dakota.potts
New member
Recently I bought my first rifle in many months, intending to get back into the Precision Rifle Series Production Division.
I got a Savage Model 10 BA Stealth in 6.5 Creedmoor which I was overall pretty happy with. Being on a budget, I also equipped it with the following:
Stoner Engineering Ar-10 Muzzle Brake
Champion Swivel Bipod
Athlon Argos 6-24X50 Scope
Weaver Tactical six-screw rings.
Being that I wanted the reticle to be dead level for long range and I no longer have tools to do that, I paid another local gunsmith what was in my opinion too much money to mount the scope, level it, bore sight it, and torque it to spec.
Today I brought it to the range with three types of ammunition
Winchester 125 grain Expanding Tip (don't remember the brand name but have the box)
Federal Gold Medal Berger 130 Grain
American Eagle OTM 140 Grain
I fired close to 50 rounds today, expecting at least one of the above cartridges to group at least around 1 MOA 5-round groups. I have used the Gold Medal and American Eagle in other rifles and it has done well even to extended ranges.
After getting it sighted in pretty close to zero (not being too concerned since I was just trying to pattern for future reference) I spent the rest of the afternoon shooting off of a bipod and a rear bag.
I was surprised to see that the bullets were impacting very inconsistently. I saw 5 round groups anywhere from 1" to 2.5". This happened with all the ammo, regardless of whether I let the barrel cool between shots or not. I know that I was getting into very steady positions and giving a nice, clean break on the trigger. I have experience test firing custom rifles and holding into 1/2" or smaller groups so I am pretty confident that the large part of the problem is not my trigger technique or position. I watched a number of rounds with clean breaks on center stray from Point of Aim.
I also noticed that there was a lot of powder flash on the neck of the case but no bulging. After some rounds fired, the force to unlock the bolt was pretty tough. I am wondering if it could be headspace but that's probably not likely.
My biggest concern right now is something in the scope mounting set up. Following that, I think it's possible that the torque on the action screws or optic base needs to be checked but I don't have a torque wrench yet. I don't have experience with the optics brand or ring and I know I took a gamble on it, but I'd be really surprised if the behavior it's exhibiting was a cause of the optic (all shots remained pretty close to zero but exhibited odd dispersion around it).
I noticed that the gun came test fired and the brass ring on the bolt face was uneven, meaning bolt face contact with the back of the case is not 100% square, but I'd be really surprised if that has something to do with it.
I want to get this figured out but if I need any tools (i.e. torque wrench) I'll probably have to buy tools and I don't have a huge budget to do that so I want to chase down the more likely issues first.
Any ideas from the collective knowledge here on what to start chasing down?
I got a Savage Model 10 BA Stealth in 6.5 Creedmoor which I was overall pretty happy with. Being on a budget, I also equipped it with the following:
Stoner Engineering Ar-10 Muzzle Brake
Champion Swivel Bipod
Athlon Argos 6-24X50 Scope
Weaver Tactical six-screw rings.
Being that I wanted the reticle to be dead level for long range and I no longer have tools to do that, I paid another local gunsmith what was in my opinion too much money to mount the scope, level it, bore sight it, and torque it to spec.
Today I brought it to the range with three types of ammunition
Winchester 125 grain Expanding Tip (don't remember the brand name but have the box)
Federal Gold Medal Berger 130 Grain
American Eagle OTM 140 Grain
I fired close to 50 rounds today, expecting at least one of the above cartridges to group at least around 1 MOA 5-round groups. I have used the Gold Medal and American Eagle in other rifles and it has done well even to extended ranges.
After getting it sighted in pretty close to zero (not being too concerned since I was just trying to pattern for future reference) I spent the rest of the afternoon shooting off of a bipod and a rear bag.
I was surprised to see that the bullets were impacting very inconsistently. I saw 5 round groups anywhere from 1" to 2.5". This happened with all the ammo, regardless of whether I let the barrel cool between shots or not. I know that I was getting into very steady positions and giving a nice, clean break on the trigger. I have experience test firing custom rifles and holding into 1/2" or smaller groups so I am pretty confident that the large part of the problem is not my trigger technique or position. I watched a number of rounds with clean breaks on center stray from Point of Aim.
I also noticed that there was a lot of powder flash on the neck of the case but no bulging. After some rounds fired, the force to unlock the bolt was pretty tough. I am wondering if it could be headspace but that's probably not likely.
My biggest concern right now is something in the scope mounting set up. Following that, I think it's possible that the torque on the action screws or optic base needs to be checked but I don't have a torque wrench yet. I don't have experience with the optics brand or ring and I know I took a gamble on it, but I'd be really surprised if the behavior it's exhibiting was a cause of the optic (all shots remained pretty close to zero but exhibited odd dispersion around it).
I noticed that the gun came test fired and the brass ring on the bolt face was uneven, meaning bolt face contact with the back of the case is not 100% square, but I'd be really surprised if that has something to do with it.
I want to get this figured out but if I need any tools (i.e. torque wrench) I'll probably have to buy tools and I don't have a huge budget to do that so I want to chase down the more likely issues first.
Any ideas from the collective knowledge here on what to start chasing down?