Savage Edge. 308. (Merry Christmas to my Dad)

[vujade]

This is my Christmas present to my Dad.   (some of you met him; he sat next to me during Chip's workshop a few days ago)  (He's not a member of TGO yet so I share this with you guys!)

 

 

I 'borrowed' his Savage Edge in 308 (I told him I would be fixing his scope (It needed to be moved forward) and so I did, but I did this too...) I made him some very custom rounds.

 

First, these are what you can expect from a very stock Savage Edge using factory ammo wearing a nice Vortex scope.  (all I had were some Prvi Partisan in 165 weight bullets.  According to my brother (with the same rifle), he can get .75 to 1.5 inches using Federal ammo.
 

 

After about 100 rounds of careful OWC (optimal weight charge) testing (Learned this from Gordon), OAL testing and finally neck size vs. full size testing (yes, neck sizing helps groups), I finally settled on a load last weekend.  I returned his rifle with the 'scope fixed'.  =)

 

 

With 41.3 grains of ammo (I wanted it slightly lighter to help recoil and found this bottom node for accuracy)  all manually weighted, setting an OAL of 2.840 and necksizing and other good brass prep (cleaned/uniformed the flash holes, trimmed cases, cleaned them, etc.)  (excellent brass from DBTN by the way), these were the final groups. 

 

(I normally do 5 shot groups but with the thin barrel and how this gun will be used, 3 shot groups were used instead)

 

 

The rifle can now do .5 inch groups all day long! 

 

Now the rest of the story:  

 

My dad always provided for us.  Growing up, I never knew hunger and while I knew we weren't rich, I never felt without.   I had clothes, shoes and the latest video games.   He made sure mom stayed home so that she can always cook us a warm meal and help us with homework. It's only until I grew up a bit that I realized these sacrifices he did and still does. 

 

One of my early memories (that he probably doesn't know of) is how I would notice him visit my brother and I late at night (I pretended to be asleep) and he'd just watch us.  See... he would work 2 or 3 jobs all my growing up and was never home.  These weren't office/cubicle jobs.  We were immigrants and started life in the States from 2 suitcases.  My Dad delivered pizzas, drove limos, delivered newspapers (he still does), etc..  So...sometimes, that's all the time he had with my brother and I.

 

Now that he's getting older, he's down to 1.5 jobs.  When we moved to the South, I got into guns and I got my Dad into it!  While I fond memories of him teaching me Kung Fu or playing games with my brother and I, I now add to those memories these days when we can go to the range together. 

 

He's been shooting just factory ammo and while he's happy with the 2 inch groups (he's pretty frugal so he doesn't have any match ammo), I look forward to him taking these rounds to the range and making them into some sub MOA groups!

Edited December 20, 2012 by vujade

[Dolomite_supafly]

Nothing better to give a man who gave so much. Things like this are cherished for a lifetime.

 

Savages, all of them, are great shooting guns. And with your ammo it will just make shooting it so much more special.

 

Dolomite

[RED333]

Ya done good there vujade!!!

Now for the bad news, He wont shoot the ammo you made, for you gave Him something you made for Him. :wave:

[Mark A]

Fantastic... Anyone can order something from Amazon.

 

True caring shows up in things like this...

 

 

mark

[Raoul]

That's really great. Obviously your dad did his job pretty well.

[peejman]

Good stuff, I'm sure he'll love it.  Nice photos too. 

[MacGyver]

That's super cool!  Thanks for sharing that with us.