Trued my Savage action faces yesterday.

F

frwillia

Guest
I used a Manson Mandrel to align them and machined the receiver faces on my Model 10 sporter and Model 12 Target action to be in orthogonal to the bolt axis. I was amazed at how far off they were.

The sporter needed .004" of material removed before it cleaned up, the Target action was worse, it needed .006" of material removed to clean up. In both cases the starting face finish looked like it had been done on a belt sander or something. The first cut, just in contact to get a reference, started with about 1/8 of the circumfrance cleaning up, it progressed pretty uniformly around the the outside suggesting the face was in fact tilted and not too flat.

I'll be interested to see if this, and increased torque, improves how they shoot.

Fitch
 
Fitch, I wrote a report about the Savage target action last year, and discussed the measured tolerances of reiciver face and lug abutments, during action truing. I fit the ones from my shop without the nut, and I have customers shooting in the .1"-.2" range with these guns.
 
The actions are machined from bar stock and early on but after the raceway is cut, the action is placed in a V block and slid into a grinding wheel by hand. The result is acceptable for a factory rifle. I think it was shown on a Boddington tour video, not sure.
 
Jim S said:
Fitch, I wrote a report about the Savage target action last year, and discussed the measured tolerances of reiciver face and lug abutments, during action truing. I fit the ones from my shop without the nut, and I have customers shooting in the .1"-.2" range with these guns.
Click to expand...

Where could I get a copy of the report? I'd love to read it.

I think the Savage target action has a lot of potential. Mine, which is right bolt left port LRPV action, has to be pretty stiff structurally - it's basically a heavy wall tube with a small port in one side.

I have a brand new barrel (6mm Shilen #8 contour with 8" twist) I'm going to fit to this same action. My plan from the beginning is to fit and headspace it with out using the barrel nut. I'm glad to hear it works.

Thanks
Fitch
 
PEI Rob said:
The actions are machined from bar stock and early on but after the raceway is cut, the action is placed in a V block and slid into a grinding wheel by hand. The result is acceptable for a factory rifle. I think it was shown on a Boddington tour video, not sure.
Click to expand...

That is entirely consistant with what I found.

The worst one of the two, the target action. shot in the .2's and .3's up until it had about 2500 rounds down the pipe, then it deteriorated rather quickly.

Fitch
 
I've done a couple of them without using the nut. I used a remington style recoil lug and machine the barrel similar to a remington. They were 243AI's, Shilen select match #7's on sharp shooter/Mcmillian stocks. They started life as 111 model hunting rifles and they shot easily under .500!
 
Fitch, click on my user name and then click on "find all post by Jim S" Then go to page two.
Click on the post about measuring a savage target action.
There is also an update post after I shot the rifle that you can click on and read.

Click on vist Jim S hompage and in the gallery you will see pics of that gun and some groups from inital loads.
 
Jim S said:
Fitch, click on my user name and then click on "find all post by Jim S" Then go to page two.
Click on the post about measuring a savage target action.
There is also an update post after I shot the rifle that you can click on and read.

Click on vist Jim S hompage and in the gallery you will see pics of that gun and some groups from inital loads.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I see that my 0.004" out of plane receiver face wasn't unique. I didn't take all the other measurements, but I'll do it next time it's apart.

I'm hoping I get similar shooting performance out of my new .243 barrel. I haven't chambered it yet, but it's sitting on the bench waiting for me to get to it.

Fitch
 
frwillia said:
That is entirely consistant with what I found.

The worst one of the two, the target action. shot in the .2's and .3's up until it had about 2500 rounds down the pipe, then it deteriorated rather quickly.

Fitch
Click to expand...

700's are similar.
 
frwillia said:
I used a Manson Mandrel to align them and machined the receiver faces on my Model 10 sporter and Model 12 Target action to be in orthogonal to the bolt axis. I was amazed at how far off they were....

Fitch
Click to expand...

Are you ready to do one for me?

Adrian
 
familiar faces ...

Jim S. ,
I went to your web page and I was surprised to see a couple guys (Mike and his son Matt ) with those Target Action Pistols ...I didn't realize you did the work on those ... well done .... Nice Rigs ...
Have enjoyed their company on a couple of those Wy hunts ...those guys are tops in my book ..ask them about the Tipi ...lol


Vince
 
Vince, I'll probably see them in 3 weeks at a local shoot, I think they are both comming to it. Good pair of guys.
 
An update to the method Savage uses to face their actions. From the pics of a newer centerfeed action, this wasn't touched by the wheel as I've seen in the video. I can only hope its milled in the same set up. A new shooter stopped by with this action today for me to true up the face, I'll set it up and measure it to see exactly what is out. I suspect the action was misaligned when clamped and the lugs, face and threads are still true to each other but not to the rest of the action. Anyone have some info on this?

I should have mentioned, the relevant marks are on the face itself and appear to be made by an endmill not a grinding wheel as before.
 

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PEI Rob said:
An update to the method Savage uses to face their actions. From the pics of a newer centerfeed action, this wasn't touched by the wheel as I've seen in the video. I can only hope its milled in the same set up. A new shooter stopped by with this action today for me to true up the face, I'll set it up and measure it to see exactly what is out. I suspect the action was misaligned when clamped and the lugs, face and threads are still true to each other but not to the rest of the action. Anyone have some info on this?

I should have mentioned, the relevant marks are on the face itself and appear to be made by an endmill not a grinding wheel as before.
Click to expand...

I'll be interested to read your post after measuring and truing the action.

Thanks
Fitch
 
All of the new receivers are made on Okuma machining centers. They can be identified by a series of numbers engraved vertically in the under side of the tang.
 
Well, it took a little longer than I thought to actually measure it because its very straight. Less than a half a thou on the face but if I'm correct and Savage uses the same set up to do the face its likely most of that is my simple set up. I did it a few times and got less than an indicator mark each time. I installed some long base screws and ran the indicator past those, unbeliveably straight as well, less than 3 thou average on the rear screw, the others were much better. Not the best method but quick and accurate enough to eliminate as the source of barrel misalignment. The recoil lug is shamefull and now thrown where it belongs. Although the barrel nut was removed with an adjustable wrench and gouged severly and repeatedly, it seems to be fairly straight. I don't have enough ambition yet to make a tapered or expandable stub to true these.

Cheers,
Rob
 
Hi Fred, noticed that too, commented on not seeing that before to the guy.
 
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