I know with the factory Savage and Howa rifles that I have had, the action seating and action screw torque can make a huge difference, especially in factory stocks. I learned a torque of about 40-50 in front and 25-45 in the rear worked well.
Howa has the action screw in the recoil lug, and I saw that torquing it first almost always put stress on the action. So I changed my process to torque all rifles.
In my troubleshooting process I often pull the stock and reseat the action if it is not bedded. I learned to do that especially with factory stocks and wood stocks. Doing that would return a gun to shooting good quite often.
Stocks that are bedded and have pillars don’t seem to open up and need to be reseated. That’s my custom actions in nice custom stocks.
Anyhow, if your gun just starts acting funny between range trips, maybe give it a try.
First group is the “weird” group that wasn’t right. I did put a suppressor on for the first time on the rifle, but I knew just the suppressor would do it.
Second group is after I followed my procedure to put the stock on. It is off zero because of new ammo and suppressor on a thin profile barrel.
Howa has the action screw in the recoil lug, and I saw that torquing it first almost always put stress on the action. So I changed my process to torque all rifles.
- start to snug front action screw and barely snug the rear. Leave it loose enough for the next step, but snug so it doesn’t rebound.
- Bump the stock on the recoil pad so that the action seats against the recoil lug. Hit it on something like a sand bag so that it is a dull thud without much bounce.
- Torque front up to about 20 and rear to 10 inch pounds.
- Torque the front then rear in steps, increasing 5-10 inch pounds at a time.
- Test how your rifle shoots.
In my troubleshooting process I often pull the stock and reseat the action if it is not bedded. I learned to do that especially with factory stocks and wood stocks. Doing that would return a gun to shooting good quite often.
Stocks that are bedded and have pillars don’t seem to open up and need to be reseated. That’s my custom actions in nice custom stocks.
Anyhow, if your gun just starts acting funny between range trips, maybe give it a try.
First group is the “weird” group that wasn’t right. I did put a suppressor on for the first time on the rifle, but I knew just the suppressor would do it.
Second group is after I followed my procedure to put the stock on. It is off zero because of new ammo and suppressor on a thin profile barrel.
