This is for Savage owners with the plastic stock and internal pillars:

Just got a new 12FVSS (in 22-250) with the plastic stock for my Brother to give to his son. We are heading out on another trip and wanted to add some weight to the thing so you could see your hits on pds. The thing shot great right out of the box, but I could tell you wouldn't be able to see most of your hits as the recoil was throwing the gun around more than I would like. So I took off the butt pad and picked out the styrofoam and poured in the lead shot. Was thinking, all right, now this thing will sit there nice and should improve the group some... Guess what. Groups went to hell. Took off the butt pad, poured out the shot. Groups were good again. Groups 1,2 and 3 are with the lead shot in the butt stock, group 4 is without lead shot.

Question: I have my own thoughts on what is happening but I thought I would ask what you guys thought? Regardless, it will very likely be restocked with one of mine this winter.

Later, pdhntr

How far?, Reloads or Factory?, What bullet type/weight? Type of rest?, ect.... need more details. Is the barrel free floated? I have a 22-250 Remington VS SF it weighs 8.5 lbs and you can not see your hits on P-Dogs or paper. A 22-250 of this weight just jumps to much. My friend has a 223 someone built like a benchrest rifle with a very heavy barrel and you can see the hits keep on target and the recoil is mild.



I wish I could be of more help.

Swede44mag,

Sorry if my question wasn't clear. My post is for Savage owners that may want to increase the weight of the plastic stock to keep the rifle from recoiling off target. The point of my post is: don't do it, (at least it didn't work for me).

My question is: Why is putting lead in the butt stock causing the groups to open up?

My thinking is the stock is not strong enough between the pillars and the increased resistance to recoil (from the lead) is causing the action to "flex" ever so slightly, (but enough) to cause the groups to open up.

Hope this helps. pdhntr

Perhaps the loose shot is moving as the rifle is fired? Maybe try a solid weight that is securely attached to the stock.

I have one in 25-06 and wanted to balance the rifle better, as the heavy 26" tube makes it very front heavy, and stiffen the stock. I epoxied a 1# lead in the butt stock, bedded the action, and then poured the whole channel full of epoxy in the forearm. I now have a very stiff stock, well-balanced rifle, and stiff forearm which is not affected by a bipod, the whole of which shoots under .5 MOA.

Did you remove the stock when you did this? If so those groups could be the result of the rifle settling back in. I took the stock off my Rem. 700 to paint it, and it took about 10 rounds before it returned to printing half inch groups.

pdhntr1...

I'd tend to agree with johnnynighthawk's suggestion...I think that the loose shot may move around enough during the recoil to affect the group size. A solid weight firmly attached might make the difference...

For what it's worth, I have the exact same rifle in .22-250. I disliked the flimsy stock so much, that I in essence converted it to the 12VSS...I purchased the Choate Ultimate Varmint stock and added a SharpShooter trigger. Of course, this was the year prior to the AccuTrigger being introduced. Anyway, while I still think the stock looks a little funky, I can certainly appreciate its function -- very stiff with the full-length aluminum bedding block. It is miles better than the stock synthetic (read "plastic") stock, and while I can't say that I have seen all of my PD hits with this rifle, it has certainly increased my viewing pleasure...

Got the bug, johnnynighthawk and others,



I guess I should have explained what I did a little better with respect to the shot. It was put in a plastic bag and fitted into the butt stock and then I fashioned a foam "plug" to take up the excess space. The butt pad put pressure on the foam plug (which put pressure on the shot) so there was no movement at all of the shot.



My Brother came by today and he tried the same thing as I did. We put shot in the butt stock, groups went to hell. Took the shot out and groups were back in the 3-4's. There seems to be no "settling" needed as the groups go from about 1 inch to less than a half inch (and in reverse) in one round.



Got the bug, why do you think there was an aluminum bedding block in your stock? (rhetorical question)



Please don't get me wrong guys, I don't want to seem hard headed or don't appreciate your help and ideas. But it seems as though you can't put weight in the butt stock of Savage plastic stocks without a negative effect on accuracy. I applaud Savage for installing pillars, it is a start in the right direction, but I think the plastic stock needs to be stiffened some around and in between the pillars. (ref. Thunderstick response)



Once again my post is also for those guys that were thinking of doing this to their rifles. Making a rifle heavier is supposed to make it shoot better. Guess what, I think I have found an exception to the rule.



We are going to "run" it as is for now and I will build a heavy sporter stock for it this winter. Pictures and accuracy results later.



Thanks again everyone for the input!!



Later, pdhntr