.243 Savage 11/111 issues

I have a hard time getting an accurate grouping with my Savage Model 11/111 FCNS .243 and it concerns me with deer season right around the corner. I have gone through many different test to check and recheck possible issues with the rifle but cannot figure out what the problem is. Now I know that while hunting I’ll only have time to get one shot off maybe two, because most of my hunting will be in east Texas with woods surrounding the area, but I would still like to have the confidence going into a hunt that my rifle can put three rounds in a tight group from 100 yards. Does anyone own a Savage .243? And if so are you have the same issues?


I should mention I reload my ammo. I have about 100 rounds of 95 gr. Nosler BT’s, using IMR 4831 powder at 41.5 gr.
Also I have about 10 rounds I have yet to shoot of 87 gr. Hornady V-Max, with IMR 4831 at 42.0 gr.


For awhile I thought it was my reloading that caused the inaccuracy but after I went out and shot 30 rounds of the 95 gr. BT’s at varying powder(40gr.-44.5gr.) I no longer think it's due to my reloading. However I could be wrong, so is there anyone who reloads for .243 Savage? And if so what bullets are you using? Could the powder be an issue?


Thank y’all in advance for the help.

Someone hands me a rifle I don't know, to shoot, and the first thing I am going to do is check torque on all the screws.

65 in/lbs on the action screws
Ensure the scope ring caps have equal gap on each side, then make sure all the screws are 30 in/lbs.

If the barrel history is unknown, clean it. Then plan to put 5-10 down it to foul it. After that, begin load testing.

As far as .243 Win, H-4831 is a slow-ish burn powder, and H-4350 is usually "the" powder for .243, which is faster burning. Get some faster burning powder to test, it may clean things up. Hodgdon.com has a powder burn rate chart available in PDF file.

Yes, first tighten, torque, clean, foul...as Fireman said.

I do have a Savage 11 in .243 that I shoot often. Is your rifle new? Strange thing, when mine was new, it would not shoot heavy bullets well, but 55 and 85 gr bullets were very accurate. I started hunting with 87 gr handloads. After a while, I tried 95 and 100's again, and it was fine. My guess is that it took a while to smooth out the new factory barrel.

I loaded 87 gr Hornady SP over 38.5 gr Varget. I currently have two hunting loads that I am very please with: Nosler 95 gr Partition over 41.8 gr IMR4350 and Hornady 100 gr BTSP over 41.8 gr IMR4350. I have used IMR4350 for several cartridges for many years. H4350 might be a better choice, but it's almost impossible to find these days.

I have a savage 243. It shoots pretty well. First 2 boxes of ammo I put through it were federal fusion 95 grain. It hated that ammo 3-4 inch groups, I never had a rifle shoot so poorly. Used the 2 boxes of brass to load up some of my own. Settled at 40 grains of IMR 4350 under a 100 grain sierra prohunter. It also likes this load with 100 grain hornady boat tails.

I would try a different bullet, mine just would not shoot the 95 grain fusion.

I use IMR 4831 for my .243 as well.

My load:
95 gr Berger Hunter
CCI Primer
42.2 gr IMR 4831
Loaded touching the lands

It was difficult for me to load a solid round for my .243 Tikka. Personally, I blame myself because I just stated reloading. Now, it shouts 1/2 MOA at 100 yards no problem.

I would check the rifle, make sure everything is tight to correct specs.

Had a Savage 243 classic and it was a tack driver. Anything I put in it from coreloks to hornady ssts were solid. Kept it at 100g bullets.

Had a Savage think 110 l left handed bought in mid 60s...most accurate gun I ever owned..5/8" 5 shot groups at 100y with almost every thing I fed it..sold it to a friend prolly 20y ago he said it still shoots like that..

Just picked up a Savage 10 in .308 not too long ago that is pretty picky about the loads it shoots well. One of the things that helped was epoxying an aluminum rod into the forend of the stock to stiffen it up. Once I did that, a lot of the loads that were mediocre became a lot better.

There are so many models of a Savage please give a exact description of the.
Dose it have a wooden or synthetic stock.
The tightness of the screws is very important as others have said

Have you figured anything out yet? Gotten the gun to shoot better?

I have had really good luck with sierra bullets shooting well in just about everything I have loaded them in.

Quick look at some loading data and it appears that both of your loads are at the very bottom end or below listed starting loads, which could be part of your problem. What load data are you following? The listed start load for a 95 grain BT is 42 grains of H4350, your a 1/2 grain under min.