Famous 'PEEP & GLOBE' at 50 yards Savage MKII is on my bench!

[Harry Tobin]

Part 5 Savage MKII Forend

Now after I did the bedding I tried it at the my range. Now I did think there was a small improvement. I still needed a more stable platform for keeping the gun steady on the front rest.
I decided to add a flat plate to the forend for more stability, the forend on its own had plenty of thickness so I could mill that flat parallel to the barrel. I also had a piece of 3/8 plate steel that was 3" wide. With the forend milled I fitted the plate to it using blind nuts. From there I shaped the plate. Once that was all shaped I epoxied the plate on with marine-grade epoxy. Now I was going to paint but I liked the look of the steel, so I gave that a coat of epoxy to seal it.
Now this project is starting to take shape for me

[Harry Tobin]

I know through the progression of this project that some of you say better ammo, and I fully understand that. But I use a chronograph all the time to analyze my groups, and for what this ammo is I’m getting between 9-11 SD from it. Not the greatest but still not bad. From looking at targets and knowing the velocity of every shot I can tell if this ammo is performing well. And you’ll get an odd ball flyer and the chronograph will show you that. So if the ammo is performing well then that leads me to believe there are issues with the rifle. This is nowhere near a quality rifle, as you will see later as I go on.

[OS OK]

I remember when this was going down...it seemed so simple and straightforward.
It encouraged me to bed my old Mossberg 46D & I was sure I'd have the same success after watching Harry.

The next thing I can think of is 'PANIC' ... ... HOW I PERT-NEAR PANICKED when I had trouble getting the action to release!

[Harry Tobin]

I remember when this was going down...it seemed so simple and straightforward.
It encouraged me to bed my old Mossberg 46D & I was sure I'd have the same success after watching Harry.

The next thing I can think of is 'PANIC' ... ... HOW I PERT-NEAR PANICKED when I had trouble getting the action to release!

I know what ya mean, little taps and wiggling. But still nerve ranking if it doesn't release right away.

[Gtek]

Curious, is the barrel floating? Just for fun next trip to the yard, take a couple 3x5 cards with you and start shimming front end placing a little upward on pipe. 1, 2, 3 increasing layers and see if so inclined for experiment. Also the quality and level of your craftsmanship is very much noticed and applauded here. I have suffered from Central European genetics my whole life. It will take a while, it will be expensive, it will be heavy and it MUST be aesthetically pleasing which has been a curse and a blessing!

[Bigslug]

This is a fun thread and I'm curious to see how the tinkering applies across multiple types of ammo.

One thing I always remember when threads like this come up is that BR-50 died as an organized sport when the participants determined that after they had dialed the rifle in as far as possible, they were ultimately still at the mercy of ammo they couldn't control the manufacture of.

I sent my Department's team to an international match with mid-grade Federal Gold Medal that the sniper team had been using it for low cost practice and for that, it was good enough out of the box. To take it a step farther for their game, I sorted it for them by cartridge weight and rim thickness to get each shooter a batch that was as consistent within itself as possible. They brought back a nice stack of medals that I'd like to think was in part due to my efforts, but I made it clear to them in no uncertain terms, "Next time, you cats are buying ****ing Eley!", because there wasn't much left of me after that ordeal.

Looks like you have a pretty nice piece of hardwood under that cheesy black crinkle paint. Might be worth a strip and varnish. Sealing it off properly might or might not help with stability, but it's sure be a lot more pleasing to look at.

[dverna]

I enjoy these types of threads as well. They show reality.

The worst are threads of someone declaring they have "found the load" and show a very nice three shot group. It takes a lot of shooting and work to know what you have...or not.

[Harry Tobin]

This is a fun thread and I'm curious to see how the tinkering applies across multiple types of ammo.

One thing I always remember when threads like this come up is that BR-50 died as an organized sport when the participants determined that after they had dialed the rifle in as far as possible, they were ultimately still at the mercy of ammo they couldn't control the manufacture of.

I sent my Department's team to an international match with mid-grade Federal Gold Medal that the sniper team had been using it for low cost practice and for that, it was good enough out of the box. To take it a step farther for their game, I sorted it for them by cartridge weight and rim thickness to get each shooter a batch that was as consistent within itself as possible. They brought back a nice stack of medals that I'd like to think was in part due to my efforts, but I made it clear to them in no uncertain terms, "Next time, you cats are buying ****ing Eley!", because there wasn't much left of me after that ordeal.

Looks like you have a pretty nice piece of hardwood under that cheesy black crinkle paint. Might be worth a strip and varnish. Sealing it off properly might or might not help with stability, but it's sure be a lot more pleasing to look at.

Glad you could make to the show, some guys don't get it . All the work has been done and this was my journey through months of different things I tried.

[Harry Tobin]

I enjoy these types of threads as well. They show reality.

The worst are threads of someone declaring they have "found the load" and show a very nice three shot group. It takes a lot of shooting and work to know what you have...or not.

Well hi there Don, me and Charlie was wondering when you would show up. Now I know Charlie had a fun ride with this, he was by my side the entire way. Don't worry you'll see all my crap targets as I work this out.

[dverna]

Well hi there Don, me and Charlie was wondering when you would show up. Now I know Charlie had a fun ride with this, he was by my side the entire way. Don't worry you'll see all my crap targets as I work this out.

Harry, that "bastard" Charlie has made me "waste" a lot of time at the bench. But I love to shoot so it was a good thing. I could not afford good .22 ammunition so went down the PCP rabbit hole. Learned a lot.

Now he has sucked you in too!!!!

I respected Charlie's honesty. Good to see another honest man like you showing us that accuracy is journey with twists and turns.

I have had health issues this year and have not shot nearly as much I wanted.

Too damn cold to do serious shooting in MI for the next few months so decided to get one of new Lee 6000 presses and devoting time to that "journey".

We old farts need projects and goals to keep us from becoming vegetables.

Welcome to the carrot patch. Watch for those rabbit holes!!!!

[BLAHUT]

This is a fun thread and I'm curious to see how the tinkering applies across multiple types of ammo.

One thing I always remember when threads like this come up is that BR-50 died as an organized sport when the participants determined that after they had dialed the rifle in as far as possible, they were ultimately still at the mercy of ammo they couldn't control the manufacture of.

I sent my Department's team to an international match with mid-grade Federal Gold Medal that the sniper team had been using it for low cost practice and for that, it was good enough out of the box. To take it a step farther for their game, I sorted it for them by cartridge weight and rim thickness to get each shooter a batch that was as consistent within itself as possible. They brought back a nice stack of medals that I'd like to think was in part due to my efforts, but I made it clear to them in no uncertain terms, "Next time, you cats are buying ****ing Eley!", because there wasn't much left of me after that ordeal.

Looks like you have a pretty nice piece of hardwood under that cheesy black crinkle paint. Might be worth a strip and varnish. Sealing it off properly might or might not help with stability, but it's sure be a lot more pleasing to look at.

Went down that rabbit hole> Sorting and weighing and using a barrel tuner, YOU are at the mercy of the ammo makers, I shot 4 national Reckords with Aguila gold, next batch might as well used a sling shot, when you find a lot that shoots good for your gun, buy ever round you can find of that lot, then you can start all over again when you use all the good stuff up. A young lady, if I remember right, won a number of national matches with ealy club, her gun loved it. Gota find what your gun likes - don't matter what you like!!

[Harry Tobin]

Curious, is the barrel floating? Just for fun next trip to the yard, take a couple 3x5 cards with you and start shimming front end placing a little upward on pipe. 1, 2, 3 increasing layers and see if so inclined for experiment. Also the quality and level of your craftsmanship is very much noticed and applauded here. I have suffered from Central European genetics my whole life. It will take a while, it will be expensive, it will be heavy and it MUST be aesthetically pleasing which has been a curse and a blessing!

Thanks for your kind words on the craftsmanship, I take my time and give things long thought on how I will do them. In time you'll see what I have done, this was about a 4 month process. It will all unfold as I go on.

[OS OK]

"Thank you for the kind words Don...it's good to be back in an interesting thread full of 'talented & wise old'farts'!"

Harry, that "bastard" Charlie has made me "waste" a lot of time at the bench. But I love to shoot so it was a good thing. I could not afford good .22 ammunition so went down the PCP rabbit hole. Learned a lot.

Now he has sucked you in too!!!!

I respected Charlie's honesty. Good to see another honest man like you showing us that accuracy is journey with twists and turns.

I have had health issues this year and have not shot nearly as much I wanted.

Too damn cold to do serious shooting in MI for the next few months so decided to get one of new Lee 6000 presses and devoting time to that "journey".

We old farts need projects and goals to keep us from becoming vegetables.

Welcome to the carrot patch. Watch for those rabbit holes!!!!

"Rabbit Holes are where 'revelations' occur! That twisty journey earns one 'empirical wisdom'."

Based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

[Harry Tobin]

PART 6
Now we are going into an area where can produce heated discussion. AND PLEASE DON’T DO THAT!

Now I move onto getting a real barrel tuner, the tuner I had on worked but very hard to control where it was set. I ordered a harrell barrel tuner directly from Harrell, with this you have positive settings throughout the range of it.

Some believe they work and others don’t, I do believe they do work. There is a lot you need to understand of how they work and what they do for you, and if you have ammo that doesn’t have a crazy SD you can tune for it.

Once you learn it you will see a definite pattern and best to use a chronograph along with it. Basically your tuning the harmonics of the barrel so when the faster round goes out it's on a flatter trajectory and moves out faster and straighter, and when a slower round goes out it’ll leave on the up swing of the barrel a higher trajectory resulting in the same impact area. It does take time shooting to find the area you need to work with, but once an area is found you can fine tune to that.

Now all that said and done it was time to head to the bench, I did find areas to work with. The groups are not the prettiest but this is all about the learning process and understanding the tuners role.

Old Tuner


New Tuner


You can see groups moving around on this

[Harry Tobin]

PART 7


Now after doing this for awhile, it was evident that something else was going on. Now Charlie and I both knew there was an issue with the with the rifling at crown. A big quality issue from the factory.


Here’s a picture of that, as you can see, the lands and grooves where deformed.
The quality control was nowhere in sight at Savage on this, this rifle was past on to me and fighting with Savage was out!


After careful measuring I needed to take off .250 , I got barrel cutters from Brownells. One for the 90 degree cut and one for the 11 degree target crown, I made my own pilots on the lathe. Started doing it by hand and end up using a cordless drill set a lowest speed with plenty of cutting oil. It turned out really well and took all the bad area out.

[OS OK]

Harry...you should have named 'Part 7' . . .

"FIXING A BROKEN SEWER PIPE!" ...

[Harry Tobin]

Harry...you should have named 'Part 7' . . .

"FIXING A BROKEN SEWER PIPE!" ...

Maybe so

[dverna]

I am surprised how well that barrel shot with the muzzle that buggered up.

Nice job on the "sewer pipe"!

[Harry Tobin]

I am surprised how well that barrel shot with the muzzle that buggered up.

Nice job on the "sewer pipe"!

now it's an unclogged sewer pipe (hehe) still more to come

[Harry Tobin]

Part 8 Bench testing re-crowned at the bench


With the barrel re-crowned time to see how it performs with ELEY CLUB ammo this time, on this target you can see how the groups take on a pattern. And that’s what you want to see, but this still seemed a little erratic to me. There is still more I'd like to try on this rifle.