This is kinda unbelievable. Here are the first three shots out of the Savage Timberline. These were with the Federal 7mm Backcountry 175 gr Fusion Tipped ammo and shooting from a Caldwell Lead Sled.

All I had done at this point was to bore sight it. By that I mean with the gun in a shooting vise, I took the bolt out and focused on an object through the empty barrel about 30 yards away through the bedroom window and then adjusted the crosshairs onto the center of that same object. That object was the round end of a freshly cut piece of firewood. I kid you not!

The target I set up was a pizza box that I drew an approximate 2" diameter circle onto. I wasn't trying to go for tight groups at this point and didn't want to waste a perfectly good target. I really just wanted to get on the "paper" and make sure the scope was good to go. More on that later. This was more of a test the setup session than anything else.

Something told me I probably should have drawn the circle somewhere other than around the 16" label in the center of the box. And, sure enough, I couldn't see for certain where the first shot hit from 50 yards because of that printed label. I was obviously shocked when I walked up to the target and saw where it actually hit which was right above the inch mark. I would have been happy just to hit the box after only bore sighting it.

For the next two shots I moved the target out to 100 yards, never touched the scope adjustments and, as you can see, those two shots were inside the 2" circle as well and about 1" apart. Unreal!

Unfortunately, some idiot (me) forgot to use thread locker on the base mounting screws and the scope came loose after (or maybe before) the third shot. There was also an issue with the holes in the Wheeler one-piece base but I won't get into that other than to say that I had to make a couple of minor modifications.

I took the scope back off and this time I used red Loctite on all of the mounting screws including those on the rings. It was getting too dark by this time so I had to quit for the day.

A little hard to judge recoil because of the Lead Sled but I would say it's no worse than my old .30-06 Rem Gamemaster pump.

Anyway, I think we just might have a winning combination here.

ya chrony it yet?

Nope. Don't own one. I have to believe it's about the same as most reports are stating which is close to 3000 ft/sec for the 175 gr loads out of the 20" barrel.