Quote Originally Posted by 82boy
As far as smoothness of a Savage, I can say this that My SSS T&T actions are a hair smoother than my Bats, on opening. If you T&T gun is disturbing the bags then you need to talk to Fred, something is wrong.
I forgot to mention a few caveats on that, as we were heading off to dinner and I had to run

The action feels pretty smooth/slick, it's just when opening it while actually firing from position. Not especially hot loads either, but I think Fred mentioned when I posted a picture of the gun that it looked like the center of gravity was awful high with the way the action set in the stock. At the time I didn't think it mattered much, as you can only shoot so fast in F-Class - but I'd forgotten that time spent wrestling the gun back into place is time not spent watching the flags and mirage, even if you're waiting on the target pullers to get it back in the air.

I have a SSS Dogtown stock that I'm planning on transplanting that barreled action into... with the lower CG it'll be interesting to see if there is an improvement in the way the gun handles when opening/closing the bolt. I've had to go to more of a 'put thumb on the tang and lever it up' motion to keep it from rocking/tipping in the bags, vs. my F/TR rifle where I pretty much fan the bolt open with my hand, catch the ejecting case in my fingers, put it in the box/grab another one, toss it in the chamber and fan the bolt closed, slowing the closure the last 1/2" to prevent tripping the sear against the Accutrigger safety.

I was fingerin' one of those Stolle-actioned rifles that was for sale earlier this year... from just holding it in my hands over the gun counter it didn't feel any smoother than the SSS T&T'd action (or my main F/TR action, for that matter)... but I've never used on of the high-dollar actions from position for a whole match, either.

You would be surprised how long 7 minutes is. Many times at our club match's the match's are finished way before the 2 minute warning is given out. There has been many times I have shot my sighter's and group, and looked down and had 4 or 5 minutes on the clock.
I suppose so... if conditions and target service are cooperating, I can get 4-6 sighters + 20 record shots down range in well under 5 minutes... at 1000yds. But I have the option to milk that out to 25+ minutes if needed - thats the part thats going to take some mental reprogramming

On weight you would be surprised how hard it is to get down to 10.5.
Do you think it would be better to just go for legal HV class with the Savage, or go with a used purpose-built custom gun (probably Stolle) rather than trying to fight too many battles at once just starting out? If push comes to shove, I imagine the local guys will probably let me shoot along side with whatever I feel like using, short of maybe the 110BA so maybe I need to get my 6 Dasher up and running again and just use that to get my feet wet...