Is there any reason to bed a rifle that is shooting well enough?

[Bigeclipse]

Man has it been a crazy time with my wife's Savage Lady hunter rifle. This rifle started life out as a 7mm08 true 3 MOA rifle lol (not to be confused with .3 MOA). It was so bad I sent it in to savage. They were able to get one 1.75inch 3 shot group which they deemed was acceptable and would not rebarrel the rifle. I never got a 1.75MOA group myself but that would not have been acceptable to me any way. Of course I would not sell this rifle to anyone else just to pass on the pain so I decided to go semi-custom build route. First i replaced the budget scope rings with better ones and checked with multiple scopes. Same bad groupings. Next I replaced all plastic parts (bottom metal and such) with real metal parts as some people claimed this could help with accuracy on the savage forums. This cost me 120$. There was no improvement, accept the magazine and bottom metal now looks and feels better but the rifle is also slightly heavier now. Next I inletted the barrel channel just a touch more as I thought maybe the barrel was getting pinched a little and not a true free float. This did not help. I tried numerous re-loads. This did not help. So finally all that remained was bedding and/or barrel swap. Ive never bedded a rifle and savage seems a bit complicated for bedding but barrel swaps are easy and ive actually done that twice with other savage rifles. it does have pillars though which is good. So I ultimately decided on putting an aftermarket barrel on first. Ordered the barrel. I got a magnum sporter profile 23inch 6.5cm barrel for about 400$ shipped. First day out after installing it, I purchased 2 types of factory loads. Did the barrel break in procedure which was single shots for 5 shots with cleaning in between each shot. Then the procedure called for two to five 3 shot groups (until the barrel was not fouling as bad) with cleaning in between. The barrel was already not fouling hardly at all so I don't think it really needed this but I still followed the directions. On the first 3 shot group I got a clover leaf with all 3 shots touching. The second 3 shot group was very close with only one hole just barely not touching the other 2. The 3rd 3 shot group was a bug hole (my first bug hole ever). The first 5 shot group I did was an honest .4 inch group. Needless to say, me and my wife are both ecstatic with the new barrel. The question is, do we even bother with bedding this rifle? This rifle is a deer rifle which will only go out to 400 yards max so im thinking it is not worth it, especially since the only gunsmith near me who sounds like they would do a good job and knows what they are doing is wanting 250$ for devcon bedding job. thoughts? thanks!

 

[therifleman556]

Do it yourself. It's not difficult if you pay attention and don't rush. Never seen a rifle shoot worse after a good bedding job. It'll cost you under $25 in materials and a few hours of your time.

 

[cohunt]

Leave it be

 

[ZSteinle]

Leave it. I've made a good shooting rifle worse with a bad home bedding job

 

[djfriesen]

I would let sleeping dogs lie, personally.

 

[Mustang72]

I d leave it alone unless you have problems with it not staying sighted in in the future. If you decide to do it then take your time and do it yourself. I m kinda surprised savage wouldn't do anything about it for you.

 

[ShtrRdy]

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

[Deviant]

Man has it been a crazy time with my wife's Savage Lady hunter rifle. This rifle started life out as a 7mm08 true 3 MOA rifle lol (not to be confused with .3 MOA). It was so bad I sent it in to savage. They were able to get one 1.75inch 3 shot group which they deemed was acceptable and would not rebarrel the rifle. I never got a 1.75MOA group myself but that would not have been acceptable to me any way. Of course I would not sell this rifle to anyone else just to pass on the pain so I decided to go semi-custom build route. First i replaced the budget scope rings with better ones and checked with multiple scopes. Same bad groupings. Next I replaced all plastic parts (bottom metal and such) with real metal parts as some people claimed this could help with accuracy on the savage forums. This cost me 120$. There was no improvement, accept the magazine and bottom metal now looks and feels better but the rifle is also slightly heavier now. Next I inletted the barrel channel just a touch more as I thought maybe the barrel was getting pinched a little and not a true free float. This did not help. I tried numerous re-loads. This did not help. So finally all that remained was bedding and/or barrel swap. Ive never bedded a rifle and savage seems a bit complicated for bedding but barrel swaps are easy and ive actually done that twice with other savage rifles. it does have pillars though which is good. So I ultimately decided on putting an aftermarket barrel on first. Ordered the barrel. I got a magnum sporter profile 23inch 6.5cm barrel for about 400$ shipped. First day out after installing it, I purchased 2 types of factory loads. Did the barrel break in procedure which was single shots for 5 shots with cleaning in between each shot. Then the procedure called for two to five 3 shot groups (until the barrel was not fouling as bad) with cleaning in between. The barrel was already not fouling hardly at all so I don't think it really needed this but I still followed the directions. On the first 3 shot group I got a clover leaf with all 3 shots touching. The second 3 shot group was very close with only one hole just barely not touching the other 2. The 3rd 3 shot group was a bug hole (my first bug hole ever). The first 5 shot group I did was an honest .4 inch group. Needless to say, me and my wife are both ecstatic with the new barrel. The question is, do we even bother with bedding this rifle? This rifle is a deer rifle which will only go out to 400 yards max so im thinking it is not worth it, especially since the only gunsmith near me who sounds like they would do a good job and knows what they are doing is wanting 250$ for devcon bedding job. thoughts? thanks!

If it aint broke don't fix it but sometimes thats easier said than done. It is a simple and cheap task if you do it yourself just watch some youtube videos.

 

[YZ-80]

I too am surprised that Savage would not make this right. What's a rebarreling job to them to save them some bad press? Hell, I'm surprised they'd let it go back out the door at 1.75 MOA. I'd be ****ed if I were the OP.

Anyway, now that you have it shooting .5 MOA, leave it alone and go enjoy it. Sorry you had to go through this to get a gun that should have performed out of the box.

 

[Dosh]

Big, I think the Savage Is the most difficult to bed. If you've never bedded an action, leave it alone cause it shoots very accurately. Perhaps protect that new barrel with a quality bore guide.

 

[javman]

Leave it alone! Once you go down that rabbit hole you'll be back to square one!

 

[Philo in AZ]

I recommend you take the rifle to a decent Smith and have them bed it. You've already put a bunch of money to the rifle and a pro bedding job doesnt cost that much. Do it yourself is a hit and miss and there are some techniques with Savage rifles that will save you a lot of pain in the future. I also noted in a later comment that you swapped the barrel out. Did you set the headspace with go/no go gages? Not using them can cause some serious headspace issues.

 

[Flatbow]

Leave it.
If your groups start to open up then go ahead and bed it.
With the light recoil of a 6.5 cm it will most likely stay tight for a long time!

 

[ntsqd]

I'd try shooting it for groups in as wildly varying weather as you possibly can. If it is consistent I'd leave it alone. If it varies with the weather, then you have grounds to bed it or have it bedded.