anybody have one of these? they have one at the local store here in 22-250. has the camo accustock and accutrigger with a pretty heavy barrel. have never owned a savage centerfire rifle before. I do have a 17 hmr which shoots great with laminate stock and heavy barrel.
I'm thinking the 22-250 would be a great shooter especially with reloads.
thoughts?

I own Savages in .17 HMR, .222, .243, and .260. All are great shooters and totally reliable. You can't go wrong with the 110/10, 111/11, 116/16 series of centerfires. Pick a model and caliber that fits how you want to hunt and what you want to hunt.

Well, a friend has a Predator .223. Had a good trigger right out of the box and the barrel was floated, so I left it in the stock untouched. Broke it in with 20 round of milsurp FMJs poking and stroking, then fired five rounds of a "random" load I made out of his components, fitted to the chambering and throat.
0.327 for five.
"That'll work!" we decided. Still have not taken the action out of the stock yet.
Kind of disappointing, actually, to have a rifle simply shoot out of the box without SOME kind of voodoo juju. He is shooting through all his virgin brass with no problems, when it's all shot up we'll get a "real handload" for it.

Here is the long and short of Savage, for those who haven't lived with them for a very long time.

They have always had the capacity to make very nice shooting barrels, They just don't always come out that way. Their QC ALWAYS has been, and continues to be, abysmal. At this point in time, generally they are nice enough; but have some REAL turds slip out the door. All in all, probably not terribly different than some others. The real difference comes down to fit & finish. Savage has always been poor in this department. They are generally "Tin-y" and almost always require some amount of tinkering. Nice if you like to tinker, not nice if you do not.

Never had or handled a Savage "turd." Every one, even the Stevens 200, has shot.

I'm glad for you Dave! But they have a rocky history, and with selling out to a defense contractor chasing bids it isn't likely to improve.
Anyone remember the "tight" barrels from the 80's? Or the rash of corrugated barrels from a few years back, or even the current rash of short chambered Creedmoor's that left the factory?

As I said they CAN be fantastic, that's why folks "know" they are shooters. What people forget to pass on is bit about the QC. If they still were selling rifles for the price of the Stevens, a guy would say anything. But when you pay a premium price for not premium build, you need to be aware of it.

Have a Pred in 223...good solid accurate rifle...

Wears a 5-20 Nikon if I recall...I am not a Savage basher...

The Target actions are a helluva bargain platform p/dog gun

Cleaned it up some...recrowned...sanded bbl channel out super clean

Accue trigger is great...right at 24oz...the bbl is a med heavy 22"

So its a tad heavy with glass & loaded magazine..shoots great...full

nuts load & 53 V max...or 'Seafire's' load of 12/Bluedot...

Owned one in 223 a few years ago. Clearly remember it being extremely accurate but cant recall why I sold it.

I've owned and shot many Savages for over 50 years and never had a quality control issue or had to "tinker" with them. I just buy 'em, shoot 'em, and enjoy 'em. Maybe I'm just darn lucky!

I have a Predator in 260 with a Meopta Meopro 6-18x50 on it. It is the most accurate gun I've ever owned.

I've done 1 hole 3 shot groups at 100 yds with Nosler BT120's and Reloader 19.

It'll shoot Moa out to 500 yds (furthest I've ever tried). All this with no work to the gun.

I've just loaded some 130 Accubonds to play with for deer season.

So, did ya get it? I have a Mod 12 VLP in .22-250 and it's a
tack driver.

Can't recall coming across anyone having a Mod 10 Predator
who was not satisfied with their accuracy.

All own are Savage rigs. Not 1 of them ever has been a bad rig. I do all my own wildcat builds as well. You wont be unhappy with that rig...so get it.
On top of them just being great accurate rigs you wont need a gun smith to do any work on them so they shoot.

H2ODr;

What load have you preferred in your 260 Predator?

Danno;

My experience with .22-250 is that they can be very accurate if the rate of fire is kept relatively slow. Barrel heating does not allow the chambering to sustain a Match firing cadence. Rapid fire kills accuracy in both the short and long runs.

My Ruger V/T liked 36.0gr Varget with the 50gr V-Max, and 34.0gr IMR-4064 with the 52gr Matchking. The .22-250 takes over from my .223 beyond 250yd, and I throw in the towel beyond 400yd. I can see 'em, and I can hit 'em; but wind makes the shots a bit more iffy than I like.

My Savage 11VT .223 (a Dick's Sporting Good exclusive) likes 75gr HDY HPBT Match with 23.7gr Varget. and 26.0gr Varget with HDY 50gr V-Max.

Greg

My best load is 45.0 grains of Reloader 19. Set the COL at 2.820". Runs around 2875 on the Chrony.

Thank you, waterdoctor. I assume this load is with the 120 NBT.

My preferred loads are 140 A-Max/142SMK with 43.8gr of H-4350, and 95gr V-Max with 41ge of Varget. These loads are OK with both the Predator and my 28" L-W match rifle barrel.

For brass, I neck down 7-08 brass, notably WIN and HDY. I leave the lower 1/3 of the neck un-narrowed. I chambers OK, and will tend to center the case better with the bore axis.

Dave Skinner, I have been handloading for Savage .223's for over a decade. My current Sav 223 is an 11VT (it's a special for Dick's Sporting Goods). It's favorite is the HDY 75 HPBTM over 23.7gr of Varget. For varmints, 50gr V-Max and 26gr of Varget (Wow..., just wow).

Greg

Seeing as this topic resides in the Varmint Forum, I'd like to say a thing or two about the Savage 11V/T .223.

This is not a direct Savage offering to the public, but rather a retailer specific special product. Dick's sells it exclusively.

Mine is unmodified other than some trigger weight adjustment, and it's about the most accurate rifle (on handloads) I've owned out to about 250yd. It came with a low ball hunting scope that I remounted on my Son-in-Law's deer rifle and I replaced it with a Mueller 8-32x44 Target Dot fine crosshair scope. Both are priced reasonably, and together, they are outstanding.

Greg

Just whipped up 25 rounds of 140gr Accubonds for the Predator using around the same charge as above. Hoping to get out when the rain lifts in the next few days to sight in and get a feel for the performance.

I think I might up the charge in the 95gr to 42gr of Varget, the current load strung about 2" vertical at 200yd in a recent comp.

Greg