The Savage 10/110 Precision Update. 300 Yards.

Turkeytider said:

Savage rifles may not appeal to the " upper crust " long range precision shooters......but they usually hit the target with the best of them.

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Bryan Litz just shared a post this week about Savage rifles they use in their training and loaner competition fleet. Granted, his Savage LRP actions aren’t your average 10/110, but they’re not completely different species either. Not sure there are many layers of “crust” above Bryan and Doc.

Varminterror said:

Bryan Litz just shared a post this week about Savage rifles they use in their training and loaner competition fleet. Granted, his Savage LRP actions aren’t your average 10/110, but they’re not completely different species either. Not sure there are many layers of “crust” above Bryan and Doc.

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That`s good to see. You seldom see Savage rifles mentioned as potential candidates for acquisitions in responses to posts on various sites. It`s pretty much all Tikkas, Bergaras, Ruger Americans, etc. I like my 110 Storm in .223 and my 93R17 .17HMR is " growing on me". Both are sub-MOA capable rifles when I feed them what they like and don`t screw up the shot.

Varminterror said:

Bryan Litz just shared a post this week about Savage rifles they use in their training and loaner competition fleet. Granted, his Savage LRP actions aren’t your average 10/110, but they’re not completely different species either. Not sure there are many layers of “crust” above Bryan and Doc.

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I can’t see where the LRP action is much different except the attempt at a decent target trigger, I did hear about a blueprinted action once however I’ve never seen an actual print listing tolerances held.
I figure it’s mainly marketing blather

jmr40 said:

That is because as you put more and more bullet holes in the target you destroy your aiming point and it makes it harder to shoot small groups. Another method is to have the rifle zeroed so it is hitting 2-3" below your aiming point when shooting for best groups. This way you have a consistent aiming point. You can always adjust the sights later to hit where you want.

But good shooting with a nice looking rig.

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Yup. Or line up the cross hairs with the one on the paper or the box on the grid. Etc.
I struggle with circles.

South Prairie Jim said:

I can’t see where the LRP action is much different except the attempt at a decent target trigger, I did hear about a blueprinted action once however I’ve never seen an actual print listing tolerances held.
I figure it’s mainly marketing blather

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I own 5 Savage centerfire rifles including a 110BA in .338 Lapua, (2) 10BA’s in .308 and a 12FV in 6.5 Creedmoor (Cabela’s Special).
The 10BA’s and 110BA I own we’re built prior to the release of the blueprinted action.
The original BA’s came with an action that had a small opening for the ejection port rather than having the whole top of the receiver open.
I believe that those actions are more rigid than their other receivers.
I think that their benchrest rifles also used the same receiver design but in stainless steel.

I have circled the open top action on the 12FV which sits in an MDT LSS-XL chassis.
You can clearly see the difference in the actions on the BA’s.

thump_rrr said:

I own 5 Savage centerfire rifles including a 110BA in .338 Lapua, (2) 10BA’s in .308 and a 12FV in 6.5 Creedmoor (Cabela’s Special).
The 10BA’s and 110BA I own we’re built prior to the release of the blueprinted action.
The original BA’s came with an action that had a small opening for the ejection port rather than having the whole top of the receiver open.
I believe that those actions are more rigid than their other receivers.
I think that their benchrest rifles also used the same receiver design but in stainless steel.

I have circled the open top action on the 12FV which sits in an MDT LSS-XL chassis.
You can clearly see the difference in the actions on the BA’s.

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I have a nice model 12 I use as a Benchrest rifle, they can call it BA there really isn’t a comparison to a quality action machined to tight tolerances.

Varminterror said:

Bryan Litz just shared a post this week about Savage rifles they use in their training and loaner competition fleet. Granted, his Savage LRP actions aren’t your average 10/110, but they’re not completely different species either. Not sure there are many layers of “crust” above Bryan and Doc.

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I read that too. It’s apparent that Litz likes Savages for all the same reasons we do

South Prairie Jim said:

I have a nice model 12 I use as a Benchrest rifle, they can call it BA there really isn’t a comparison to a quality action machined to tight tolerances.

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I agree that a quality action with tight tolerances is always preferable however an inexpensive Savage can get you very good results.

This is the load development target for the Savage 12FV in 6.5 Creedmoor.
These are all 3 shot groups.
Edit: These we’re shot in 0F weather.
This is a rifle that sells for about $450 USD in a $450 chassis.
Here is the rifle with my new Tangent Theta 525P mounted on it.

This brings up your point of a high quality action.
I keep looking to build a high quality rifle but every time I hit $7,000- $8,000 Canadian I don’t see the value in doing it. I’d rather buy another quality scope.

thump_rrr said:

I agree that a quality action with tight tolerances is always preferable however an inexpensive Savage can get you very good results.

This is the load development target for the Savage 12FV in 6.5 Creedmoor.
These are all 3 shot groups.
Edit: These we’re shot in 0F weather.
This is a rifle that sells for about $450 USD in a $450 chassis.
Here is the rifle with my new Tangent Theta 525P mounted on it.

This brings up your point of a high quality action.
I keep looking to build a high quality rifle but every time I hit $7,000- $8,000 Canadian I don’t see the value in doing it. I’d rather buy another quality scope.
View attachment 1093668
View attachment 1093670View attachment 1093671

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I don’t think you’ll find much resistance to Savages ability to shoot well, although I personally attribute most of that to tight chambers, floating bolt head and unrestrictive ignition meaning no hang ups or dragging of the firing pin coupled with a strong full power spring over any facing or tread truing they may include under a blanket statement of blueprinting without a cut sheet of reduced tolerances. Heck I hold my brass prep to .002 tolerance.

If that makes sense, we’re on the same page. For many discipline’s a Savage is fine but in long range Benchrest the key is to run the rounds as quickly as possible without upsetting the rifle in the process, the sloppy/ slow Savage action doesn’t help much.

This one shot 600 yard ten shot groups averaging 3.3 inches over a six target three month period. Not too bad but it wasn’t enough to win. ( NBRSA WR 2.75)

Varminterror said:

Bryan Litz just shared a post this week about Savage rifles they use in their training and loaner competition fleet. Granted, his Savage LRP actions aren’t your average 10/110, but they’re not completely different species either. Not sure there are many layers of “crust” above Bryan and Doc.

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Would like to read that. Where might I find it? Thanks.

South Prairie Jim said:

I don’t think you’ll find much resistance to Savages ability to shoot well, although I personally attribute most of that to tight chambers, floating bolt head and unrestrictive ignition meaning no hang ups or dragging of the firing pin coupled with a strong full power spring over any facing or tread truing they may include under a blanket statement of blueprinting without a cut sheet of reduced tolerances. Heck I hold my brass prep to .002 tolerance.

If that makes sense, we’re on the same page. For many discipline’s a Savage is fine but in long range Benchrest the key is to run the rounds as quickly as possible without upsetting the rifle in the process, the sloppy/ slow Savage action doesn’t help much.

This one shot 600 yard ten shot groups averaging 3.3 inches over a six target three month period. Not too bad but it wasn’t enough to win. ( NBRSA WR 2.75)

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Certainly agree that my Savage .223 requires a bit more than a gentle upward push on the bolt handle to cycle. I also understand that that`s not uncommon with Savage rifles. If it`s critical to have a glass smooth action to be competitive, then I could see where a Savage might be less than satisfactory if mine is typical. For casual range shooting and predator hunting, however, I like it very much. Very accurate!

Turkeytider said:

Would like to read that. Where might I find it? Thanks.

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Just a quick quip on one of his Facebook pages:

Turkeytider said:

Certainly agree that my Savage .223 requires a bit more than a gentle upward push on the bolt handle to cycle. I also understand that that`s not uncommon with Savage rifles. If it`s critical to have a glass smooth action to be competitive, then I could see where a Savage might be less than satisfactory if mine is typical. For casual range shooting and predator hunting, however, I like it very much. Very accurate!

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Absolutely accurate ‘ No argument from me on that having shot well out to a thousand yards with a Savage.
Wind reading takes the same effort, load development still takes hard work no matter what names on the door.

I just think the BA is mostly BS

Not a fancy precision rifle, but I bought a Savage Axis II in .308 about 2 months ago. The longest range at our club is 300 yds which is plenty for my old eyes. I'd been shooting that with my .223 chambered AR and thought the .308 would be better at that range. I shoot both of these rifles off of bi-pods. So I was disappointed when I actually shot the .308 worse than the .223 using both factory 150 grain bullets and some of my own 147 grain reloads.

So today I tried some rounds with 168 grain bullets and wow, what a difference that made! The groups really tightened up. So I guess the problem wasn't entirely me, which I was starting to think.

I'm starting to understand how much difference bullet weight can make in rifle rounds.

South Prairie Jim said:

I just think the BA is mostly BS

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• The BA is the standard 10/12 action.

• I’m not sure it’s any more BS to speak well about a Savage 10 BA - a standard bolt action model for them - than to speak well about a Win 70, Ruger M77 or American, Rem 700, Bergara, Howa, Tikka, Sako, etc.

• I’ve not seen the prints for the PTA, and as I said above, it’s not so dissimilar from the standard 10/12, other than the port options, single shot (no mag port) with a different third bolt position, and the target accutrigger - which at one point I was told the target trigger could not be adapted into the normal 10/12’s - so there must be SOMETHING different in the bolt or action build design as well. Documentable tolerance differences? Eh, I’ve never been provided a dimensional print for any custom action I’ve bought, nor did I request one when I considered the PTA years ago for a custom striker build - I ended up simply ordering another 12 repeater action.

• I don’t expect it is any more BS for Savage to market their factory blueprinted PTA than it was for Remington to market their factory blueprinted 700’s in the PSS or late production 40x’s.

• The mark up between the “Varmint Series” 12’s like the BVSS and the “Competition Series” 12 PTA based rifles isn’t big. We’re not talking about an action pretending to be a $1500 custom. It’s been 10-11 years since I priced one, but they were in the $900 ballpark (with trigger) when I could buy a Rem 700 bare action for $350, a Stiller Predator for $900 without bottom metal, trigger, or lug, and a Surgeon 591 at $1100-1200, also bare action.

Did you adjust the elevation or did you hold over for the range? If you have that type of reticle?

~3” x 1” ballpark at 500yrds on a defensive pistol target, from a factory rifle and factory ammo - if that doesn’t date your appetite, I don’t know what will!

Definitely nothing to complain about that rifle for sure.

I am debating what to do with my Savage 12FVL in 308. I can't decide if I want to re-barrel it and then replace the Choate Varmint stock with a chassis or just sell it and spend the money on a new Savage left hand 110 Precision rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm thinking it will be a wash by the time I purchase a different barrel and chassis for the 12 FVL.