thomis
Member
I had two niches to fill: I needed a yard/ barn gun and a long-range deer rifle. Recently I was fortunate enough to add these two rifles to my modest gun collection. A Savage .22 rimfire Mark II FVSS (my post on this rifle here) and the Model 14 Classic in .308 Winchester.
I had a chance over the weekend to sight in the .308 but I could only get out to 35 yards. Hopefully next week I'll have a chance to stretch out to 100 yards.
I'm very pleased with this rifle. Here is a link to the Model 14 Classic on Savage's website.
Only took two shots to get it into the bulls eye (pic 3). Pretty much went to one-hole groups after that. I chronied 6 different handload concoctions and some factory Remington Core-Lokts.
Best groups were shot with 43.3 and 46.5 grains of IMR 4064 using 150 grain Hornady BTSP and norma brass. The 46.5 load is the max load.
42.0 norma brass = ~2688, 2698
43.3 norma brass = ~2834 -error-
43.5 norma brass = ~2723, 2708
44.0 Rem. brass = ~2815, 2841
46.5 old Fed. brass = ~2917, 2864
46.5 norma brass = ~2850, 2878
Rem. Core Lokts = ~2859, 2805
22" bbl 1 in 10 twist
One thing that really stood out to me... There was not a tremendous gain in velocity going from close to the suggested starting load to the max load. Because of this, I will probably try and fine-tune my pet deer load around the 43 and 44 grain area.
The mount system is Warne bases and Leupold PRW rings. (But Warne makes the rings for Leupold as well). I got the "low" mounts but it looks as though I may be able to go with "extra low". What do you think?
I had a chance over the weekend to sight in the .308 but I could only get out to 35 yards. Hopefully next week I'll have a chance to stretch out to 100 yards.
I'm very pleased with this rifle. Here is a link to the Model 14 Classic on Savage's website.
Only took two shots to get it into the bulls eye (pic 3). Pretty much went to one-hole groups after that. I chronied 6 different handload concoctions and some factory Remington Core-Lokts.
Best groups were shot with 43.3 and 46.5 grains of IMR 4064 using 150 grain Hornady BTSP and norma brass. The 46.5 load is the max load.
42.0 norma brass = ~2688, 2698
43.3 norma brass = ~2834 -error-
43.5 norma brass = ~2723, 2708
44.0 Rem. brass = ~2815, 2841
46.5 old Fed. brass = ~2917, 2864
46.5 norma brass = ~2850, 2878
Rem. Core Lokts = ~2859, 2805
22" bbl 1 in 10 twist
One thing that really stood out to me... There was not a tremendous gain in velocity going from close to the suggested starting load to the max load. Because of this, I will probably try and fine-tune my pet deer load around the 43 and 44 grain area.
The mount system is Warne bases and Leupold PRW rings. (But Warne makes the rings for Leupold as well). I got the "low" mounts but it looks as though I may be able to go with "extra low". What do you think?
