I do a good bit of competitive shooting, but mostly USPSA and 3-gun.  While I have always wanted to dabble in PRS matches, I have to drive a good bit to get anything more than 400 yards,  and I know that I won't be able to devote a ton of time towards it any time soon. Because of this, I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on this project, but I still wanted to be able to play a little.  So this is what I came up with.

I took advantage of the Savage rebate after Christmas, and picked up this 110 Desert Tactical in 6.5 Jesusmoor.  I know Savage is the rifle of the Poors around here, but I figured I'd use this rifle to figure out if I wanted to sink a bunch of money into the sport later down the road.  It was $435 shipped, which I felt was pretty reasonable for what you get.





The scope was free, believe it or not.  It was a prize-table-pickup from a match I shot a while back.  It's a Vortex Razor 4.5-27.  I never would have spent this kind of money on a scope, but dang...It's pretty awesome.  I guess you could count the match entry fee as the cost of the scope, so call it $300.

I picked up the Grey Ghost Precision muzzle brake and Leupold MkIV steel rings off the EE.  Both were essentially new, but out of the bag/box, and were a steal (compared to new).  Again, I don't know that I would have bought them if I was building a new rifle, but I was going for quality, yet cheap, so these fit the bill.

Pretty much the only thing I bought new was the Accu-Shot rail that replaces the two sling swivels and turns it into a Pic rail.

I was finally able to make it to the range today, and got to put a few rounds through it.  I decided to zero at 200 yards, since I zero all my 3-gun rifles at 200.  I'm really new to this, so I'm open to suggestions if this is wrong-think.  I had three different loads on hand--Sellier & Bellot 140 FMJ, Hornady Match 140 ELD and Federal Gold Medal Match 140 SMK.

After a bore sight, I went right to 200.  I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of my 100 yard groups, but all three loads were well under one inch.  So, right to 200.

The rifle certainly had an affinity for the Frderal GMM over the Hornady Match.  Here's the GMM:



My fancy shot-group-measuring device says it's right at an inch.

Next up was the Hornady 140 ELD:



Not quite as good as the GMM (and I only fired 4 on that one for some reason).

Then the S&B:



I then went to 300 and shot 3 rounds of the S&B.  I came back about an hour later and shot 2 more at the same target, which produced two distinct POIs.  A cold front (and a little rain) had moved through in between the two groups, so I don't know if that could have affected it, or I just suck (probably the latter).  I did recognize that my target/bull that I was shooting at at 300 yards was way too big, and I had a hard time figuring out where the center was.



Then I went to 400 (the furthest I can get at my local range).  I shot both the S&B and the Federal GMM.  I was really happy that the S&B not only grouped petty well at 400, but it was very close to the GMM.  The S&B 140 FMJ is only like 55 cents a round, so I'll probably be shooting more of that then anything else--and If I feel like I need the accuracy of the GMM, the two are pretty close in POI (at least out to 400--I'm sure they diverge further out).



Not shown, but I also did a 'tall target test' and was very pleased that I had somehow apparently mounted my scope level.

Anyway, that's my budget bolt gun.  I hope to get myself out to a range where I can get some dope out much further, and hopefully shoot a couple of matches.

Cheers!

You'll enjoy it. Ever since getting my first Savage, I've gen hooked on them. They shoot great (as you see), hold up well, have great customer service, etc. Plus there is tons of aftermarket support and you can do pretty much any work at home without a gunsmith. I'm not sure why they get some of the hate they do. I much prefer my model 10 to my Remington 700.

Looks like a good shooter. Consider yourself lucky, I'm in the land of 100 yard ranges (at least for the public).

I did locate a range that goes out to 400 yards, but it's a 2 hour drive, and in another state.

Wish I had known those were being rolled out. I bought about a year before they hit the shelves.

What do you think of the stock? Would a boyds be an upgrade?

My son is currently working with a new one of these. With quality ammo it came out of the box shooting 0.75MOA and with handloaded Berger hybrids its under 0.50MOA. The only compliant he had was that the borescope showed a lot of tool marks and it was coppering badly. He ran a partial round of Tubbs Final Finish through it and it now cleans up pretty good. Ton of rifle for the money.

Dude you’re going to love that setup.

Mine will do this with factory ammo:
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Make sure your torque everything down though. The factory sucks at that.

Savage is good stuff, and I've never had one that didn't shoot. Their method of mass producing them with the barrel threaded down on a headspace gauge (rather than finish reamed once installed) and the floating bolt head, leads to phenomenal accuracy.

I was a LE sniper for many years, and two guys on our team had the 110's, and shot them into the thousands of rounds through several schools. They would keep up with the other guys shooting custom sticks that cost thousands more.

Wow, those are amazing groups!

Yeah, I removed the rail, de-greased and re-torqued the bolts before I mounted the scope.  Thanks for the advice!

The stock too, torque the action screws to 40in-lb. my bolt was stiff for a long time so I installed a lift kit on it and love it. As the gun approaches 1600 rounds it’s not showing any signs of letting up.

I’ve considered upgrading to a MDT-ACC but I probably won’t since it wouldn’t give me enough for an accuracy improvement to justify the cost.

I'll check the action screws as well--thanks!

I wouldn’t touch the action screws if you are happy with the way it is shooting.

I have a love hate relationship with Savage. I love what you get for the money! But the action leave a little something to be desired in my opinion. I really wish Savage would sell just barrel as well! I would kill for a cheap an accurate AR-15/10 barrel or bolt gun barrel. The would kill the market!!

hey that's a pretty nice set up ya got . I basically got my rifle for free a ruger American predator but I had to buy the razor gen 2  I don't regret it . I have not shot any matches yet but plan to start in the next month or two . Lucky me I have a friend who owns a range that is only used for prs/ steel tactical matches . He took me to the range and spent a day with me  giving me pointers and explaining how the matches were run. I was using American gunner 140 grain and surprising enough I had my dope down pretty good out to 850 yds . I suppose even a blind hog finds a acorn sometimes . I have committed to run what I have for a year and use the time to learn . by then I should know what I want plus I have a good optic already  no matter what the out come is . good luck and have fun .

I don't take anybody seriously who dismisses the ability of Savages to shoot well.    And you're going to have a much easier time of it than everybody running cheap glass in cheap rings on rifles that cost twice as much.  

I'm with you. Full disclosure, I ended up selling my Savage and getting a custom. However, I've never seen a Savage out of the box that wouldn't shoot. They might be a little clunky, but they're a solid action, great barrel nut system, and great factory barrels. One of the biggest criticisms that I see about them are bad/broken ejectors. Had no problem with mine, but even if you do it's a $25 fix. If that is what people are going to say is one of the biggest drawbacks, they're doing pretty well in my opinion.

FML. Mine's 1.25" with any and everything.

I'm shooting the Alabama Sectional USPSA championship at the CMP range next week, and I think I'm going to go a little early and spend a couple of hours on the 600 yard range.  At least I can get some good data out to there.

Not bad, OP! Savage has a bad rap, but they’re not bad rifles. You may want to go through it to verify all fasteners are torqued correctly, but they’re completely serviceable rifles.

And hey, whenever you decide you’re tired of the PRS game, I’ll take that Razor off your hands for double your money!

So I went out to chrono some ammo today in a number of different guns, and I threw my 'project-cheap' rifle in the truck, as I had a few rounds of FGGM left.  I know, I know, it's only three rounds--but it was all I had left.



Not too shabby for a $435 rifle.  As soon as all this Coronapocolypse BS is lifted, I'm going to hit a couple of local-ish PRS matches to have some fun.