Savage 10 BA Stealth Precision Rifle

When I decided to buy a reasonably priced precision rifle about two years ago, the Savage 10 BA Stealth and the Ruger Precision Rifle were the two main choices available then. Both had proven to be very accurate in gun test articles, averaging better than 1 MOA. I already had a Savage bolt gun that had impressed me with its accuracy. After handling each and looking closely at their designs and prices (Savage had a $150 rebate), I chose the Savage.

The Savage is a true chassis rifle where the receiver bolts directly to the billet aluminum chassis. The forend is part of the chassis and does not touch the barrel or barrel nut. The chassis also contains the magazine well and trigger guard. The buttstock tube (AR buffer tube) screws into the rear of the chassis. The barrel is 24" long with a 0.75" diameter at the muzzle. It has 5R button rifling with 1:8 twist and is fluted. The barrel muzzle is threaded and has a knurled cap.

The bolt is their floating head, two lug design. It has the excellent Accu- Trigger. The buttstock has the typical AR six position adjustable length of pull, an adjustable comb, and a flip down rear plate that gives access to a small storage compartment. There is a three position safety and the magazine holds ten rounds. The empty rifle (without scope) weighs about 9.5 lb. I broke in the barrel with the "shoot around, clean the barrel, repeat" method.

Scope I needed a scope and finding the right one can be a challenge due to the wide selection that is available. Cost, qualit y, magnification, first or second focal Far

plane, etc. are choices to be made. I consider the Savage BA 10 a very good value considering its capability compared to cost. Looking for the same value in a scope, I did my research, checking websites and reading reviews. I found that the Athlon brand offers several scopes with features I wanted at reasonable prices. I purchased the Athlon Optics (AthlonOptics.com, Argos BTR 6-24×50 witch has a 30mm tube and a first focal plane (FFP) illuminated mildot reticle.

I wanted the higher magnification and FFP for future long range shooting. I lapped the scope rings and leveled the scope on the rifle. I really like this scope as it tracks well and has good clarity at higher magnifications. My only complaint is that the power and parallax dials are stiff and take some effort to rotate. Modification I typically use a front and rear bag when shooting on the bench. The Savage buttstock does not have a flat bottom to sit on a bag and angles down to a point.

I considered replacing it with one that does have a flat bottom such as the Luth-AR (Luth-ar.com, MBA Buttstock. I have one of these on a rifle and I think it’s one of the best available. These typically are fixed to the buffer tube and the length of pull is adjusted with the butt plate. There are hinge kits available that allow the stock to be folded to the side. This would help with a problem I found when using a bore guide to clean the barrel.

The cleaning rod handle hits the top of the cheekpiece, even in its lowest position, causing the rod to bend and bind slightly, which defeats the purpose of the guide. I thought about removing the cheekpiece each time but found that it is easier to remove the entire stock by pulling down on the adjustment lever so the pin clears the buffer tube. The buffer tube sits nicely on the rear of my cleaning vise and I can clean the barrel without a problem. I decided to keep the Savage stock and modify it.

I added apiece of aluminum flat stock, 0.125" thick and 0.5" wide to give the buttstock a flat bottom and still allow it to be easily removed. I used apiece of wire to try different shapes until I found one I liked. I duplicated it on the aluminum. The Savage buttstock has a vertical slot that looks like it was designed for something similar, like a monopod. I slid the end of the aluminum strip into the slot past an existing hole (butt plate pivoted out of the way) and marked the hole location on the strip.

I drilled and tapped the strip with 10-32 threads. The screw was installed through the stock into the strip. The front of the strip was slotted to fit over the web of the stock. Another small screw was added through the web to anchor that end of the strip. The added piece is very rigid and the buttstock is much more stable on the rear bag which helps consistency.

My Savage does not have a muzzle brake but doesn’t need one because the 6.5 Creedmoor is a mild cartridge and the BA Stealth Precision is a relatively heavy rifle. I’m generally not a fan of muzzle brakes for most rifles. They make a lot of noise and can really blast your neighbors on the firing line. Muzzle brakes, if designed properly, do significantly reduce the recoil on big bore rifles and old military rifles with steel butt plates.

I Far have a Mosin-Nagant that I could only fire about five shots before my shoulder started to hurt when it was in original form. When I Far

34" group. The first four rounds are within 0.22", last round opened the group to 0.64". sporterized it, I added an AK muzzle brake and a stock with a thin recoil pad. I can shoot it all day now. I had the opportunity to fire a light weight, single shot .50 BMG rifle that did not have a well designed muzzle brake. One shot was enough. Note, Savage is now selling a second generation version called the 10 Stealth Evolution. It has a muzzle brake, atop handguard, and a Magpul PRS buttstock.

Its current MSRP is $590 higher than the first generation version which is still available. At the Range I started with a few boxes of factory ammo and then reloaded the brass, resizing the neck only. That’s one advantage of a bolt gun over an auto-loader. So far, I have tried two types of powder and three types of bullets.

Knowing the bullet seating depth affects accuracy, I measured the length of the cartridge with the bullet touching the rifling and then compared it to the recommended cartridge overall length (OAL) for each handload. That allowed me to calculate how far the bullet had to travel (jump) before engaging the rifling. Reducing the jump in the most recent test seemed to improve the accuracy slightly.

I learned that measuring cartridge OAL with the tip of the bullet can be less accurate The accuracy results are listed here. Each pair of data is from the same range session, but the sessions were on different days over several months. This rifle likes the 140 grain ELD-M bullet best so far. I will test other bullets and jump distances in the future. Not surprisingly, I found that I have the largest effect on accuracy.

The smallest groups reflect the capability of the rifle and ammo, the larger groups show the variance due to the shooter. Some days are better than others. Likes and Dislikes I like the solid chassis and that the forend is not the typical AR type. The forend does not permit the support hand to wrap around it for offhand shooting but this is not an AR. The trigger breaks right at 2.0 pounds which is perfect for me. The rifle shoots well and does not appear to be finicky about the ammo.

As I mentioned earlier, the buttstock is nothing to brag about but it is easily replaced. The magazine is kind of flimsy and the follower sticks occasionally. I disassemble and clean it when that happens. There are better aftermarket mags available. Future Testing I plan on further load development, including a chronograph. The range that I use only goes out to 200 yards currently and there are plans to extend it to 500 or 600 yards. This will allow me to stretch the legs on this rifle and scope.

AG than measuring on the ogive. I bought a comparator to do that and a concentricity tool to measure bullet runout relative to the case. I found that my handloads have a runout of 0.0015" or less, which is within the recommended range of 0.002" to 0.003".