Progressive build

[laweidauer]

I am working on building a rifle but due to funds I am doing so incrementally. The rifle is a savage 116 with accutrigger no accustock. It is topped with a nikon monarch 5-20x44 bdc scope. My question is, if you were going to change out parts one at a time whT order would you go in?

 

[Deleted member 48126]

1. Stock
2. Barrel (to include a new trued barrel nut)
3. Trigger

 

[Deleted member 46119]

For me:

Trigger: Change or worked.
Stock
Float and bed.
Barrel: Check the floating and any pressure pads you chose to leave when bedding.

IMO If the barrel isn't bad a trigger and stock can get you a lot over a plastic fantastic and factory trigger settings.

 

[pburton]

With the rifle that you have, I would change stock first and adjust the accutrigger at the same time. Those Savage rifles are usually very accurate out of the box. And in my opinion their down fall is trigger adjustment and the cheap plastic stocks. But again this is just my opinion. Good luck!

 

[WildRose]

Trigger job/adjustment.

Lap the bolt with lapping compound and just working the snot out of it.

If the stock is not cheap plastic float it, bed it, shoot it and see what you can do with what you have before just dumping a lot of money into it.

You might well end up with a very nice shooting rifle on a poor boy budget. If not then the next steps in order for me would be a better stock and then a custom barrel including truing the action.

You can very easily spend a hell of a lot of money on one and not really see an appreciable improvement over just polishing up what you have to begin with. Of course you can't polish a turd and make it shine like a diamond either. If however you have a diamond in the rough you can do a lot with it on a budget.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Wow... All these recommendations and no one's asked what around here would be a pretty important question.... How accurate is the gun currently? What kind of accuracy are you getting from it? If you are .5 moa... I wouldn't mess with a thing! Now... If you haven't tried various ammo, before doing anything else... I would try shooting various makes and or bullet weights to see if there's something your rifle likes that shoots good groups. If you reload... Same thing...except seating depth, bullet type, primers, etc.

If you've done this... And are getting .75 to 1 moa... I would look at improving the trigger. 1 moa or up... I would be looking at the stock (bedding or replacement). 2 moa or more... Time to cry.

All this assumes that you shoot .5 or less with an accurate rifle with good ammo.

If not, spend your money on ammo and practice more.

Just what I'd do...

 

[Gene R.]

1. Change stock
2. make sure it free floated.
3.bed action
I understand everyone wants their gun complete in one shot but life and families crimp our fun money sometimes. So IMHO your best bang for buck is a stock. if you shoot off a bipod the factory stocks are so bad when you load bipod it will flex stock into barrel.
Stocky's and Boyds make some affordable stocks that are laminates and Choate makes a3 style also that has a alum bed infused into it.
And believe it or not people will even buy used factory plastic savage stocks on ebay.

Gene

 

[laweidauer]

Thanks for all the responses. I agree I'd love to do it all in on shot but that's not in the cards. I should've posted how it currently shoots. After extensive load development it is shooting around 1.3 moa. I practice often and shot .5 consistently with my coyote gun. Thanks again