I purchased this rifle over a month ago and am disappointed in the accuracy department. This is the model that is sold with the HS Precision stock. I have tried Federal Gold Medal factory ammo to various hand-loads with six different propellants and with Sierra 175 SMK’s and Hornady ELD match bullets in 168gr, 178gr, and 195gr respectively. This barrel simply hates all the ELD match bullets. The best group shot was 1.5”. The rest was between 2”-4” groups. The only sub MOA group fired was with the Sierra 175 SMK’s.
I have a DPMS LR308 with a 24” factory SS bull barrel that shoots all of these hand-loads sub .5 MOA all day, any day, regardless of weather conditions.
The Savage has a Ken Farrell FG Mount, a LaRue tactical QD Mount with a Leupold Mk 4 scope that I have been using between both rifles. I have went over the Savage to try and find out if anything was loose. All scope mount screws are loc-tilted to 20” pounds, I have varied the torque settings of the action screws. Nothing has made a difference. The crown looks good with no knicks or gouges present. It just seems that I have drawn the short straw and got a bad barrel. I do have a barrel vise and nut wrench so changing the barrel is well within my abilities.
Last edited by RG31; 06-18-2020 at 12:44 PM. Reason: Spelling correction
You've checked most of the boxes, did you confirm the barrel is fully free-floated and not contacting the stock anywhere?
I have the same DPMS...with the same uncanny accuracy. Bolt gun accuracy from a relatively inexpensive production semi- heavy as a tank, but incredibly accurate.
Some rifles take a few bricks of ammo to smooth out the tight spots and chatter marks etc.. i have a savage trophy hunter 308 that was 4 moa new , 1k rounds later its less than a inch with the 43.2 gr varget and smk 175, starline match small primer brass.. maybe mine was a exception.. just a thought.Originally Posted by RG31
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Enough to run a double folded shemagh all the way up to the action.
I simply do not want to burn that much ammo to break the barrel in. I will order a Criterion barrel and put the factory barrel up for sale here to offset the cost. This is no big deal as I am a wanting a tack driver that is equall to my DPMS.
Shilen or criterion will get you a tac driver for sure.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
On the other hand however, one of the best groups i have ever shot, came as a result of shooting same rifle bought for my then 14 year old grandson.
Brought it home from the store i bought it, cleaned the barrel, and loaded a few 150 gr smks with 43 gr of 4320.
One ragged hole for 4 shots minus the first one which was maybe a half inch away.
To date we havent even adjusted the trigger. Took me about a year to find out how to remove it from the stock, but it didnt matter anyway.
You might consider sending the rifle back to Savage and see what they do. Call and ask. Although right now there may not be a very fast response due to the virus limiting their operations.
I have a Criterion barrel on order. Again, it is no big deal changing out the barrel. I want a heavier fluted barrel with a threaded muzzle. It will take up to eight weeks to arrive.
You won't be disappointed with criterion, them and shilen are my favorites
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
If you don't mind, make sure you tell the potential buyers that the barrel is a POS or otherwise you may get a reputation for being the same.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
If the price is right I'll buy it, hand lap it and probably have a tac driver:) ive hand lapped a few savage barrels and bca barrels with remarkable results.. its a pain to do but its worth it alot of times.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
I've actually been designing (in my head) a barrel lapping rig that would basically use a extremely low geared high torque electric motor, a barrel vice .. you get the picture I imagine
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
I would like to see you write an article for Savage Shooters doing that.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
On lapping barrels?
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
I think it would be a very interesting article.
Vietnam Vet, Jun 66 - Dec 67
I'm not much of a writer but ill give it a shot (pun intended:) )maybe I can get my wife or someone to video record parts of the process. I will say as I learned this from our local old timer gunsmith... when you do it the first couple times, do it on a barrel you may be considering replacing because you can mess a barrel up as i did a couple times learning to do it.. but i also now know the ways that a person is likely to mess up so i can articulate that information and help them avoid it.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
It would be good.
I used to have a pair of gunsmithing books, one for pistol and one for rifle. The rifle one had a great description of how to lap a barrel. I can't remember the author names right now. George Nonte sounds right for the pistol one, but, that may just be old age brain cells at work :) The rifle one Dunlap maybe. I seem to remember they were both green hardback books, maybe?
There are a few little caveats, ones that you cannot overlook or it will ruin the barrel. One for instance is some chatter marks or tooling marks in the barrel may be so deep the if you lap them out all the way you will have over board diameter of bore , another 1 is that you have to use slow even and I mean very even pull why you're pulling that plug with the lapping compound through so you have to find that medium where you've gotten the tooling marks out that you can and the tight spots out without running the bore diameter of the barrel
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Caveat not caviar lmfao
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
God damg speech to text screwed that all up
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
When the new barrel gets hear and installed, I will sell it for $25.00 plus S/H.
How does $25.00 plus S/H sound?
I think that is more than fair. 45 for a nearly new barrel slightly damaged
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
What profile barrel? Large shake also I assume?
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks