Savage LRPV 223

J

jim

Member
I am in need of advice - I have a Savage LRPV in 223 with a 1 in 7 twist and having problems with inconsistent groupings. It will literally shoot 3 shots into one hole and then throw the next shot 1.5 inches away. I've checked scope mounts and rings and have experimented with action screw tightness til I'm blue in the face. I was shooting tonight in extremely calm conditions, 70 degrees at 100 yards. The first 2 shots from a pretty clean barrel were touching with the next 5 scattered in a group of 1.5 inches. I then shot another target and again a group of 1.5 inches with 2 shots in one hole. I use a Weaver 36x scope - could it be the scope?

Extremely frustrated!!
 
It could be the scope but there were quite a few posts on this forum a while ago about Savage LRPV rifles that had exactly the same problem you described. Search for these posts and get some insight into what causes this problem. I just looked and found a thread posted by Travelor on October 3, 2007.

My LRPV 204 Ruger has never exhibited what you describe but other rifles apparently do.
 
mine has never had that problem, 52 gr anything(berger,sierra match,fowler/scheider/v-max) over 24-25gr of Vitvor N-133 on lapua brass

I can tell you one thing, if your not using and reading win flags your just wasting ammo,,,,,,,,,,,,,

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DD
 
Rear action screw

Try loosening the rear most action screw until it is only barely finger tight. Works for most people. I really think that screw should have been left off when the guns were made.

George
 
Interesting - - -

david dumas said:
mine has never had that problem, 52 gr anything(berger,sierra match,fowler/scheider/v-max) over 24-25gr of Vitvor N-133 on lapua brass

I can tell you one thing, if your not using and reading win flags your just wasting ammo,,,,,,,,,,,,,

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DD
Click to expand...



I shot in a Factory Club match today and the fellow who won the Light Factory class got 250-6X and did not use wind flags. He was shooting a Remington older 700 Deluxe 223. I was somewhat impressed, I must say. I shot beside him carefully watching my flags and dropped one point the first record Shot I fired :eek: :( :D
 
Could it possibly be you twist rate in your barrel, as a 1:7 is very fast and is to stabilise long heavy VLD bullets of 90 gr. so if your not shooting heavy bullets then maybe thats your problem.

Because if your shooting 55 gr pills then a slow twist of 1:14 is recommended

so are you shooting 90 grainers?
 
Bit of end user work...

Extremely frustrated!!


Jim,

I hear ya.... It happens...

Have seen similar issues with a few LPV and LRPV...

What fixed them...

Solid >>> Stress Free<<< bedding, a proper forend attachment, wind flags
and a consistent medium weight for twist rate bullet...

As far as bullet, go with the Sierra 69gr MK (Why? Cause I know they are damn consistent in 1-9/1-8/1-7 twist barrels at moderate range) and a nice flat shooting load of 4895. Start at 21.5gr and go up.

savageshooters.com for bedding pics and info...

If the tube is not Coppering >>Hard<< then your OK, just if fine "streaky" coppering is found your prob OK... Typical of factory tubes...
I know of one LRPV .223 1-7 that coppers a tad but after above treatments, it shoot's.... Oh....It SHOOTS.!

cale
 
I have a Stevens 200 ( a Savage by another name)

ballisticsman49 said:
Could it possibly be you twist rate in your barrel, as a 1:7 is very fast and is to stabilise long heavy VLD bullets of 90 gr. so if your not shooting heavy bullets then maybe thats your problem.

Because if your shooting 55 gr pills then a slow twist of 1:14 is recommended

so are you shooting 90 grainers?
Click to expand...

I wanted a cheap .223 to bang around with and the Stevens in the plastic stock seemed to be just the thing. I don't buy factory ammo for anything anymore so began to working up loads. I had hoped to be able to shoot the lighter bullets in it but, alas, so far all it likes is the 69g Matchkings. I guess I can live with that but I have a couple hundred of the lighter ones :( .

The rifle DOES SHOOT. I think the barrel has"come to me", as they say in the racing bidness. I also think it shoots best dirty. I shot about 60 through it in the match yesterday and didn't clean. The 4 th target had 4 nice xes on it with the 5 th shot only 1/4" from the dot. The condition held for 3 and returned.

What I did notice was the stock is so soft that when sitting in the front rest the barrel would easily cant a bunch by just touching the rifle. I have one of them Accuracy Enhancers on the forend ( permitted in the matches we have) and that anchored the rifle so that the flexing and canting could easily be seen. I learned not to touch the rifle other than the tigger and the butt LIGHTLY to my shoulder. I too was getting the flyers regularly as I was trying to work up loads and did not realize it was the sponge-o-stock that was the problem. Even at that, the rifle would still group not bad; under 1/2".

Speaking of triggers; was I ? well, I adjusted the factory trigger down to where it would barely hold the sear then clicked that little screw back one notch. It was still too heavy for my taste. I then began to look at replacement triggers in the catalogs. Considering I didn't know if the rifle would shoot I did not want to spend a bunch on a trigger.

Whilst roaming through the Cabela's store in Scarborough, Me I noticed a little dealie that screws to the trigger guard and is suppose to reduce the trigger pull by like 50% or so. It's called a Trigger Assist, factually. Page 48 in the 09 Cabela's Shooting catalog. Couldn't wait to get home to try er. I had to whittle the trigger guard down slightly and she fit right on. It works as advertised. $39.99 .

It's fun trying to make a tomato stake shoot, I must say. I made the mistake of looking into the barrel with the Hawkeye! The inside of the barrel looks like it was made with a narrow coal chisel. There is a good lesson here: don't look in the barrel of a cheap rifle with a bore scope!
 
Thanks for all the tips - I am shooting 77 grain Sierra MK's with 24.1 grains of RE15. I did discover something that I'm certain is contributing to my inconsistent groups. For the first time I removed the barreled action from the HS Precision stock and found a "chunk" of the aluminum bedding block at the rear of the action on the bolt side is totally missing. I would say this is a quality control issue on Savage Arms part - what do you think? I'm going to have the stock professionally bedded which will address this. I am somewhat disappointed that Savage permitted this to clear quality control. I do understand this is a mass produced firearm however when a chunk is missing from the aluminum block you think someone would have caught it when they installed the barreled action.

Thanks again for all the good commnets

Jim
 
H&S stock

jim said:
I am somewhat disappointed that Savage permitted this to clear quality control. I do understand this is a mass produced firearm however when a chunk is missing from the aluminum block you think someone would have caught it when they installed the barreled action.
Click to expand...

Jim,

I understand your feelings. However, I own three H&S stocks for my Remmys. Two of the three have "chucks" missing. None of the spots are larger than 1/4". With that said, my gunsmith proved to me the value of bedding even the "higher quality" stocks like that H&S. Even though they have been machine to "perfectly" match the 700 action, his demonstration will a contact marker film (not sure what it was) clearly indicated that is was less than ideal. He had to remove a fair amount of metal from one of them to even make it skim-bed correctly.

I have had very rifle I own skim-bedded. I would am a believer in that good contact is critical to reproducible groups. Some guns have improved a little and some a lot after skim-bedding. None have got worst than before.

Luck, tiny
 
I measured

The twist rate in my Stevens 200 yesterday when I was cleaning it and found that it had a 1-10.5 twist rate. Is that a strange twist rate for a .223?
 
1:7 twist lrpv

not bad for 82gr. vld moly bergers
 

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