newbie with 12FV, so many questions...

[hereinaz]

Don't know whether this helps the wait or makes it worse....

Go with coyote, all the cool kids are doing it!

[upinthehills]

The stock should arrive later today, I bought the nutmeg. Not very exciting probably. As the pile of Savage parts around here starts to get deeper, will probably have some more exciting and interesting looking stocks. I'd like to try and make one out of a Kevlar tube, but we'll wait on that for a bit - it will be odd looking.

It actually doesn't look all that chunky because the barrel is pretty heavy looking, so the proportions are a bit better than I thought, thanks for the pic HereinAz. It looks like there is no inletting for the trigger guard, does that make it sit lower than the original stock? I'm asking because once or twice I've locked the trigger if i try to pull it from the bottom. With the trigger guard lower it looks easier to do that.

Wfournier, that's a good group. My son managed about .9" pretty early on. We only have 3 boxes of ammo thru it, so more practice is in order. My SWFA is the 12x42, it's a little more picky to look thru then the 10x42 would be, I think. You really have to get your head in exactly the right spot. I think it would be easier finding that spot with the 10x unit. Good luck with it's cleanup.

Nice country out where you live, I went to Umass out there for awhile, life took me other places though. I hope to get out to Granby this year. It's too bad they seem to charge a good amount for guests, I was going to offer to contribute if you invited me out...

[hereinaz]

I like nutmeg a lot too. That and pepperwood are the ones I like besides coyote.

It is inlet for the trigger guard, just not as deep as this trigger guard. I think this trigger guard is thicker at the base than others. I put it together and didn't think much of it....

Boyds sells a trigger guard that isn't as thick so it fits flush. I am going to change it out eventually.

[SageRat Shooter]

Or just buy the metal trigger guard from Savage direct. That's what I did for my coyote laminate, and I didn't have to do anything to it. It's a nice stock, the only "chunky" part is the meat around the barrel channel, but if you're going to open the channel up for a Varmint or Bull contour, then the chunkiness will be much less.

I love mine!!

[wfournier]

Don't know whether this helps the wait or makes it worse....

Go with coyote, all the cool kids are doing it!

I'm leaning a little more towards the pepper now actually, I do like the nutmeg too. I really like the coyote on the thumbhole stocks but after see pics of a couple provarmint in the coyote I feel like there are too many straight lines on it to really show off the contrast. That being said I like your's but I saw another where I didn't really like the way it came out with the shaping so I feel it's a little bit of a gamble. What's the verdict on the adjustable comb?

[SageRat Shooter]

WFournier,

The Coyote Laminate really is a striking contrast "in person". The lighting in the pictures actually has more to do with the "lack of contrast" that you're seeing. The contrast is much better than the pepper (I have both). The pepper actually has very little contrast in comparison to the coyote....

I didn't put an adjustable comb on my PV, but I now wish I had because the comb isn't high enough for large objective scopes... I had to add a strap on cheek riser to get me to the correct height.

Just my .02

[tcoz]

A few things about getting into reloading......

First, don't get into it with the idea that you're going to save money. Yes, your per round cost will be less BUT it's going to take quite a while to amortize your initial investment which can be pretty substantial, especially if you're planning on making a lot of ammo. It's a commitment that I don't feel should be taken lightly. You should have the space and time to do it right otherwise you may very well decide it isn't for you and decide to get out of it.

Secondly, buy one or two good reloading manuals before you buy anything else. Forget the load data section for now and read the instructional section.....then reread it until you have a pretty good understanding. Also find out who does the best YouTube instructional videos and blogs and watch/read them.

Third, read the reloading subforums on some of the better forums (like this one) and ask questions. Most people are more than happy to help.

My personal experience was that I spent three months studying every aspect of reloading before I bought my first piece of equipment.

I'll end here since the Reloading Forum is where this should be continued. Feel free to PM or email me if you want to continue the discussion. Good luck.

[hereinaz]

I love the adjustable comb.

I have some extra high rings on my 7 millimeter Remington Magnum because the scope has a big Bell. What is nice was taking a piece of the blue foam camping mat and cutting it so it fit on top of the comb and then taping it down. It made it awesome to shoot. Now I am just going to get a piece of leather so it looks sharper and wrap it in the leather.

[hereinaz]

There is no other laminate with the same contrast look as the coyote. In fact I know some guys that go with nutmeg because it looks the most like real wood. And, I like the Pepperwood and stainless look. I keep the nutmeg for blued barrels.

[upinthehills]

My Boyd's Pro Varmint stock in nutmeg laminate came in yesterday. I am very impressed with the quality and accuracy of the inletting around the action and the barrel channel is well done with enough clearance to float well and at the same time not look like a gaping hole. It is a little lighter than I expected, clearly not walnut, oak or maple. Definitely not flimsy though, it has a very good feel.

The nutmeg is attractive, but it's not really a substitute for walnut. I'm not sure how to describe but it's not as warm or looks a little more sun bleached than walnut or cherry would.

I do have a small problem with it though. The front action screw is about 1/8" longer than the one for the plastic stock. It engaged about 5 or 5 1/2 turns. Problem is that is about 1/2 or 1 turn too many. Maybe I wrenched down on it a little hard, but I wanted to make sure it was well seated on the ferrule that is in the hole. I cycled the action and noticed the bolt didn't seem to close all the way. Surprisingly though it was willing to fire when I pulled the trigger. I didn't know it could do that.

Basically I need either an extremely small washer or maybe just try to grind or file down 1 or less threads of the screw. I suppose shortening the screw is the best choice, I'll just have to be careful because I want as much engagement as possible.

[upinthehills]

I got the front action screw shortened with a few trips to a grinding wheel and a harbor freight diamond file. It seemed every time I shortened it it needed more. Usually that means I'm cutting something twice and it's still too short but this time there was a happy ending. The bolt closes and both screws are firmly Loctited.

Around this time I also remembered that I had turned around my scope rail and put it in backwards to see if I wanted the scope mounted further back. This may mean my length of pull is too long. Anyway that was a mistake because it meant it wasn't screwed in properly, the front screw hole is a different height. So I sawed off the front toe of the rail and filed it nice and smooth with the diamond file ( ' cause diamonds! ). It is also installed properly now and the screws Loctited in.

Went to the range for some practice at some targets and also 3 quarters I taped to the board with some orange bullseyes. Couldn't find the first round with the scope ( it was 7" high ), moved to another target and tried again. These were visible and 2.5"-3" high. A few clicks and the height was correct and then a few more rounds and a couple of clicks left and it was pretty good. Tried the quarters and thought I got them all but missed the center one. Was heading home but pulled the gun back out of the bag and tried twice more to get the quarter. They both just missed at 10. Was unsure about adjusting scope so figured this was what the quad reticle was for and carefully measured the offset and the next shot went dead center thru poor George Washington's head. Further inspection then showed it was a 60 year old quarter so I'll try to use new ones now, LOL.

So I left in a pretty good mood. Still not sure if the aim is wondering a bit, I know I need a lot of practice. Next couple of trips should start clearing up the picture.

The list of stock things to do at the moment is
- maybe shorten length of pull
- the plastic 12FV stock has a much nicer recoil pad, so maybe get a better one
- piller bedding

[upinthehills]

TCOZ thanks for the reloading advice. I'll probably be on the reloading section soon with questions

My initial set of parts from Wilson came in. I have a case gauge, neck sizer die and simple micrometer bullet seater die. I measured several of my fired cases in the case gauge and they are well within limits. Then I did a partial neck sizing on a case and spent some time trying to find the rifling on my barrel by gradually moving the bullet into the case with the die and then checking it in the rifle.

I need to practice this a bit more tomorrow. The bolt applies a lot of leverage onto the cartridge so it pushes the bullet in and also the bullet may hang up on the rifling when the cartridge is extracted. So not sure I have good numbers yet. Maybe I can use a wood dowel to put a little pressure on the bullet to get it out. I can also go buy the Hornaday gauge...

[hereinaz]

Awesome!

[upinthehills]

Spent some time at the range yesterday with results somewhere between good and mixed.

Fired a shot or two and then aimed at a pair of quarters I had taped on the board. Both shots were hits, a little left. I have a mil/mil scope so 1 mRadian would be about 3.6" at 100 yards. So 1 click would be .36" and my calipers say that would be just about dead on. Still not really shooting 1 MOA though ( me probably ) so will keep a running average for a little while. Probably do this click though because most of my shots seemed somewhat left of center.

I fired the first rounds that I have reloaded. I made some attempt to keep track of the shots, but just getting started here so this was getting feet wet more than serious load workup etc. I am learning some things though like not to turn the cartridge up side down while trying to grab the bullet to seat it. :-)

I decided for my first effort to do reduced loads with H4895. For paper targets at 100 yds we are pretty well in overkill territory, and it seemed like a safe starting point with a little less wear and tear on this beginner. It seems like it was easy on my cases too. They don't seemed to have changed length and the neck is still tight enough that it takes an effort to push a bullet into them. These same cases after the factory load had play on a new bullet and it was easy to drop one inside.

The bullets I bought were 125 and 168 grain Sierra tipped match kings. I'm not completely sure why I picked the tipped versions, mostly it was availability and what seemed to be on sale ( but not at the cash register, grrrr.... ). I don't need the tipped versions for 100 yards. In the theme of trying to start off easy for me, I reloaded with the 125 grain bullets and use a little more than %60 charge of H4895, so groups of 5 with 31, 32 and 33 grains of powder. The max charge weight is 49 grains compressed and %60 of that would be 29.4.

I don't have a chronograph, but these groups were about 5"-5.5" lower than I get with the 168 GMM, so I'll take a look at JBM ballistics and try to guess my velocity. I will likely pick up a container of Trail Boss or even Titegroup or Clays at some point. I have a collection of powders now, which probably is not a big help - it's just they don't have the same ones each time I go to Cabella's. So I got 4064 my first trip, then the next rip they had Varget and also 4895. They had the trail boss on the first trip but I didn't get it then. What I would like is probably 2 powders, a good modern temperature insensitive one (4166 ) and one suitable for reduced loads. Basically if there ever is a fire in my house it will get put out - about the same time as a large crater is created....

The cases are dirtier now on the inside, either the reduced load or just the 4895 is dirtier than the original load. For the reloading above I cleaned the necks with a bronze brush and then resized the necks. I'm ordering some graphite lube for the necks but on this round I used just a touch of Unique case lube on the bullet seating area. I think I will seat the bullets a little deeper next time. I tried to work out the spacing back from the rifling but I could feel just a bit of resistance when I closed the bolt on these. Just enough that you would think "did I just feel that?", later when I did some more factory rounds that feeling wasn't there.