Well I'm Back ...........

[jeff3680]

Well I just couldn't stay away... My rifle has been back for awhile after returning it to Savage for poor grouping and shooting low. They installed a new breech plug, standard operational procedure Joe told me, and test fired a 1.6" group. I installed a new scope, in Burris rings, and zeroed the rifle in. With the scope optically centered I had to put a +.02 bushing @ 55 degrees in the rear ring and a -.01 insert into the front. That put me close to zero at 100 yards. After tweaking the scope I shot a couple of groups. With a 300 grain XTP driven by 43 grains of 4759 I fired a 1.4" and a 1.2" 3 shot groups @ 108 yds. I raised the charge to 45 grains giving me 2100 FPS through the chronograph and shot the attached group ... .8 @ 108 yards ;D ;D ..... I called Joe back to let him know how the rifle was performing. He suggested that I send it back after hunting season so they could figure out why I have to shim the rings so drastically to get zeroed but I hate to mess with it when it's shooting so well ...And yes, I have checked the front base / recoil lug for interference ... Also I would like to thank Joe DeGrande and a few of his helpers running around here for all that they have done ...

[tdillinger]

with that load i use a 250 xtp and just currious are both your bases the same size 46? or 61?

[jeff3680]

Yes the bases are the same size .... I don't remember the number but they matched to .001 in height ... I might chuck her up in the lathe after hunting season and check the action / barrel for runout .....
Forgot to add that I bedded the action with devcon ..... She rocked around quite a bit in the laminate stock ...

[etj401]

I had the same problem and sent my 50 cal back to Joe. Before I sent it to him, I used one of those scope mounting kits that has the two aluminum rods with a point on one end of each rod to check if the receiver was square. The rods fit in the rings just as the scope would and if the two points dont match then the receiver is off. Shim the base that is low and then measure the shims and you will know how far it is off. The bases were the same height and the rings were the same height so the only thing it could have been was the receiver was not square. My front base was 17 thousands lower that the back base. I had to use 124 clicks on the scope to get the crosshairs to zero. Savage replace the receiver and I checked it with the rods and the new receiver was square. It only took about 20 clicks to zero the rifle. I dont know the reason for the receiver not being square but I have seen on this site where other people have had to shim the scope bases and I suspect that the receivers were also off.

[cfvickers]

Mine i an old one and I had o shim it. Doesn't matter though, I am more than happy with it. Had to shim my Encore 45-70 though, I think it is due to a slower projectile than the scope/bases are intended for. Same base worked perfectly on my 25-06 with the same profile and diameters at all points on the barrel. just the way it is at times. do what works and when it works great, leave it alone.