johnnyk
Well-Known Member
I recently got back in to the .223 Rem also. In January I found a cheap Marlin X7VH w/Tasco 3-9x50 mounted at a pawn shop for less than $325 out the door. I knew it was gonna be a project rifle as I could tell the flimsy "Tupperware" stock was rubbing the barrel and there was no clearance between the scopes objective lens and the barrel.
I had to shoot it "as is" just to see and it was about what I figured. 1.5-2.5" groups at a 100yds with nothing consistent.
Swapped the scope with a Weaver Kaspa series, 4-16X44 ($85), adjusted the trigger down to somewhere conducive for better grouping. Cleaned the barrel out good and then cleaned it some more. Next I trimmed, sanded and trimmed some more on the stock's barrel channel till it was free floated, then I implanted/wedged a 8" piece of 3/8" threaded rod in the forearm between the tip and the block and butts up against the recoil lug mortise and applied JB Weld to it.
After 24hrs I shot it again and it was much, much better; hovering around .5" with "generic" handloads. This was a lot better than when I got it but I had been wanting to try a bedding job on these cheap, plastic stocks for a long time now, so I did. I read up (Googled) on the process and while there's not a lot of positive outlook on those stocks I gave it a whirl. I used up the last of my Miles Gilbert kit and after another day or so I cleaned it up and I have to say it turned out pretty good. Nowhere as purty and neat as a Joel Russo job but hey this is supposed to be fun!
All this effort and it paid of. Right now I'm running 50gn V-Max's ahead of 25.4gn of Viht N133 and Remington 6.5 primer at 3508fps and it's printing in the .2-.3's for 5 shot groups. It's also printing similar results with 52, 55 and 69gn bullets. Other powders I have had success with are RL15, Varget, W748, H4895, H322 and CFE 223. My favorite primers are CCI BR4, CCI 450 and R7.5's. Note: I read the Remington 6.5 primers were designed for low pressure loads such as the .22 Hornet. I picked some up years ago not knowing this but they have performed flawlessly with none being pierced in this rifle or a previous Savage.
I had to shoot it "as is" just to see and it was about what I figured. 1.5-2.5" groups at a 100yds with nothing consistent.
Swapped the scope with a Weaver Kaspa series, 4-16X44 ($85), adjusted the trigger down to somewhere conducive for better grouping. Cleaned the barrel out good and then cleaned it some more. Next I trimmed, sanded and trimmed some more on the stock's barrel channel till it was free floated, then I implanted/wedged a 8" piece of 3/8" threaded rod in the forearm between the tip and the block and butts up against the recoil lug mortise and applied JB Weld to it.
After 24hrs I shot it again and it was much, much better; hovering around .5" with "generic" handloads. This was a lot better than when I got it but I had been wanting to try a bedding job on these cheap, plastic stocks for a long time now, so I did. I read up (Googled) on the process and while there's not a lot of positive outlook on those stocks I gave it a whirl. I used up the last of my Miles Gilbert kit and after another day or so I cleaned it up and I have to say it turned out pretty good. Nowhere as purty and neat as a Joel Russo job but hey this is supposed to be fun!
All this effort and it paid of. Right now I'm running 50gn V-Max's ahead of 25.4gn of Viht N133 and Remington 6.5 primer at 3508fps and it's printing in the .2-.3's for 5 shot groups. It's also printing similar results with 52, 55 and 69gn bullets. Other powders I have had success with are RL15, Varget, W748, H4895, H322 and CFE 223. My favorite primers are CCI BR4, CCI 450 and R7.5's. Note: I read the Remington 6.5 primers were designed for low pressure loads such as the .22 Hornet. I picked some up years ago not knowing this but they have performed flawlessly with none being pierced in this rifle or a previous Savage.
