action question

There are no READILY AVAILABLE AND SAFE 2oz triggers available for the Savage. About 4 to 5oz was a low as I could get a radically reworked Rifle Basix. This was with enough sear engagement to make sure it would NEVER go off while closing the bolt. Once you shoot a Jewel etc set to app 2oz you will be ruined. A 4oz trigger is a wrestling match compared to a real br trigger.

I shot a Sav all last year in our group matches [ and the first score match ]. You can learn a lot with a Savage and I don't think it's bad choice for your first year of competition shooting when you have so much to buy [ rests, flags, precision reloading stuff, proper cleaning stuff, etc ] and so much to learn.

My Savage [ and one other ] would normally be the first non-br action at the end of the day at the group matches. My problem is that I bought a 30BR Viper for our score matches and was instantly in contention for a top finish. Hmmmm, would a custom BR rig have the same effect at the group matches ???? The answer is yes. I bought a used 6ppc and my fireforming and first load development groups are way better than I would be able to do with my Sav in the same condtions.

I wouldn't be surprised to finish last at our group matches but I do expect to be a lot closer than I was with the Sav.
 
Some thing that has had my brain wondering is can a factory action gun be converted to a benchrest gun? Say a remington action timed and trued, with a jewel trigger, a bench rest stock, a good barrel like a heart, and all the rest of the bells and wistles. Could this gun compeate with say a stoll or a bat action bench gun?
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This is the original question. The answer is yes. If you do your own work, the money doesn't count. If you keep the rifle, resale value doesn't count.

As the thread wanders, such as 2-ounce triggers for a Savage, well, I have a couple of "lighter" triggers for a Savage; one of the older SharpShooter Supply triggers, and a newer Rifle Basic. Whether they get to "2-ounces" or not, you have to pay more attention to them than, say, a Jewell. Can you learn to use them? Yes.

But Jackie's point is well made, I think. If you want to be stubborn, if your joy in shooting competitive benchrest is "I did it with a Remavage," you can get some joy.

But if that's your goal, why post on Benchrest Central? The bulk of the new shooters who come here will get their enjoyment in a more conventional fashion, and will not want to put up with the idiosyncrasies and learning curve of tricked-out factory actions.
 
I have a Benchrest rifle based on a Viper action (so I know what a real Benchrest rifle shoots like) as well as a couple of Savage varmint rifles. One of these, a single shot, has a Shehane stock, that tracks very well, and a Rifle Basix SAV II Trigger that is set to a reliable, measured 4 oz., as low as it can be safely set, dry.

In the past, I have toyed with the idea of a top grade 6PPC barrel for this rig, but after calling the owners of a couple that came up for sale on this site's classifieds, I have some doubts about the ultimate accuracy of such a rig.

If I did go ahead with the project I might seriously consider glue-in bedding. I have a rifle based on a tuned up 722 action that benefited from this. Previously, it was pillar bedded. I know that with a Savage there would be no way to remove the trigger without undoing the bedding, but I have had so few trigger problems that I might be willing to take the chance to see if there is any accuracy gain. Since it is currently pillar bedded, I would probably shoot it that way first (with a PPC barrel) for comparison.

The genesis of the idea was the talk of Jewel making a real 2 oz. trigger for the Savage. Does anyone know where I can get one?

As an aside, once, several years ago, I asked Gary Ocock (fourth from the top in the Hall of Fame) about his equipment, and he told me that he did not have his trigger set to a typical (for Benchrest) pull weight. Gary holds his rifle and is a bag squeezer. The point being that if one can shoot in the same style that he does, current Savage triggers are light enough. Maybe I will try raising the pull on my Benchrest rifle as an experiment to see at what level it starts to detract from accuracy. (My Benchrest rifle has a Jewel HVR that has a wide range of pull weight adjustment.)
 
Boyd, I think if I were going to give a Savage a try, I would go with a barrel block. Now the action is just a breech block & striker assembly, no bedding needed. A barrel block solves some problems & creates others, but on balance, I'd rather tackle those. Can't think of a way to sleeve a Savage.
 
I've owned several trued Remington's and have been doing my own work for a little while now, a very little while. The Remington's make nice hunting receivers and while they can be made to shoot very well, they'll never hold a candle to a true custom receiver, never. I own a 6mmBR on a SS Viper with all the trimmings, the difference between that rifle and my trued Remington's is so great, I could never compare them. For the short range game 100/200 BR, if your not shooting a full blown custom rig with a custom receiver, your just making noise on the firing line ;), you wont even make the top 20 unless there's only 20 competitors that day :)
 
Don't get me wrong, I love custom actions, but let's not forget that a couple of years ago Bob Brackney won the California State Four Gun (Correct me if I miss on a detail.) shooting all classes with Remington actions that he had sleeved and fully blueprinted. A couple of years before that, just for fun, Dennis Thornbury (our esteemed NBRSA president) hauled a sleeved XP 100 out of his gun safe, and won at Visalia, and that is never easy. To say that one cannot do well with a rifle based on a blueprinted and sleeved factory action is simply not true. On the other hand, given the cost of skilled labor, and the resale market, economics favor starting with a used rifle that is based on a custom action. On the other hand, if one has the means to do one's own work at the required level of precision....
 
This isn't a cheap sport!! I have a Heavy Bench gun for 1000 yard that is very competitive with a Remington action, but it wasn't cheap. If you go to Williamsports web page and look around you'll see a lot of guys using Remington actions, followed by Bat and many other others. The Rem and Bat are the most popular. I am currently getting a 6BR put together with a Bat action for most of the same reasons the guys have mentioned here. It was definitely more expensive that the Rem action but not that much more when you are talking about the money involved. You can be competitive with the Rem but you'll only be saving a couple hundred bucks. If your smith only charged you $105 and did a GREAT job he must be a very close friend or doesn't know his capabilities. I too tried to get into this sport Cheap, many thousands of dollars later it finally sunk in. Get out your checkbook!!
 
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