The new long range rifle arrived.

[Fitch]

It's a Savage BVSS in 7mm Rem. Mag. A picture of it ready to take to the range for load development (breakin was done on the clay pile a few hundred yards behind the house):

It weighs 13.0 lbs as shown. Recoil is not an issue at all. Very comfortable to shoot.

Until I can get some 168g Hunting VLD bullets I'm going to go ahead and work up loads for both the 150g NBT and the 160g Accubond. I have some Retumbo and some RL25 to try.

The rain should be outta here by Tuesday so I'll take it to the range Wednesday. I can hardly wait till I can take it hunting.

I found the rifle browsing GunBroker looking for a cheap 7mm Mag to be a donor action for building a heavy 7 rifle. This one is essentially the factory version of what I was planning to build for significantly less than the cost of the action and the stock for a custom build.

Sometimes I get lucky ...

Fitch

 

[sniperjwt]

make sure you let us know how it shoots however i already know how its going to shoot. You pull the trigger and it will go boom right JK seriously though all the Savages that i have are great shooters. Shot my 300wsm the other day at 550 and grouped 2.812". Hope your does the same or better. Keep us updated. What kind of scope is on it? It looks like an Osprey.

 

[Chas1]

Congratulations on the new rig, looks great. Keep us posted on how it groups.

 

[Fitch]

make sure you let us know how it shoots however i already know how its going to shoot. You pull the trigger and it will go boom right JK seriously though all the Savages that i have are great shooters. Shot my 300wsm the other day at 550 and grouped 2.812". Hope your does the same or better. Keep us updated. What kind of scope is on it? It looks like an Osprey.

You may count on updates!

Yes, it is an Osprey. Very dissapointed with that scope. I put it on the rifle for load development. It doesn't track worth beans, doesn't count revolutions of the dials, and has rather limited internal travel, but it will stay put once it's zeroed so I move it around for load development. I'm thinking I will get a Lupold MK4 M1, probably 6.5-20x50mm for it later this summer. I have 4 Leupold scopes, two purchased new, two purchased used, and they all meet expectations.

I recently bought an iPhone just to the BulletFlight ballistics software. I'm delighted with the phone and also with the BulletFlight program. I always have the phone with me so this should work out well. One feature of the BulletFlight program I like a "lot" is the ability to have all the information for all my rifles (bullet, MV, scope height, etc.) entered in it in what amounts to a rifle database. I can pick the rifle in hand off the list, enter the current weather conditions and be nicely preset for the shot. When the shot comes I only need to enter the angle (the phone supplies the angle and sometimes the weather conditions), distance, and there are the scope corrections (windage and elevation) from zero for the shot.

This is the first rifle I've had where I feel the need for portable ballistics capability. I'm looking at the Leupold scope as being good enough to execute the ballistics SW output accurately. I'd rather have a NF but I can get the Leupold for a bit more than half the cost of the NF.

Fitch

 

[Fitch]

Good news.

Just got back from my friend the gunsmith's shop where we both did a borescope examination of the barrel and chamber on this new rifle. Guys I gotta tell ya this barrel looks "almost" perfect. Chamber looks like it's dead center, throat is beautiful, and there are no, repeat "no" chatter marks anyplace in the bore that I could reach with the bore scope with it out unscrewing the receiver.

The reason for the "almost" is there is a tiny little burr on one side of the crown. I can make that go away. I'll do that when I have it apart for bedding. I'll line it up in the lathe and take a light cut or two on the crown with a freshly honed HSS bit and convert the barrel from "almost" perfect to just plain perfect. It looks better than any other factory bore in the gun safe by a significant margin.

OK, I admit it, I'm stoked, walking on air, happy as a clam, and, honestly, releaved to see the condition of the bore. If bore condition is any indication this should be a real shooter.

I'll bed it and clean up the crown after it's first trip to the range but so far the bore exceeds my expectations by a big margin. Now the trick will be to find a load for a good bullet and only take it out for hunting so I don't wear it out.

That said, I might have to red-mist a few GH with it just for practice!

Am I happy? Oh yeah!

Fitch

PS: Range trip will be Friday if the weather prediction holds.

frw

 

[Chas1]

Sounds like ya got a winner. Bed it, tweak the crown and keep us posted. Enjoy.

 

[johnnyk]

Fitch,
If yours is anyting like the two I have you will not be disappointed. Both of mine, 1 used, 1 new, shot .3's with little load development. I may be able to tighten those up just haven't had the time. Happy shooting! JohnnyK.

 

[Fitch]

Fitch,
If yours is anyting like the two I have you will not be disappointed. Both of mine, 1 used, 1 new, shot .3's with little load development. I may be able to tighten those up just haven't had the time. Happy shooting! JohnnyK.

That sounds really good to me! So far we've had 15 to 30 mph winds all week at the range. Might calm down to only 10 tomorrow. I like 5mph max for load development.

I'm gong nutz waiting for a good range day. Been killing time hunting ground hogs though it's too early. Got one couple of days ago.

Thanks!
Fitch

 

[Fitch]

I took it to the range yesterday to see how it did box stock. I know it has a burr on the crown and it hasn't been bedded, but one ought to see how the thing shoots out of the box. I ran some 3 shot groups with the 160AB, RL25, FED215, Win Brass, 3.309" COL over the range from 67.0g to 70g.

This was the best group:

That's decent but not good enough for the missions I bought the rifle for so I'll tune it up a bit. The two toeether with the third a bit apart is frequently a symptom of a bedding issue. In any event, I've ordered the Sharp Shooter Supply recoil lug and PTG go/no-go gages. When they get here, probably early next week I'll take it apart, true the front face of the action and the barrel nut, touch up the crown to get rid of the burr, make some pillars, glass/pillar bed it, reassemble it, and see how it shoots.

It is a very plesant rifle to shoot. At 13.0 lbs with the scope installed I've no problem with the recoil. That's good because I do not want a brake on a hunting rifle if I can avoid it. I have tenninitius already, don't need to make it worse.

One more thing worth noting, my MV predictions with QuickLoad and the measured values were within 29 fps worst case, 23 fps best case. Pretty consistant IMO.

Fitch

 

[Chas1]

Pretty good group, what was the yardage?

 

[Fitch]

Pretty good group, what was the yardage?

100 yards. It would have been a lot better if that third shot hadn't kicked out to the left, but it wasn't a called flier, I had a good hold. Getting the crown cleaned up and having it bedded should tighten things up nicely. I'm thinking a group like that at 200 yards should be possible when I'm done and the barrel is nicely broken in.

Fitch

 

[Chas1]

Still a pretty good group, you'll have to keep us posted once you've done the tweaking, muzzle and bedding.

 

[Fitch]

Still a pretty good group, you'll have to keep us posted once you've done the tweaking, muzzle and bedding.

Will do.

Fitch

 

[Fitch]

Trued the action yesterday. It was the best Savage action I've had in the lathe so far. From the factory the receiver face was only .002" out of true and cleaned up with one light cut. I've had them be as much as .011" out of true.

I indicated in and polished the chamber. While the breech end was trued in the headstock I threaded the barrel nut on it, checked it and found it to be dead nuts so I left it alone.

I also recut the crown. Typical "before" picture of crown:

Typical "after" picture of crown:

This was cut using a home ground and freshly honed HSS bit with thread cutting oil at about 250 rpm. The first try was dry at much higher speed with a carbide bit but it didn't make as crisp an edge as I wanted. My dad taught me to grind my own bits when I was 10 years old so that wasn't a problem.

The throat in this rifle looks pretty good. Typical picture of throat after 30 rounds:

It's completely symmetrical around the throat - which is less common than one might think in factory rifles. All the reamer scratches which would be horizontal in this picture are gone which indicates to me the throat is completely broken in for practical purposes. So far it has had what ever the factory shot through it, completely cleaned, 4 rounds with complete cleaning between each, 2 rounds with complete cleaning, plus those from the recent range session for a total of 30+what ever the factory shot through it. It was obviously cleaned after the range session.

I will keep the stock front pillar but I'll rough up the hole and glue it in place with epoxy. I need to make a new rear pillar. I'll do that today.

Then I'm on hold till the recoil lug and go/no-go gages get here.

FWIW: This is the home made rig I used with the Hawkeye bore scope to take the pictures:

The Camera Adaptor:

And the sled for the camera and rack to hold the barrel. The camera is so heavy I didn't want to take a chance on having it slip and destroy the very fragile borescope.

Am I having fun? Oh my yes.

Fitch