How many shots does it take to usually start getting good groups? I never could afford a new gun up until now and never did have this good problem. Thanks

I have a number of Savage factory barrels, and I'd give it at least 1-200 before I'd consider them broke in. I do develop a decent load for them in the usual manner, then shoot that load until I feel it smooths up and stops copper fouling heavily. Not that they won't shoot until you've put 200 downrange, as many will group right away, but not consistently. Once I feel the bore is smooth, then I do the final tweaking of the load workup's.

quote:

Originally posted by 284Win:
I have a number of Savage factory barrels, and I'd give it at least 1-200 before I'd consider them broke in. I do develop a decent load for them in the usual manner, then shoot that load until I feel it smooths up and stops copper fouling heavily. Not that they won't shoot until you've put 200 downrange, as many will group right away, but not consistently. Once I feel the bore is smooth, then I do the final tweaking of the load workup's.

Unlike the Remington Winchester and Ruger barrels which are all hammer forged the Stevens/Savage barrels are still cut rifling

IMO "Break-in" on a Remington or Ruger is a
joke as those barrels are literally mirror smooth right out of the box.

follow a "normal" break in proceedure
5-10 shots and clean, repeat.

Do this 20 times and you've got it.

The usual retail price of $250-ish on those stevens rifles is real tempting...
It looks like a real good "take it into the woods hunting in the rain and not care" rifle...

AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by Allan DeGroot:


Unlike the Remington Winchester and Ruger barrels which are all hammer forged the Stevens/Savage barrels are still cut rifling

AllanD

I think all of my savage rifles have "button rifling" in them, and I don't remember ever having to break one of them in.

cynrays, what kind of groups are you shooting?

I bought 2 of the Stevens 200 a month or two ago when Bass Pro had them on sale. I was going to use the actions and build a couple of other rifles. But I took the .270 to the range, and after 6 rounds to get the scope set, it was shooting just under a inch @ 100yds. and that was with the stiff trigger. I adjusted it down a little, and it should really drive 'em now.

My point was that a hammer forged barrel will either shoot well out of the box or it never will.

A Button/cut rifle barrel MAY improve as it is "shot in"

I'm looking at a 25-06... I burn them out anyway

AllanD

I have 2 factory barrels for my Savages (same) one in .270win and the other .338WMag. The .270 will cut a ragged hole, but only for 15 shots and it opens up, needing cleaning. Doesn't matter as it's a pure hunting rig. The .338 wil shoot in the .8's but I never have to clean it.

4 Stevens resently acquired rifles shot MOA out of the box.Three of them, .223 , a .243 and a 7-08 achieved this with inexpensive commercial ammo. The 22-250 did it with hand loads.

2 more barrels are on order; a 250-3000 and what will be a new short 6.5 wildcat. IMHO plastic stock and all these are great take it hunting rifles and give you a great day punching paper.

The trigger on the .22-250 was reworked from 7 1/2 # to just under 5 #. Having learned to squeeeeeze a trigger from youth ,it ain't all bad. Hey Hot Core ! Why don't you build yourself a scout out of one of these? roger

It is a 30-06 and I handloaded 165 grain Hornady boat tail spire points. 47 grains of IMR 4895. Currently after about 50 rounds it is shooting an average of one and a half to two inches at 100 yards with a bench rest. It is better than when I first started.
The scope is a Mueller 4x16x50 with Leupold rings and bases.

I'd try some different projectiles, and flat based ones at that.

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
..Hey Hot Core ! Why don't you build yourself a scout out of one of these? roger

Hey Roger, I have given it some thought. I do like the looks of them and don't even mind the "accuracy enhancing" barrel nut. Maybe they left the nut off cynrays'.

Concerning the Scout mod, do they make a "special Scout nut" you can mount the scope on??!!???

Regarding scout modifications:

I had 2Savage 110 270's, one had a rusty barrel at the end, so I cut it to 17". I looked into getting a scout mount, that uses the front receiver holes and the rear sight holes. B-Square made the mount for the original Savage Scout. In reply to my email, B-Square said they no longer had any savage scout mounts.


Regarding Savage Barrel Quality: The 270 above had a very rough bore before it rusted, the cut off section shows prominant radial marks. After being shortened and recrowned, it still shot factory ammo <1".
My other 270 and my 223 do not show these marks, and have always shot well and cleaned easily.

The shortened 270 barrel was replaced with a 26" fluted stainless 25-06 barrel, a never shot factory take off. The radial mrks are very visible on this barrel, and it really coppers up. I have 120 shots on it and it still takes 2 nights soaking in a foaming bore cleaner to get out the copper. Some groups have been <1", but nothing consistent, yet. The rifle will be bedded today, so hopefully this will improve. THis barrel has me thinking about fire lapping.

quote:

Originally posted by cynrays:
It is a 30-06 and I handloaded 165 grain Hornady boat tail spire points. 47 grains of IMR 4895. Currently after about 50 rounds it is shooting an average of one and a half to two inches at 100 yards with a bench rest. It is better than when I first started.
The scope is a Mueller 4x16x50 with Leupold rings and bases.

If it won't shoot sub moa with that load, it must be the shooter!

quote:

Originally posted by MajorCaliber:

quote:

Originally posted by cynrays:
It is a 30-06 and I handloaded 165 grain Hornady boat tail spire points. 47 grains of IMR 4895. Currently after about 50 rounds it is shooting an average of one and a half to two inches at 100 yards with a bench rest. It is better than when I first started.
The scope is a Mueller 4x16x50 with Leupold rings and bases.

If it won't shoot sub moa with that load, it must be the shooter!

Is this some sort of Cajon logic????

quote:

Originally posted by bja105:
... B-Square made the mount for the original Savage Scout. In reply to my email, B-Square said they no longer had any savage scout mounts....

Hey Roger, Jason has managed to find a very interesting situation.

Does it mean B-Square simply finds it impossible to keep up with the "demand", or does it mean they sold the "one" they made and have had no additional demands???!!???

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Coreoes it mean B-Square simply finds it impossible to keep up with the "demand", or does it mean they sold the "one" they made and have had no additional demands???!!???

2 shay. roger

quote:

Originally posted by cynrays:
It is a 30-06 and I handloaded 165 grain Hornady boat tail spire points. 47 grains of IMR 4895. Currently after about 50 rounds it is shooting an average of one and a half to two inches at 100 yards with a bench rest. It is better than when I first started.
The scope is a Mueller 4x16x50 with Leupold rings and bases.

I'd be very supprised if that is about all the accuracy you can get out of that rifle! Savage barrels usually shoot most ammo relatively well, but some way worse, and some much, much better.

I'd check the usauall suspects like the muzzle crown for little dings, the ring and base screws for tightness, and I'd look to make sure the recoil lug is positioned properly, and the action is contacting the bedding pilars correctly.

If you've already done that, I'd try s few different loads. Maybe trying a slightly higher or lower powder charge. Maybe see if changing the seating depth very slightly.

You'll, no doubt find the cause of this temporary problem with the accuracy, and once you get past it, you'll find that Stevens is a phenomenal accurate shooter for the price! At least thats been my experiences with the Stevens 200.

Good luck, and if you would, when you find what it was, let us know

One thing that was wrong was that they gave me a one piece base in the Leupold and it takes the two piece base. It takes Round Receiver Bases 55742. I was having to shim the one piece base and run the scope as far up as it would go. Every thing is ok now and I only had five rounds loaded up and was able to get within one inch of the bulls eye at 100 yards. I will load some more and fine tune a little bit more. Thanks everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:

quote:

Originally posted by bja105:
... B-Square made the mount for the original Savage Scout. In reply to my email, B-Square said they no longer had any savage scout mounts....

Hey Roger, Jason has managed to find a very interesting situation.

Does it mean B-Square simply finds it impossible to keep up with the "demand", or does it mean they sold the "one" they made and have had no additional demands???!!???

B-square changed ownership and they discontinued many items that weren't selling
fast enough to make some bean-counter happy.

They discontinued the Scope mount for the M38 swede but still make the similar mount for the M96 swede...

AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by cynrays:
One thing that was wrong was that they gave me a one piece base in the Leupold and it takes the two piece base. It takes Round Receiver Bases 55742. I was having to shim the one piece base and run the scope as far up as it would go. Every thing is ok now and I only had five rounds loaded up and was able to get within one inch of the bulls eye at 100 yards. I will load some more and fine tune a little bit more. Thanks everyone.

Hey cynrays, Let us know how well it shoots now that you got the scope mounted properly.

By the way, I'd be very leary of dealing with that Gun Shop in the future.

I've just mounted my own scope for so long that it never would have crossed my mind that the "Gun Shop" put the WRONG Base on it. Pitiful!

It was Gander Mt and I put the base on the rifle. I didn't know that the Stevens took the round bases. I will let you all know when I get some more reloaded.
I have 10 beagles and will be gone to my old home place the next couple of days to let them run while I sit in the sun and listen...