Range Report 16 FSS .270 WSM

[remingtonman_25_06]

Hey guys. After my 20 rounds of barrel break in I proceeded to load up some test rounds. My cases are all Winchester and Fed Match Mag was used in all loads. Rifle is a Savage 16 FSS in .270 WSM. Trigger is down to 2.5#. I am NOT very impressed with the results I got. I thought savage was known for there accuracy. Ha ha, should be more like shotgun pattern. It would probly work as my new duck hunting gun. Seriously I think I got a bad one. Here are the loads. With every grain, I seated .05" farther out. Still no sign of a sweet spot anywhere.

140g SST 140g SST
71g Magpro 72g Magpro
2.860" 2.860"
3200fps 3232fps
3167fps 3289fps
3204fps no reading
4 3/4" 3 shots @100 1 3/4" 3 shots @100
2 shots were 5/8"
140g SST
73g Magpro 140g SST
2.865" 74g Magpro
3366fps 2.870"
3276fps 3333fps
no reading 3319fps
3 3/4" 3 shots @100 3364fps
4 7/8" 3 shots @100

140g SST
75g Magpro
2.875"
3391fps
3402fps
3449fps
3 1/2" 3 shots @100

That was all the loads I had for the 140’s. Pretty piss poor if you ask me. Does anyone have a Savage that shoots better than 1 inch? Pretty much most the shots were evenly spaced showing that indeed there is no hope. On the 72g load, there were 2 shots almost touching with the 3rd pulling it way out. I have no clue as to what to do next with these. I was hoping Magpro with 140’s would work out for me. I was looking for 3300fps with 1/2" to 3/4". I got damn near 3450fps but nowhere near satisfactory groups. So, I ran to town, bought a pound of RL-19 and a box of 130g Nosler B-Tips. Figured this should be the next best to try. Ha ha, damn near same results! Anyways, here they are. Win cases and Fed Mag Match primers for all. I went out .05" for every increment in grains. I Did not get to chrony these, but hope to chrony the 67g load as it shows promise.

64g RL-19 65g RL-19
2.860" 2.865"
3 shots @100 2 3/4" 3 shots @100 2 1/2"

66g RL-19 67g RL-19
2.870" 2.875"
3 shots @100 1 3/4" 3 shots @100 1 1/4"
2 shots were touching, 3rd
opened it up.

It pretty much just sprays them. I will say though, it did like this combo on the average a lot more then it liked the 140’s and Magpro. This rifle is by far the worst/pickiest I have ever worked with. Usually I will find a load that shoots at least 1 inch the first time out. Not this rifle though. Anyone have any suggestions or anything? This is my first Savage and really only bought it because I have heard nothing but good come out of them for accuracy, so I thought I had to have one. I really like the .270 WSM and I want this to be a shooter out to around 800 yards. With groups like that at 100 yards, its not even going out in the field with me yet. I did find a few observations helpful. It seems to shoot better with longer OAL. I think I"m going to play around at 2.875" to 2.890". It also seemed to shoot better as I put 1 more grain in the case. Maybe switch primers? I have heard more than once, which just a simple primer change cut down groups in half. I just hope I get something to work out before deer season, or I’ll have to use my new Winchester 70 Classic 25-06 and the 117g SBT thats shooting .25" for deer.

P.S. But I really really wanna use my newer .270 WSM for deer. I already know my 25-06 kills them just wonderfully, but I have not shot or seen anything shot with the .270 WSM. So anyone have any pet loads they like to share that will shoot in my Savage, be my guest. Thanks and I hope this info helps others.

[chessman]

Interesting. I have no personal experience with the .270 WSM, but I have an acquaintance who I feel is a great hunter and handloader who could not get that round to perform with any load he tried in his new Winchester. He wound up selling it after much frustration.

I do have out of the box experience with a Savage rifle though. I have a 10FP in .308 that has never been fed a factory load. My worst load for this rifle groups just over an inch. My best are consistently .2 to .3. Not that all rifles are equal in quality (maybe I just got lucky), but I would tend to think you just haven't found the right combination yet.

Now I'll have to risk having to put my flame suit on. I have never been a 27 cal fan. I own a magnificent commercial model 98 in .270. Bought it for the action, not the caliber. I have always heard that the .270 is very accurate down range, but I've yet to prove it. The best groups I get are ~.75" to 1". Maybe "accurate" was used to describe the average factory hunting load in the average hunter's hands? I don't know for sure, but I don't recall ever seeing a 27 cal in any national matches.

[LDO]

how long are you waiting between shots?-my buddy has one in 300wsm and that barrel is awful thin[we have to wait for it cool,but it shoots around 1/2 moa ]-do you have any contact in the barrel channel?another thing to check is the guard screws-if they are too tight or tooloose it will never shoot-in my experience the savages come from the factory with the guard screws too tight-my-2-dave