Some of you might remember when I got this rifle, on a black friday sale late last year. I fell in love with the old walnut stock and vintage 110 action. I was never in love with that old worn out 30-06 barrel however as it was shot out and the venerable old '06 is not at all one of my favorite rounds.
The trigger needed work, as usual, on this 61 year old gun too. I wanted to see if it would be possible to convert it to a Timney trigger so I spent half the winter doing all that (threads posted here throughout). I finally got it done though. The action and stock and 6x36 gloss Leupold scope have been sitting in my closet waiting on the custom barrel for the past 4 months. It finally arrived and I have gone through the break-in process.
I wanted to stay with a classic cartridge, and I have a soft spot for the "grandaddy of them all" the 7x57 so that's what this one is now.
I had the barrel contoured to match the factory '06 barrel and the bluing looks really good. It's a 9 twist 21" barrel, which balances perfectly on this stock and action. You might recall I bedded the action, so as soon as this barrel arrived, I spun it on and it was off to the range.
While waiting on the barrel, I happened across a clearance sale for 7mm 160 grain Speer (bonded) Deep Curl bullets, 100 packs for just $22/box. I couldn't resist and I bought 4 boxes with this rifle in mind. I lucked out and they shoot really well from this barrel. I'm not surprised though. Every speer bullet I've tried so far has shot really well.
So here she is, and I included a photo from the range. That's a group at 100 yards with the 160 grain speers while I was breaking the barrel in. I think it will only get better. Recoil is very mild and she's a real pleasure to shoot. Ramshot Hunter (50g) pushes those 160 Speers to 2650 fps which will make a darn useful hunting load for anything up to elk inside of 500 yards.
In a way, this is my very own Jack O'connor tribute rifle. I'm convinced it's what he would have carried had he been a Savage man.Okay, maybe what his wife Eleanor would have carried. LOL
I'm pretty tickled with this project. This is the fist time I'm taken so many chances on a build and for the most part, they all paid off. Oh, and one last thing - this old action and blind magazine feed like buttah! Smoothest Savage feeding I've ever experienced, bar none. :D
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Originally Posted by RED333
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