Hornady 58 grain 243 Superformance in Savage 11

[fluxed]

Ok, the barrel is a 1 to 9.25 twist. I think that is slightly fast for a 58 grain bullet. Since every Savage I have owned has been a good shooter I was surprised to see it printing those large groups. I think the twist is the culprit.

I hope to go out and try some larger bullets this weekend.

 

[dennishoddy]

Its your rifling. Shoot a heavier bullet like a 90-100 grain, and your groups will shrink.

 

[fluxed]

Its your rifling. Shoot a heavier bullet like a 90-100 grain, and your groups will shrink.

Roger that. My intent was to get my youngest son a varmint rifle that had good power and could be used with heavier bullets in the coming years for larger game. The 58 grainer seemed like a zippy varmint choice since it screams over 3900/ft sec and has no real recoil. I still think he can shoot the heavier ones without issue. Will find out this weekend.

Also, the rifle is new. Less than 30 rounds through the barrel. It might get better with a few more rounds.

thanks

 

[fluxed]

Ok, got some heavier 87 grainers friday night. Hornady "reduced recoil" that go 2800 muzzle. Got the rifle to the range and at 50 yards the best group was about 1.2 inches. Boo.

We all shot the rifle, so it was not the shooter.

My current thoughts are:
Barrel needs a few more rounds down it to settle in ( about 60 rounds so far )
Perhaps change the scope.
adjust trigger pull down


things we have done:
action screws checked
barrel has been cleaned after every shot using wipe-out and patch worm during the first 10 rounds. Then went to every 5 rounds cleaning.
no copper or powder fouling is visible at all in the barrel
checked the crown, looked good

Im stumped here without going further

 

[fluxed]

Ok, pulled the action and found the bedding is horrible. The little metal pillars in the plastic stock is the only place the action touches the stock. You can literally wiggle the action in the stock unless the screws are VERY tight. I also broke the plastic trigger guard.

first, i need to find some good bottom metal and see what stock is available for this action. I have a lefty son. making his choices even more difficult. I might grinding down those pillars some and bedding this plastic stock too.

 

[swampratt]

AAAHHHH that sucks!
The breaking part...dang it.
How far south are you?
I went shooting today..Dang windy!! 100 yard groups today went to 1.2" with some new loads i am working on.
Still able to hit golf balls at 100 yards though.

 

[okietom]

That is pillar bedding. The action should be tight with the stock though and only touching the pillars. Savage's new accustock is what you need. That screws the action down to a action length piece of aluminum.

I have been thinking about trying some Superformance powder and all the data I find show to use it with bullets that are just on the heavier side of the bullet choice range. In .22-250 I think it started with 55 grain but the one I wanted to try was the 60 grain Vmax. I know that they use it in a wider range of factory bullet weights than they have released load data for us to use.

 

[Blitzfike]

Once you have the Savage bug, here is where you go for help...
http://www.savageshooters.com/content.php
Good info and a good source of parts.. Blitzfike

 

[fluxed]

Holy Cow! I made a huge oversight on this project. I found the likely reason the rifle was shooting all over the target last night while fitting a new scope. The rear ring was loose as a goose. This is a factory mounted scope rig we got from Savage. Firstly the rings are the most cheesy of cheesy. The little bolts and nuts that hold the them to the bases look like pot metal and the rear one was stripped.

Embarrassed I did not find this earlier. Assuming is a bad thing sometimes. Savage QC got one over on me for sure.

Remedy: New Warne rings and checked alignment with Wheeler pointed round bars. They were dead on, btw. No lapping needed. New scope. Intensity Optics 6.5x20x50. They are great scopes for the money. Have used them for years with no issues and it is much nicer than the Nikon I took off. Clearer, easier to adjust. I bought 10 of them back when they were blowing them out for 50 bucks each in 2009. Wish I had 20 more. Very good for 50 bucks and I use one on my target rimfire with huge success.

Hope to shoot again this weekend and report some tight groups. Oh, almost forgot.....did a good cleaning and polishing with JB Bore paste 3 times.

 

[fluxed]

Got back to the lease this weekend with the Son and his new rifle with the repairs. He is now able to shoot bug hole 3 shot groups at 90 yards using the Hornady reduced recoil loads. 87 grainers at 2800.

I think we got it nailed down.