[Muliemaster]

Originally Posted by Txhillbilly

I'd probably say that your barrel needs to be thoroughly cleaned.You also are probably getting some bad groups from shooting handloads that were made for another gun-Bad Idea,if they were hard to chamber.High chamber pressures can damage your gun.
Shooting factory hunting ammo,don't expect sub-moa performance.Most do good to get 1-2 moa at 100 yards.
Bore snakes are good to use at the range for a pass thru cleaning,but that's it.Nothing works better than a good scrubbin with solvent and patches.

I've only had Copper fouling issues with one of my Savages,my 25/06,all of my others have been fine and I shoot'em a bunch.

Try some quality Match ammo after you clean it,and maybe it will impress you again.

Fully agree the bore snake is a camp cleaning tool for quick clean, but should not be considered the main cleaner. Get a quality one piece rod an good brushes do a real cleanin job, for copper I like sweets 7.62 copper remover, an the I use hoppes #9 an then dry patches untill clean. Then run a oil patch through to keep rust away. Just remember to run a dry patch through before shootin

[jeep606]

ok went to the range got the barrel spotless shot one round to foul the barrel and started shooting at a 1.5 x 1.5 ft target at around 100 yds. the first 3 rounds were the ones that i had been getting the 1.5 inch groups with. i got new box of winchester 150s and started trying to sight in the rifle for group size. shot the first round..nothing not even a mark on the target?... nothing. followed by 4 other rounds same thing. changed to the 10 year old winchester stuff i was shooting. 1 inch high and centered.. i am really about to send this thing back to savage.. there is somthing amiss with the barrell/chamber on this gun..thats all i can figure. and i have cleaned all the copper fouling out of the barrel.i think the head spacing may be off?

[jeep606]

but the thing is that the gun used to shoot sub moa with almost any brand as long as it was under 170 grains. fiocchi & winchester were the most accurate.

[Txhillbilly]

Jeep,Have you checked all of the Action screws,Rings,bases,etc., to make sure everything is tight and torqued to the correct specs.
If it was shooting great before,and not now,I doubt it is a barrel or chamber problem.
I have a Savage 10FCP and 12 FLV in 308 Winchester,both have always shot excellent,but I haven't ever shot any bullet weights under 165gr.Plus,I only handload for all of my guns.

It may be that your barrel doesn't care for the lighter weight bullets,but it should still put them on target if everything is tight on the rifle.Both of mine love 168gr-210gr match bullets,and Nosler 168gr Ballistic Silvertips for hunting chores.

[BlueTurf]

I have the Savage 10FLP in .308, which is the left-handed version of your rifle. I am very familiar with this rifle. I have two loads that will produce a cloverleaf pattern in the bullseye at 100 yards. The Federal Gold Medal Match ammo will do this also. From what you described my first thought was that you had a seriously fouled barrel. I never shoot my rifle more than maybe twenty times without cleaning it. I have always used good copper solvents like Sweets 7.62 but the cleanest I ever got the barrel was with a foaming bore cleaner named Wipe Out. After cleaning the bore with the regular solvent I put a cotton swab in the chamber end to plug it then spray the Wipe Out in the barrel from the muzzle end. I leave it in there for three hours before removing it. It gets absolutely all of the remaining fouling out and it is not harmful to the metal.

I also thought you might have loose screws somewhere on your scope mount assembly. I doubt if the problem with your rifle has anything to do with the head spacing. It should be an easy problem to solve.