I just bought a Savage 112 heavy barrel 223. I am not a real fan of Savage rifles although I own 6 now. They are hideously ugly and clubby, but I have to concede they usually will shoot, even right out of the box. I bought it for a Prarie Dog shoot in Wyoming in June and was wondering if anyone else had one and had any pet loads. I am probably going to restock it in a gray laminate and scope it with a Leupold or Burris 6.5x-20x. If any of you have one or had one how does/did it shoot and what bullets did it like? Which do you prefer the 40 grainers or 55s? Any suggestions are apprciated.
Doug

I like Benchmark and Varget for powders, and Sierra 52gr HPBT's. 60 gr HP's, and the 69 gr bullets.

I think you'll like it.

Magnum Hunter 1

Does that rifle have a fast twist like the Savage FV12?

Jay,
It may just be the FV12. It was one of the heavy bbl. package guns that came with a Simmons 4-12x, sythetic stock, big bolt knob, etc. I'll look later and confirm. Are the guns with a fast twist too hard on the lighter bullets?

Doug

I just picked up on a nice little FV12 it has the 1 in 9 twist. I had some history on the gun it belonged to a friend. It was to heavy for his purposes. He mentioned he was going to get rid of it and get a lighter gun. He made my an offer I couldn't refuse. It was the package gun with the Simmons scope.

I know the first time he had the gun out is shot under MOA with over the counter ammo. He hand loade some 40 Gr. Blitzkings next over 2015 and it shot just above .5 MOA. So yes the 40's will work fine in the fast twist.

I'm waiting on some bullets from Midway now to work up some loads. All my 22 center fires are slow twist until now. Have some 68 grain and some heavier A-max to try the faster twist.

Swapping out the Simmons scope with a Leupold 6.5 X 20. Getting ready for the trip to Montana in the end of May.

It should say Model 12 on the left side of the barrel just in front of the barrel nut.

With the 12VBSS-S

75 gr. bthp. Hornady Match, 24.5gr. H380***2675fps. avg.4 shot 3/8" grp at 50 yds.

69gr. hpbt. Nosler, same load, 2875 fps. avg. 5 shot 1/8" grp. 50 yds.

55 gr. Mid South Varmint Nite Mare, 27.5 gr. 2520, 26gr. 2230-C, 23.5gr. ac Data 73, 26gr. WCC846, 23 gr. ac 2200, 24.5 gr. WCC844, all these loads produced 3 shot 1/8" grps. at 50 yds. there was one 10 shot 1/4" grp. 2ea. 5shot 1/8" groups, 1ea. 5 shot 1/4" grp. and a 10 shot 1/2" grp.

I believe you have a similar barrel, so it should handle the heavier bullets as the 12 VBSS-S did.Mine shot 1/2moa out of the box and after 500 rounds it shoots better.

It's a Model 12. Does that mean is has a fast twist?

I'd say more than likely it has the 1 in 9 twist. Should shoot the lighter bullets just fine. But it will give the option to go a lot heavier. I'm going to start my load development with 60 V-Max's

My model 10Fp with the fast twist does so well with Benchmark and the plain old Hornady 55 sp. that I haven't seriously tried anything else. A few groups with the 50 TNT, 50 V-Max and 50 Blitz gave inconsistant results, but haven't tried any of the other 55 and heavier bullets yet. I got a good deal from Grafs just after I bought the rifle on the Hornady 55 sp. and still have nearly 400 of them. It may be time to start working up loads with the other 55's, and heavier stuff now.

quote:

Originally posted by Magnum Hunter1:
It's a Model 12. Does that mean is has a fast twist?

ah , no it means it ain't a long action.

I believe all of the new savage 223 have a 1/9 twist.

If you can live with a 46 grain bullet, at 3250 fps in it....

or a 50 grain TNT at 3100 fps..

While getting greatly reduced barrel heat...
greatly reduced barrel wear.....
and less recoil, where you can see your hits in the scope never loosing site picture.....

It's untrendy, but....

with a 46 grain Winchester HP, 14.5 grains of Blue Dot, 3250 fps.. a tack driver for accuracy...

or 14 grains of Blue Dot and a 50 grain Speer TNT at 3100 fps....same for tack driving accuracy...

The barrel life, will be about 300 per cent or more with the blue dot loads.....

That is my main loads, and the source originally was from the Calhoon bullets web site....HIS bullets also make a great addition....

I mainly use the 46 grain winchester HPs, they are cheap $62.00 per thousand from Cabelas.... and they are accurate as hell...( althought they look fat and dumpy)... and are VERY explosive when it comes to hitting prairie dogs, and sage rats... sage rats, the bullet virtually turns them inside out when hit... or cuts them in half if when you hit them just right... to the tune of the left half going 20 yrds that way, and the right half going 20 yds to the right.....

YOU won't be on PETA's Christmas Card list if they see ya doing that!

cheers
seafire

seafire,
Does Winchester load that in a factory load and is it any good? I will eventually work up a load for it, but I am almost tempted to find a really good factory load and buy it in bulk to take with me. I think I am going to be pressed for time to work up loads with my schedule. I've been looking at some of the bulk buys in Cabela's. Any other suggestions?

NO Winchester doesn't load that in factory ammo...

if you are looking for just cheap ammo that is real good....Winchesters 45 grain HP ammo, available in 20 round or 40 round boxes at WalMart is awfully accurate for most 223s,

the other alternative for cheap, accurate ammo, is Remington's same 45 grain HP load, in the UMC boxes... it is like $5.99 locally....

Hornady, Black Hills, put out factory ammo, that is also pretty cheap, that is fairly accurate.. they use Lake City surplus brass... and Black Hills actually has a wide variety of bullets to pick from in their loadings...

If you don't reload, maybe you could send me all of your empty brass so that I can reload it, for making this nifty suggestion??

cheers
seafire

Yeah Seafire I reload. Just trying to cut a corner or two on time by possibly finding a good factory load. I"ll try a bunch of stuff to see how it shoots. What really started me looking was I noticed some ammo in Cabela's loaded with ballistic tips and I got to thinking it might be good.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by seafire/B17G:
NO Winchester doesn't load that in factory ammo...

if you are looking for just cheap ammo that is real good....Winchesters 45 grain HP ammo, available in 20 round or 40 round boxes at WalMart is awfully accurate for most 223s,

Ditto on that. If you can still get it the south African PMP 55gr. psp, ammo is very respectable also.

FYI,
The Savage has a 1 in 9" twist and according to Shilen thats good for bullets up to 70 gr.

I find it funny that everyone says that Savages are "ugly," etc. They are available in BVSS configuration with a fluted SS heavy barrel, decent laminated stock that looks pretty good (especially for the $150-200 you save over a similarly equipped Remington 700).

I guess most people would rather complain about how "ugly" their gun is than spend the extra $200 over the el cheapo base model and get a decent looking gun.

Have these people never seen an ADL Remington?

An ugly rifle is one that groups like a shotgun pattern. The smaller the group, the better it looks to me.

To paraphrase someone: Only accurate rifles are pretty.

I agree that accuracy is paramount. What I was referring to in this thread was this exact statement.

quote:

Originally posted by Magnum Hunter1:
I just bought a Savage 112 heavy barrel 223. I am not a real fan of Savage rifles although I own 6 now. They are hideously ugly and clubby, but I have to concede they usually will shoot, even right out of the box.
Doug

What more could you want?

Ugly Rifles - even IF accurate - are still UGLY!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hey, why not the old "have your cake and eat it too". I too would prefer a gun that is accurate over a beautiful one that didn't BUT!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Magnum Hunter1:
Hey, why not the old "have your cake and eat it too". I too would prefer a gun that is accurate over a beautiful one that didn't BUT!!!

Doug, next time just buy the BVSS...

--Mike