Savage Mark II Ammo Winchester vs Federal

N

ngzcaz

New member
Hoping to get some feedback whether my rifle is similar to other Savage MarkII ( non accutrigger ) This was a Dick's impulse buy that if the rebate goes thru will have cost $ 108.00 plus tax and firearms fees. And it seems the best buy I've made since I got my new Remington 760 Game Master with Weaver mounts and a 3X9 scope for $ 105.00 plus tax. Yes, it was a few years ago for the Remington. The Savage was a Dick's special deal, no iron sights and came with an inexpensive straight 4X Tasco scope and mounts. Called it the Savage MarkII GXP. It has a fairly nice wood stock, no laminate.

Anyway from a very inexpensive bipod and nothing but my shoulder on the other end I found this rifle likes Winchester Super X 40 gr lead RN bullets. The Federal HP copper clads were dismal in comparison. I've been shooting a long time and realize certain brands print better than others but this was quite noticeable. At 100 yards I missed a 14 inch by 17 inch target more times than hit out of a full magazine. There was no way to group since the hits were all over the place. The Super X's grouped around 4 to 5 inches with a flyer every now and then. At 50 yards the Super X's grouped about a quarter and the Federals 2 to 3 inches. At 25 yards the Super X could be covered with a dime and the Federals were a quarter and that's being generous. This was repeated three times at the same yardages.


I might add at 100 yards I was using Kentucky windage because there was nothing to line it up on the target with because of the perceived 7 or so inches of bullet drop. But I tried to shoot the same with both brands. Its going to be interesting when I break out the Remington , CCI and Browning ammo. Anyone with a Savage willing to share info ? Or for that matter other makes and results ?
 
My Granddaughter has one of the little Savage kid's single shots. While zeroing the 4x scope, we found it was exceptionally accurate--I mean cloverleafs at 25 yards. It may be slightly more accurate with Federal HVHP than with old stock Win Wildcat HVRN but either is good enough for government work.
 
Interesting that both shoot basically the same. I found the Federal to be noticeably less accurate in my particular setup. Perhaps at longer ranges a difference would be evident with either one. With .22 ammo back in supply I'm sure more shooters may be coming back to the .22. For several years it was " why buy a .22 if you can't get ammo to shoot it " Some retailers were holding back or should I say offering a free brick of ammo with some 22 products to boost sales.

Time to take my Marlin SB S/A to the range and find out what it likes. I haven't been satisfied with the last couple outings probably due in some part to the heavy and I mean heavy trigger pull.
 
It's normal for any 2 rifles to shoot the same ammo differently. Doesn't matter if they're .22's or cf either.
Put a big hunk of butcher paper behind your 100 yard target. A 7" or so drop is close to normal with a 50 yard sight in for any .22 LR ammo. The butcher paper(newsprint will do) will let you see where the bullet hits. And the rifle must be sighted in. Groups only are fine for testing cf handloads, but not rimfire.
http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm.rimfire-rifles.html
 
Interesting table information. Had to chuckle when I read " and the rifle must be sighted in ".. Uhh, yes of course it must be sighted in. Mine happened to be at a 50 yard zero bullseye. I'm not sure what you meant when you say groups are only fine for CF handloads, not for rimfire. Consistent groups are what every shooter is looking for whether they have a .22 or a CF and that's why I was comparing the different manufacturers and bullet types. I may have misunderstood what you were saying, sounded like you were saying groups aren't possible with a rimfire or either its a tossup every time you shoot no matter what manufacturer you choose since the .22's aren't handloaded.

I have a couple of old B-27 targets that I could put up at 100 yards to check where they are hitting but it would seem a waste of time since the groups get dramatically worse as the yardage increases with the Federals. The hundred yards was just an experiment, normally 50 is the limit with any .22 I owned. But, I'll probably do it again with different brands and see what happens. Just for the heck of it.
 
I guess it's true some .22's have 'personality' and prefer some ammunition over others.

For me a new .22 is a fun time to gather all the different brands of .22 I've got, go buy some more if I can and see what the new kid on the block likes.

FYI my last purchase was a Remington 597 (a semi-auto) that identified with your gun...didn't like Federal copper at all, it liked the lead round nose .22. Even Thunderbolts!

Have fun, good luck.
 
Yes, that's certainly true. What I was trying to find out was if certain gun manufacturers with certain barrel and groove specs tend to favor one brand of ammo over another ? Marlin with the Micro Groove barrel is one example. Does the Marlin tend to favor one brand over another ? Savage, Remington etc etc.. Should make for interesting comparisons.
 
I just picked up a Savage MarkII that is also w/o the Accu-trigger. So far I haven't been able to get to the range to test fire it. But I'm getting anxious to.

I paid $115.00 for this one. it has the synthetic stock and I added a Barska 3X9X32 Plinker scope to it.
 
I think the $ 50 rebate from Savage is still in effect so you may want to check that out... Although getting one for $ 60 would be obscenely inexpensive. I for one, would be interested how you make out with your range time. My trigger was better out of the box than my Marlin is today after a 1k or so downrange but that's not saying much.. The Savage would be a better shooter with a more broken in trigger ( at least that's what I'm hoping ) I'm enjoying the bolt action more right now than the S/A maybe because its a new and as a lefty it reminds me being a kid working the bolt with the right hand while shooting it left handed. Savage actually has a lefty model but as I've said before " why switch now ? "

Mine was the hardwood stock As an old timer I'm partial to wood stock.. Mine did not have sights as it came with a scope and rings.. They attach with a dovetail that's on the rifle, just slide them on and tighten. Did yours come with any kind of iron sights ?
 
This one was purchased used locally. It is in pretty nice shape though. Wish I could find out the year of production.

Yes this one still has the iron open sights on it but with these old eyes I though a scope would be an advantage. I haven't owned or shot a 22 rifle since 1971. Will hit up wally world this weekend for a few small boxes of different loads to try and hopefully get to shoot them.
 
Atta boy... I find mine to be almost as enjoyable as borrowing my brothers Remington bolt back in the late 50's and early 60's when Jack O'Connor was the
writer everyone admired. That's the time period when you could go shooting in an abandoned slate quarry and no one bothered you. I saw him shoot a snake in the head swimming in his creek later in life. Of course no scope just open sights. Always better to see it in person than have to believe a story you hear about..

At least .22 ammo is obtainable now in most stores. And I'm in your shoes, I need a scope. I've tried everything else with negative results. Even have one on my 336 Marlin 30/30. The more I look at it the better I like it.
 
These past 2 weeks I've been looking around at the local shops for a soft case to put it in but all I can find are larger ones. 45/46" where this rifle is only 39.5" LOA. Guess I'll have to order one.
 
Interesting that you are looking for a soft case when a lot of folks are going for the inexpensive hardshell plastic. If a rifle has iron sights a soft case sounds fine. If its scoped ( mainly if it has see thru mts. ) it may be difficult to put that in a shaped sloped soft case, and that goes for a hard shell sloped case as well. The sloped cases and see thru mts don't mix well. My BL Marlin 336, not much on length, has the see thru mounts and is almost impossible to put in a soft shell sloped case. I bought a rectangle shaped plastic case and it fits fine. If it's regular or low mounts it should be ok in most any case.

All that said, they make some really nice soft cases which can sell for quite a bit of money. Tooled leather definitely has a following and is hard to beat for aesthetics.
 
I have actually looked at both. I think Plano makes an inexpensive one. Been looking at one that is only 44" long as I was told the 40" one isn't long enough.
 
I bought one at WalMart for $ 9.95 a few weeks ago in the rectangle design specifically because of the see thru mounts. They aren't much higher than regular mounts but as I noted its a real bear trying to get it in a sloped case. Its almost 50 inches long and 10 1/2 in wide so there's plenty of room for anything I own. Would be nice to have one that's almost custom for all my guns... but that's a lot of cases.
 
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