Glue in Savage 17 HMR

S

Sweet Shooter

New member
I just got a new Savage (I think it's a 93) with a nice thumbhole stock (walnut, not laminated). It was on clearance at Cabela's for 270 bucks—not bad. I put a Prostaff 3-9 x 40 on it and it shoots well enough when it's settled in after disassembly/reassembly but not MOA. Being a meddler who can't leave well alone (and why should I right?), I find myself trying to improve on it. I'm very disappointed in the way the action and stock come together inside. It feels like a toy action and I don't see a way to bed this action well, there are just not the appropriate surface proximities. I have bedded the bottom metal around the mag well but cant tell if the free-float is achieved on that pillar thing hanging off the barrel that meets the action screw or the underside of the chamber. I know it's not that funky recoil lug. The wood is already compressed at the front action screw and I've repaired that a bit with Bondo. It's okay.

Okay so here's my question, I want it bedded—I'm thinking of gluing this sucker in like they do with some bench guns. I figure it's a cheep rifle right? What's to loose? Has anyone done this and regretted it? It's only a fun plinker, maybe rabbit gun. I'm wondering if I might ever need to service the trigger and get it apart.

Experiences with gluing in this kind of cheep barreled action?
I can definitely see how Savage achieve their price point.
-SS-
 
Bed it, but use release agent. There is no advantage to be gained in bedding without release agent over bedding with it.
 
Never seen one that wouldn't print a nice little group. The only places that I see to bed it are at the front of the action and along the sides of the action. Enough to take some of the horizontal out of the group, but may not effect vertical much.I would heed precision shooter's advice of trying different bullets and weights.
Are you using some type of rest?
 
The gun shoots fine. I'm not disappointed with that part of it. I'm just disappointed in the structural integrity of the model. I'll probably just leave it.
Thanks for the feedback.
-SS-
 
Click an image to see it bigger:

First, remove the floorplate, and the little tit of wood at the front of the recess. - I removed mine with my pocket-knife. There's not much to it.



Then, find a suitible washer and grind or cut off a flat so that it fits in the front area with the hole lined up, and leaves room for the magazine... The washer should be the same thickness as the tit of wood was.



Put it all together to make sure all is right and if it is, take it apart again so you can secure the washer with your favorite glue.



Might as well shine up the floorplate. I used Scotchbrite for a brushed finish to make it match the rest of the gun.



Problem solved.



You can buy a heavy-duty floorplate from aftermarket folks - but a washer and some glue will do the job just as good, saving you enough money for a box of ammo.

Note how I polished, then gave my trigger-guard a brushed finish. - That's another story.
 
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Yes... That's great... a good fix. Mine is a similar approach. But I wish I could use a proper pillar in that front position... I wish there was some wood there where the action screw goes up to the underside of the... action. It's borderline design fail in my opinion.
-SS-
 
There's not enough recoil involved to require much by way of bedding. As long as it's all bound together fairly well with no stress on the components from misalignment, all should be well.

I'll note here that this gun fits me better than any of my other rifles, it's a joy to shoot off-hand.
 
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