.270 WSM to .25 WSM

[remingtonman_25_06]

Well, I am about to give up on my Savage .270 WSM. It just is not shooting worth a god ****. Velocity is there, but accuracy is not. The norm is 2-3 inches at 100 yards. I've tried couple differenet powders,bullets, OAL's, primers. My question is this, is a Savage worth rebarreling? Is the action worth it? I have a good idea and that is to yank the barrel and put a 28" .257" and making a .25 WSM. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Mikecr]

A 25wsm would barely last load developement.
I give it 300rnds before you can no longer catch the lands.

What action do you have?

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

try a 130 sbt with imr 4350 i shoot 63 grains it is .3 over the new sierra book max so go slow.also a win mag primer it shoots .5 at 117 yards from my cheap winchester super shadow.i did have to free float the barrel.if there is a guy that can do anything to a savage this is his web page http://www.savageshooters.com/sharpshooters/
i got the info from sierra they say this is your man when it comes to savage rifles.will it not even shoot factory stuff.i have never shot a factory load in mine.

 

[LDO]

send it back to savage-if u havent already tried-thats far from normal for the savages-at least in my experience-why should pay more money to fix something that probably got screwed up at the factory?my-2-dave

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I was thinking a 25 WSM with a 28" should easily exceed the .257 Weatherby Mag. Be an excellent deer getter out to 800 or so. I was just thinking the premium barrel would shoot circles around this barrrel. I am just having to much trouble trying to get this .270 WSM to shoot. I have started to see a pattern with all these loads though. It will put 2 shots close or even touching, but about 80% of the time, It will throw one out 2-3 inches. I am letting the barrel cool inbetween every shot at least 3-4 minutes. The flyer does not always happen on the 3rd shot, it will sometimes shoot the 2nd away from the 1st, but put the 3rd back where the 1st is. I have tried the magical powders and bullets for this caliber per shortmags.com with little luck in my particular savage. It is the 03 model without the accutrigger, but the trigger has been tuned to 2.5lb. I like the velocity I see with the cartridge but I need the accuracy. I am getting 3400fps with 140's and 3550fps with 130's. I am going to try a whole new load with RL-22 and 150g Nosler B-tips. Just play around with some other combos that aren't being used as much. If I still can't get it to shoot consistent 1" at 100 yards, I'll definately be getting rid of it.

 

[Guest]

That error is huge.
What you probably have is a mechanical problem with the rifle, scope, or scope mount.

RIFLE

1) Loose threaded barrel joint

2) Bad Bedding, poor stock to action fit.

3) Nicked or damaged or poorly cut crown

SCOPE

1) Bad erector tube assembly, failed spring

2) Bound internals, not mounted straight

Mounts

1) Loose base

2) Loose rings

3) Scope slippage under recoil

 

[Guest]

I'm in total agreement with S1 , that sounds like some sort of mechanical problem , I'd go through the checklist above and see if you don't have something loose or binding , I would check the barrel channel first make sure their is plenty of space around the tube and if their isin't make some.

If you gonna rebarrel and your gonna be overbore anyway I would suggest the 6.5WSM it'll be splitting the differance in the 270 and 257 pluss you get all those great targe quality bullets to play with.

 

[Fiftydriver]

RemMan,

I would agree the 257 is a little harder on barrels then the smaller 25 caliber rounds but it has no where near the case capacity of the Wby and it isn't even in the same class as my 257 STW reamer.

Burning the throat out in 300 rounds is not what I would worry about especially in a big game rifle. I have built several 257 STW's that are nearing 1000 rounds and still are giving sub moa grouping.

Sure they started out as sub 1/2 moa rifles but with the 100 gr BT at 4100 fps, one would expect some accuracy lose over 1000 rounds.

The WSM will not equal the Wby in same length barrels, it will lag by roughly 100 fps. But with a longer 28" pipe like you listed the two should be about identical.

When I rebuild a Savage for extreme accuracy if thats whats is whated by my customer, I will generally get rid og the barrel locking nut and fit the barrel just as one would a Rem M700.

This does a couple things for accuracy.

First, it gets rid of the bedding headaches concerning this locking nut which can raise a variaty of problems.

Second, it allows the use of a much larger diameter barrel shank then the standard Savage barrel uses. This increases strength and stability for a longer heavier barrel.

This proceedure also decreases the ease of switching barrels at home but most of my customers really have no desire for that.

You also really have to watch the bedding on the rear of a Savage action, they are tricky actions to bed correctly as they do not offer the large bedding areas like the Rem 700 and such.

IF your interested, I am getting in a 6.5 WSM reamer as well. I do not have the 257 WSM reamer but would be willing to split the price with you if your interested.

Let me know.

Good Shooting!!!

50

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

my super shadow 270 wsm was slinging shots to the right.turns out the barrel was touching on the left side and the heat would make the shots walk.i did a free float on the barrel and now it shoot great.i use win cases win pr lrm and imr 4350 63 grains it is .3 over max .yours may not like my load but it is over max.but has not been a problem i get 3218 with a sierra 130 sbt i seat the bullets long but i don't have the numbers with me right now.it needs bedded but im not going to do it because it shoots .5 at 117 yards so why take a chance on screwing it up thanks,keith

 

[kwanjangnihm]

Sounds mechanical. My 300 RUM was doing the same thing. For 3 shots, 2 would usually be about 5/8" apart with the 3rd 2" from the the group. Sometimes it would happen on the first, second, or third shot. I changed scopes and the groups stayed under 1". I knew it wasn't the base or rings (Badger units) so that only left the scope as the culprit. Hope this helps!

Jeff

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

For mounts I am using a Leupold 1 piece base and matching rings. They are tight. The scope has been a proven winner. It was on top of a gun that shot .1's and .2's all the time. It is a 2.5-8 Leupold VX3. Very good scope. So I have ruled out the mounting/scope problem. It has to be something with the rifle itself. I know there are better mounts/scopes, but when I have the same mounts/rings and a VX2 on my 300 RUM and its holding up just fine, thats what makes me realize it has to be the rifle. I have never had any problems with Leupold bases or rings holding a scope down. I am going to try some 150g BT's but that kinda defeats the purpose of this rifle. I wanted it to shoot 130's or 140's fast and accurate for LR deer out to 800 or so, but the 150g is the only weight I haven't tried for my application. It might do the trick. Also I'm going to try and use Win primers and RL-22 and mess with things more. But lemme tell ya, this rifle has been a pain in the ***. Its really frustrating to always see 2 good shots to see you have somewhat of a load going, then it always shoots a flyer. Usually by the 2nd trip out to the range I'll have found a load for the rifle at least 1 inch. I have shot upwards of about 20 loads now, so about 60 shots, and the very best 3 shot group I have gotten is 1 1/4". It doesn't really seem to have a preference for OAL either. I have seated them out to where there right off the lands and I"ll get 2 close and a flyer, or I will seat them way short like factory and I'll still get 2 shots close and a flyer. So I'm really stuck as to OAL. However, targets indicate that with the slightly longer OAL, the 2 shots are usually closer or touching. Thanks for all the reply's, I'll be posting the results of RL-22 and the 150g BT's.