Target Sports

PROJECT RIFLE: IN STOCK F/TR SAVAGE PART THREE

Created on 14th May 2009

After months of waiting VINCE BOTTOMLEY finally has the part he needs to complete his project Savage for the F/TR class

FOR THE last couple of months I've had no choice but to leave you hanging, while I waited for my stock to arrive from America so that we could complete the build. I'm relieved to report that it's here at last!

I ordered the stock on 18 December 2007 and it arrived on 15 May 2008 - a diabolical five-month wait. Unfortunately, this kind of delay can really wreck your shooting plans and it has mine. My intention was to compete in the F/TR class of the GB F Class League this year but the first shoot was at Diggle in April. I also had to abandon any hope of using the Savage at Blair Atholl in June - even if I'd completed the build, I would have needed to get it proofed, run-in and sorted out a load.

Anyway, let's be positive and get on with it. The SSS (Savage Shooter Supply) laminate stocks are superbly finished and simply require a few coats of lacquer to make them ready to shoot. Ours is the Heavy Benchrest model but there are several styles to choose from. The Thumbhole stock is particularly nice but I picked the Heavy Benchrest version because it was the longest - by about 2" - with a really hefty forend, and that could be helpful with our 32" heavy-profile barrel.

The F/TR Class has a maximum weight limit of a little over 18lbs and, if you recall, I wanted to keep the barrel as long as reasonably possible to maximise on the velocity of our 308 Win. cartridge. All GB League shooting is at long range - 800 to 1,000yd - and that 32" barrel should give us a muzzle velocity comfortably in excess of 3,000fps, ensuring that the 155gn Sierra Palma Match bullet stays supersonic all the way to the target. A rough rule of thumb is a loss of 25fps for every inch of barrel you chop off, but this will vary from cartridge to cartridge. On freezing cold days our MV could certainly be marginal and an extra inch on the length of the barrel could just make the difference.

Savage specialist Osprey Rifles has already put together a couple of rifles using the SSS stocks, which shot really well with no further bedding work. The stocks come with two or three (depending on your Savage action) aluminium bedding-pillars already installed and in theory you can simply drop in your barrelled action, tighten the screws and shoot. I like to do things the hard way - even if only to make our build more interesting - so I'm going to attempt to do a proper bedding job.

The first task therefore is to mill out 5mm or 6mm of wood below the action to give a good depth for the bedding material. The installed pillars will also be machined as we don't want the action to sit directly on the pillars - we want it sitting on a full bed.

The inletting work is done as precisely as if we were working with metal, for if we make a mistake it is difficult to disguise as we are not painting the stock. The stock must be carefully set up in the milling-machine and securely clamped in place - being careful of course not to ‘ding' or stain the wood.

After milling out for the bedding material, the next step is to see how the barrelled-action is sitting and if any material needs to be removed from the barrel-channel. It was at this point I found out that the barrel was lying off to one side of the barrel-channel by about 1mm at the tip of the forend. Yes, the channel was perfectly central, it was the pillars which were slightly off-centre and throwing the barrel to one side. Fortunately I was able to get around this by opening up the holes in the pillars slightly.

When your gunsmith builds you a rifle you could be forgiven for assuming that the bulk of the cost is in the metalwork, but the stockwork takes far longer and the stock-blank will be at least as expensive as the barrel-blank. Even though we have paid a considerable amount of money for our lump of wood (or fibreglass), stocks are rarely dead straight.

Discrepancies regularly occur and your poor gunsmith has no choice but to accept it and do his best to correct it - it can easily absorb a whole day.

I could have left the barrel-channel as it was but for me the clearance was a little undersize for our heavy-profile Pacnor. An hour with some sandpaper and a piece of dowel sorted that one and we can now begin to bed the action.

Before we carry out the actual bedding, we have several things to consider. The barrelled action must be positioned to sit properly in the stock. If it's too high it will look silly; if it's too low the trigger-blade may hang too far below the stock and foul the trigger-guard and the action's rear tang could be below the level of the wood in the wrist area. The centre-line of the barrel must of course follow the centre-line of the stock when viewed from above and, when looking from the side, the top edge of the forend looks better if it follows the centre-line of the barrel.

With our barrelled action now sitting correctly, we can mill a small recess for the ejection port. The bolt-handle recess is already cut out on this stock but the handle is just touching the wood, so a little more machining is required as it is essential that the bolt does not touch in any way when operated.

The key to a successful bedding-job is to mix about twice as much bedding material as you think you will need. I'm using Loctite Hysol, which is a two-pack compound containing metal. It's way over spec for our purposes but it doesn't shrink and that's the essential quality. With our bedding complete we have one final task before lacquering. We need to inlet the underside of the forend for an accessory rail as we will be shooting off a bipod, as demanded by the rules of F/TR Class.

The lacquer is a two-pack

automotive product which hardens rather than dries, so any runs can quickly be flatted-out between coats. Nonetheless a warm, dry atmosphere is desirable for best results. Even after six coats the lacquer is still sinking into the grain in places, but I'm happy that we have a tough weather-proof coating which should stand up to the rigors of normal range use. After a rub-down with successively finer wet and dry paper and a final polish with a buffer, the job is done.

One advantage of this finish is that it is easy to renovate. A year of competition will take its toll but then it's just a matter of rubbing down and applying a couple of coats of lacquer to restore the finish to good as new. It now only remains to assemble all the bits and mount the scope and we are done.

Remember our initial aim - to build a better rifle than the factory F/TR Savage? The photograph shows the two rifles looking quite different but there are many similarities. Both rifles have the identical Savage solid-bottom action and both are using the Savage Accutrigger. Both have wood-laminate stocks fitted with accessory-rails under the forend. Both have heavy profile stainless-steel barrels, but the factory Savage has a faster twist. This gives the Savage owner the option to shoot a heavier bullet - up to 190gn at least, whereas we are restricted to 155-grainers. The full specs are in the table above:

At just 13lbs, the factory Savage gives you the opportunity to load it up with a 2lbs Nightforce scope and a decent competition bipod like the Larkin or Sinclair. With the project Savage we need to be a little more selective but with a 12oz Harris bi-pod and my Leupold 8.5-25 scope we are still a couple of ounces under weight. If I need a better bipod I will need to lose a couple of inches off the barrel or switch to a lighter scope like a Weaver T24, which only weighs 17oz.

Blah blah, table on right, summary of costs. This is about the same as a new Savage F/TR rifle will cost from Osprey Rifles - and don't forget, I haven't factored in any labour costs, so I'd say that makes the Savage a bit of a bargain! Our rifle is finally complete but as yet unfired - except for two proof rounds. The June Blair Atholl shoot has come and gone and as I am about to leave for the European Benchrest Championships which take place in Umea, Sweden, I will also miss the next League round at Bisley. Unfortunately I will therefore have to place the project on hold for another month, but then we really will shoot it and see if our work has paid off.

Finally, I would like to thank Stuart Anselm of Osprey Rifles for supplying the Savage target action for this project. If it's Savage you're after Stuart has the F/TR and F Open Class rifles in stock right now - have a look at www.ospreyrifles.com. Stuart also has a number of the Savage target actions in stock in various configurations if you feel like following my route. The actions come with trigger and recoil-lug and represent excellent value.

PROJECT RIFLE: IN STOCK F/TR SAVAGE PART THREE

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PROJECT RIFLE: IN STOCK F/TR SAVAGE PART THREE

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