Any secrets to improve the gun?

[tomme boy]

shoot it and shoot it often. it is easy to fall out of your groove and not shoot well.

[Mcrider55]

I'm retired and shoot a lot as I have a 100 yard range on my property. I also reload my own rounds, so keeping my skills sharp isn't a problem. MY guns have all been AR's up to this point and in that world, their are endless modifications we can make to our rifles. I am looking for info on aftermarket parts to make the gun even better. At the ranges I will normally shoot, up to 400 yards, I'm confident the barrel is more than sufficient. Are their aftermarket upgrades to the bolt system I should be looking at?

The AccuTrigger assembly seems to be fine after making adjustments. Vortex scope is more than adequate as well.

It's possible these upgrades don't exist for the Savage, but I at least wanted to ask.

[Turkeytider]

When you start to stretch it out, set out a 4" gong at 400 yards and have some fun!

[Mcrider55]

Looking forward to shooting longer distances. Until then, I'm focusing on the 5 shots all inside a 3 inch circle. Always seems to be a flyer in there to spoil it.

[LDSILLS]

1) Clean the barrel. You can control a clean barrel but you cannot control a fowled barrel.

2) Practice with Purpose! Just like any athlete you need to break down your shooting and practice that individual break down. For example practice just trigger pull for 5-7 shots. Firing 5-7 not only works for statistics at the target it allows you to keep the barrel cool...another barrel trouble shooting problem controlled.
Its important you do not practice until you fail. Simply stop shooting if your practice is acceptable. Next day repeat.

3) Remember, flyers are a "usually" induced by the shooter. Go to a range at least once a week in the beginning and get a mentor to watch you (they are cheap!). Listen to the mentor and head their advise. Develop a plan to address the observation.

4) Option 2...You are shooting 10lb rifle, thus in a .223 recoil is low recoil. I would have a mentor teach you "free recoil" methods on the bench and eliminate "hard recoil".

5) As mentioned get rid of the 2.5 -6 lb Accu-trigger that came with the Rifle. Go here to purchase:
https://www.gunshack.com/savage-targ...search=trigger there is lots of info on this site regarding the swap. If not ask as many on here have the knowledge to help you with the exchange.

6) If you do multiple modifications on your rig and with the exception of a complete rebuild, IE: change the trigger, change the rings, modify the bolt etc. Try to do one at a time, and then go to the range to see the effects. Often guys will do multiple mods and then shoot. They walk away frustrated because they have no clue which mod caused the problem.

7) Get a good inch pound torque driver and go over your rig to make sure screws are tight per specs. To many times I have seen and also had an issue where a scope mount screw is loose.

8) Get a good log book, it will help immensely if things all of a sudden go south. Indeed log every 5-7 shot group.

9) During practice put out wind flags. Pay attention to the flag movements and how other movements like grass, leaves and mirage correlate to the flags. One of the hardest things you can learn is wind.

10) Get an app for your phone like Ballistic-AE or GeoBalistics it will help in windage and elevation on your scope.

Notice! I suggested little changes to the gun. Except the trigger change. You said it drives tacks so don't change a thing right now. Hell, I would even keep that heavy trigger that installed, if your shooting good groups. People want bolt on fix for everything these days and when it comes to shooting there is no such thing as long as a person manages the weapon. Rail guns even have human induced errors.

Humans want to blame things other then themselves. When in facts Shooters forget that most failures are the holder of the rifle!

[Rocketvapor]

"Gun is a Tack Driver up to 200 yards" What ever that means :)
Have you tried it at 400, 600 ?

I would try it and see if you need to fix something that ain't broke.

[Mcrider55]

"Gun is a Tack Driver up to 200 yards" What ever that means :)
Have you tried it at 400, 600 ?

I would try it and see if you need to fix something that ain't broke.

I've read SOO many negative comments from alleged "long distance" people on different forums about Savages and I don't believe 1% of them have much, if any actual experience with the brand, their just repeating the mantra others spew. The mere mention of Savage throws them into constant seizures of Tourettes Syndrome.

I know I'm the weak link in the shooter ensemble. I just want to know about any enhancements or upgrades I should know about since it is an out of the box rifle.

[Mcrider55]

1) Clean the barrel. You can control a clean barrel but you cannot control a fowled barrel.

2) Practice with Purpose! Just like any athlete you need to break down your shooting and practice that individual break down. For example practice just trigger pull for 5-7 shots. Firing 5-7 not only works for statistics at the target it allows you to keep the barrel cool...another barrel trouble shooting problem controlled.
Its important you do not practice until you fail. Simply stop shooting if your practice is acceptable. Next day repeat.

3) Remember, flyers are a "usually" induced by the shooter. Go to a range at least once a week in the beginning and get a mentor to watch you (they are cheap!). Listen to the mentor and head their advise. Develop a plan to address the observation.

4) Option 2...You are shooting 10lb rifle, thus in a .223 recoil is low recoil. I would have a mentor teach you "free recoil" methods on the bench and eliminate "hard recoil".

5) As mentioned get rid of the 2.5 -6 lb Accu-trigger that came with the Rifle. Go here to purchase:
https://www.gunshack.com/savage-targ...search=trigger there is lots of info on this site regarding the swap. If not ask as many on here have the knowledge to help you with the exchange.

6) If you do multiple modifications on your rig and with the exception of a complete rebuild, IE: change the trigger, change the rings, modify the bolt etc. Try to do one at a time, and then go to the range to see the effects. Often guys will do multiple mods and then shoot. They walk away frustrated because they have no clue which mod caused the problem.

7) Get a good inch pound torque driver and go over your rig to make sure screws are tight per specs. To many times I have seen and also had an issue where a scope mount screw is loose.

8) Get a good log book, it will help immensely if things all of a sudden go south. Indeed log every 5-7 shot group.

9) During practice put out wind flags. Pay attention to the flag movements and how other movements like grass, leaves and mirage correlate to the flags. One of the hardest things you can learn is wind.

10) Get an app for your phone like Ballistic-AE or GeoBalistics it will help in windage and elevation on your scope.

Notice! I suggested little changes to the gun. Except the trigger change. You said it drives tacks so don't change a thing right now. Hell, I would even keep that heavy trigger that installed, if your shooting good groups. People want bolt on fix for everything these days and when it comes to shooting there is no such thing as long as a person manages the weapon. Rail guns even have human induced errors.

Humans want to blame things other then themselves. When in facts Shooters forget that most failures are the holder of the rifle!

Some great advice overall. The trigger recommendation has me curious. It reduces pull to 6oz? I've replaced the stock triggers in my AR's to 2lb pulls, so the adjustment to the AccuTrigger down to 2lbs felt "normal" to me. Two radically different styles of shooting tho. I'm going to investigate this change you mention!