My new long range rifle, Savage 10fcp-k

[Metal Gear]

This is my first post here on the Snipershide forum and I just want to share my recent long range rifle build. So, late in 2013 I decided it was time to part ways with my Remington 700 SPS Tactical in 223 and move up to a larger caliber, and better equipment. I have always been a fan of Savage rifles ever since I bought one several years ago chambered in 17HMR which happened to be my first bolt action rifle, and is what introduced me to the world of precision shooting.

While waiting for the sale of the R700 to come through, I was doing lots of browsing and research on the internet to find out what kind of rifle I can get the best bang for my buck with, while having good quality and accuracy. The R700 sold and after a couple weeks of searching I decided to go with a Savage 10fcp-k in 308 Win. I purchased it just before the end of 2013 before the prices on them went up so I was very happy! Right out of the box I was pleased with the quality of the rifle and it's components and was eager to start purchasing things to get it out to the range when it warmed up.

Piece by piece I ordered several things and by March it was all together and I was ready to get it to the range. Here is a list of everything I have done to the rifle so far, any and all feedback on the rifle and parts I chose is welcome and I honestly would love to hear what you all think.

Savage 10fcp-k 308 Win.
Accutrigger set to 2 pounds
EGW 20 moa HD base
Vortex Viper 30mm medium height rings
Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50mm mil dot scope
Harris HBRMS 6-9" bipod
Triad Tactical stock pouch
Accustock was taken off to sand down the barrel channel to ensure barrel was free floated. I took the butt pad off and removed the foam on the hollowed out inside of the stock and added nearly a pound of plumbers putty into it to balance out the rifle as it was pretty front heavy. I also did a rattle can paint job on it with Rustoleum Camo.







The next items I will throw on it will be a Wheeler anti cant bubble level, and a bolt handle from Glades Armory. Eventually I will save up to upgrade the stock and get a reloading setup, but for now I am happy with it and just want to get used to it and improve my skills.

So far I have been on two outings with this rig and I couldn't be more pleased with it. The only ammo I have fired from it has been some PMC 147 grain fmj-bt and even with that it has performed very well I think. As soon as I got to the range I setup a sight in target at 100 yards and after about 15 rounds I got a solid zero on it and then lifted the turret on the scope up and indexed it back to the 0 mark. I then fired another 9 rounds in 3 shot groups on the target to ensure my zero is where I wanted it to be and also get an idea of just how accurate it was.

For only using some PMC 147 grain fmj ammo I was very pleased with the type of groupings I got out of the rifle while it wasn't even "broken in" yet. The 3 groups I shot using 3 rounds for the group were between 1" for the smallest one and the largest group opened up to about 1.5". These shots were off a bench using the bipod and my hand for rear support.

After this I headed down to the long range area where I was excited to see how well it could blast some steel targets at 400 yards. I am not sure on the size of the targets I was shooting at as they are provided by the range, but I would have to guess it was about 12" wide and 18" long. The wind was fairly calm this day with maybe a 5-10 mph wind at full value at times. I looked at my ballistic chart I made from the Hornady Website and dialed up 7 moa on the turret and took my first shot in the prone position with no rear bag only suported by my hand. First shot was a miss and looked to be a tad high, I took aim again at the center of the target and fired... again a miss . I then went down to 6.4 MOA and also held towards the bottom of the target to see where it would hit, fired my 3rd shot and a second later.... DING . my face lit up with a big smile and from that point on I fired about 30 more rounds at the same target only missing maybe 2 times.

I ended my day putting some rounds through the AK, and then went home very happy and eager to take the new long range rifle out to a further distance next time I came to this range. The range I shot at was Rayners Range in Ohio which goes out to 1000 yards. It was my first time at this range and certainly not my last. It is about 30 minutes of a longer drive than the range I usually go to, but very worth it on the days I want to shoot further distance as my regular range only has a 300 yard rifle range at this time.

Anyhow, this story ended up being a bit longer than I expected and maybe I got a little carried away rambling on. Hope you enjoy reading as this is my first post, and I am looking forward to hearing what you all think!

 

[madarcher427]

Nice rifle!

 

[Mod Adahy]

Welcome and it only gets more expensive from here on out. It is a blast and be safe.

 

[SPEAK338]

Brad sent you a couple PM's
How's the 22 project?

 

[Spock]

You'll love that rifle. Now get some decent ammo like FGMM 168's and 175's and you will see those groups shrink. Mine likes both. Definitely the 175's over 500 yds. Have fun and welcome to this expensive sport!

 

[usmc02xx]

congratz, welcome to the hide.

 

[Metal Gear]

Thanks for the welcomes! I will make it out to the range with this rifle hopefully next weekend and see what kind of groups I can get with some FGMM 168 grain, and also some Freedom Munitions 150 grain reloads I got for a great price. Looking forward to hopefully seeing some pretty small groups with the FGMM.

 

[bailagent100]

Metal Gear, you've got a great rifle & have chosen well in getting it set up. My fLcp-k is currently my pride 'n joy. Just be aware that when you start using the FGMM ammo with 175 grain pills, you may - may - find the bolt closes somewhat harder than you think it should or than it has with the lighter bullets.

I bought my fLcp-k about 2 years ago and mine has a short throat, as received out of the box. A friend who reloads helped me determine that if we seat the (factory loaded) bullets about five thousandths (sp?) of an inch deeper, the bolt closes much easier and my groups got noticeably smaller. We determined there would be no pressure issues in doing so first, of course.

Those longer, heavier (factory GMM, 175gr, smk hpbt) bullets were being jammed into the rifling and the idea was to back the bullet off just a bit. It worked. If yours has this problem, be sure to go through the complete process to determine what your 'setback' should be. Safety first!

Your rifle may not have the issue but a number of rifles that Savage has produced in recent times seem to have left the factory with short throats. Its been mentioned here and on S.Shooters, as well.

Good luck and tight groups!

 

[djmurf]

I can confirm the short throats on the fcpks that are out there. Just got mine 2 weeks ago, and loaded some hornady 168hr bthp's, seated at 2.800. They were real hard to chamber. I had started at some real light loads and stopped right away. Finally measured the coal with a test round and came back with 2.792, which is shorter than the max 2.800. From what I understand, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but, something you do need to be aware of! Good luck, and let us know how she shoots!

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[mtHunter82]

I grew up a Remington fan, but just recently joined "the dark side" with a Savage 110 BA in .338 Lapua. I was VERY happy with the .5 MOA and under groups it was getting with soft points. Some serious bang for your buck with the Savages!
Some advice...unless you're making huge $$$ and are busy as hell in your career, buy a reloading set. I started with an RCBS kit, then expanded with the neck turners, micrometer dies, etc. Reloading will open up a whole new world for you. If I were to shoot factory match ammo in my Savage .338 Lapua, I'd be paying $7 per round! I can reload for a little over $1 per round (counting that I can reload my Lapua cases 10 times). Trust me, it's worth the investment! Plus, when you get into precision reloading, you can usually cut your groups in half when compared to high end factory match ammo.


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[mrbungle]

i noticed the same thing, anything over 2.80 and you will not be able to close the bolt. great rifle. i own a FLCP-K

 

[JustPlinking]

Welcome to the hide. I had a 10fcp that liked Hornady match 168's if I didn't have any reloads ready. Enjoy!


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[Metal Gear]

Thanks for all the info guys! I noticed a couple of the remanufactured rounds from Freedom Munitions were really hard to get the bolt closed and open once chambered. I need to get some calipers so I can check length on the various rounds I will use. Reloading will most likely not come into play until late this year or early next so I will just play around with factory ammo for a bit. Question to you all, for the rounds that are very hard to chamber, is it still safe to use? For now I just put those rounds aside as I am weary to use them since it is so hard to cycle them.

 

[bailagent100]

Well, my lawyers tell me...j/k...but seriously, I don't know if any one would want to take on that liability in telling you those rounds would absolutely be safe to fire. They may well be but without determining precisely how much to re-seat the bullets, I sure won't tell you to use them.

The worst that would happen could be catastrophic. Somewhere down the scale would be jamming the bullet in the rifling and pulling the case loose when trying to open the bolt, thus filling the receiver with powder. The least of the problems would be just the hard closing of the bolt when chambering rounds. And even that won't be consistent, thereby affecting your accuracy. All bullets are not created equal, after all.

My advice...get with someone who reloads or a competent gunsmith who can take the proper measurements and do the calculations.
Its not rocket surgery but ya wanna get it right. Other options would be to send it back to have the throat reamed out a bit or to have that competent, local gunsmith do it.

Good luck & tight groups.

 

[djmurf]

Do get some calipers. You said you had some remanufactured found that would not chamber, measure this and see if they are really longer than 2.800 inches. If they are either discard them out put them away until you have the equipment to disassemble them and reload them to spec later. Find yourself some commercial ammo that chambers easily, and stick with that for now.
Without knowing how hot the charge is in those rounds, there's a good chance that by jamming them in the lands, you could end up with very high pressures, and I don't think that's worth risking!

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[Greg Langelius *]

The rifle, as you have it, is fine just the way it already is.

The shorter throat seems to be typical for Savage .308 chambers for at least the past decade. I look on it as a hedge against throat migration. I doubt you will encounter commercial loads that are compressed. If you can detect powder movement while shaking the commercial factory cartridge both before and after seating the bullets deeper, I think you'd probably be OK.

If a commercial .308 load is so close to being an excessive charge when shortening the overall length by 0.15"; it's probably already problematic before seating the bullet shorter.

In this regard, I would be more worried about military surplus loads than commercial loads. Commercial loads tend to be less critical because of all the backflips and mediocrities their corporate lawyers impose on them.

Greg

 

[Metal Gear]

Once again, thank you for everyones feedback and knowledge. I am humbled to learn more about precision shooting and everything that goes along with it. Although I have been passionate about firearms for several years, I mostly focused on carbines and pistols and did not give as much attention to the art of precision and long range shooting until now.

I am starting to think that I should save up for a reloading setup sooner rather than later from everything I have been reading and learning about. I will stop at my local Home Depot or Lowes after work today and get some calipers so I can see how close to 2.800 length the rounds are that are very hard to chamber and cycle.

How big of a downfall if any is it that my rifle and many other Savage rifles as you have mentioned have a shorter throat thus making them difficult to chamber rounds near 2.800 OAL? As Bailagent100 mentioned, I can send the rifle to get the throat reemed out or have a gunsmith that is capable of such tasks do it. Is it worth looking into this or is this not a big deal? I should add that I am far from wealthy and it sometimes takes a long time for me to save up for items towards this hobby of ours. I do want the best options for this rifle while keeping budget in mind as I hope to keep it for a long time and get the most I can out of it in terms of long range accuracy.

 

[LeftyWilbury]

I have the FLCP-K in 308. I'd only send it off if for some reason I couldn't find a load that would safely/accurately shoot in it. I've tried HSM M118LR, HSM 168 Amax, Federal Am Eagle 150 gr, Federal 180gr Soft Points, Remington Express 180gr core lokts. The only rounds I couldn't get to chamber were 7.62x51 FGGM (bought by accident but I've read these should chamber in a 308...). All the big brand .308s worked fine. Well, at least chambered fine. My rifle definitely prefers the HSM flavors and I've had good success reloading a M118LR clone. The Federal and Remington 180 soft points were very unimpressive.

I'd recommend getting into reloading, but just be warned, it's a whole 'nother addiction.
Now if I could just get my savage 110 hunting rifle to shoot as well as this FLCP-K...

 

[Metal Gear]

Well I ended up getting some digital calipers today to try to get to the bottom of why a round I recieved that was reloaded by Freedom Munitions, was very hard to close and open the bolt with. Every round I fired using PMC 147 grain fmj cycled very smoothly, most of the rounds from Freedom Munitions do cycle smoothly but there is one out of the box of 20 that I found to be very problematic.

Here are the results I found comparing a PMC round that cycles smoothly and the problematic factory reload. OAL on PMC ammo is 2.7880, OAL on Freedom Munitions is 2.721. Neck size of PMC is .335, Freedom Munitions is .339. About the middle of the brass on the reloaded round was .010 thicker than on the PMC. I also noticed the rim of the reloaded was a bit shorter and had a much steeper angle where it met with the casing as oppose to the PMC or even the other rounds that were reloaded by Freedom Munitions that do cycle smoothly. This brass casing had a marking of FC N/M 308.

Sorry for the lack of technical terms as I have no experience with reloading and only have a basic understanding of the anatomy of ammunition. So I figured the possibility of it being hard to cycle due to OAL can be thrown out, what can I assume now, could it be the ever so slightly larger neck size or casing, or perhaps the way the rim is on this round?

 

[Metal Gear]

I got a couple boxes of FGMM 168 grain SMK rounds and they cycle very smoothly. These rounds came to an over all length of 2.805. It just seems like the tight tolerance of this rifle is picky about the way some casings on certain ammo are. This Sunday I am finally making it back out to the range and I will see what kind of groups I can get at 100 yards with the FGMM. I will post some pictures of my results ofcourse.

I am really torn right now on whether my next firearms related purchase should go towards getting a reloading setup, or to get a couple things for some existing firearms. These are the type of decisions I have a very love hate relationship with lol.