Savage BR Performance with a World Class Shooter

333smitty

333smitty

Tomball Gun Club
FYI

With all the hoopla over the latest Savage target rigs did you ever wonder what their true protential would be at a VFS match driven by a world class shooter?

This last weekend Gene Bukys competeted in the factory class with his Savage model 12 308. The only modification to the rifle was that it was beded which is allowed by the TGC rules. I might also add that this rifle was a repeater and had a round forstock. This truly is a off the rack rig. At the
end of the match Gene fired a impressive 248-7x!!!! ;)

The top score for the Benchrest class was 250-20x by Gary Walters (6ppc)
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308 Savage

We have been watching Gene flog the Savage for the past couple week ends, he put a pretty good effort into ringing what ever the Rifle had to offer. He did state that the more he shot it, the better it got.

I looked at all of his targets, and I would say the Rifle was locked into about a .500 to .600 agging capability. That is pretty darned good for an out of the box mass produced Rifle over 25 record shots.

Everybody always wonders what something will do in the hands of a true World Class Shooter. I think this anwers it.........jackie
 
smitty,

Do you know which model it was specifically? The 12 LRPV, or a 12 F/TR, or something else? Was 248-7X enough to win that class? What are typical winning scores in factory class?

jackie,

Are you saying .500-.600 for 25 shots, or .500-.600 per five-shot group for five groups?

Monte
 
Monte

All I know is it is a Model 12 with a nice laminated wood stock, with a forearm around 2 1/4 inches wide. Standard right bolt right port repeater in 308.

I base my assessment of the Rifles overall capability by observing it over the past weeks, and Gene's performance Sunday. When I say .500 to.600 agging capability, what I mean is if Gene sat down and shot five groups under match conditions, you could expect the overall average of the 5 groups to be between .500 and .600 inch. It might tag a .400 on one, but does toss enough shots in others to open things up.

He would have won the class, but chose to shoot as a non competitor. He shot simply to see what he could do with it...........jackie
 
Savage

I wonder what that rifle could do with no other modification than a new match barrel in 6PPC or 6BR. The aggregating capability might shrink down to in the .3s. Not that it would do anyone much good ina Benchrest competition, but a darn accurate rifle at any rate.

BA
 
Ba

I suspect it would be just like any other quality Factory Action.

Literally thousands of Remington 700 owners have simply had a Gunsmith install a custom barrel in 6BR or 308, do the proper bedding, add a Jewell Trigger, and presto, you have a Rifle that is capable of shooting at a "mid three" agging capability.

I see no reason why a Savage should not follow the same path.........jackie
 
Jackie

I belive you are right. I think that the bottleneck of most factory rifles accuracy is the barrel. They often are not capable of more than a given accuracy no matter how much you tinker with bedding truing and etc. I have been there. Upgrading a factory barrel on a given rifle with a match grade barrel is the single most productive thing to do in the quest of accuracy. After the barrel has been replaced some other small stuff in tuning can help still further. It is always the weekest link in the chain that will break or in this case be the bottleneck. One can think this in terms of four men going goose hunting to geather. The quality of their cover is not the average of their collective cover but the quality of the one who can most easily be seen.

BA
 
The cart before the horse

My friend Mike had a Savage 12 that was shooting 1.5" groups (308 win heavy cm bbl 10 twist)

Tried 175 SMK's, Bergers, lapua brass....nothing helped.

The rifle started with a tupperware stock, threw that in the trash, put a laminated stock on, machined the forearm flat, pillar epoxy bed, floated the bbl etc.

Rifle still shot 1.5" groups.....until I changed the barrel last week...

Now, with the Krieger HV bbl, it shoots tiny groups. Mike shot 3 3/8" groups with 175 smk's

My friend Nathan sold a SS savage 25-06 with a tupperware stock to his friend Ricky. That thing shoots almost hole to hole with cheap remington ammo?

Go figure? I guess it's the luck of the draw.

Ben
 
Last edited:
Bnhpr said:
My friend Mike had a Savage 12 that was shooting 1.5" groups (308 win heavy cm bbl 10 twist)

Tried 175 SMK's, Bergers, lapua brass....nothing helped.

The rifle started with a tupperware stock, threw that in the trash, put a laminated stock on, machined the forearm flat, pillar epoxy bed, floated the bbl etc.

Rifle still shot 1.5" groups.....until I changed the barrel last week...

Now, with the Krieger HV bbl, it shoots tiny groups. Mike shot 3 3/8" groups with 175 smk's

My friend Nathan sold a SS savage 25-06 with a tupperware stock to his friend Ricky. That thing shoots almost hole to hole with cheap remington ammo?

Go figure? I guess it's the luck of the draw.

Ben
Click to expand...

Yes........... Have seen this as well... Had a 1.5 only capable Sav .308 barrel.. Now several customs on the action and an honest .300 capable gun with all of em.....

Had a Mod 12 BVSS 22-250 factory Stainless that was wildly accurate... Wildly GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya never know... Odds are, most factory tubes are gonna typically disappoint and most customs are gonna bring SMILES.........!

cale
 
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