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Savage 10 questions

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czgunner

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Minuteman
Sep 4, 2007
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Hey everybody.
I bought a left hand Savage 10 back around 2008 or so. I think it was called the weather warrior or something.
It came as a .308 with the crappy stock. I pulled the barrel and installed a Shilen 1:8 .260 Rem barrel and also installed an upgraded recoil lug. I found a take off H-S Precision stock that I think came off of the police model and cut the notch for the bolt handle on the left side and then bedded it. Installed the Sharp Shooter Supply adjustable trigger. Scope is a Bushnell Elite 4200 4-16x40.
It seems to shoot great. I have recently moved and have access to a pretty great range and am interested in learning some long range shooting skills.
Is there something that I should consider changing or upgrading? I've never been in love with the stock, but don't know if anything would make it any more accurate or better shooting.
I mainly shoot 2 gun, and spent some time in the Army. No precision rifle training.
Thanks for any suggestions.
 
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You’ve done 90%. Depending on whether you want to mess with the trigger, you’ve brought her to a pretty high level. Savages shoot great and IMHO are the best bang for Buck you can get.
 
I would think upgrading the scope to something more modern would be worthwhile
The oryx chassis is available as a left hand model.
I bought a right hand one for a rifle that I put together for my son. I was very impressed with it.
As typical, it doesn't feed smoothly, but that might be solvable with a different magazine.
 
I would just shoot it like it is until you run into the limitations of any one component and then change that out. Or change out the entire rifle at that time if you need to. You have already made a lot of good changes so you should be able to shoot anything you want to shoot. Practice shooting first then upgrade as needed to accomplish your next goal.
 
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fdkay said:
I would think upgrading the scope to something more modern would be worthwhile
The oryx chassis is available as a left hand model.
I bought a right hand one for a rifle that I put together for my son. I was very impressed with it.
As typical, it doesn't feed smoothly, but that might be solvable with a different magazine.
Click to expand...
Good point. I was only thinking rifle. A savage can shoot pretty well. Might start considering a burris xtr, Bushnell LRHS or LRTS, or something at that level.
 
Your scope is probably the only thing that you might want to consider changing but you should be able to make it work as long as the scope tracks correctly. Having a stock or chassis that can be made to fit you will make it easier for you to shoot consistently more precisely.

If you don't handload finding match grade ammo that your rifle likes the best and sticking to it will be a big benefit for consistency. Use a ballistic calculator (a couple of free ones are Hornady 4Dof and http://www.jbmballistics.com/) to create good DOPE cards for the rifle. Then learn how to read wind.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I'm not in love with the scope, it was what I could get back then.
What's a good "modern" scope? I'd like a better reticle for sure. Anything more affordable would be better. I get good pricing on Vortex.
 
Evintos said:
Your scope is probably the only thing that you might want to consider changing but you should be able to make it work as long as the scope tracks correctly. Having a stock or chassis that can be made to fit you will make it easier for you to shoot consistently more precisely.

If you don't handload finding match grade ammo that your rifle likes the best and sticking to it will be a big benefit for consistency. Use a ballistic calculator (a couple of free ones are Hornady 4Dof and http://www.jbmballistics.com/) to create good DOPE cards for the rifle. Then learn how to read wind.
Click to expand...
I do handload. Just need to get a bench and set my gear up again.
 
Cheapest modern scope from the Vortex line that would allow you to grow into a bit is the Strike Eagle 5-25x56 FFP. Next step up in the Vortex line would be the Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 FFP. Basically you're looking for exposed locking turrets in either mrad or MOA (your preference although I think most people go with MRAD) that has as much elevation that you can use (ammo dependent) and if the scope doesn't have enough elevation travel, you make up for it with scope rings or bases with inclination built in.
 
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Evintos said:
Cheapest modern scope from the Vortex line that would allow you to grow into a bit is the Strike Eagle 5-25x55 FFP. Next step up in the Vortex line would be the Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 FFP. Basically you're looking for exposed locking turrets in either mrad or MOA (your preference although I think most people go with MRAD) that has as much elevation that you can use (ammo dependent) and if the scope doesn't have enough elevation travel, you make up for it with scope rings or bases with inclination built in.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Is the Venom 5-25x56 FFP EBR-7C MRAD any good?
 
czgunner said:
Thanks. Is the Venom 5-25x56 FFP EBR-7C MRAD any good?
Click to expand...
The Venom 5-25x56 is basically a Strike Eagle 5-25x56 except it doesn't have an illuminated reticle and has less elevation adjustment (25 MRAD max vs 31 MRAD max). If you think you could use the illuminated reticle feature for like dawn/dusk/lower lighting conditions, go with the Strike Eagle. Depending on the bullet + velocity of your 260, you may or may not need that much elevation adjustment. If you don't need the features and don't want to pay for it, the Venom 5-25x56 will do just fine.
 
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Personally, I would opt for an athlon midas tac 5-25 over the strike eagle or venom.
IMHO Athlon does a much better job with their Chinese made scopes. They are available through expertvoice.
Element optics are worth a good look as well.
 
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fdkay said:
Personally, I would opt for an athlon midas tac 5-25 over the strike eagle or venom.
IMHO Athlon does a much better job with their Chinese made scopes. They are available through expertvoice.
Element optics are worth a good look as well.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that suggestion.
 
- Scope
- 20 MOA rail
- Chassis (if you want)
- Trigger (depending what your model has)
- Decent brake (or can) to control the muzzle rise and keep on target after the shot
 
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Looking at these Athlon Midas Tac scopes. What is the HD designation, and does it provide a worthwhile upgrade for the price?
 
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It depends on your eyeballs but generally yes. You see stuff like ED, HD, UHD, and some other acronyms that basically denote the tier levels of glass. One company's ED is not the same as another company's ED in terms of clarity/resolution, distortion, chromatic aberration, so on and so forth. Glass coatings and lens design also matter but in general if your eyeballs/brain combo is sensitive to certain visual abnormalities or if you're stacking multiple lens (corrective glasses, eye protection, and then the scope), the higher quality of glass will generally provide less visual distortion over a wider variety of environmental conditions.

For example, lower quality glass tend to have more chromatic aberration, which is that color fringing on the edges of things you're looking at through a scope, however, if you're color blind or insensitive to certain color spectrums, you won't notice it as much as someone who is color sensitive.

Edited to add - a higher quality scope can be reused/transferred over if you ever decide to upgrade rifles, so think of it as an investment in your future long range shooting endeavors.
 
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czgunner said:
Thanks. Is the Venom 5-25x56 FFP EBR-7C MRAD any good?
Click to expand...
I have the Strike Eagle 5-25 and the Venom 5-25 - both great scopes for "cheap" long range scopes. I actually prefer the Venom and use it on my PRS22 rifle.

I built a 223 trainer off a Savage Model 10/12 action - added barrel myself and put into an Oryx chassis. Using the factory Accutrigger. Works very well for the $$
 
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czgunner said:
Anybody try the TPS rail? https://www.tpsproducts.com/product/savage-accu-trigger-s-a-rail-20-moa-alloy-steel/
I'm also looking at the EGW, Murphy and Farrell (which is what I currently have in 0 MOA).
Click to expand...

I've not tried that rail in particular, but it has a recoil lug, is reasonably priced, and is available for your rifle - go for it. Far less squared-away options with recoil lugs for savages vs the more common Remington 700 & clones. If you take the 5 minutes to clean and degrease your receiver threads, use locktite and torque appropriately, that should be a good modern rail.
 
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