Savage MSR .224 Valkyrie Accuracy Issues

[RamTech]

This will be a somewhat lengthy post, so TIA for your time. Here's my problem - I recently bought a new MSR in .224 Valkyrie. Before breaking it in, I stripped it down, thoroughly cleaned the barrel and BCG, lubricated the action, and mounted a Vortex Razor HD in a Badger unimount. I broke it in by firing one round and cleaning the barrel for the first five rounds. Then I fired two rounds and cleaned the barrel for an additional ten rounds. then I fired five rounds and cleaned the barrel until I finished off a 50 round box of AE 75 gr. This method has always served me well with my three Savage bolt guns. During the break-in, I got a rough 100 yard zero on the scope. I then began firing the 90 gr SMK and around the 100 round mark, I was getting nice 1/2" groups from the bench shooting off a bipod and rear bag. Around the 200 round mark, I noticed the groups starting to open up significantly with both the 75 gr AE and 90 gr SMK. Total round count as of this posting is about 400. I don't expect great consistency from the 75 gr, but it was holding about 1.25" or so when everything was going well. This weekend the rifle struggled to shoot anything under two inches with either ammo while being shot the same way that had previously gotten me the 1/2" group. I started troubleshooting by removing the hand guard and checking the barrel nut for correct torque. It didn't budge when the wrench hit the 35 ft lb mark, so I left it alone. I checked the brake and all seemed well there, too. I disassembled the BCG and made sure everything was clean and tight there. In the interest of being thorough, I also swapped optics and confirmed that with a completely different setup that the problem was still present. Just for peace of mind, I installed the Razor from the MSR onto my 6.5 CM and immediately shot a 3/8" group, so I'm 100% certain it's not an optic issue. During the troubleshooting process, I thoroughly cleaned the barrel on two different occasions with Butch's Bore shine to insure there was no fouling present that would effect accuracy. Clean or fouled makes no real difference. Visual inspection of the bore revealed nothing to the naked eye, but I can't get a good view of the throat. I haven't made any gas system adjustments because it's ejecting about 4 o'clock and has never had any feeding or extracting issues. The only upgrades to the rifle are an ambi charging handle, a PRS gen 3, and Atlas bipod. Another member here posted an interesting reply on another thread about an ogive to land spacing issue that would be the problem with the Valkyrie. The only thing that confuses me about this is how mine started off doing well but gradually fell off. Could this be an erosion issue in the throat? I want to cover as many bases as I can before sending the rifle back to Savage and any input you have is greatly appreciated.

 

 

[Magiccarpetrides]

I think if you do too much more checking you might very well run into warranty issues...if it was my rifle I would contact Savage now and just get the RMA rolling.

[mikegideon]

What Magic said. It's not an ogive/lands issue, at least not the one from the other thread. I would send it back. Good chance, after checking all the obvious, that its something you can't fix anyway. 

Back when I was getting into Grendel, Liberty cut a bunch of chambers wrong on some AR Stoner branded barrels. I believe it affected the Libery brand as well. The only solution was a recall. Frankly, they provided a crappy fix.

Edited May 22, 2018 by mikegideon

[Alleycat72]

Does the rifle bore look like an edge of a  file?

[Alleycat72]

[mikegideon]

7 minutes ago, alleycat72 said:

Does the rifle bore look like an edge of a  file?

It was shooting good groups. Then it wasn't. I can't figure how the picture you just posted could even shoot his "bad" groups. 

Edited May 22, 2018 by mikegideon

[Alleycat72]

1 minute ago, mikegideon said:

It was shooting good groups. Then it wasn't. I can't figure how the picture you just posted could even shoot his "bad" groups. 

As it collects copper, groups will go to hell. You would need heavy copper killer and bore paste to get it out. After that a good fire lapping will solve the problem. Check out the bore. Had the same issue with 2 guns. 

[mikegideon]

8 minutes ago, alleycat72 said:

As it collects copper, groups will go to hell. You would need heavy copper killer and bore paste to get it out. After that a good fire lapping will solve the problem. Check out the bore. Had the same issue with 2 guns. 

You may be right. If I ever find a barrel that bad, they will be replacing it. I'm no stranger to fire lapping. I just wouldn't make it my job on a rifle I didn't build. If it doesn't fix the problem, you just ate a barrel that's under warranty. No matter what, it's gonna be interesting to hear the solution.

Edited May 22, 2018 by mikegideon

[RamTech]

Once the groups started opening up, it continued unchanged with the barrel fouled or cleaned. I pulled the two piece brake last night and discovered a fair amount of carbon buildup between the crown and first port of the brake. I cleaned the crown and swapped in a Lantac Dragon I had lying around and will give that a try in the next day or two. I haven't bore scoped it yet, but to the naked eye, the grooves and lands appear to be okay and there's no obvious issues with the chamber that I can readily see. I read another post on a Savage forum from another guy having a similar issue and he sent his back over a month ago and has yet to hear anything back from Savage. I called them the other day and all I got was some woman who could tell me nothing other than "send it in". Apparently they don't have anyone available to speak with that actually knows what they're talking about. 

[lowender75]

Hey, how did you get the brake off? I can't get mine to budge...

Edited July 18, 2018 by lowender75
typo

[Budchugger]

Have you had any issues blowing out primers?  Just sent mine back to Savage 

[DaveTN]

4 posts over a year ago and gone. Guess we don't get to find out what happened with the rifle.