Feasibility of upgrading gun.

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IMO, you choose the right platform to start your shooting hobby. I've owned a lot of different firearms in the last 20 years and will tell you that Savage is my favorite action.

The Savage action is not as refined as other aftermarket (IE Tikka/Sako), but it's a great starting point. The best part about buying a Savage is that you can do all or most of the work yourself. Which, saves you time and money and you get the self satisfaction knowing you did the work yourself each time you look or shoot your rifle.

I sold my 308 Savage last year...it was a hammer and the most accurate rifle I've ever owned. There wasn't much stock OEM parts left on that rifle. That Shilen select match barrel I had on it was lights out.

I was using Varget 44gr and 178gr Hornady Amax. If you want to shoot "long range" I would suggest thinking about going with 175/178gr bullets. Many use 168gr and that's fine for short range 500 yards and less, but once you go beyond 600 yards, you will notice that 308 will drop significantly and the 175/178gr bullets take over.

Don't rule out EGW for your base. I only use EGW bases because they offer quality parts at reasonable prices. You just missed out on their 10% discount for black friday. I always buy 20MOA bases to give you more adjustment on your optic.

I would recommend that you pass on the DBM until you can afford a better stock. The Boyd's is alright, but if you want a good stock, you are looking at Manners or a chassis system and that's some serious bucks.

You also don't need to purchase both GO/NO GO gauges. You can get away with just buying the GO gauge and using tape to make the NO GO gauge.

Heck, I'll loan you my GO/NO GO gauge since you are a college student on a budget. I'll even loan you my nut wrench and action vice too. That way you can save the money for college. Just please take care of my items and return them to me in same condition. If you are interested, PM me your info.

Not trying to change your mind, but if this was my project, I'd start with something other than 308. The 308 is great for a starter rifle, but since you mentioned that you reload, I'd recommend going with a 260 Remington. You will get much better performance.
Well, as far as bullet weight, I wanted to get accurate at 100 first. Than Id work up heavier loads for longer range. Of course this means more testing, but Id find the capabilities of the gun at least given that the heavy bullet weights would stabilize correctly.

As far as the stock, how much would that really affect me getting a cheaper stock? I have to do all the inletting, free floating, and bedding, so does it matter from that perspective?

Lastly, wow. Thanks but I dont think I could just accept you tools. Id be worried something would happen and I think its pretty crazy you have enough faith to just let someone use your stuff. Sure, PMing makes it more personal and what not, but with how people are in todays world, it seems likely you may not get your stuff back sometimes. Thanks a lot anyways.
 
I see nothing wrong at all if you want to upgrade your rifle. I still have my first, a Remington 700 VS in .25-06.

This rifle was never a great shooter and groups at 100 yards were about 1". My first change was a 24x Leupold fixed power scope. The biggest thing for me was free floating the wooden stock. Unfortunately I did this right before the barrel wore out. The second biggest thing was the Krieger barrel that replaced the stock barrel. This rifle will now shoot just under 1/2" groups.
 
LRShooting,

Work on one variable at a time. For me I first start low and gradually increase the charge. With my .270 I copied Jack O'Conners advice and got lucky pretty quickly using only one type of powder.

If changing the powder charge doesn't give me the desired results then I switch to a different powder but continue using the same bullet, brass and primer. This is the situation I am having with a Mosin Nagant 91/30 with cast bullets. The best group so far is 2 1/2" at 50 yds. and I am trying to get that size group @ 100 yards. Unfortunately due to the powder shortage I have not been able to change powders yet.

The adventure is in the quest.
 
LRShooting,

Work on one variable at a time. For me I first start low and gradually increase the charge. With my .270 I copied Jack O'Conners advice and got lucky pretty quickly using only one type of powder.

If changing the powder charge doesn't give me the desired results then I switch to a different powder but continue using the same bullet, brass and primer. This is the situation I am having with a Mosin Nagant 91/30 with cast bullets. The best group so far is 2 1/2" at 50 yds. and I am trying to get that size group @ 100 yards. Unfortunately due to the powder shortage I have not been able to change powders yet.

The adventure is in the quest.
Im trying to for now. I switched bullets and powders simply because I wanted A Maxes to begin with and SMK was all i could find. Regardless, Im trying to do as you mentioned otherwise and stick with one variable at a time. Finding the time is a little harsh though...
 
Keep in mind that if you want to sink $1000 in a $400 Gun, you better plan on keeping it or getting burned. You need to actually sit and think about if you may regret doing it.

I'm not trying to discourage you though, I have about $900 or so in an AMT Hardballer that I converted to .22lr, and I'm not done yet.

And here in the mountains of NC, its seems to be a 70/30 split between "y'all" and "yaw." I say "all" and "y'all," but when I put them together, it comes out "aw yaw."
 
I see that you're already into reloading. That's a big money saver right there.

I'd work at getting the most out of what you have already. For example, I'm not seeing any reference to bedding the action in the present stock.

There is also a mod you can do to the Accutrigger spring that removes a half a loop and rebends the end that sets in and has the locating bend. It's easily done with some needlenose pliers and side cutters. Just google for "accu trigger" or "accutrigger" along with "spring tuning" or "spring mod". You'll get a heap of sites with information out there.

A big factor in rifle accuracy is spacing your shots out so the barrel comes up to a certain temperature and stays there. A lot of barrels will shift the POI as they warm up. So it's important to get them to a given point and hold them there during a string of shots. I've seen match shooters that have to send out a string in a given time use timers to indicate when to shoot so they get the shots spaced out evenly and get all the shots off within the allowed time window.

Loading accurate ammo involves so many factors. For example are you sure that your neck tension on the seated bullets is identical? Or if you're crimping them can you say for sure that your crimps are the same for each round? And if you're loading in little batches are you sure that you are getting properly repeated settings as you switch dies? You don't need to answer any of this but it's worth reviewing your practices and try to identify any weak areas and correct things in some way that makes them consistent and repeatable.

About the only thing I'd suggest you upgrade is your scope and mounts. I used to think that just about any scope was OK. But they most certainly are NOT all made equal. But you don't need to spend the top price either. A good solid middle cost scope by a good maker will prove out to be rugged and have good clarity.

I don't know when you go out to shoot. But if you're testing loads I'd suggest that you want to be testing on days with little to no wind. Anything else becomes a crap shoot or more of a test of your ability to read the wind than of the ammo or rifle. Now reading the wind and compensating is a worthy skill. But it's a terrible time for testing ammo for ultimate consistency and accuracy.

Start keeping notes on each outing. Set yourself up with a way to read the temperature and even air density at your shooting location. For truly accurate long distance shooting this all comes into play for setting up a first shot hit. Anyone can shoot a dozen rounds and walk them onto the target. But the truly amazing shooters will be able to check the temperature and density for the day and read the wind and set the elevation and windage to get a hit or near miss on the first round. Which do you want to be?

From my own bench rest and bipod shooting I'm quickly coming to realize that MOA rested shooting is every bit as much a learned skill as any other skill. Here again consistency is the key to accuracy. And for my own shooting I'm fast learning that the best way to attain that sort of consistency is to not touch the rifle anymore than I have to. I find that it's just way too hard given the variety of club benches I shoot from to get the same sort of hold on the rifle from shot to shot or visit to visit. So the best hold is quickly being found to be NO hold..... :D

Best of luck, and hopefully you see some improvement from just making what you have as good as it can be.
 
I would rather take that $1000 and use it to load as much 308 as I could. Really get good at shooting as well as loading accurate ammo, before you start spending a bunch on the hardware. JMHO
 
I see that you're already into reloading. That's a big money saver right there.

I'd work at getting the most out of what you have already. For example, I'm not seeing any reference to bedding the action in the present stock.

There is also a mod you can do to the Accutrigger spring that removes a half a loop and rebends the end that sets in and has the locating bend. It's easily done with some needlenose pliers and side cutters. Just google for "accu trigger" or "accutrigger" along with "spring tuning" or "spring mod". You'll get a heap of sites with information out there.

A big factor in rifle accuracy is spacing your shots out so the barrel comes up to a certain temperature and stays there. A lot of barrels will shift the POI as they warm up. So it's important to get them to a given point and hold them there during a string of shots. I've seen match shooters that have to send out a string in a given time use timers to indicate when to shoot so they get the shots spaced out evenly and get all the shots off within the allowed time window.

Loading accurate ammo involves so many factors. For example are you sure that your neck tension on the seated bullets is identical? Or if you're crimping them can you say for sure that your crimps are the same for each round? And if you're loading in little batches are you sure that you are getting properly repeated settings as you switch dies? You don't need to answer any of this but it's worth reviewing your practices and try to identify any weak areas and correct things in some way that makes them consistent and repeatable.

About the only thing I'd suggest you upgrade is your scope and mounts. I used to think that just about any scope was OK. But they most certainly are NOT all made equal. But you don't need to spend the top price either. A good solid middle cost scope by a good maker will prove out to be rugged and have good clarity.

I don't know when you go out to shoot. But if you're testing loads I'd suggest that you want to be testing on days with little to no wind. Anything else becomes a crap shoot or more of a test of your ability to read the wind than of the ammo or rifle. Now reading the wind and compensating is a worthy skill. But it's a terrible time for testing ammo for ultimate consistency and accuracy.

Start keeping notes on each outing. Set yourself up with a way to read the temperature and even air density at your shooting location. For truly accurate long distance shooting this all comes into play for setting up a first shot hit. Anyone can shoot a dozen rounds and walk them onto the target. But the truly amazing shooters will be able to check the temperature and density for the day and read the wind and set the elevation and windage to get a hit or near miss on the first round. Which do you want to be?

From my own bench rest and bipod shooting I'm quickly coming to realize that MOA rested shooting is every bit as much a learned skill as any other skill. Here again consistency is the key to accuracy. And for my own shooting I'm fast learning that the best way to attain that sort of consistency is to not touch the rifle anymore than I have to. I find that it's just way too hard given the variety of club benches I shoot from to get the same sort of hold on the rifle from shot to shot or visit to visit. So the best hold is quickly being found to be NO hold..... :D

Best of luck, and hopefully you see some improvement from just making what you have as good as it can be.
Im nuts with my reloading. Idk why, maybe Im not actually being as precise as I think. I take calipers to the 5/10000ths of an inch and check neck tension and case length after sizing and trimming. I also measure bullets and take a knife to trim off the plastic tip a couple thousandths if they are to far off (I use a dead set seater that presses on the tip rather than the ogive so this can be important, altho ive discover ogive seems to vary some), then weigh and group them. Its really kind of pointless at this point until I find a load that works good and fine tune it, but who knows. Its a good habit I suppose. All press strokes are solid and firm, than OAL is checked for consistency. Id actually like to have a gauge to check actual pressure when seating bullets, but its jsut an idea.

As far as weather, I dont normally shoot unless its nice outside, as in low humidity, not too cold, and no wind. Shots seem to close in a little on these days compared to any other.

As far as holding, ive discovered that to! No hold is best...let the harmonics of the gun be what they wanna be. With my spring air rifle, it recoils FORWARDS and backwards, so you completely have to get rid of holding the gun. If you hold it tight, it wont shoot worth a crap. If you hold it with the gun simply resting on you hand, it will shoot ok. If you hold it so that I will stand straight up by itself while your shooting, in your hand, without holding it, it shoots awesome. I got into the habit of doing it this way and my groups tightened up with my other rifles.
 
I would rather take that $1000 and use it to load as much 308 as I could. Really get good at shooting as well as loading accurate ammo, before you start spending a bunch on the hardware. JMHO
Well, 1000$ is a little much for me to spend on reloading at this point, but its definetly sound advice. Maybe if spread over a few years. Currently trying to start farming (extremely high startup costs and high running costs while building up) as well as paying for college so I just have a small fund I put aside for hobbies to do this type of stuff. Thats part of the reason if you see some of my posts, Im always building, making, or designing something rather than buying it. I guess I cant feel like I can justify spending 1000$ on ammo and shooting often, but I cant justify spending 1000 on upgrades if they dont really help either...sounds like shooting more is probably a bigger increase in accuracy than anything.
 
Well, 1000$ is a little much for me to spend on reloading at this point, but its definetly sound advice. Maybe if spread over a few years. Currently trying to start farming (extremely high startup costs and high running costs while building up) as well as paying for college so I just have a small fund I put aside for hobbies to do this type of stuff. Thats part of the reason if you see some of my posts, Im always building, making, or designing something rather than buying it. I guess I cant feel like I can justify spending 1000$ on ammo and shooting often, but I cant justify spending 1000 on upgrades if they dont really help either...sounds like shooting more is probably a bigger increase in accuracy than anything.
Hey LRShooting,

You've been given a ton of advice. You're a young guy and you've got many years ahead of you to enjoy shooting and you'll figure most everything out on your own.

Here's my take. If you're REALLY interested in precision shooting, you're going to end up with a better rifle, eventually. Why keep something you don't enjoy shooting as much as you would something else.

Building off of your Savage isn't a bad idea at all. There's plenty of one-hole rifles built off of them. You could save some money by just starting with a match-grade barrel and something like a Boyd's Tacticool stock leaving other upgrades for later. The bottom metal and extended magazines aren't going to make much difference in accuracy.


Edit:

I would focus more money on a scope too. Maybe a fixed SWFA SS, a Vortex Viper HS-T or if only shooting at range targets a Weaver T-24 would be awesome.
 
Hey LRShooting,

You've been given a ton of advice. You're a young guy and you've got many years ahead of you to enjoy shooting and you'll figure most everything out on your own.

Here's my take. If you're REALLY interested in precision shooting, you're going to end up with a better rifle, eventually. Why keep something you don't enjoy shooting as much as you would something else.

Building off of your Savage isn't a bad idea at all. There's plenty of one-hole rifles built off of them. You could save some money by just starting with a match-grade barrel and something like a Boyd's Tacticool stock leaving other upgrades for later. The bottom metal and extended magazines aren't going to make much difference in accuracy.


Edit:

I would focus more money on a scope too. Maybe a fixed SWFA SS, a Vortex Viper HS-T or if only shooting at range targets a Weaver T-24 would be awesome.
Exactly. And Ive definitely been given alot of advice and I try to acknowledge that because I tend to question things in order to under stand them which can sometimes come off as arrogant. Your ideas are basically the same as mine, but I HAVE to get a DBM because the Boyd stocks require it. Other than that, I find that savage mags are more expensive and less capacity available compared to AICS friendly mags, even if they arent OEM. Maybe people will say I dont need 10 rounds, but I do deer drives and I can run out pretty quick. Given that I dont run out of tags first (unlimited doe tags on normal years here in Missouri, limited this year due to EHDV epidemic). I could find a stock that is $168 more (price of DBM) that would fit right in, but I like the idea of a more robust system. I agree that your right it wont make a difference in accuracy which is obvious for something like magazines, but its a preference item more than anything else. Boyds no longer makes tacticool and now its a pro varmit hunter (same thing).
 
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