Well, I finally finished mounting my Nikon 4.5 to 14 Buckmaster scope and my Limbsaver recoil pad to the Stevens 308 cal. If you do anything, put a Limbsaver (#10111) recoil pad on. These are well worth the $28.
I was shooting two loads. A Serra 150gr boattail over 43gr of Varget and a Hornady 110 grain over 36.2gr of IMR 4198.
It took about 10 shots or so to get the scope zeroed in and I let the barrel cool down after 4 or 5 shots. The Varget loads grouped about 1.125" at 100 yards. The IMR\Hornady loads would just cloverleaf!!!
What a gun. Savage done real good on these units. They may not be the prettiest, but they sure can shoot.
I need to try some other bullet weights and powder loads to see if I can get a 150 or 165 gr to cloverleaf. But for hogs and coyotes, the Hornady's will do just fine.
And for that ugly grey stock...I can sit on it, spill stuff on it, spit chew on it..it won't hurt it or make it any ugly-er.
What a great gun.
Dave.