First range trip with the Savage 10 SBA 6.5 CM. Disassembled, cleaned, and torqued properly during re-assembly. Installed Athlon Argos 6-24x50, Harris bipod, and Little Bastard Brake. No bore sight, so took about 15 rounds to get sighted in where I wanted at 100 yards (started at 30 and walked it out). I did run a patch down the bore after 3 shots 3 different times. 1st group was the last 5 cartridges of the Hornady Black 140g that I used to sight in. Wasn’t a bad group, but wasn’t great at .96 moa. Then switched to the only other ammo I had on hand, Hornady ELDM 147g. I shot a few to foul the barrel and dial it in at 100 yards as I knew I wasn’t going to stay with the Black. Shot 2 four shot groups, .48 moa and .69 moa. I was pleased so I set up at 276 yards. 8 clicks up and made quick work with 3 hits on the head of the steel silhouette. I then set up at 522 yards and went 30 clicks up from zero and 1 right to bang 5/5 in the steel silhouette center mass. I didn’t measure the steel groups as I did not want to drive through 3 gates to check them out closer.
A few things about the cheap rifle:
The good:
The bad:
A few things about the cheap rifle:
The good:
- Seems to shoot well through the first 40 rounds.
- Factory Accutrigger is adequate and serviceable.
- Almost no recoil as it is pretty heavy (I do have a Little Bastard Brake on it though).
- Price.
The bad:
- Bolt binds very easy. I had to put a certain angle of pressure to work the action after each shot. Hopefully it will get better with more use.
- Cheap but serviceable stock.
- Shot all my ammo.
