Worth it or pass? Savage aftermarket lug

[JakeC]

Has anyone messed around with savages enough to quantifiably say if replacing the factory recoil lug and/or the barrel nut with precision squared parts improves groups? I guess the 2 major mechanisms would be a consistent recoil/return to battery and then action stress. I'm a little torn. Part of me thinks it's obviously worth it, but the majority says that it's mostly a gimmick: wouldn't the floating bolt head design and a good bedding job give all the meaningful help required inside 1000. I'm talking specifically about a savage 10 being re-bedded into an aftermarket wood stock after a new barrel. The gun's a shooter the way it is and it's responded to even minor improvements, so I trust the action.

Anyway, maybe somebody can say either way. Thanks.

 

[sedancowboy]

If I am going to bed a Savage and install a new barrel you can bet I am going to use a precision recoil lug and a precision Nut to match. I have several old factory recoil lugs that are not parallel and bent. I never reuse them. If you have a set of mics measure them and see for your self. Why tighten a nut up on a recoil lug that is not even the same thickness on both sides?

 

[Tidus56]

I always change the nut and lug. Sedancowboy is spot on with his assessment.

 

[Tiny Tim]

In the grand scheme of things, its a small investment, especially if bedding. Why risk a slight flaw in something as permanent and foundational as bedding?

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

I put the larger .250 machined recoil lug on every savage I change barrels out on, if you've got it apart it makes sense to swap factory lug for a good aftermarket one and a squared barrel nut as well.

 

[JakeC]

I put the larger .250 machined recoil lug on every savage I change barrels out on, if you've got it apart it makes sense to swap factory lug for a good aftermarket one and a squared barrel nut as well.

It does make sense. Whose nut do you use? I can't decide if I hate or love the hex ones.

 

[FEENIX]

Whose nut do you use? I can't decide if I hate or love the hex ones.

I have been using PVA's, https://patriotvalleyarms.com/barrel-nut-for-savage-remage-barrels/ lately.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Got the savage wrench and action vise, prefer the savage barrel nut to the PVA that uses a hex wrench. I believe its easier to mark up the hex nut when tightening, probably just me but the savage style has worked well for me for many years and remain unmarred. Its also really easy for your gunsmith to make sure the action face is squared and the bolt face also. This way the floating bolthead will operate with a straight route from boltface to chamber. Good Shooting

 

[FEENIX]

Got the savage wrench and action vise, prefer the savage barrel nut to the PVA that uses a hex wrench. I believe its easier to mark up the hex nut when tightening, probably just me but the savage style has worked well for me for many years and remain unmarred. Its also really easy for your gunsmith to make sure the action face is squared and the bolt face also. This way the floating bolthead will operate with a straight route from boltface to chamber. Good Shooting

I have the bug nut wrench ...

 

[Deputy819]

The 'upgrades' from NSS have always served me well.

Recoil Lug and Trued Barrel Nut | Northland Shooters Supply

Northland Shooters Supply (NSS) offers a precision ground heavy duty recoil lug and squared and trued barrel nut.

northlandshooterssupply.com

 

[Willoughby]

I am happy with the way my rifles shoot using the factory lugs - tried aftermarket once but found its not only thicker but taller also -I didnt want to remove that much material from bottom of recoil lug area in stock - so I just reused the factory lug - Ive never seen a bent one - on any brand of rifle, but my world is pretty small -

 

[JakeC]

Got the savage wrench and action vise, prefer the savage barrel nut to the PVA that uses a hex wrench. I believe its easier to mark up the hex nut when tightening, probably just me but the savage style has worked well for me for many years and remain unmarred. Its also really easy for your gunsmith to make sure the action face is squared and the bolt face also. This way the floating bolthead will operate with a straight route from boltface to chamber. Good Shooting

That's kind of what I was thinking. I love the look of the hex nut but 1. looks a lot harder to torque without mauling it (they don't call them swedish nut rounders for no reason) 2. I already have the slotted wrench because it came with the smooth nut wrench I needed. I honestly like the smooth nut so I'm halfway thinking of having it squared along with the receiver someday and keeping it. Any idea what that job costs at a smith? I feel like it's so small I'd get told to pound sand.

 

[JakeC]

Got the savage wrench and action vise, prefer the savage barrel nut to the PVA that uses a hex wrench. I believe its easier to mark up the hex nut when tightening, probably just me but the savage style has worked well for me for many years and remain unmarred. Its also really easy for your gunsmith to make sure the action face is squared and the bolt face also. This way the floating bolthead will operate with a straight route from boltface to chamber. Good Shooting

Also, what kinds of improvements do you see from truing? I know some of it is peace of mind, some of it is reducing fussiness. It's just that if I can quicly find loads that shoot under .4 and as low as .16 isn't the floating head already compensating pretty well? You can say no, I'm just learning how to read the results of the thousand or so rounds I've shot through that gun in a sound way.

My suspicion is that you're absolutely right in doing it, that a variable removed is smoothing the whole road out no matter how good one or two tailored loads are. It should be shooting a lot of loads under .6, not just a few.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

First question......I bet a gunsmith would charge you more than the thirty something that NSS sells a surfaced new barrel nut for.
Second question.....I don't check accuracy difference for every small thing I do but wait as they all add up. I worry about the barrel being headspaced right, the action and bolt head being square, the action bedded around the pillars and lug, and the trigger pull light and crisp with a good bbl. crown.

When I built drag cars it was those million little things all combined together that made the big difference, its the same with rifles and handloads. Attention to painstaking detail and every little improvement that you can afford to make.

That said your gun is shooting very good and is at that point where it will show you what the differences you start making really do. Some call it tweaking or dialing in, I simply call it fine tuning. You know load tuning with powder-powder charge-bullet-brass-and primer all make a difference and you may find a calmer node where the load is less picky. Good Shooting with your Savage Dave