Thread: The little pig that could...

So most of you guys know I love the Savages. Easy barrel changes, simple bolt design...

A while ago, I had an opportunity to pick up a long action lefty for a bargain, and grabbed it

Not 100% convinced about the awesomeness of the 270 Win caliber (sorry Ryan), I hatched a plan to turn it into a light-weight bush piglet.

My 7mm-08 SA Savage that is the rifle I take to gong shoots lives in a pillar bedded Boyds stock and has a Shillen barrel (another TM bargain I picked up for $ 75, haha).

So the plan was to take the original factory 7-08 barrel, screw that into long action, and run it in the blind mag plastic stock. Leupy VX3 3.5-10 CDS and DPT can would complete the project. All good so far.

The rifle turned up on my doorstep at 09H30 on a Friday morning, the same day I was supposed to leave for the Taranaki hunting comp run by Gillie. So what do I do ? Well, unscrew barrels on both actions, put the Shillen on the SA and the shorty factory barrel on the LA. Oh, I forgot to mention that in a fit of bravery/stupidity, I had decided to turn down the now 14 inch factory barrel to get more weight out of it - amazing what you can do on a 1940's Myford ML7 ! Most of the 14 inch barrel is now a 0.625 pencil profile., haha. So after a mad dash to the range to zero it, I was off to New Plymouth. The one concession I made to the safety gods was to wear a full face-shield for the first shot... Got me some strange looks from @Puffin who happened to be at the range that day. Told @Gillie the story that night and he just looks at me and shakes his head...

No surprises, the rifle did not shoot all that well, and I spent most of the day missing plates. Obviously the barrel did not like my attempts at weight-loss, or it REALLY did not like 162 gr AMAXes.

Spoke to Gillie's dad about the barrel, and he reckoned that he has never had much joy turning down stainless barrels

Fast forward a couple of days, after some more research, I decided to make a brass lap, and give the crown a bit of a touch-up. Still no joy, basically shooting 3 MOA groups.

The final attempt was to feed it something much lighter. Ordered 120gr Pro-Hunters, and loaded a ladder with those.

Success !!! Shot some tests with these today, 5-shot groups off a daypack, so mimics what the rifle will be used for. Low shot in D was the monkey behind the rifle, so ignoring that one, it was 1.2 moa 4-shot group. Got to be happy with an avderage of 1.5 off a daypack, especially considering what I was seeing before.



It weighs 3.2kg scoped and suppressed, so much nicer to carry than the 4.7 kg gong rifle.

I still have the original 22 inch 270 barrel, so next up will be working up a load for that one using some 150gr SST's

Thats not acceptable knowing how well you can shoot, back to work and report back once you can kill a dot properly

Originally Posted by Gibo

Thats not acceptable knowing how well you can shoot, back to work and report back once you can kill a dot properly

C looks pretty knackered Gibo albeit it needs a click of left.

haha, you would not have said that couple of weekends ago Gibo. missed most of the plates in Taranaki, and then scored nice fat ZERO at Taihape by missing the 300yd plate in a knockout comp...

it's a minute of deer/pig/goat rifle, not a minute of dot rifle

My Savage 7-08 wouldn't group the 162s either.

Berger 140s get very good results now, and from memory the Nosler 120s and 140s also performed well.

Should make a bushpig out the the 270. Works well for the 284 no reason it shouldnt work for the poo70

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Should make a bushpig out the the 270. Works well for the 284 no reason it shouldnt work for the poo70

I'll leave the 270 barrel unmolested for SI trips, and use the shorty 708 up north. Both in the plastic stock, so the gong gun can stay pretty on't

Originally Posted by ebf

You should of seen the look on my face when I scored a nice fat ZERO at Taihape by missing the 300yd plate in a knockout comp...

Fixed it for you

Like you’re honesty though, a lot of guys wouldn’t own up to that.

All good, sometimes it is just not your day... Still had a good day and staying at @andyanimal31 's place is always "entertaining". He cooked all the reprobates a mean breakfast

Where's the pic of the rifle?

Wow that's a pencil profile barrel right there, more than enough accuracy for hunting too.