I tried the standard 10-20 thousandths off, then I followed whatever the manufacturer recommended.
As for bullets and powder, Staball 6.5, H4350, IMR4451. Nosier AB150gr, 168gr ABLR, Barnes 168gr tsx. All of these have shot half way decent.
Nobler e-tips 180 gr, Hornady 168gr ELD and 165 gr CX are unusable.
I have taken all the optics mounts apart and that isn’t the problem.
I also sent the gun back to Savage (before the new stock and trigger) and they put a new barrel on.
Start over. If you dropped it off to me, here's what I would do.
Clean the barrel.
During cleaning I would figure out your twist rate. Probably a 1:10, but we cannot assume.
Check torque on all screws. Action screws, scope and rings off and check the pic rail screws. Scope and rings back on and check the windage screws or nuts. Then check the scope cap screws.
Find the rifling via modified piece of brass.
If your barrel is 22" or longer, I would be using a slower burn powder. H-4831 or H-1000. From loading for hundreds of "magnum" rifles across many different cartridges, life is easier if the brass is full of a slow burn powder. They just like to shoot full of powder.
I would plan on seating a 180 gr (if you have a 1:10 barrel) .005" jump. Then verify that length fits in the magazine. If it does not, then we are bound by mag length.
I would start at a middle of the road powder charge.
Foul for 3 at 100 yards, cool the barrel. Foul for 3 at 100 yards. If it's holding about 1 MOA (.3 Mil) I am taking that same charge to 200 yard paper. 3 shots. Cool. + .4 gr for 3 shots. Keep climbing looking for two things:
1. Tight shooting
2. High pressure.
If you find early pressure signs, stop adding powder.
After all that, you have to decide on the tightest shooting charge.
Roll with that charge, and test the bullet jump if you need to. Since I am never shooting bench rest rifles, I test in .005" jump increments. And, you can get away with two shots on the jump test. If two shots looks like shit, there's no need in a third shot.
.010"
.015"
.020"
.025"
Keep going looking for improvement, or an increase in pressure. If you get a jump that two shots looks good, shoot a third shot.
Admittedly, I shoot within ten feet of my loading bench, so this is a whole lot easier. But a guy can set himself up so that he can load "mobilly" at a rifle range.