Stunk it up with my new 12FCV today :(

[ThaDoubleJ]

Took my brand spanking new 12FCV (accu everything) to my local shooting dirt today. Broke it in by firing one shot, then brush, then hoppes 9, then sweet 7.62. Did for the first ten shots, switching between 32 and 40gr factory Hornady ammo. I had it shooting pretty close to POA, moved my target to 100yds, then proceeded to fine tune the zero with the 40gr ammo. 1st shoot went to the bull, second touched it, third was three inches right (jerked it), blah blah blah. Never really fired a group that I found impressive, so I switched back to the 32, thinking maybe it prefered the lighter stuff. Three shots, felt real good, couldn't see them, so I figured they were all through the bull. They weren't. They weren't even on the paper. I finally found them in a piece of wood about a foot low and right, grouped around an inch. Went back to the 40gr, shot went right were I sent it. Fired a seven shot group at my last clean target, and got something in the neighborhood of a 3" group. I wasn't shooting my best today, little wind, lot of sun, laying in rocks, but something seems wrong with the loose 40gr groups, and I've never heard of a gun shooting different weight ammo a foot away from where it should be. Anyone have any ideas?

[NESHOOTER]

FPS will affect alot and move POI's all over the target as far as the 40 grs it could be it just don't like something about them. go out another day with only the same gr load and same lot and shoot for grouping once you fire a couple of fouling shots for the barrel and working towards the bulls eye. After all she's new and needs to be stroked properly.

[Neil S.]

Factory 32 and 40 gr V-Max rounds grouped about 8 inches apart in my savage 12 FV barrel. Just the other day I screwed on a new Criterion barrel (11 twist) and it loves factory 40 gr V-Max! I wonder if it will shoot 32's into the same POI...

[ThaDoubleJ]

I called Savage this morning, she said the 40s generally shoot better for them, so I guess I have about 35 rds of 32s for sale or trade, and I'll see if I can't tighten up my skills a bit.

[Hedge]

Don't be hasty DoubleJ,

I have the same model and it shoots 26gr Varmint Grenades, 32gr. Vmax and 40 gr. Vmax just fine. It's only a matter of tuning your load.
Out of the box, mine was shooting under MOA from factory loads.

One thing you might check, though, is the torque on your action screws. The manual tells you what order and how to tighten them.

I've also heard that factory Savage barrels aren't as smooth as they could be. Wasn't the case for mine but you might want to look into barrel break in procedures.

[kirk]

Read this post and assumed somebody shot a pole cat.

Kirk

[ThaDoubleJ]

I found the order for the action screws, but didn't see the torque specs, I'll have to check that again. I did break in the barrel, one shot at a time, removing copper in between. As far as tuning my load, I'll be shooting factory for quite a while, put off way too many projects around the house and car to get this .204 bought, and it'll be a while before I have enough dough for reloading equipment.

[Hedge]

Re-read your post. 1 foot of group separation between bullet weights does seem extreme. I do have to re-zero my scope when I change bullets. But, not that much.

Torque is approx 40 in/lbs

Not knowing your skills or shooting experience, I'll ask your pardon for what might sound basic. No offense meant.

Some things to check:

Muzzle crown - clean, sharp, no burrs or dings.
Scope mounts - tight but not crushing tight, aligned so as not to put torque on the tube between mounts, no indication of movement due to recoil
Scope itself - does it track right, will it come back to zero after elevation or windage adjustment? Parallax adjustment. Is it correct?
stock/barrel contact - anything stuck between the barrel and stock? The barrel should be free floated all the way to the receiver mount.
Barrel heat - warm but not too hot to touch. A hot barrel makes POI unpredictable.

One thing more; When you run a patch through the barrel, do you find some spots tighter than others? If so, there is probably some carbon or copper build up there. A good carbon remover along with a good stiff nylon brush will take care of the carbon. KG-12 will get rid of the copper. If that doesn't do it, some strokes with JB bore polish on a mop might be called for. But don't over do it.

NESHOOTER is right about the new barrel and about the 40's you're using. Mine just doesn't shoot well with Sierra's but does nice 1 hole groups with Vmax. Doubt if I'll ever figure that out.
Like he suggested, try another day. Had an off day at a silhouette match Sunday. Just could not hit the 200 yd rams with my 45/70 and at the previous match dropped 7 out of 10. It happens.

[ThaDoubleJ]

Off day is definately a possibility, I have plenty of them. Is the 40 in/lb spec for the accu stock? If so, I'll check the torque. The barrel is free from the reciever forward, but at the very front left there is a spot where a dollar will fit, a business card won't, and it concerns me. Crown looks absolutely great. Scope bases, windage screws, rings, etc all torqued to Leupold's specs. Scope is a Sightron SII Big Sky 6.5-20x50. Paid 630ish for it, so I'm really hoping it's not the problem. Shots were 5-10 minutes apart, cloudy day, barrel was warm, but not hot. No tight spots in the barrel that I can feel, and I ran at least 25 patches of sweets 7.62 down it during the break in, so I hope there's no copper left in there, but sometime this week I'm going to clean it again and run patches till they come out cleaner than they went in, see if I can get any blue out of there.

[Hedge]

Sounds like you covered the bases well.

If the dollar bill will fit, it should be ok. But, if you decide to remove the stock, follow the manual closely. There is an aluminum wedge that tightens on the recoil lug. It's finicky to get it back in place. Also, there is a specific tightening sequence that's described in the manual (pg 31). Read it through a few times until you get a feel for it. And, yes, the 40 in/lbs is for the 3 action screws.

How's the parallax on the Sightron? Again, apologies if you already know this.
Often, the manufacturers call the parallax adjustment a focus. It's not. It's an adjustment to place the focus on the same plane as the reticle and needs to be adjusted for each magnification setting. Also, don't rely on the range markings on the adjustment knob. They are an approximation at best. Not even Nightforce makes one that's dead nuts.
Adjustment of parallax is accomplished when you can move your head around slightly and not see a shift between the cross hairs and the target. Neither cross hair should move relative to the target. If either hair appears to move and the other doesn't, there is a slight error in the optical alignment.
Also, the diopter adjustment: the best way to set that is to sight on something plain like the sky or a white building with no details to cause your eye to focus on them. Adjust the diopter until the reticleis in sharp focus. You'll need to look away frequently or the eye will try to adjust. You'll know it's set right when you take a quick look down the scope and the cross hairs are immediately nice and crisp.

Just to give you some encouragement regarding the accuracy capability of the 12 FCV, here are a couple of load tests I've done:

26 gr. Barnes Varmint grenade (not sure what happened with shot #1...shooter most likely)


40 gr Vmax

[ThaDoubleJ]

I've got the new (or just different?) accu stock with only 2 action screws and without the wedge, so I'll double check the mounting procedure and make sure I did it right.

Parallax - I vaguely understand the concept, and Sightron does call it a 'side focus', but they don't mark ranges on it like my Cabellas, there's a fixed dot and a graduated scale. I just cranked it around till the target came into focus, I'll play with it more next time and see if I can duplicate what you're talking about.

For the diopter portion, I'm guessing that's the adjustment of the eyebell? Not sure if that's the right term, but I mounted the scope to my 10/22, went outside, and adjusted that back and forth while opening and closing my eye against the sky as a background, until the crosshairs were instantly in focus when I opened my eye, then tightened the lock ring. I think I followed a Brownell's tutorial on that one.

PS, how do those Barnes VG boolits work on P dogs? The concept sounds awesome, but does it translate to bigger splats in the dogtown?

[Hedge]

I called them all actions screws but there are only 2 real action screws and 1 wedge screw. There's an action screw in front of the mag well and one behind it under the bolt release button. The wedge screw is forward of the front action screw.

Wish I could show you what I was trying to describe about adjusting the parallax. The target may appear in focus but there may still be enough parallax error to throw your shots. I checked the Sightron site to see if I could find your reticle. I see only 2 versions for that scope. In any case, if you have a center dot, put that on a colored target dot and do the check for parallax.

The diopter portions is the eye adjustment. Sounds like you did that one.

Haven't tried the Barnes on P-dogs yet. But, stripers and bigger ground squirrels come apart in a most spectacular way. My wife has a way of hitting them that makes them launch like a rocket.

[ThaDoubleJ]

I do have the tiny center dot reticle, not sure when I can get to the range next, but maybe I can range something in my neighborhood and play with it a little bit.

[Hedge]

That will work.

Try moving your head in small, circular motions when you look through the scope. If the parallax has been adjusted out, the dot will stay on target. If not, you will see the dot oscillate around the target with your head movement.

BTW, to see just how far off my shots would be if the screws weren't properly torqued, I loosened them and zeroed the scope on the group. Then I re-torqued them...how's 2 feet for a change of POI at 100 yds! Shot a group with 26 gr and 40 gr each after torquing to re-zero the scope for each bullet...POI difference between bullet weights was 1 1/4" El and 1 1/2" Wind.

[ThaDoubleJ]

This caliber seems very sensitive to even the smallest changes. I can pull scopes, swap them, put them on backwards, and mount them with rubberbands on my rimfires and things move around 1/2" or so at best, but this is the first time I've spent good money on good components, and it's a way different game.