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Old September 28, 2012, 02:02 PM   #1
walker11
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Savage 110 Not Grouping

I have a .270 savage 111 (accutrigger and thumbhole stock) with a leupold scope. this past summer i took it to a new gunsmith (who is now out of business and i had to get the police involved to get my rifle back from) to get the leupold mounted and a deep clean done. Last week i was shooting 1/4 in groups and clovers at 100 yards and couldn't have been happier with the rifle except for the tirgger. So i went home, adjusted the trigger, and went back to the range today and was shooting all over the place. I couldn't even shoot a 2 in group to save my life, it was embarassing the say the least.
So the RSO and i pulled the screws out of the stock and re-torqued them, turns out the screw furthest back on the stock is stripped (awesome), i didnt notice when i adjucted the trigger because i just tightened it to snug; however, with the torque wrench it wouldn't tighten up to the propper amount. then put a few more rounds down range and same thing, not grouping. Next we pulled the scope, rings, and base off then remounted everything and made sure everything was even and torqued properly, that helped some. after that i was able to at least keep everything in a line to left but elevation was still all over the place.
Does anyone know what could have caused this? to go from shooting close gorups and multiple rounds touching to not even grouping? any ideas or advice yall have on what happened and/or how to fix it would be greatly appreciated.
Walker
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Old September 28, 2012, 02:20 PM   #2
Brian Pfleuger
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Improperly torqued action screws can certainly affect groups. A stripped screw is obviously not properly torqued.

Loose scope mount.

Loose scope rings.

Copper fouling.
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Old September 28, 2012, 03:22 PM   #3
hooligan1
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It might also be you, and your ammo, and the stock torque,(savage finicky) also it could be when you took that rifle apart and then reassembled it you didn't get that barrel laid in that stock just right.
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Old September 28, 2012, 03:31 PM   #4
tobnpr
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Stripped action screw= ZERO torque= action flopping around in the stock under recoil...

Go to the hardware store and get a new action screw. Cap head, 1/4", 28T.
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Old September 28, 2012, 04:40 PM   #5
walker11
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i just talked to my buddy whos uncle is a gunsmith and we are going out to his shop monday to put a new screw in there to see if that fixes it.
and i thought it was the barell at first so the rso and i checked it and it was set right so we ruled that out. then we bagged the rifle as much as possible to take as much of me out of the equation as possible.
so hopefuly i will have an update monday on if it is grouping properly.
thanks for the help guys i appreciate it
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Old September 29, 2012, 09:21 AM   #6
warbirdlover
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Hopefully the screw is stripped and not the receiver hole. If the receiver hole is stripped you might be able to have someone "helicoil" it but I've never heard of doing that to a rifle. In fact, I've never heard of anyone stripping a screw (or reciver thread) as the receiver and screw are both hardened. That must have been one yo-yo gunsmith you took it to and it makes sense he'd go out of business. If you want to get serious have the stock pillar and glass bedded and make sure the barrel is free floated (after you've fixed the screw).
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Old September 29, 2012, 10:18 AM   #7
taylorce1
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Quote:
turns out the screw furthest back on the stock is stripped (awesome),
Farthest screw back on the stock is a "Wood" screw for the trigger guard and doesn't even screw into the action on a Savage. The screw in the front of the trigger guard and the one in the front receiver ring are your only two actions screws. The rear most screw will not affect accuracy at all. If that is the screw that stripped and I'm guessing it is since you continued to shoot, fill it with a wooden dowel and wood glue for a wood stock or two part epoxy for synthetic. Once the glue has dried or epoxy cured drill a pilot hole and reinsert your wood screw.

The tang on a Savage needs to free float as well so if you torqued it down too much you may have problems there. Look at the action and how it fits in the stock, if it doesn't line up down the center you could have a problem. It could be a simple bedding job will help with this as well. Plus it could be the trigger, just because you adjusted it to feel better doesn't mean you made it better for accuracy.

Quote:
Next we pulled the scope, rings, and base off then remounted everything and made sure everything was even and torqued properly, that helped some. after that i was able to at least keep everything in a line to left but elevation was still all over the place.
If your horizontal grouping is fine but you have vertical stringing your barrel is hot. More than likely your scope mounts were loose and that was causing you to throw wild groups. That got you frustrated because you were grouping so well the last time to the range, so you kept shooting trying to get that 1/4" group making your barrel hot. Good news is you probably didn't hurt anything on the rifle and have the new GS check it out if it makes you feel better.

Things to remember or ask yourself. Did you change brands or type of ammunition from your previous shooting session? If you reload did you use a new can of powder from a different lot, different bullet, or primer? Did you do anything before you got to the range that will affect your ability to shoot like drink a pot of coffee, sodas or energy drinks?

If you are getting frustrated stop shooting put the rifle away or go clean it, when you have calmed down resume shooting or come back another day. Learn to recognize when you are having a bad day and stop shooting, to continue to do so will only make you more frustrated. Once you cool off think about it, was it you or the rifle with the problem that day?
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Old October 3, 2012, 09:25 PM   #8
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Stock screws dont need to be very tight. I used to get a good sized driver and give it most of what I had.

No more. Now I tighten jst a little. If you have a torque driver--front 50-55 INCH pounds-rear about 30-35 INCH pounds.

Tighten both kinda alternating and then tighten the final torque-the front screw first then the rear.

With a good sized driver it is possible to go WAY over the numbers mentioned above.
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Old October 4, 2012, 08:03 AM   #9
hooligan1
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Langenc, the standard torque for the Savage (according to Savage) is 30-35 inch lbs. That's front and back.
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Old October 4, 2012, 04:53 PM   #10
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If ya got a torque wrench, do like Stan Pate:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...rque-settings/

I take allen wrenches, and solder them into an "appropriately" size socket so I can use them with my 1/4" drive torque wrench.
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Old October 5, 2012, 01:49 PM   #11
walker11
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quick update on the grouping issue. took it to a gunsmith, pulled the stock, he messed with the trigger some, checked everything, then put it back together and he made sure the torque was right on all the screws, then we put some wood puddy in the hole for the back screw that was stripped to get it to hold tighter. then went out back and was shooting 1/2 in groups at 100 yards. i plan on taking it out again next week to make sure its consistant and see what grouping i get at 200.
thanks for all the help guys, i appreciate it.
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Old October 6, 2012, 01:57 PM   #12
tobnpr
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So it was the back screw for the trigger guard that was stripped out in the wood?

That screw does nothing that would affect accuracy,...I don't even have one in my long-range 7-08 rifle...

Musta been something else.
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Old October 7, 2012, 01:36 PM   #13
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I had the same rifle in 30-06 and I had to remove a little material underneath the rear tang as it was not fully free floated like it should be the groups then, shrunk a lot. Might be worth checking there also.
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Old October 7, 2012, 02:34 PM   #14
handlerer2
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Oh, I have definately stripped an action screw, on a MDL 700 in 1976. I had tried to use a broken bladed screwdriver to remove it and smeared the notch and couldn't get any driver to bite after that. By all means hope that that is it. It took gunsmithing to correct, but the screws should be softer than the reciever for just that reason. If the thread were damaged, I think you would be able to see the damage.

I hope your GS is able to fix it simply. Good luck.

Doh! Now I see you have it fixed. All is good then. Amen!
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Old October 7, 2012, 08:50 PM   #15
Ike666
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I had a similar issue with a Savage FP 10 after adjusting the trigger. The solution was simple (and its actually in the manual); once you get the screws started but before fully tightening them down, thump the rifle on the butt pad. This seats the recoil lug. With the recoil lug solid against the stock torque down the action screws. Finally snugging on the forward action screw last.
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