long range hunter

[bowhunter42]

Hey guys, first off i wanted to say great sight! I was out shooting with the folks from Best of the west a couple of weeks ago, and since I cant afford one of there rifle's, I decided to build my own long range hunter. I Bought a 116 in 300 win mag and started from there. It now has a muzzle break, and some bedding done to the accustock. I have worked up a load using Berger 185's that it seems to like, six shots and they all are touching. I don't have the huskemaw scope on it yet so I haven't had a chance to stretch its legs. my question is am I headed up the right path, or should I look to re-barrling and or re- stocking? Any and all thoughts would be great. thanks, Jay

[GUNFANATIC]

Sounds like a real shooter. You know the saying; "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." ;D

[Chameleoncamo]

Sounds like ur on the right path. Stretch ur legs and see how it works at Longer range. Then you'll find out what you have to do.

[bowhunter42]

well thanks guys. I was second guessing my choice after spending time on here reading all the post about changing factory stocks and barrels and such. this is only my second savage and I absolutely love my other one, its a model 11 in 300 wsm. well I really do appreciate the in put. jay

[Bryan m]

Bowhunter, sounds like you're off to a great start. If it were me, I think the next thing I would work on would be testing velocities of your current load. Shoot through a chronograph and see how low your ES and SD are. Work for single digits. Small groups are great, and important, but more important is low velocity spreads when you start to stretch it out.

[bowhunter42]

Thanks Bryan, ya that is my next step. I was really wanting to shoot the 190 bergers out of it, cause the guys from botw said they were getting outstanding performance from this round out of their coopers,1/2 in moa at a thousand. Latt even sent me all the load data and said it was out performing the 7mm with the 168 bergers. problem is nobody has the 190's in stock, all seem to be back ordered till middle of june. So I was able to get my hands on a box of 185's just so I could play with it a little. I had to play with the seating depth a little ( ok a lot) but it sure likes them set to 3.340 coal alot. the ones I set to 3.350 gave me a six shot group over 2 inchs but the .340 gave me a quater size group. Im kinda in limbo right now until I can get some 190's, I really want to see how they shoot and perform. Ps if anyone wants that load info just say so. JAY

[Bryan m]

Sounds like the 185's are doing pretty good for you. The 190's are hard to find but as of right now, Cabelas shows a limited amount in stock. Good luck.

[bowhunter42]

Hey everybody, just wanted to post an update on the rifle. Well it is now topped with a Huskema blue diamond 5x20 and shooting 185 Berger's at 2991 fps, and man does this thing shoot! It is consistently shooting 3 in groups at 600 hundred yards and beyond. I never was able to get my es down into the single didgets but got them down to 17 fps and the SD to 11. I took it coyote hunting two weeks ago and managed to drop 4 out of 5 dogs, The closest at 35 yards and the farthest at 663 only one I missed was at 950 and it was cause I missed judged the wind down range. this Is all from a stock factory rifle, only thing I did was have a break installed and minor bedding in the forearm area to stiffen it a little. I just want to say thank you to savage for building a great Rifle! cant wait for September and the backcountry Mule deer and Elk! ;D