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Bought a used Savage 11 FXP3 chambered for .243 Win a couple years ago at a CO Springs gun show for $295 out the door. Put a used Burris Fullfield II 3-9x Ballistic Plex scope on it. Took it to the range yesterday, mostly for something easy on the shoulder to shoot while my .257 Roberts cooled. Took a .280 Rem and .300WM, too, for scope checks.

After verifying the scopes at 100 I verified drops out to 600 on all the rifles. While casing the rifles for the trip home I realized I had a faux virgin target at 300 yards. The .243 was still out so I decided to shoot it a few more rounds. Wind was 20mph at my back with a slight quarter to the right. First shot landed about 2-1/2" left and 3/4" high. Aimed a little left of center and got the middle hole. Moved my aim a little more left and hit the center.

Load development a couple years ago involved 10 cartridges, 2 each at 0.5g powder increments. 44.5g and 45.0g H4831SC printed one ragged 4-shot hole. Picked 44.8g as my load and have been shooting it since.

Was planning on just taking the .257 Roberts on the WY antelope hunt next week but I have two doe tags. Am thinking the .243 should go as wel, even though I rarely take a backup for antelope. It was ringing the steel at 500 and 600 easily.

I have had very good luck with Savage. I own Fieldcraft's, Kimbers, Coopers, and have had several Sako.s and Weatherby's. Usually when I go out I grab a Savage. Just a damn good tool for the job. I have found them to be trouble free also. I have probably owned 30+ Savages's over the years and I do not recall any that I could't get to shoot MOA or better and I do not remember ever having trouble with any of them. I have had trouble with my Barrett, Kimbers, and one of my Cooper's. I recently traded a friend a shotgun for a brand new Savage Axis II SS in 30-06, dang thing shot two factory rounds MOA and a handload I had developed for another 06 into 1/2". It did this 3 times in a row. Need more confirmation but I believe I will be toting it this deer season!

Heavybarrel

Its not unheard of, seeing a savage rifle shoot good.

This one was supposed to be a donor action for a 6.5 CM. First at the range with the dsevelopment loads put that idea to bed.

You should know better than to shoot the donor. Hasn't anyone ever told you that here? By the way, savage rifles generally shoot well enough that you really should know better. Even the real el cheapo steven's 200 rifles shoot great:

I call it "cheap accuracy"....;



Ch, if you really want a good savage at an awesome deal, check out the Cabela's exclusive 12FV. They sell them in creedmoor for $319.00 on sale. Regular price is $419.00. They are good shooters and then there's no need to re-barrel your rifle:

I knew better but couldn't help myself. Had never played with a .243 before.

On the bright side,it saved me the cost of a new barrel - at least until I decided I still wanted another 6.5 and bought another used Savage (111GNS 7mm RM) to 6/5 something. The second one was $275 out the door and had a rusty and pitted barrel, inside and out. Ceracoted that action and am waiting to order the barrel. Probably won''t do that until after Jan 1 as I won't have time to play with it until March.

My Savages are some of my most accurate rifles. Always incredibly easy to find a load for.

I have yet to own a Sako that’ll shoot as good as my son’s savage axis 3 Finnlight sand an A7, all outperformed by a savage axis.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another savage. My 308 is the most accurate rifle i own. Not finicky about ammo, just goes bang every time and puts it on target year after year. I have the syn stock stainless model in 308 paired with a Burris Fullfield II. Cheap setup that works extremely well.

Seeing the same performance out of my Savage products also Lawrence...I have the same Stevens 22.250... and it yields the same results....loaned it to a friend whose handicapped and he dodged giving it back....for a couple of seasons...

I picked up an Axis for $269 at Wally World, in 223 with a one in 7 twist, and gave him that, just to get the 22.250 back...
I have 3 other take off Stevens barrels for it in 3 other calibers....main reason I wanted it back...

a BiMart purchase in Axis 243, that is stainless and has some sort of winter camo'ed stock on it, that says Cabela's Exclusive.. $269 for that one... gave away the cheap 3 x 9 scope on top to some kid for his 10/22....that one seems to like to shoot 3 shot groups of 6mm bullets, into what looks like one 30/06 sized hole ....$250 Cabelas house brand 223 scope on top with 30 mm tube... I think some of these low ball priced Axis IIs are a lot better than a Ruger American...

that and then some Howa's at Whitaker's prices.....the Ruger American is out of sight out of mind for me...

i did not know about the cabelas special 12fv in 6.5. theyve got a $30 rebate going too. unfortunately, no cabelas anywhere near here and they wont ship to another ffl.