]

Stockadestocks makes out of the mold stocks fairly cheap and are rigid. The only bad part is the wait. Go to stockys also and look at the bell and Carlson, hs precision, and the bobby hart stocks along with their own line of laminates which would be the cheapest way to restock that rifle. Boyds has fantastic prices but don't get a feather weight stock with a 300 wsm.

[kkeene]

Try supporting the rifle just forward of the recoil lug. The flimsily plastic stocks can be very sensitive to how they are rested on bags. They are fairly stiff close to the recoil lug. I actually like the plastic stocks because they are light and I don't care if they get scratched or wet.

[JW]

If you are not at max load and have not already done this:
Try a little more powder .2 to .5 grains
might help
Jack

[danielFL]

I was alsays tough by old shooting mentor vertical strings are breathing related

[earl39]

When you finish ruling everything else out you might want to remember that vertical is load and horizontal is seating. As stated there are other things that can make a load string and all things must be considered but after you rule out bedding, breathing, how the weapon is placed on the bag, time between shots and a host of other things i would work on the load. Alliant shows you are still 3.5 grains below their max load so you have room to play with. I belive i would leave the seating alone for now and you might want to look at changing primers also.

[Fotheringill]

Based upon my limited experience-

It is either a bedding issue or the action screws are not set at the proper torque (or your scope is not holding).

I would do the following:

1. Swap out scope to a proven one from another rifle. If same stringing go to #2
2. Get hold of an adjustable torque driver and reset action screw torques to factory recommendations. Shoot and see if problem persists.
3. If still present, get a laminated stock, pillar and action bed it.

[Bunky-Shooter]

Another issue i have found with Savage plastic stocks is the flex in the stock itself. If the trigger pull is above 3.5 lbs. or more there will be enough flex to cause the vertical stringing
that is on your targets.. Breathing control and a slow easy squeeze on the trigger to adjust for the elevation from the flex. Follow through till the gun has fired and all recoil is dissipated . Follow through is a big culprit with good consistent groups... good luck.. lots of factors....

[foxx]

These are all good solutions to potential problems, but I am surprised that more people are not questioning the load. Are those the only two that you've tried? As someone else stated, I would try various loads, at .5 gr increments and look for the one with the best vertical string. Then play around with various loads around that one and see if they don't tighten-up. I normally choose a load that is somewhere in the middle of others that are close to no vertical stringing then work on seating depth and other factors as stated. I am not saying you don't have stock issues, just saying it doesn't look to me like you've done enough with your load development to even begin to say there's a problem. (I am also not saying you should keep the plastic stock, I am saying that for load development, you can get around most of the stock issues by just being careful not to rest the rifle beyond the lug).

i.e. that kind of stringing is to be expected, in my book, until you find the right amount of powder, and the values you're showing are pretty far apart.

[jb6.5]

A lot of times you can shorten up the seating depth a little to fix vertical stringing.