Re: My Savage 10FP in Manners T3 stock!
My Bell/Carlson Medalist's fit and finish was good. The barrel channel inletting needed a little work. The stock was contacting the bottom of the barrel right in front of the barrel nut, and the gaps weren't equal from one side to the other. A hunk of dowel with some 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around it made short work.
I used a 60 grit tootsie roll to remove a little material from the bedding block, and to rough it up, then used Hysol epoxy to bed it in.
Took the rifle from 1 MOA to better than .5 MOA. Best 5 shot group I've shot is .32 MOA.
Proneshooter: I've never seen anyone else ever mention Hysol epoxy before on this board, and I've been trashed on this forum before for suggesting it. It is a superior product to Marine Tex, JB Weld and Devcon.
Another tip for a Savage is to replace the action screws with quality Socket head cap screws, that have been hand-trimmed to the absolute MAX possible length...in particular, the rear action screw. I think I was able to get 2 full threads more engagement between screw and action by doing this.
And still another Savage tip is to use a 3M scotchbrite wheel to fair-in and radius the forward edges and corners of the bolt head. Doing so made my action feel considerably smoother as the bolt head passes into the forward end of the receiver, and also when beginning to lock the bolt.
