I re-bedded my Savage this weekend to free float the barrel. Torqued all the screws and such and headed out today for a range test. I met my uncle who had his Savage 30-06 and his friend who will join us this year. His friend was packing a 340 Weatherby.

I got my Savage on paper with some 125's at 50 and called it good.

His friend had a hard time getting consistent groups. He was flinching really bad! His Weatherby was a featherweight and the recoil was brutal! After watching me shoot my Savage, he asked me to shoot his Weatherby. Man, my shoulder took a beating! I fired 3 rounds at 50 to get on paper, then we moved to the 200.

I got my uncle and his friend sorted out at 200, then I moved to mine. I broke out my hunting loads that I made 2 years ago with 165 grain Nosler Accu-Bonds, 42.8 grains of 4064 and a 9-1/2 primer.

My first 3 rounds on paper at 200 measured 1.246" (0.595 MOA). I adjusted the scope and fired 3 more which grouped at 0.680" (0.324 MOA).

I figured that was good enough for a hunting round and ran a few rounds of 175 FGMM for giggles. Groups were okay at 0.745 MOA and 0.612 MOA. By this time, my shoulder was hamburger and the heat waves were bad. I didn't feel like I was at the top of my game today but the results were satisfactory. Since this rifle is set up for hunting, the scope wasn't really ideal for precision work. The crosshairs were way too fat.

I'll do some precision work after hunting season.

Tony.

Nice looking rig Tony, that'll put meat in the freezer!

What's the details on the mod's on the rifle?

What stock is that?

This rifle is a mid-1980's Savage 110 long action flat-back that started life as a 270 win. I started overhauling it 6 years ago. So far, the only thing left that is original is the receiver and trigger mechanism. Here is the breakdown of the parts:

-Savage 110 flat-back long action receiver with old style 3-screw factory adjustable trigger
-New jeweled Savage bolt with small-shank firing pin and new bolt face
-Savage black steel trigger guard (original one was plastic)
-Northland Shooter's Supply heavy duty recoil lug and stainless steel barrel nut
-McMillan HTG stock in McMillan camo, bedded with Marine-Tex
-Evolution Gun Works picatinny rail with upgraded Torx screws
-Benchmark barrel:
-22" varmint contour (0.9" at the muzzle)
-Chambered in 308 using their "Gold Medal Match" chamber with 0.090" freebore
-5R rifling
-1:11" twist
-Barrel threading with thread protector
-Ziess Conquest 3-9x50 with Rapid-Z 600 reticle
-Burris medium height Zee rings
-Sharp Shooter's Supply improved extractor kit (ditched their custom ejector, it was causing feeding issues)
-Trigger tuned down to around 3 pounds. This was as light as I could get it and still be safe.

Total weight as pictured is around 11.5 pounds.

I'd like to throw on a nice Nightforce or US Optics at some point and a Surefire suppressor.

The nice thing about Savages is that barrel swaps are easy-peasy and it would take me 10 minutes to go from 308 to 30-06 or any other caliber that uses a .308 bolt face. And I won't even have to re-bed it since the barrel channel is cleared for a bull barrel.

If I could do it all over again, I'd use a newer Savage with detachable magazines, but this was given to me by my late step-father as a high school graduation present back in 1991. My next ground up build will actually be a Remington 700 type on a custom action that already has the truing and timing done.

Thanks for looking!

Tony.

Love that stock, and a great looking and solid rifle. And as usual, great shooting.

Why would anyone use a 340 Wthby for deer hunting?? Even if on some bear infested island in AK it seems like a bit much?

Yeah, handloads could tame it. I do like to see variety in the deer woods though.

The 308 seems more than needed most of the time. I usually go with a 6 or 7mm of some flavor.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Why would anyone use a 340 Wthby for deer hunting?? Even if on some bear infested island in AK it seems like a bit much?

Yeah, handloads could tame it. I do like to see variety in the deer woods though.

The 308 seems more than needed most of the time. I usually go with a 6 or 7mm of some flavor.

I honestly don't think he'll be using it this year. I talked to my uncle the other day and they had a good talk on the way home. My uncle helped him come to the conclusion that it was too much gun. I've already got a friend with a Savage 10 in 308 lined up for him to use. I already dialed that rifle in a couple of years ago and it's solid.

We'd also like to stick with the 30 calibers when hunting because we all get black bear and cougar tags as well, so even if I get my deer, I can still pack my rifle in case I see a bear, cougar or coyote. It's nice to have one load that can drop them all which is why I run a 165 grain bullet. If it wasn't for the fact that we hunt all three at the same time, I'd be using 150 grain bullet instead, or a 243, or a 7mm-08.

Tony.

Nice bit of work Benny. I'll admit I wasa bit surprised when I saw that the Trigger was origional. Did you clean it up? From what I remember the older (pre accutriggers) were ok, but not great unless you did a little work.

quote:

Originally posted by CD228:
Nice bit of work Benny. I'll admit I wasa bit surprised when I saw that the Trigger was origional. Did you clean it up? From what I remember the older (pre accutriggers) were ok, but not great unless you did a little work.

Thanks!

Aside from just messing with the screws to get the lightest safe trigger pull and giving it a good coat of XF-7 grease, I've done nothing to the trigger.

I think that shooting M14's for so long has helped me really develop good trigger discipline which I apply to any rifle I shoot.

When my uncle shot my Savage, he was really impressed with the trigger. He has a newer Savage with the Accu-trigger and he said mine broke much cleaner than his did. I had him shoot my Savage and he was blown away. He's in his 60's and has never shot a rifle this accurate before. He put two rounds a half an inch from each other at 200 yards and he was surprised at how easy it was to do. He never thought he could make that kind of a shot.

You really have to test the factory 3-screw well before shooting it. If you do it wrong, it will go off when moving the safety. You also have to test it when you reinstall it in the stock as the stock may interfere with your settings. I seem to remember having to relieve material from the stock to get the trigger to work properly.

There is a mod where you buy a certain thickness of piano wire and make a new trigger spring which lightens the trigger a bit as well.

Tony.

Thanks for sharing that Benny. You seem to have a knack for tuning rifles. I didn't know about that stock piece.

Best of luck this hunting season.

quote:

Originally posted by CD228:
I didn't know about that stock piece.

I guess I should clarify a little. I tuned the trigger at the same time I dropped it into the McMillan, which is the stock that needed to be cleared. The original stock would have been okay.

I seem to recall the stock was pressing the trigger bar and when I took it off safe, the rifle fired (on an empty chamber, of course). I'm glad I figured that out in the garage with an empty chamber and not at the range.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:

quote:

Originally posted by CD228:
I didn't know about that stock piece.

I guess I should clarify a little. I tuned the trigger at the same time I dropped it into the McMillan, which is the stock that needed to be cleared. The original stock would have been okay.

I seem to recall the stock was pressing the trigger bar and when I took it off safe, the rifle fired (on an empty chamber, of course). I'm glad I figured that out in the garage with an empty chamber and not at the range.

Tony.

thanks again. That clarifies it. I'll keep that in mind next time I restock a rifle.