Well, the sun gods blessed me today by parting the clouds, so I headed out to test my new Savage. It is completely stock exept I bedded a 1/4" steel rod into the flimbsy forend which did help stiffen it up some. I mounted a Simmons 44 Mag 6.5-20x44 AO TT on Leupold rings. After mounting the scope and aligning the crosshairs by looking thru the bore, I was one inch low and one inch right at 100 yards. After one adjustment I was right on.I previously had shot 5 rounds and cleaned for the first 25 rounds. Shooter's Choice solvent didn't do squat on the copper in the bore, but Sweet's took it out like it was nothing. I was using WWB 55g FMJ for the break in session and it was shooting well but I hadn't measured anything yet.So today I used up the rest of the 50-rnd box of WWB 55gr FMJ and each 5-shot group measured under 1", that's cool for "junk" ammo. All of the 5-shot groups were between 0.7" and 0.9". I cleaned the bore again and then tried a box of WWB Varmint 45gr HP. All of those 5-shot groups were a little over an inch... Then I tried some Ultramax 52gr HP and it was also just over an inch on average. I cleaned the bore again and hung some fresh targets. This break in period allowed me to adjust to the Accutrigger. It's sweet! I love it! The pull is very smooth and the break is very crisp. I have it adjusted all the way down to the lightest setting, and then tightened about 1/4 turn. It feels like it's about 2-3 lbs. Next I started shooting my reloads, using ShooterJohn's secret recipe.
(thanks John) I was using Win brass, full length sized, trimmed, chamfered and deburred and all that etc, Fed GMM primers, 40gr V-Max bullets, and H335 powder, with COL set at 2.200". I started at 25.0 gr and worked up to 27.0 gr. Here's the results!
I think I found the sweet spot!
The paper and cardboard backing were very damp due to the moisture in the air and all the water on the ground in the grass so the holes are not very sharp and clean. I'll have to shoot some stiffer/thicker targets next time so I can measure the groups more easily. I found that I was shooting the center out of the targets and it was messing up my ability to aim so on the last group I adjusted the elevation up a bit. Looks like the 26.5 gr group is just a hair under 0.40" I can live with that for the very first batch of tests.
I suspected that load would be the right one so I had made up some extras and shot three more 5-shot groups, all of which were in the 5's. The 26.0 group was very nice too. This load has the exact same POI as the cheap WWB 55gr FMJs at 100 yards.Then I tried the same loads using LC brass and it shot ALMOST as good with 25.5 gr instead of 26.5 gr. I'll have to keep messing with the LC brass since I have about 800 pieces of it. Plus, it also had the same POI as the Win loads and the WWB FMJ ammo. I think once I settle into this rifle (my first Savage) it will really be a shooter. I will eventually replace the cheap plastic stock (they cost Savage $12) with a laminate stock, and this rifle deserves a better scope, but other than that it's good to go. Looking forward to many more happy targets with my new toy.
