Sorting a Savage Part 2 THE CONCLUSION By Laurie Holland
Sorting a Savage PART 2 The Conclusion.
by Laurie Holland
As regular Target Shooter readers will be aware, Laurie has pioneered the 223 Rem. as an alternative to the 308Win. in top-level F/TR competition. When re-barrelled, the rifle was not quite delivering the performance that Laurie had come to expect...
My initial focus was now on the rifle’s bedding, in particular optimising rear screw tension. There is a relatively painless procedure for this, but as it relies on changes in group size and shape, you need access to a stable testing set-up and a 100-200 yard range with conditions such that reliable results can be obtained. You’ll also need 40 or more rounds of previously worked-up ammunition that has some chance of producing decent groups and a small torque-wrench calibrated in inch-pounds. While the latter is not 100% essential, it allows you to adjust the tension in small even steps and equally important, to return to the
optimum setting both during the tuning stage and also later if you take the action out of the stock for any reason.
As noted, all Savages other than the PTA competition rifles (F, F/TR, BR, and Palma models) and single-shot LRPV (long-range precision varmint) rifles have two screws whose position is dictated by the magazine cut-out in the receiver floor. (Although a single-shot model, the BVSS Varmint rifle uses the twin screw set-up and its laminated stock has a large redundant cavity for the non-existant box magazine.
If you look at the modern Savage receiver, it’s obviously CNC-machined out of what starts as a tube, the rear couple of inches having most of the metal machined off to leave what looks like a shallow tang which would be drilled and tapped for the rear bedding-screw in a conventional Mauser-system action. However, both types of Savage action have the rear bedding screw further forward under the rear end of the tubular section. The ‘tang’ seems to be there mainly to act as a hanger for the trigger assembly and to house the sliding shotgun-style safety button.
To carry out accurate evaluation, adjusting and shooting the rifle on a full benchrest set up like this one is ideal but any testing arrangement that provides consistent and genuinely comparable results on the target is suitable
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