Savage gets a new Life

After much anticipation I've finally resurrected my last .50 cal savage to a .45 cal. I had a pac nor .458/.450 1:18 twist stainless steel barrel installed, I went with 22 in. and does that ever make it more balanced and maneuverable .
There is a slight twist to this build, I eliminated the barrel nut savage uses and went with a direct fit to the receiver/recoil lug. Accurate measurements and calculations were required for correct headspace adjustment, and resulted in more fitting and futzing for the necessary results.
I also used an ASG style breech plug and carbide bushing . The reasoning was to get a rear sealing BP and smaller diameter for maximum strength.
I was able to free float the ramrod and leave it disattached from the barrel, by securing it with a bushing in the front of the stock.
I'm in the process of getting a sizing die made so I haven't shot it yet.

https://i.imgur.com/80JqpO0.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/s8rSOx3.jpg

Very nice who did the fit up and is that a boyds stock what glass sits on top

I had a buddy from Michigan fit the barrel and plug.
The stock is a Richards Microfit , and it's a 4200 elite 2.5-10X40 (it's been on this rifle since they came out waaaay back when).

One awesome Savage right there!!

Sweet. What kind of ballistics are you expecting?

I see no reason why it won't perform as well as my other .45's. I could reach out to 300 yrds with the stock savage , this will now do it more efficiently.
I had it built on the more robust side to handle stouter loads if required but I don't like to push the envelope. The beefier design is my built in safety margin.
300 gr. .45 dia. bullets will be travelling in the 2800 fps. range.

Nice !!!

I have a smooth form 45 Swinglock Die on its way from a Luke if you want to give that a go!

I sense another range trip on the horizon.

She looks good.

Nice build Smoke eater!! Look forward to seeing you guys at the range!!

I finally got shoot this rig and finally some favorable results. A little back ground. I did take it out a little over a month ago and had a couple of issues.
First was headspace wasn't as good as it could be and I was bulging primers and getting severe blowby, this was a serious concern since adjusting headspace was going to be more difficult since the barrel nut was eliminated. Fortunately I had a fix up my sleeve. I drilled the breech plug and installed an adjustable primer holder that could be turned in or out to fit the rifle perfectly then loctited in place ( This was an ingenious design by my chum in Michigan about 6 or 7 yrs ago) luckily I had a couple of inserts left that I was able to use for this application, the only problem was that the ASG breech plug was hardened and that made it difficult to drill and tap for the insert but perseverance prevailed and the task was accomplished.
The other issue was one with the Bushnell 4200 2.5-10 scope appeared to be pooched. No problem a trip to Bushnell service division and they provided me with an upgraded 4500 4-16 power. I installed the new scope boresighted it and back to the range only to determine that this one wouldn't hold zero. So back to Bushnell to plead my case, luckily I had a stack of previous targets which showed attainable groups and a target of the flyers that this scope was producing. They had me leave the scope for assessment and got back to me with the good news that they would replace the replacement scope with another new one, this one had a DOA reticle but that meant yet another trip to them but that's ok since the elite 4500 and 6500 aren't being manufactured any longer and once stock is depleted I don't know what replacement will be ( neither do they). So I counted my blessings and happily brought this one home to bore sight and yada yada yada.
I made it to the range and musta fired 20 shots to get it on paper and thought here we go again, but fortunately things started to settle down but low and behold I ran out of loads, Buttttt the last two shots show the potential of this rifle and a little more range time should have it rung out.

Here's a pic of the adjustable breech plug.

https://i.imgur.com/WbDPyXK.jpg

And the target finished off with the two at 1 oclock.

https://i.imgur.com/a5Tm1od.jpg

What kind of bullets are you using? the holes are perfectly round without any edge tearing as if punched out with a die.

Rig looks great Smokeeter. Too bad about the 4200 but honestly the 4-16 4500 works so well on these rigs.

It looks like it will settle in nicely. Another deer whacker!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jaycee

What kind of bullets are you using? the holes are perfectly round without any edge tearing as if punched out with a die.

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These are my modified XTP bullets the dies that reform them leave a ridge on the ogive and that ridge cuts a perfect round hole in the target.

https://i.imgur.com/BlE5WJb.jpg

I snapped a pic of the 209 primer before and after the headspace was corrected ,it corrected both the bulging of the primer and the sticky removal from the breechplug. Both of these are from the same load which I know to be safe and not excessive. Bulging or deformed primers are an indication of high pressures but that is usually when deformed in a properly headspaced application.

https://i.imgur.com/0d3hpzq.jpg

Is that a crack at the base of those primers or an optical illusion?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Jack

Is that a crack at the base of those primers or an optical illusion?

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I wondered about that myself, but didn't want to sound off by asking that question, glad you did , now I don;t feel so bad.

no crack it's soot, the primer pocket has a sharp edge on the mouth and scrapes the primer when seated.

That makes sense as the 209 looks perfectly formed from firing!

Jaycee - eyes looking for potential problems are always welcome!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Jack

That makes sense as the 209 looks perfectly formed from firing!

Jaycee - eyes looking for potential problems are always welcome!

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Looking at the picture of the primers, the one on the left still does not look right, the right side looks concaved and can readily be seen in the reflection of it below.

It’s pretty typical because the primer only inserts part way into plug. All my stock savages did that. The other thing that affects the primer is the size of carbide bushing flash hole. Some guys use 30 and some use 40 thou.

I’ve seen that same primer deformity consistently from light to heavy load.

Incidentally when the carbide bushings start to open up and trumpet, increased pressure occurs against the 209 and the Center part of it will flatten similarly to a rifle primer flattening. Then you know it’s time to change the bushing!

Very nice sir!

Great story...but heading off to Remington.com..to get me some of those targets...lol