Thread: Dum

ArArAr Of late my savage storm 223 has last lost form, load development had it shooting half inch, but results lately ¾ to an inch, am I losing it.

Never been happy with the stock set up on this rifle, long story and so decided to bed it, not an easy job on these Savages. Into it, dremilled out heaps of plastic, left the pillar beds high.

At this point I decided to remove the scope, (Back base nut came loose by hand), F*k it there was the problem right there. Now committed to a bedding job she’s getting the full monty.

Bugger so moral of the story, check the obvious first.

I use dab of blue loktite on scope screws, at least bedding won't make it worse.....
I did have a moment of insanity when doing load development on my 300wsm.......re did bedding, checked action screw torque, checked ring screw torque......it ended up being base screws....... fark I was loosing my shit, was going from sub moa to double grouping then back to sub moa......once the base screws sorted ragged 1 hole groups.....had me fooked as ES was good and consistent but kept getting massive grouping variation....really started to doubt my ability....the base screws were so loose the scope literally wobbled when you tipped the rifle. sometimes the obvious isn't obvious.....

Originally Posted by dannyb

I use dab of blue loktite on scope screws, at least bedding won't make it worse.....
I did have a moment of insanity when doing load development on my 300wsm.......re did bedding, checked action screw torque, checked ring screw torque......it ended up being base screws....... fark I was loosing my shit, was going from sub moa to double grouping then back to sub moa......once the base screws sorted ragged 1 hole groups.....had me fooked as ES was good and consistent but kept getting massive grouping variation....really started to doubt my ability....the base screws were so loose the scope literally wobbled when you tipped the rifle. sometimes the obvious isn't obvious.....

When I get handed a rifle that isn't grouping I rip the scope of and check the base screws first.
It is amazing how many times that is what it is.
Blue loctite on base screws is your friend.
Also I recheck after a scope mounting session and re torque all the cap and cross bolts after a few shots along with the action screws.
Peace of mind for me!

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

scope base screws have caught me out twice......so its one of the first things I suggest to check when rifle giving issues.... the bedding job wont hurt.
I remember redoing headgasket on a motorbike as a teenager as could hear leaking gas/hiss..then when took head off..the sparkplug fell out.....

Had a computer issue back in early 2000's, where it couldn't boot up. Took it to the tech guy we used who couldn't immediately see a problem and ended up stripping almost every part and testing them individually before finally realising that the reboot button had become jammed. To his credit,
took it on the chin as a lesson to first check fundamentals!

I just had a self inflicted doozy.

A Savage in 224 V in a chassis - New MDT AICS 8 round mags. Won't feed, WTF, the loaner one I tried was great.

After quite a bit of pissing about I found I'd reassembled the bolt in the wrong order, the bolt spacer washer was ahead of the baffle, not behind it. Corrected the order of things and away it went!

Some of these are classics! Worthy of making Dum a sticky

I do love the button stuck down one

Hi Danny, where do you find what the action screw torque setting is? My ruger m77 started shooting diagonal descending strings, i thought it must be the scope so i swapped back to the trusty old original, then discovered the action screw was just about falling out of the hole,I tightened it to "firm-ish", rifle now shoots accurately (enough!), but now I don't know whether it was the the scope or the screw.....

I have just used google in the past for action screw torque

Ha - the base screws are a legendary thing. The front base often has two screws of different lengths, the front screw of the front base is often shorter than the front base rear screw due to the presence of the barrel shank. Often I see the two screws reversed, meaning the screw in the front hole bottoms out on the barrel shank before it bears onto the base and the rear is only hanging on by a few threads. This means that effectively the scope is only supported by the arse end base... Not good on a lightweight expensive scope!

This is one reason on heavy caliber or precision type rifles where weight isn't such an issue I opt for a rail and bed it to the action. Almost 100% success rate like that, although I am not knocking a well set up set of bases as they are very reliable if set up correctly. I've been presented with several brand new rifles with loose front bases with this issue and from some quite big name suppliers - who you'd think would be able to set things up correctly. Kinda disappointing considering the $$$$$ involved - not even factoring in the confidence knock a new to shooting owner gets when things aren't working right.

Hahaha, well if we're talking dumb shit. I'm a maintenance engineer with over 20 years in the industry. Today I had a conveyor motor not running. Would go if I gave it a hand to start running. Removed motor and gearbox, wouldn't run, removed motor, again would only run unless given a flick to start it.
Decided motor was stuffed, replaced motor, test run ok, refit gearbox, test run ok again.
Refit motor and gearbox to conveyor, test run....nothing. F#(k it all.
Gave it a push to get it running, proceed to check amps on wiring and one of the cables falls out of the terminal.
2.5 hours to fix a 10 minute problem.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.

That should be framed, it really should!

Not sure where I read it but it's something that resonates well in many situations. One of the better phrases to use when things don't go to plan.

I didnt get caught but should've couple of years back
Got my 243 back off my mate after being in aussie.
He got a couple of deer with it, one out to 200m.
I had some ammo loaded for me to try and finally went to go out for a play.
Well dont remember what I did but maybe bumped the scope and the bloody thing rattled.
What the hell? Had a bit more if a play and both scope bases were loose.
He had even mistakenly resighted it in with some other ammo I had for it when he had it and it shot fine.
I asked him how the hell did he hit anything when I told him about it and he had no idea.
He was shocked.

Little Savage storm finished ---- full action bedding job, rail bedded, bolts locktited she a tight unite now, and shooting well.