Well, I was going to wait to get a decent scope before shooting this rifle, but my curiosity got the best of me. So, I swiped a scope from my wife's rifle to test her (the rifle, not my wife). ;D It's a cheap BSA scope, but it served it's purpose.

All shooting was done with five shot groups at 100 yards, fired from a Caldwell Rock Jr. Front rest and a rear bag. I wouldn't say that any of my handloads shot poorly, but some were certainly better than others. For the last two days, I've been playing with various loads, using three different bullets and two different powders (Varget and H4895). The bullets are the Sierra 80g BTSP, Hornady 87g V-Max and 100g Interlock BTSP. So far, the V-Max and 100g Interlock are the most accurate, but the 100g Interlock seems to like to be pushed faster than I should be loading it to. I'll keep playing with it some more. I'm sure I can find a lighter loading that will tighten it up, with some experimentation. Here's some of the highlights:

[img width=600 height=355]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mywifehatesmodels/Savage%20Model%2010%20Predator%20Hunter%20243%20Wi nchester/SavageModel10PredatorHunter243005.jpg[/img]
[img width=549 height=450]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mywifehatesmodels/Savage%20Model%2010%20Predator%20Hunter%20243%20Wi nchester/SavageModel10PredatorHunter243001.jpg[/img]
[img width=563 height=450]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mywifehatesmodels/Savage%20Model%2010%20Predator%20Hunter%20243%20Wi nchester/SavageModel10PredatorHunter243003.jpg[/img]

[img width=538 height=450]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mywifehatesmodels/Savage%20Model%2010%20Predator%20Hunter%20243%20Wi nchester/SavageModel10PredatorHunter243002.jpg[/img]

The trigger came set very light on this rifle. This is probably the cause of some of my flyers. Normally, I would leave it, but since I will likely be hunting with it, while wearing gloves, I will most likely adjust it a little heavier. Overall, it seems to shoot better than I do, so far. I can't wait to get some good glass and some more trigger/load development time.

The painted Accustock is very solid and the paint appears to be pretty durable. The action is well centered in the stock. The finish on the barreled action is tough and not as shiny as I feared it would be. I love the medium weight, fluted barrel and the bolt seems to be just a touch tighter in tolerance than my 10FP. While it's a little heavier than your average sporter (I believe the specs say 8.5 lbs, but I haven't weighed it), this doesn't really bother me, as I'm used to hauling around guns that are 12-15 lbs. Even with the weight, it seems to point nicely and I don't think that offhand shots would be a real issue.

The only real issue, so far, is the chamber/freebore. I guess that depends on your preference, though. I had posted another thread asking about this, the other day. It seems that the handloads that I loaded to the spec length of 2.710" are just touching the lands. One of them, the 80g Sierra SP, actually sets back into the case upon chambering the round. A call to Savage revealed that they are using factory ammo as their spec, which would normally be loaded to a shorter length. Since I wanted to get another opinion on this, I called my local gunsmith. He builds custom rifles (sometimes from scratch), his own calibers and is also a BR competition shooter. He told me that "A lot of guys would love to have your 'problem' ". After discussing the details of it, I felt a lot better. So long as I'm aware of the measurements and am careful with my loads, there shouldn't be any issues. So far, I'm loving it and would not change a thing. ;D

John