111 LH LA Questions

[Lclevenger]

Hi guys and gals,

I am new to Savage Shooters. I really like the forum. Tons of information.
I am having a hard time trying to figure some stuff on one of my Savages. I have a 111 left hand long action in 7mm Rem Mag sporter the mag is internal.
I am wanting to Rebarrel, new stock and muzzle break.
I would like to shoot 1200 yards as I am doing with a couple other rifles. I bought this when I was 18 in 2007. First rifle and I thought I wanted something light but I have been reloading for 8 years now and this barrel is not very accurate best loads is 1.25 moa at 100 yards.
I have looked all over the internet for stocks and barrels to swap out. I would like to go with a non wood stock and a heavy varmint barrel.
Or should I sell the LH action and buy a RH rifle?
Thanks for any help.


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[CFJunkie]

From your comments, you are not a stranger to the challenges of shooting at long distances and obviously are accustomed to shooting for accuracy.

Your 7mm Rem mag is a very light, high recoil rifle that is meant for hunting, not precision shooting.
Long range precision rifles are heavy for a reason - weight mitigates some of the recoil and stock muscling that really impacts accuracy, especially at long distance.

Light rifles are very hard to shoot accurately unless you really work on your set up and stock handling technique.
They are light to make them easier to carry in the field but that is a compromise that doesn't favor accuracy.
From your comments, you already know that.

Hunting ammo varies a lot and, if you are using budget ammo, it may be influencing the accuracy.
Several of my hunting rifles have very strong bullet weight and shape preferences when I try to shoot them for accuracy, but they do their job when hunting beautifully.
With a 7mm Rem Magnum, target game wouldn't know that the bullet POI was an inch off your POA.
The kinetic energy of that round is enormous and overcomes 1 inch of inaccuracy.
At the range when shooting targets, the light weight shows in the POI at long range.

Choice of LH or RH is entirely a personal one and depends upon your eye dominance and trigger dexterity.
I am left-eye dominant but I shoot right handed because I have much better trigger control with my right hand.
I can see the target in a scope equally well with either eye, thanks to the rear reticle focus feature on my scopes.
With a scope, eye dominance is not a big a deal for me because I close my left eye so trigger control, which effects accuracy results a lot, made the decision for me.

You might put the rifle in a solid rest and see if the accuracy improves.
If it does, you will have to address your light rifle shooting technique.

[Lclevenger]

Thanks for that information.
I am looking at replacing the barrel with a drop in barrel. I also want a new stock do you guys have any recommendations for the left handed long action? Has anyone used a Bergara barrels?


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[flyinstroke]

I am in the same boat right now except I have a LH 270. I have been researching stocks for about 2 months, there isn't much out there as far as lefty stocks go. So far the Choate stock, Stockade stock and Sharp Shooter stock have looked the best. The other problem keeping me out of some of the other big name stocks is I have a stagger feed. Seems to be more options for the center feed.

[big honkin jeep]

"I am wanting to Rebarrel, new stock and muzzle break."
1200 is a long way indeed. For a dedicated long distance rig the Choate stocks are solid will easily accept a heavy barrel and come in a lot of left handed versions. Plenty of aftermarket barrel suppliers as well just check the vendors page.
Some rifles and calibers just seem to be finicky about the load and sometimes it seems to be near impossible to find one they like but I have found accuracy loads from the Nosler and Sierra manuals are a great place to start. I have several rifles that I didn't think would ever shoot only to eventually stumble onto the magic load.

Also converting a right handed stock to left handed is a pretty simple task if you don't mind tinkering. Just prep and fill the bolt cutout with epoxy and make a new cutout on the other side. A little paint and voila.
I have actually found factory stocks to be quite serviceable and easy to improve with materials available at most any hardware store. A little bedding, paint, epoxy, and manipulation of the existing material along with a little guidance from some of the posts and articles here can work wonders.
Here's a factory right handed detachable mag stock that has been converted to left handed, It has been epoxy bedded for a perfect fit to the action, the length of pull has been adjusted down to 12", a home made cheek riser added and a little paint. I originally bought the stock here in the classifieds as an old takeoff very economically and everything to transform it into what I wanted came from the hardware store.

Good Luck and Tinker on

[DQL5150]

"I am wanting to Rebarrel, new stock and muzzle break."
1200 is a long way indeed. For a dedicated long distance rig the Choate stocks are solid will easily accept a heavy barrel and come in a lot of left handed versions. Plenty of aftermarket barrel suppliers as well just check the vendors page.
Some rifles and calibers just seem to be finicky about the load and sometimes it seems to be near impossible to find one they like but I have found accuracy loads from the Nosler and Sierra manuals are a great place to start. I have several rifles that I didn't think would ever shoot only to eventually stumble onto the magic load.

Also converting a right handed stock to left handed is a pretty simple task if you don't mind tinkering. Just prep and fill the bolt cutout with epoxy and make a new cutout on the other side. A little paint and voila.
I have actually found factory stocks to be quite serviceable and easy to improve with materials available at most any hardware store. A little bedding, paint, epoxy, and manipulation of the existing material along with a little guidance from some of the posts and articles here can work wonders.
Here's a factory right handed detachable mag stock that has been converted to left handed, It has been epoxy bedded for a perfect fit to the action, the length of pull has been adjusted down to 12", a home made cheek riser added and a little paint. I originally bought the stock here in the classifieds as an old takeoff very economically and everything to transform it into what I wanted came from the hardware store.

Good Luck and Tinker on

Nice looking stock there, big honkin! What epoxy did you use that sticks to the factory plastic?

[psharon97]

Here is my long range 7mm rem mag that Fred at SSS built for me.

To shoot long range for 7mm rem mag, some considerations to keep in mind:
The barrel needs to be twist rate to stabilize the heavier bullets. Mine is built for the 180gr class of bullets. It really like the 180gr berger hybrids.

I have ran into the limitations with the scope. I wanted this build to go to a mile, however, the scope I have chosen doesn't have enough elevation built into it. Most of your tactical scopes have roughly 70 MOA. When mounting a scope you would divide this elevation by 2 then add additional cant for your rail. Mine has 20, so I need to put a better scope on it. I'm going to buy another scope next year for my PRS rig and install the Vortex razor HD gen 1 which has 120 MOA in the scope.

The stock was bedded by Fred and helps to ensure that this is still my most accurate rig even when using true custom actions. This savage was T&T and has a Competition trigger installed by Fred.

[big honkin jeep]

Nice looking stock there, big honkin! What epoxy did you use that sticks to the factory plastic?

I usually drill some tiny holes and then work the epoxy in to create a mechanical lock and rough it up a little. My go to epoxy is JB weld (tensile strength 3960 psi and will withstand 500 degrees) though there are lots of adequate products on the shelves at the local hardware store. a piece of tape across the cutouts on each side matching the contour of the stock make a nice fence to hold the epoxy in place till it sets up I leave the fence open on top and then use a file on the top edge to smooth it up.

[Lclevenger]

Thanks for the help big Jeep. I think I’m might try and find an accustock maybe try and work with that to make one left handed. I have to give one for a decent price. Thanks for all the help


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[DQL5150]

I usually drill some tiny holes and then work the epoxy in to create a mechanical lock and rough it up a little. My go to epoxy is JB weld (tensile strength 3960 psi and will withstand 500 degrees) though there are lots of adequate products on the shelves at the local hardware store. a piece of tape across the cutouts on each side matching the contour of the stock make a nice fence to hold the epoxy in place till it sets up I leave the fence open on top and then use a file on the top edge to smooth it up.

Thanks for the tips, big honkin!

After shortening your LOP on that stock, were you able to reuse the factory mushy recoil pad or did you "custom" fit something else?

[big honkin jeep]

Thanks for the tips, big honkin!

After shortening your LOP on that stock, were you able to reuse the factory mushy recoil pad or did you "custom" fit something else?

Just re shaped the factory pad with a belt sander There are several styles though and some of the newer ones have a butt piece that slides up inside the stock a little before the screws are tightened. ??? I have one of those stocks on a model 11 top release plastic mag release that I haven't put much thought into shortening yet but I'm sure with a little thought it can be done. The one in the pic is an old flatback stock with the flat butt plate under the recoil pad from the days before the "engineers" started trying to make everything difficult for no reason. I did have to put some shoe polish on the screws and then rebuild the plastic pieces the screws were supposed to go into with epoxy because I went so short at 12"LOP that they were cut and would no longer accept the screws. It was easy enough i just put the stock forearm down and used tapeto make a little compartment at the top and bottom for the screws and then filled the compartment with JB weld. 24 hours later backed out the screws and it was done.