Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rifle with poor accuracy

I have a savage 10 in 7mm-08. I can't get this rifle to shoot. I really want it to shoot but me and another guy at the range just can't get her within 10 " on paper at 100 yards. What would you do? Would it be worth contacting savage and see if they can help? tried 3 scopes, 2 sets of bases, checked the action screws and it just flings winchester, Remington and fusions all over the place. Rifle was bought in 2006.

Check for nicks or burrs at the crown.

Did that too, even took a quetip to it to make sure. Could it be the rate of twist?

Doubt it.

Are the bullets hitting sideways or perfectly straight on?

Looks like straight in, just all over the place, in all areas of the target.

You must have the only savage in existence that doesn't shoot lights out....

Yeah for real....

how did it shoot in 2006? what have you done to gun since then? have you cleaned the barrel?

I've had several Savage rifles, never had or shot a bad one. But I've never found one that impressed me enough to earn a permanent spot in my safe either. I've got several other brands that shoot as well or better, cost about the same and look a lot better doing it.

For anything to shoot that poorly something has to be way off. Probably something simple like loose action screws or scope mounts.

I've seen some pretty impressive savages. one was actually a stevens 200 in .223 and it would consistently put 10 bullets into a little more than 1/2". Hate shooting against that SOB... Recently a friend showed up with a savage in 308 and that thing would shoot 3/4" groups on demand. I had to put my new winchester model 70 away and throw the ruger hawkeye back under the seat of the pickup . I was so impressed with that rifle because it shot everything great, from factory federals and remingtons to my handloads!!!! It shot my worked up handloads (my 308's pet load) better than my fine tuned rifles did that day....I was glad when he brought his 270 (savage) over and it didn't shoot that good: It averaged groups of around 1 1/2" (3 shot) while my 30-06's were all making it look bad (5 shot groups of less than 1" per norm..). But for the most part, I haven't really seen a bad shooting savage, so yeah something has gone awry with it.

Come on Semi answer duckndawg's questions:

how did it shoot in 2006? what have you done to gun since then? have you cleaned the barrel?

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I have encountered two rifle owners this year that had accuracy issues. Both had been using hoppe's #9 exclusively for years. Bore scope inspection showed massive amounts of copper. One actually had lumps in a few locations. How you clean it is critical. Share with us the products you are using to clean your rifle.

If you can get to a bore scope you it will help you get to the bottom of the issue. The scope is also good for inspecting the crown. You can see anomalies that cannot be seen otherwise.

Another thought.... are any machine screws bottoming out before tightening up? Unfortunately this is hard to figure out. An action screw or scope mount screw that hits bottom before tightening the stock or a base will seem tight and allow shifting of scope or action. Inspect all blind/dead end threaded holes for debris in bottom. Sometimes a stock will have been compressed causing the action screw to bottom out. The action screw can be ground shorter quite easily and problem is solved. I once put the wrong length screw (too long) in a rem action to hold the front base. It is easy to make the mistake.


Let us know what you discover.

Yes, gun has been cleaned. Back in 06 I didn't use the rifle. I used my M70 for deer season as I didn't have time to sight it in. It's been in the safe for a few years. Last year I pulled it out to sight it in and couldn't get it to shoot. Replaced the scope, bought talley rings and had it boresighted at Gander. got back to the range again this year and same result. I left it with a range master and asked him if he could get it to shoot and I would pick it up in a week. Same thing with his shots. He showed me his targets and they look like mine. The biggest spread was 11.75" from high right to low left at just under 100 yards.

I use Hoppes to clean all my guns

Send it in to Savage, with a note and targets.

Gunner

+1.

I sent one back to them, & got it back in about a month with a target showing a 5 shot group < 1".

FC

+1 on that

move the target closer.

Keep us posted- I am very curious as to what the cause might be. I have one guess but will keep it to my self. Good luck.

Sounds like it's got a .308 barrel marked 7mm-08.

Or you're shooting .260 ammo in it. I had a .338 that wouldn't shoot any .264 ammo worth a durn!!!

Seriously, though, my guess would be the crown or action screws.

I've run across a bad Savage 308, a heavy barreled "tactical" model. The interior of the bore was so poorly finished and copper fouled so heavily that to hit a deer with a 150 grain bullet you'd have to fire a 180.

When I tried cleaning it the goop that came out of the muzzle looked like copper based never seize compound.