Accu Stock, Accu Wedge adjustment or just bed

[justeric]

Hi All,

I finally had to take my stock off my Savage 10 FCP - K to adjust the trigger. The trigger started to malfunction with its factory setting so I had to increase the pull weight. Anyway, I had to take the stock off and that reset my Accu Stock, Accu Wedge setting. I followed the directions from this forum on putting the stock back on and now my Accu Wedge is set at about 40 to 45 pounds. Does anyone have suggestions on torque settings for the Accu Wedge? I figure it's probably different for each gun so is there a way to test the settings?

Oh I just started reloading. What should I do first, find the best load or find the best Accu Wedge setting?

I'm thinking about bedding my Accu Stock, which I think will take the Accu Wedge out of the accuarizing equation. Is it worth bedding an Accu Stock? Will bedding the Accu Stock make it more accurate then not having it bedded?

Thanks,
Eric

[bodywerks]

shooting it is the only way to know if the wedge is set properly. If you shoot one group that is tight and then another that is all fliers it is likely the wedge. You can just treat the stock like a regular pillar-bedded stock by removing the wedge completely and just standing the rifle up on its butt while you tighten the two action screws.
As for bedding, I've bedded two accustocks and it definitely didn't hurt:
FCP-k:

one of the first 5-shot groups after bedding, the best its ever shot:
[img width=600 height=427]http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz53/bodywerks/accuwedge/best308group.jpg[/img]
and my 110 BA, still working up loads so have no groups:
[img width=600 height=448]http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz53/bodywerks/accuwedge/IMG_20100826_200740.jpg[/img]
[img width=600 height=448]http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz53/bodywerks/accuwedge/IMG_20100828_190804.jpg[/img]

[justeric]

Hey Bodywerks,

Thanks for the quick response. That group from the bedded FCP - K looks great. Makes me think that bedding will be the ticket. Before you bedded the FCP - K, did you try to set the Accu Wedge? If so, did you start at around 40 to 45 pounds of torque? How much did you change the torque each time you adjusted it to find the sweet spot?

I know of a really good gunsmith in PA that said it will cost $175 to get my stock bedded. I think he charges a premium price. Is bedding something you should have done by the best you can find or is it pretty easy for any gunsmith?

I went to a 600 yard bench rest competition with my FCP - K and Fiocchi competition grade ammo that has 175 Match King bullets. My gun was in a stock configuration from the factory. My first group was 4.7 inches which I was pretty happy with. After that, my group opened up the rest of the competition. In fact, my trigger started to malfunction after about 50 shots. It could have been me but I suspect the gun had something to do with my groups opening up. Do you find that as your FCP - K gets dirty and or hot, its groups open up? After how many rounds do you clean the barrel? My gun has about 200 rounds through it now. I usually clean it about every 30 rounds.

Thanks again for all your help,
Eric

[bodywerks]

I never found a 'sweet spot' with the wedge, which is why I ditched it.
I used to clean the barrel after every outing, but I find the rifle starts to shoot better once the barrel is fouled a bit. Now, if I have a match coming up, I make sure I have at least 50 rounds through the barrel first and I don't clean it. I may run a bore snake through it to remove the powder fouling but not the copper.
I found that the first 5 rounds shoot higher than all the rest as well. So I usually end up dialing in an extra minute. After that its a fairly consistent MOA shooter at 600 yards. I shoot a local high-power prone match where the bullseye is a 1 MOA circle and I hit the bull 50% of the time and my best score is a 398 out of 400.

[bodywerks]

frigging droid

[justeric]

Hey Bodywerks,

An update on my gun. I ended up following your suggestion and took the wedge out. I torqued the two pillar bolts alternately in 5 lb increments until 42 lbs. I also fully cleaned my barrel including running brushing and patches.

I started to reload so I had some rounds that I figured were pretty much throw away ammo. They brass had slightly different head spaces, and the primer pockets were not cleaned out leaving the primers sticking out just a little. I loaded my first 5 with powder amounts at the low end and then created 5 more 3 round groups incrementing the powder just a little. These were the first rounds I have ever reloaded.

After cleaning, I figured I just shoot my hand loads quickly and go home and make better ammo. I shot my first round into the dirt on the backstop. My next round was a fouling shot but I shot it into the target. I shot the next three rounds for a group and my group was .19 inches. Hehehe, I couldn't believe it! I shot the rest of the ammo (20 rounds in total) in about 10 minutes. My last group was a .37. I had one bad group where the first two rounds touched but I pulled the last one about an inch off. This group was 1.09. When I averaged my groups, I had a .55 inch average. I couldn't believe how well the gun shot with this hand loaded stuff. I'd bet if I take that one flyer out, my average would be in the .4 range.

For now I think I'm going to wait on the bedding. I think taking the wedge and or reloading did the trick.

Thanks for your help!
Eric

[bodywerks]

Sounds like you have a winner there!