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Savage rifle accuracy!

17K views 25 replies 12 participants last post by  luvtofish40 
#1 ·
Hey guys, just got back from my local range and sighted in my savage model 111 rifle in 30-06. I shot 3 rounds about 3\4 inch group at 50 yards, all shots were touching, two of them were almost through the same hole. I never got a chance to sight in at 100 yards because the range was so busy. So I decided to jump out to 200 yards it was less busy on that side, once I got set up I started shooting, I was all over the board! I don't know what happened? I have had the rifle for some time and never shot it because I never had good glass! I just bought a Bushnell elite tactical scope, it's a 5x15 power. So my question is why would my groups have such a drastic change? I was shooting 3.5 to 4 inches high at 200, and roughly 2 inches right? I know trigger control has a lot to do with accuracy, and getting the correct wind reading. Any suggestions??:confused:
 
#7 ·
Thanks guys for the imput, after looking over the rifle I found that the rear mount was a little loose! I believe that bushnell elite series are of high quality, up in the ranks of high end Leupold and nikon rilfe scopes. The rings I have mounted are Leupold QRW quick detachable, mounted on a millett picatinny rail. With such high recoil on the rifle I should have lock tight all the screws to insure that the platform was not going to get loose. Something I have over looked! Thanks again guys!
 
#9 ·
Very good point! I have never owned a center fire rifle untill this one, so understanding bullet drop and POI is all new to me. I am really intrigue by the sport of long range shooting! I have shot rimfire for a long time but never over 150 yards, so this kind of info is great!:)
 
#10 ·
One or two things to keep in mind about trajectory:

If you were dead on at fifty yards I would think you would be shooting low at 100 yards. The "line of sight" (LOS) is straight and the bullet starts below the LOS, crosses at about twenty five yards, goes above LOS and drops back down, hopefully at your desired distance. If you want it sighted in at 200 yards, it will be somewhere near one inch high at 100 yards (this is approximate and varies with bullet weight and muzzle velocity).

Second point is about 'scope adjustment. All that I have seen are adjusted in Minutes Of Angle (MOA) which is just slightly more than one inch at one hundred yards (.06" off, if memory serves me). That would be two inches at two hundred yards, three at three hundred, etc. . . . The "clicks" on the scope are MOA - - OR - - portions of MOA, per click. With the scope you talk about, it could easily be 1/2 or 1/4 MOA per click. Thus if you were four inches high and two inches right at 100 yards (presuming 1/2 MOA click) it would be 8 clicks down and four left to have it dead on.

Have fun, shoot safe. :D
 
#11 ·
Ah good, I didn't want my point taken wrong...

You might also try a few different brands and weights of ammo to find which one groups best in your particular rifle, *then* zero the scope and stick with that ammo. you will see, sometimes big, differences between them.

Brand X 180g will not hit the exact same as Brand Y 180g and muzzle velocity will will certainly mix yhings up too.

Have Fun, it's a great sport!
 
#13 ·
I had a Savage 110 in 30-06 and it was deadly accurate! I had a friend that needed a gun for a hunt and he liked it so much he bought it! I made a few bucks on the deal. But I was lucky and won a Rem. 700 30-06 at a outdoor event a few months later, another tack driver. The Rem. 700 and the Rem. Model 7 in 308 have filled all my big game needs and both are quite accurate when feed the right ammo. It really makes a difference so shoot several brands & different ammo weights and you will find one that gives you markedly better groups!! And I always use lock-tite on my scope mounts, glad it was a simple fix.
 
#14 ·
The Bushnell Elite scopes are great. I almost put one on my Savage Model 10 but I decided to go with a Vortex Diamondback instead. Good scopes and good guns aren't worth a damn without good mounts. I use DNZ Game Reaper mounts and they work great. Glad to hear you figured out your problem.
 
#15 ·
I shot 3 rounds about 3\4 inch group at 50 yards
1. 3 round groups don't tell you much, if anything.
2. 3/4" groups at 50 yards = 3" groups at 200 yards minimum, when you throw in wind and other factors, groups only get bigger.
3. 50 yards isn't enough distance to determine if the ammo you are using works well with your rifle.

If you were dead on at fifty yards I would think you would be shooting low at 100 yards. The "line of sight" (LOS) is straight and the bullet starts below the LOS, crosses at about twenty five yards, goes above LOS and drops back down, hopefully at your desired distance. If you want it sighted in at 200 yards, it will be somewhere near one inch high at 100 yards (this is approximate and varies with bullet weight and muzzle velocity).
A 50 yard zero should be very close at 200 yards, and will be 1-2" high at 100 yards depending on the velocity. With a 50 yard zero, you are moving your first crossing out to 50 yards, so the bullet will still be rising in relation to the sights after 50 yards.
 
#17 ·
And if so should I use red lock, and tighten those suckers down??
careful.
Locktite is not needed, especially Red.
Use a torque wrench on the action screws and tighten them down evenly, beleive it or not, bolt action rifle actions can easily be warped by overtightening/uneven tightening- won't affect function, but will definately cause accuracy problems.
If its a standard stock (more likely), stop at 35 in/lbs. If its pillar bedded (less likely) or has an aluminum bedding block(far less likely), you can go up to 50-60 in/lbs
 
#18 ·
It is a standard stock, without bedding. I tighten them to the spec at around 35in/lbs. The action seems to be more stable within the stock. The barrel is free floated with in the stock when I pass a bill under the barrel it seems to reach resistance around where the swivel stud is than passes freely up through till the chamber, should the bill not pass freely through out the lenght of the barrel? Thanks for your time!
 
#19 ·
The 111's have a pillar of some sort in their front action screw hole (my 7mm does, at least), it gets torqued to 60in/lbs and the rear gets 45 in/lbs. I used a little JB Weld on the front pillar area because it has a flat top and the bottom of the receiver is round, so it wasn't making real great contact. Some of the Weld spilled forward into the recoil lug area, which was good too. Shrunk my groups about 1/2" at 100m, and the Weld was way easier to work with than the Acra-glas I used on another rifle!!

Just to reiterate, you don't need loctite on the action screws, but it's a good idea on the scope mounts!
 
#21 ·
It is a standard stock, without bedding. I tighten them to the spec at around 35in/lbs. The action seems to be more stable within the stock. The barrel is free floated with in the stock when I pass a bill under the barrel it seems to reach resistance around where the swivel stud is than passes freely up through till the chamber, should the bill not pass freely through out the lenght of the barrel? Thanks for your time!
How flexible is the stock at the foreend? Can it be flexed to touch the barrel?
(Wood or synthetic?)
I've heard of people hogging out under the barrel channel and bedding a chevy/ford pushrod into the stock with devcon/acraglass to stiffen it up to prevent contact. If you have some 'resistance' but the dollar bill still passed under the sling swivel, you might be ok if the stock is sufficiently stiff enough.
 
#24 ·
I just noticed having the rifle resting with the bi-pod attached to the frount swivel stud there is a lot of flex in the forend of the stock!
And the barrel is touching the stock on the right side of the rifle. I never noticed this before! There is so much flex when I shoulder the rifle from the sitting position and put a little bit of pressure on my right hand it will shift the action within the stock! What should I do in this case?? New stock? or Sand out the factory one?
 
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