Excessive leade Savage LRH?

[entoptics]

Measured my OAL for a 300 Win Mag Savage LRH, and with a 212 ELD-X, the OAL is coming out right around 3.71" to touch the lands on my rifle. Using a comparator, I got 2.99" from base to ogive. Based on my reading of the SAAMI blueprints, that's 0.05" longer than maximum spec.

I'm only just discovering the magnitude of the problem, as the magazine is only 3.5", and when I first got the rifle (3 years ago), I did the old "seat it till it closes" method of measurement, and realized at that time I was way short of the lands with magazine length rounds. I decided to just deal with it, as the rifle shot within my skill level even with the large jump, and I didn't want a two shot hunting rifle. I kinda forgot about it till I recently bought a proper chamber gauge and have been trying to fine tune my reloads to help rule out my potential skill deficiencies.

I have two main questions...

1) How long are you guys running 212 ELDX to get near the lands? (208 AMAX, 208 ELDM, 200 ELDX all within 0.015" in my rifle, so that data is good too). My buddies Rem 700 LR is running a full 0.1" shorter to the lands than my Savage.

2) How much throat erosion is normal? This rifle is supposedly on its second barrel. I torched the first one with primer popping reloads, and sent it back to Savage after about 1500 rounds to be rebarreled. It has about 500-800 rounds of "normal" power through it since then.

The reason I say "supposedly", is because I had a less than stellar customer service experience with the replacement, and due to a couple of things (miles long throat among them), I'm wondering if I might not have gotten a replacement at all.

What's your thoughts?

 

[bigedp51]

The SAAMI specification are guidelines and not written in stone. I have a Savage .223 and it has a throat longer than my AR15 rifles.

One way to look at it is Weatherby rifles have longer throats to increase velocity at lower pressures.

 

[dok7mm]

Borescope your throat & lands. Next barrel should be chambered with a reamer spec that is beneficial to your chosen bullet. It is a good idea to check your touch length every 100 rds or so, to monitor throat erosion.

Also, there can be quite a bit of error in your measurements, if you're not careful. Alex Wheeler has some videos posted here and his site showing a foolproof method for proper headspace and finding your true touch length.

 

[entoptics]

The SAAMI specification are guidelines and not written in stone. I have a Savage .223 and it has a throat longer than my AR15 rifles.

One way to look at it is Weatherby rifles have longer throats to increase velocity at lower pressures.

Guidelines are there for a reason.

Freebore's affect on accuracy is variable of course, but I'm pretty sure nobody would argue that hand loads with 0.2" jump are a good thing. With factory SAAMI ammo and Savage's short mag, jump would be over 1/3 of an inch!

As mentioned, I'm also concerned that I may have been charged $300 for nothing.

Borescope your throat & lands. Next barrel should be chambered with a reamer spec that is beneficial to your chosen bullet. It is a good idea to check your touch length every 100 rds or so, to monitor throat erosion....

I do not have a borescope, nor do I have any previous data to compare it to, even if I were to buy one tomorrow. I'm not getting a new barrel for this rifle. It's also too late to monitor throat erosion for the problem I posted about, hence why I posted here...

Also, there can be quite a bit of error in your measurements, if you're not careful...

I'm careful. Regardless, my concerns are near enough 2 orders of magnitude larger than even an idiot could measure.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Guidelines are there for a reason.

Freebore's affect on accuracy is variable of course, but I'm pretty sure nobody would argue that hand loads with 0.2" jump are a good thing. With factory SAAMI ammo and Savage's short mag, jump would be over 1/3 of an inch!

As mentioned, I'm also concerned that I may have been charged $300 for nothing.



I do not have a borescope, nor do I have any previous data to compare it to, even if I were to buy one tomorrow. I'm not getting a new barrel for this rifle. It's also too late to monitor throat erosion for the problem I posted about, hence why I posted here...



I'm careful. Regardless, my concerns are near enough 2 orders of magnitude larger than even an idiot could measure.

Freebore effect on accuracy is not as bad or critical as you make out.
I have Weatherby cartridges with freebore/leade that range from 3/8" (.375") to 1/2" (.500") they are all very accurate once the sweetspot is found. This may be in excess of .250" from the rifling and this does not cause errattic accuracy as was once believed.
In fact my comp rifles have freebore built in by me for an easy way to cushion pressure allowing for more powder usage at LOWER pressure.
Certain bullets, such as hybrids, actually like a bit of jump, the actual jump needs trial and error to find, but it is not necessarily up close to the rifling where it will be happiest.
I would just seat them to mag length and shoot the rifle if I was in your shoes, a test at differing lengths in .010" increments AWAY from your longest mag length may help you find a sweet spot.
Food for thought.

Cheers.

 

[bigedp51]

Guidelines are there for a reason.

And the firearms manufactures do not have to follow SAAMI guidelines.
Look at "G" freebore diameter and "N" free bore length below.
And the freebore in my Savage .223 is .0566 and longer than a AR15 rifle. (and for a reason)

 

[livetohunt]

I'm surprised you can't fit them in the mag, I have a savage 7mm mag LRH that I run the 180 bergers .015" into
The lands and they fit and feed with no problem.

I would tell you the OAL but that's written down somewhere and I currently have a sleeping 3 month old in my lap.

I'm going to be moving to the 212's in my .300 after some non lethal shots with the Berger 210 VLD's.

 

[gohring3006]

My LRH has a "normal throat", in other words I don't notice any significant difference between it and other 6.5s I've had.
I would borescope checking for excessive erosion. Then I would start researching what barrel I was going to buy.