I built this rifle for my daughter as her first centerfire rifle. It started as a 10FP in 308. It's now a .223 Wylde with a Criterion barrel 1/8, HV 26" (I used the mag parts from a .223 Stevens that I had converted to .243). NSS barrel nut and recoil lug, Stockade Woodchuck stock (painted with textured "stone" paint), Pillar bedded, Leoupy 3.5x10 on a 20 MOA base, Harris 6-9 and I worked the Accu Trigger down a little bit. All done by me, this is the 5th Savage bolt gun I've built. These things are like Legos. I've done tons of ARs and AKs, but I'm a bolt gun guy at heart. I built this rifle to be as heavy as I could and it shoots like a .22 which is what I was looking for. I may add some lead to the front of the stock before I let her shoot it.

I used some of the "pet loads" from my Service Rifle AR for break in at McMiller's last week and had some great results. It shot 69gr SMKs with R-15 consistently under an inch, 52gr SMKs with TAC were about the same at 100. More consistent with the 69s, but the best groups at 100 and 300 were both with the 52's in the .3MOA range from a rest and rear bag. Not bad I'd say! With a little load development this thing will shoot, that's for sure.



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