Taking a punt on a rifle - Savage Lightweight in 6.5 CM
Gidday Guys - Bit of a story (or skite depending on your perspective I guess)
So I was looking for a rifle to use for a build into a lightweight style chassis like the MDT-LSS.
I got an "like new" Tikka T3 Lite in 6.5x55 first, it shot well with groups achieved of around 18-22 mm, with the best groups at very modest velocities i.e.starting loads. It was a nice smooth rifle with a nice trigger but to me the balance was horrible, too muzzle heavy to carry nicely. Lots of people like muzzle heavy for offhand shooting but I couldn't see myself doing much offhand with a chassis stock. The Tikka has very nice manners and was a pleasure to shoot in all the positions I tried.
Next cab off the rank was a Remington Model 7, a stainless model I got "like new" but without a bolt, it had obviously been carried a bit but did indeed look very good internally - the new (blued) bolt arrived with an exorbitant price tag after 9 months - I should have cheated and got a PTG one. The trigger was a little heavier than the Tikka but still pretty good. I worked up only one load for it, a very "brisk" 150 gn jobbie at 2670 fps which isn't too bad from an 18' barrel. It shot that into just a tad over an inch, 26mm being the best group. I like the Remington's balance but it isn't as smooth as the Tikka, and mine has a funny mag spring that can cause the odd wee problem - It would probably be easily fixed. Muzzle blast without a can is pretty robust, and it is has a firm kick, not all that pleasant to shoot from the bench.
Some time ago I aquired a set of 6.5 Hornady Creedmoor dies in a trade. After a bit I sold them onto a forum member. Not long after that I was a bit surprised to see him offering them along with a rifle - a Savage Lightweight in 6.5 Creedmoor. I'd had a Savage 243 many years ago and moved it on fairly quickly as I felt the stock was clubby and the action kinda stiff. After a bit of research I found that the Savage 6.5 CM being sold may have had a bit of a "stringing issue" but it was reasonably priced and I felt like a challenge. - On its arrival I found that it had a small bump in the bedding under the barrel nut, but probably a bigger issue was that the sear extension that reaches down for the bolt release button to pick up was touching the stock, probably giving it a wee nudge each time it was fired. All quickly and easily fixed and this particular rifle was pretty smooth - for a Savage. Bolt lift is noticeably heavier that the Tikka (but not bad in comparison with the Remmy) and it cycles and feeds well enough. The Lightweight has beautiful balance, all my Christmas visitors got to heft each rifle and all preferred the balance of the Savage. It's not an easy rifle to shoot, nominally 5.5 lbs, mine weights 7 lbs 3 oz (3.27 kgs) with a Weaver 2-10x42 SuperSlam up.
First load development was at at 100 metres in pretty trying conditions (gusty wind - horrible), groups ranged from 3 into 14.5mm to 6 into 36mm, with several 3 shot groups of around the 18mm mark Its one of the few rifles I've come across that "like" quite "hot" loads, its pretty snorty with a 140 at 2800 fps from a 20" barrel, but as I worked up it put the hottest 5 of them into 23mm, one ragged hole!! Its quite difficult to shoot from the bench, it didn't seem to like a "left hand rear on the stock toe" hold. However it was very pleasant to shoot, it has a de-accelerator pad as standard, and muzzle blast was quite tolerable. The trigger was OK, but not in the class of the Tikka.
I worked the trigger over and refined the load a little and retested in better conditions, again at 100 metres. The load was a Sierra 140 gn SPBT with VV N-550 and Federal 210 primer in Hornady cases. Velicity was 2800 average with one crony, and 2784 average with another - not bat from a 20" barrel. I had to give up after two groups with it, the results were astounding - that skinny little tube put 3 into 21 mm and then 5 minutes later 3 into 8 mm, and that with no cooling between shots, as soon as I could reload and get a good hold I let them go. I think you could say that is very good hunting accuracy from an inexpensive rifle.
I think the Savage will get the chassis stock. The Mausers in the cabinet will sneer at it but they can get used to it, it shoots better than most of them !! Anyone want a Tikka 6.5x55 or a Remmy Model 7 308 ??? Both in nice condition !
PS - I was a bit concerned at the possible pressure required to generate 2800 fps from that little 6.5 CM case, hence I retested using another chrony, I thought the first one might have been optimistic - however it wasn't and Quickload says that I'm probably running at a tad over 65,000 psi, so my brass probably won't last long !!
