Lost Californian
Expert
I bought this back in 2021, and have been underwhelmed with the performance since I bought it. I got a Boyd's AT-one stock for it. No good groups, ever. Then ammo became hard to find, especially the 25gr rounds (unobtanium). So I left it in the safe. Last time I got it out to shoot, with one box of 20gr, and some 15gr rounds, it was making more 'patterns' than 'groups'. Ticked me off, life was overall was difficult, so once again back to the safe it went.
I started wanting to shoot it again, but ammo is still scarce, and it is not accurate, so I thought I would pick up a Savage B17, in 17hmr. Started looking, and wow, price has really gone up. Hmm, I thinks, maybe I should look at the B.mag again, see if there is something easy noticeable and easy to fix. Boyhowdy, was there.
Took the stock off, and first thing I noticed was the front mounting stud was finger tight, just a flopping around. Then in just holding the receiver and barrel, the barrel twisted in my hand. What the heck? Started taking pictures.
The red line points out the front magazine holder. The stud holding it is for the stock mount AND 3rd set screw for barrel.
These two just show barrel rotation. Only took slight finger grip to rotate. It moved a lot. The set screw in the receiver is one of the other two for the barrel. I removed the set screws. Broke 2 hex keys getting one out. No sign of loctite anywhere, just a hard job with tiny wrench.
Barrel is threaded in. Threads are a little bit buggered from being loose, but not an issue. Cleaned everything up, and started reassembly. I don't have a headspace gauge for 17wsm, so I screwed the barrel all the way in, dropped in a round, and tried to close the bolt. Back out the barrel until the bolt closed snugly. Put one set screw in, and then the 2nd set screw stripped the hex head about halfway in. Many bad words. Managed to drill the set screw and get it out. Now to find a replacement. No joy from 3 gun shops, or any of the big box "hardware" stores in town. Root thru the spare gun parts drawer, and found one correct size and pitch with an old sight set. Start putting it in, and the dadgum quarter inch drive hex bit snaps off in the screw head. Too deep to grab with anything. Many MANY more bad words.
I abandoned everything on the workbench. Decide to go for a motorcycle ride to clear the head. That's when the rain got here. So I yelled at the dogs and pouted on the couch.
Probably going to take it to a proper gunsmith, get the set screw out(again), and see if he can clean up the threads for the set screws. Good chance I will just strip the scope off, drop the dang thing in the back of the safe, and go buy a Savage B17 precision rifle. At least I can get ammo for 17hmr!
I started wanting to shoot it again, but ammo is still scarce, and it is not accurate, so I thought I would pick up a Savage B17, in 17hmr. Started looking, and wow, price has really gone up. Hmm, I thinks, maybe I should look at the B.mag again, see if there is something easy noticeable and easy to fix. Boyhowdy, was there.
Took the stock off, and first thing I noticed was the front mounting stud was finger tight, just a flopping around. Then in just holding the receiver and barrel, the barrel twisted in my hand. What the heck? Started taking pictures.
The red line points out the front magazine holder. The stud holding it is for the stock mount AND 3rd set screw for barrel.
These two just show barrel rotation. Only took slight finger grip to rotate. It moved a lot. The set screw in the receiver is one of the other two for the barrel. I removed the set screws. Broke 2 hex keys getting one out. No sign of loctite anywhere, just a hard job with tiny wrench.
Barrel is threaded in. Threads are a little bit buggered from being loose, but not an issue. Cleaned everything up, and started reassembly. I don't have a headspace gauge for 17wsm, so I screwed the barrel all the way in, dropped in a round, and tried to close the bolt. Back out the barrel until the bolt closed snugly. Put one set screw in, and then the 2nd set screw stripped the hex head about halfway in. Many bad words. Managed to drill the set screw and get it out. Now to find a replacement. No joy from 3 gun shops, or any of the big box "hardware" stores in town. Root thru the spare gun parts drawer, and found one correct size and pitch with an old sight set. Start putting it in, and the dadgum quarter inch drive hex bit snaps off in the screw head. Too deep to grab with anything. Many MANY more bad words.
I abandoned everything on the workbench. Decide to go for a motorcycle ride to clear the head. That's when the rain got here. So I yelled at the dogs and pouted on the couch.
Probably going to take it to a proper gunsmith, get the set screw out(again), and see if he can clean up the threads for the set screws. Good chance I will just strip the scope off, drop the dang thing in the back of the safe, and go buy a Savage B17 precision rifle. At least I can get ammo for 17hmr!