Originally Posted by
Burr
Sounds like the discussion started heading in the wrong direction, and everyone just continued to push it in the wrong direction. Truth be told, 25.06 brass is not hard to come by if a little time, effort, or possibly work is exerted, if you have the time, and the patience. Long and short of it, time and patience will solve this thing, if it can be solved. Lack of it guarantees it won't be solved. I've always considered the joy of hand loading is solving the situation you have at hand - a gun that only shoots so-so at best. That being said, I would not expect every gun that rolls off the line from any of the mass produced rifle makers to be perfect, or they would all cost a significant sum more. There are places that sell $4000 guns, and they all shoot. $800 guns, mmmmm, not so much, not all of them anyway.
At the same time, I'm a little surprised at the love being expressed for the 25.06. It's a pretty significantly over-bore capacity cartridge. But if you have been reloading for that long, you should be aware of that as well. Point being, if you already reload, you should be aware that purchasing a 25.06 "may" be quite a challenge to get it to shoot well. It's not an ideal bore to capacity cartridge. That being said, if/when you get it to shoot, it's a screamer, and also is something you can take extra satisfaction in handloading. It's not like you're reloading a .308 - ANYBODY can reload a .308 and get it to shoot. 25.06 will challenge you.
Step up to the challenge, rise to the challenge, figure it out. Get in the right frame of mind, have some patience, put on your thinking cap, and find out what it takes. Document your results with everything you try.
Sounds like you are already convinced it's the gun. Barrels are really not that expensive, and easy enough to do. put on a different barrel, if that solves it - you've then got something else to speak with Savage about.
Face it, what is nice about Savage is it is a component gun. If you want to make a shooter, you really should be able to figure out what is preventing it from shooting. I'm not saying it's free, but putting gas in my pickup isn't free either - but I do it.... It's a hobby, sometimes we land on the solution quickly, sometimes the path is a little longer to get there.
But that's just me. Who knows, maybe you've inspired me to buy a 25.06 - what I like is the challenge to find a solution, maybe I'm making it too easy on myself and I need to start with a cartridge that really is challenging.
If it was always easy, there wouldn't be forums to talk about it. Why would we spend time talking about simple stuff?