I haven't shot this rifle for over a year and had it dismantled for the cross country move. Last week I got the itch to put it all back together and made sure the barrel nut was torqued to 40 foot pounds.

After the scope was zeroed and the barrel was warmed up, I ran some Nosler 168 grain blemished Custom Comps through it. I shot the best group ever out of this rifle at 0.306" for 5 rounds.






This is a long action flat-back receiver with a 308 Benchmark 5R barrel. It's bedded into a McMillan HTG stock. It has a NSS match recoil lug and barrel nut. The scope base is a EGW aluminum base and the scope is a US Optics LR-17moa 3.2-17x44.

Although I pictured it with the bipod, I used sand bags.

Thanks for looking!

Tony.

**Edit to correct group sizes after using grouping analytics software**

This message has been edited. Last edited by: benny6,

Wow. Nice rifle, and nice shooting Tony!

The value Savage brings to the table is undeniable. Feels like stealing almost.

Nice shooting! That's a good reminder that I need to get my old 10FP in .223 out and spend some time behind it!

Thanks! Although I've talked about it before, many years past, I'll give it a quick and dirty rundown again.

This rifle started life as a mid-1980's 270 in a cheap wood stock, no pillars, no bedding and a plastic trigger guard. My step-dad bought it and maybe shot a couple of boxes out of it in the time he owned it. he gave it to me in the late 90's. I eventually had a take-off 30-06 hunting barrel installed for $50 (that was the price of the barrel and installation).

I had actually loaned it to a "friend" in the mid-2000's for a hunting trip and he decided to take it with him when he got divorced and moved to Montana. After tracking him down and politely asking him to send my rifle back, he sent it back to me, maybe around 2010.

When I started rebuilding it in 2011, it shot 3" groups at 100 yards with a 6" shift in POI between range trips.

Of the original rifle, all that remains is the receiver, the bolt head and the trigger.

I like restoring dead relics.

Tony.

Well, it looks like it's a solid shooter now. I pulled it off again today but I added a proper muzzle brake instead of the flash hider I had on before. It really dampened the recoil! It's a Precision Armament M4-72 severe duty muzzle brake.



After installing it and re-zeroing it, I shot another 1/4" group.



I had guests today, so we were shooting a lot of different guns. I'm going to spend some more time with it next range trip. I haven't even done any load development with it and I have better bullets on the shelf too. I've got some SMK's and Berger hybrids that I've neger loaded for it.

Looks like it's time to hand-pick some brass and dedicate it just to this rifle and fine tune the load. Although I don't know how much better I can reasonably get.



Tony.

Great shooting there for sure. My Savage 223 is one of the most accurate guns I own.

quote:

Precision Armament M4-72 severe duty muzzle brake.

benny6, does that brake dampen recoil enough that you can watch the bullet impact on target?

Does it obnoxiously direct muzzle blast toward the shooters to you left and right?

That is a great day.
Love the rifle, love the Optics, I have a couple US Optics scopes too on my 308 gassers.
Great results.

I bought the US Optics scope from Sigforum member Blue Dog a couple of years ago. It was as great deal!

As for the muzzle brake, I think it would work to watch bullet impact from the prone position, but off the bench, I think it jumps more. All I know is that before I installed the brake, the scope would jump back and touch my eyebrow. Not enough to hurt or to leave a mark, but it did jump enough to at least touch.

After the brake installation, it does not touch my face at all. It is definitely painful for anyone using a 16" barrel, but I noticed much less muzzle blast with the 22" barrel I was using. With a 26" barrel, the blast should be less.

I created a YouTube short so you can see. This was a full power 168 grain load at 2650 FPS. There's no embed link, so here's a straight link to it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/n_UDc2NuMis?feature=share

Tony.

Thank you!

Looks like the recoil is straight back, not much muzzle rise.