Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing 300 Win Mag Problem....? HELP!!!

the laminated stock is pretty new, and it shot well for awhile until he turned it into a flame thrower with those 30 some straight rounds.... and then another big round a week later... that's when it started spraying.

what is the best thing to put at the end of the stock... bedding I guess?

headspaced with formed case as a go.... and no go with one piece of tape attached to another formed case... and causes a snug bolt feel... and two pieces of tape is to tight for sure. Don't have a set of gages for it, so this is the country way...LOL.

Tomorrow i'm going to put my Doctor's Suit on and do surgery on it until it LIVES. If it dies...then I'm going to raise the DEAD...LOL.

A formed case doesn't do you much good for measuring headspace since the measurement is taken from the belt on a 300 win mag. Beg, borrow, buy or steal the correct gauges. Be safe.

I read all five pages....one more idea:

Check front scope ring base to see if forward screw is too long and making contact with barrel

I thought about that scope screw, but wouldn't it interfere with the barrels being screwed on and off if it were touching...?

Masking tape on the head. Should close with some resistance with two layers but not with three. Head space should not make the gun shoot bad since you adjust dies to fit.
I have never had luck with fore end pressure so I remove it. Most of the time the barrel node is not there anyway. All barrels have vibration nodes and none will be the same. You can find a node by holding the action and rapping the barrel with your palm to find the dead spots.
I bought a Rem 700 in .280 once, plastic stock. It would NOT shoot. I found the stock was a wimp so I bedded a stainless aircraft tube in the fore arm to stiffen it. 3/8" hydraulic tube. Cured it fast. I used steel bed with it and at the recoil lug, Then Accra Glass for the receiver. Care must be used bedding an action so there is no stress on it. The recoil lug needs clearance at the sides, bottom and front. I use thick aircraft electrical tape, two layers so do NOT bed them tight. Only the rear. Worst I seen was a factory rifle with soft bedding, chewing gum.
Then stock screws make the front 40 inch #, the rear at 25 inch # and any center screw just snug. DO NOT use a foot # wrench.
Pillar bedding works too. Takes more expertise of course. Box magazines must be fit right.
I seen rifles with cracked stocks at the back of the receiver. Fixed the crack and drilled into the stock to inlay a steel rod to touch the back of the receiver. Some Ruger rifles would split there. There must be a tad of clearance at the wood. Wood work is extremely tough to get right. NOT a Bubba job at all. There are 1000 things to think about. Savage has always been a sleeper for accuracy, good guns.

I installed a fourth barrel today, a nice barely used stainless steel sporter... but it sprayed as well....then I installed several pieces of tough cardboard under the front of the stock tip.... but it still sprayed 4-6 in wide 5 shot groups... with my reloads that worked in the beginning... but now... I'm wondering if that could be the problem.... I've tried everything else. I've been using 78.0 gr of H4831SC...9 1/2 rem prim.... 150 Hornady interlocks.... seated 3.340.

I guess I need to start all over and find a Wonder Load.... I guess...

Thanks Guys for all your help.

If it won't shot with 180gr bullets loaded over 70grs of H4350 there is a mechanical problem with the rifle, scope or mounts.

I replaced the old B&C stock on my semi-custom Mark X several years ago. The old stock was the one with the built in sling attachments. I put a B&C Medalist on it. When I did the job, I was sure everything was right.

Recently I've had this rifle shoot some nice, tight groups---with a load I no longer wish to use, wouldn't ya know...I'm re-purposing the rifle and going to a much lighter bullet. Load development has been frustrating, sometimes showing promise and other times stringing vertically several inches.

Just the other day I was replacing the old Mark X trigger with a Timney when I noticed that the front guard screw bottomed out abruptly as I was reassembling everything. Funny I hadn't noticed that before. The action was most definitely loose and not sitting in its bedding like it was supposed to. I don't know how it ever shot as well as it did at times after I put it in the new stock.

Moral of the story: don't dismiss anything, even if you "know" it couldn't possibly be the problem. I wouldn't continue changing barrels, though. But what do I know.

If it’s on the 4th barrel and still not shooting I would guess the problem is somewhere else. How’s the bedding?

For sure, bedding is not easy. Been doing it forever. Over 60 years now and never had a bad one. Changing barrels will not solve it. It is an art to bed a rifle. It is art to make a stock from a plank of wood. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a better result.

Are you getting the picture that it may not be a barrel issue?

LOL.... insanity has left the house... for now anyways...LOL. I knew in my gut that it was NOT the barrels, but I couldn't put my finger on the problem since I had changed several good scopes... inspected the mounts... which are two piece slotted weavers... and are tight... and the screws are not too long that they touch the barrel threads. I just cleaned the inside of the firing pin assembly, it looked clean..... it has to be the reloads or the stock... but then again, it didn't shoot the factory Hornady loads very good either.... so... it is either I need to try a different load or it's the stock.... and i think most of you guys say it's the stock.... could be... I wish he had not thrown that factory stock away.... maybe I should start a WTB thread for a factory stock in order to rule out this stock...just to experiment.

When I first bedded the stock, it shot okay, and was shooting okay until he got it hot and it started spraying. Since then I have removed the bedding around the barrel nut and anything forward of that..... maybe it needs that area bedded again...?

The barrel channel has at least 1/8" clearance all around the barrel length. The lug is more loose bedded than tight bedded... maybe it needs to be tightened up?

I would start with rebedding the lug. You can always chisel it out if it makes it worse. But that’s a lot cheaper than good for new barrels and stocks

Seems that you have more time and money into this than it is worth. I would buy another rifle and move on.

Move On.... only quitters do that... what's to be learned from that????????

Money ain't everything

Check the tang area of the stock and make sure it is free floated. Savages need a floating tang. Also check for a crack in the stock somewhere. I had a left hand Savage 7-08 that shot softball sized groups from the factory because the stock was for a right hand rifle and somebody at the factory cut a new left hand bolt handle slot, but got it too far back and the bolt handle was rubbing the stock. Bad juju ensued. I found it by accident as I was changing barrels. After removing enough stock material for the handle to be clear, it shot small groups with both the .22-250 barrel I installed and later with the original barrel reinstalled.

Using a cartridge case & tape for a head space gauge makes me think a real gunsmith is needed to sort this out........

Well... a few days about I pulled the action and installed it in a plastic stock from my savage 110 30/06, just to see if it was the stock or not.... well.... it still shot like crap. Looks like I have to rule out the stock, and also the barrel... so it has to be in the loads, the scope or mounts. I can't imagine the scope or mounts being wrong because everything looks good and tight... so I'm getting ready to load up some 180 gr bullets to see if that will make a difference. I'll let you know what happens. thanks so much for all your helpful input.

I had posted this thread on another popular forum and have not gotten any good replies like I have here on this Good Website.... thanks so much.... Jesus Bless You All...Dan

Hate to bring this up,BUT, with all that has been done and tried and this thing still does not shoot , could the the problem be the "Nut behind the buttstock?" AKA a good old fashioned flinch? Let an uninterested party shoot it and see what happens.

No flinching by me nor the owner that has shot it way more than myself. I wish that was the problem...LOL.