Accuracy Issues

[73westover]

I have a model 12 varmint left port rt bolt. Sharp shooter has blueprinted the action, and I had a shillen select match barrel in 6 norma br installed, plus the rifle is bedded. I use lapua brass, Fed GM 205M primers and various powders the main one being Varget. I shoot in a lot of BR matches and I got this rifle to shoot in a different class. I can usually shoot in the .3's or a half inch. Any suggestions how I could squeeze more accuracy out of this or am I expecting to much? This is my first Savage rifle.

[82boy]

Welcome to the site.
To start I think you have a good start of a great set up. I am guessing your talking about shooting at 100 yards, and 5 shot targets. You should be able to get a tuned Savage with a good barrel to consistently shoot in the .2's and better. There is a lot of information missing for your question. What type of stock do you have? What kind of rest and bag set up are you using? What type of scope? What is your experience level? Are you using wind flags? How many rounds have been fired down the barrel? What weight and type of bullets are you using? What twist rate is the barrel? These question will answer a lot.

I would say that most times a person is having accuracy problems is it do to a bad scope, or the bases and such are not tight. There is a common problem that some base manufactures include screws that are too long and will bottom out against the barrel, (On the front) not allowing the base to get tight.

The 6BR is a great round, and it seams that Varget or Reloder 15 is a great choice. Many shooters use and report having the best luck with either Remington 7 1/2 primers or cci 450 Mag primers with this round. Lapua brass is the best, no question about that. Have you length trimmed them? I have seen a lot of rifles wake up by simply trimming the brass.

A few other questions that come to mind when the barrel was installed was a good aftermarket recoil lug used? A lot of people will ask what kind of dies you are using and I have found that most dies are good. The main thing is to check consintrisity of the loaded rounds.

In closing I would say that you are not asking too much, I would be looking for problems if the guns shot in the manner you are describing.
Gust for reassurance here is a few common groups out of my 6 PPC Savage.



[img width=415 height=450]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/scan0004.jpg[/img]
[img width=497 height=450]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/scan-1.jpg[/img]



If you still need convincing this is a group I shot and won a single match at the 2010 IBS 600 nationals, with a rifle that is dang near what your describing. There was several match's in the 2 inch area that this gun shot that day.
[img width=600 height=437]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/IMG_0455.jpg[/img]

[A_Gamehog]

+1 on the CCI 450 primers with large loads of Varget it does matter.

What is the make of the trigger? and pull?

[1Shot]

...CCI-450's is the only 1 I use with Varget....

[73westover]

I have a HS precision stock, I use a Sinclair competition shooting rest with a minigator rear bag. The type of glass is a Leupold 45x competition. I always use wind flags when I shoot. I would say I am a very experienced BR shooter. My barrel is a 1-8 twist I have been shooting Berger 105's. I like to shoot 100 to a 1000 yards. I always trim to length and anneal my brass after every time I shoot. I have a Harrell resizing die and a Wilson seater die for reloading. I get very little runout with this set up, usually less than 1 thousandths. The only thing that is the same on this gun is the recoil lug. The trigger I have is the evolution trigger by sharp shooter. Should I start messing around with my torque wrench and the action screws?

[82boy]

73westover
EXCELEANT EQUIPEMENT LIST, this is very similar to what I use. I would say you are far more advanced than what most of the members to this site are. I think from your answer we can rule out the shooter.

I will say that I don't think you will see any improvement from torquing action screws. Savages are VERY forgiving on bedding issues, and my thought is if the action screw do need torqued then there is a bedding problem. All of my guns, (Including my Bats) are all just "hand tight."

I will say that you may want to try a different bullet, Berger has made a few different 105's, so I am not sure which ones you have tried. Berger has even changed the 105 VLD in the past year. I never have had good luck with the 105 bullets. I talked to Walt Berger and he highly recamended shooting the 108BT bullet over the 105, for my application. All I can say is WOW they shoot! I have yet to find a bullet that shoots as good, I have tried 105 JLK's, 105 lapua's, 108 BIB, (Both boat tail and flat back. ((The flat back shoot just about as good as the Berger's.))) 107 SMK's, and 105 amax, and have never found a bullet that shoots as good as the 108BT in my gun. I also shoot moly coated bullets, with the meplats trimmed.

All I can say is play with seating depth, I found that my Shilen barrel likes to shoot the 108BT's .005 off the lands. At 100 yards I can shoot a 3 shot group in the .1's fairly regular, 5 shot groups will open up to the .3's, or 4's. I am more concerned how the gun shoots at 200 yards myself. (If I had a longer range locally I would shoot everything out longer.) I would say if your shooting 100 yards a lot I would switch to a lighter bullet, and a faster powder. (Maybe some 68gr Bart's, or what you shoot in BR) Like I said before try different primers, I know it sounds stupid, but I have seen primers make or break some loads.

good luck, and shoot small.