Dave Markowitz
Member
Friday night I picked up my new Savage 93GL .22 Magnum southpaw bolt action rifle. This is my first .22 Mag. I got it out to the range yesterday.
I first tried the Savage with Winchester 40 grain JHPs and the stock open sights at 25 yards. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my Hoppe's rifle rest, so I just shot resting my elbows on the bench.
One of the first things I noticed when shooting the gun was the trigger -- it is appallingly heavy. It's got to be at least 10 pounds and as the day went on my trigger finger started to get tired. It doesn't have much creep or overtravel, but it needs to be lightened considerably before I'll be able to shoot the rifle to its full potential. I found some hints on improving the trigger over at www.rimfirecentral.com, which I intend to try before getting a Rifle Basix sear.
After about 10 rounds I paused shooting and mounted a 4x Weaver scope on the Savage. This scope was on my 10/22 and has pretty nice optics. I stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods this morning to pick up a set of scope rings and .22 Magnum ammo. I got a set of Weaver low-mount tip-off rings, a box of CCI Maxi-Mags, and a box of CCI Maxi-Mag +Vs.
Unfortunately, I had to mount the scope further forward than I wanted because with the low rings, the objective bell fouled the rear sight. I want to leave the irons in place as a backup. I may get a folding rear sight to replace the factory one, and that should take care of this problem.
After sighting the rifle an inch or so high at 25 yards, I switched to targets set out at 50 yards. The best group I could get was in the neighborhood of 1.5" -- due to the damn trigger. However, once I got the feel of it, I was able to hit 12 gauge empties set on the 50 yard target frame about 80% of the time. (From the bench, of course.) I'm confident that with a good trigger and the right ammo, the gun will do well under an inch at 50 yards.
I put around 75 - 80 rounds through the Savage and except for the trigger, like it a lot. The .22 Mag definitely has more oomph than the .22 LR. I still have some of the Maxi-Mags, and all the Maxi-Mag +Vs. I may go shoot it some more today.
I first tried the Savage with Winchester 40 grain JHPs and the stock open sights at 25 yards. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my Hoppe's rifle rest, so I just shot resting my elbows on the bench.
One of the first things I noticed when shooting the gun was the trigger -- it is appallingly heavy. It's got to be at least 10 pounds and as the day went on my trigger finger started to get tired. It doesn't have much creep or overtravel, but it needs to be lightened considerably before I'll be able to shoot the rifle to its full potential. I found some hints on improving the trigger over at www.rimfirecentral.com, which I intend to try before getting a Rifle Basix sear.
After about 10 rounds I paused shooting and mounted a 4x Weaver scope on the Savage. This scope was on my 10/22 and has pretty nice optics. I stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods this morning to pick up a set of scope rings and .22 Magnum ammo. I got a set of Weaver low-mount tip-off rings, a box of CCI Maxi-Mags, and a box of CCI Maxi-Mag +Vs.
Unfortunately, I had to mount the scope further forward than I wanted because with the low rings, the objective bell fouled the rear sight. I want to leave the irons in place as a backup. I may get a folding rear sight to replace the factory one, and that should take care of this problem.
After sighting the rifle an inch or so high at 25 yards, I switched to targets set out at 50 yards. The best group I could get was in the neighborhood of 1.5" -- due to the damn trigger. However, once I got the feel of it, I was able to hit 12 gauge empties set on the 50 yard target frame about 80% of the time. (From the bench, of course.) I'm confident that with a good trigger and the right ammo, the gun will do well under an inch at 50 yards.
I put around 75 - 80 rounds through the Savage and except for the trigger, like it a lot. The .22 Mag definitely has more oomph than the .22 LR. I still have some of the Maxi-Mags, and all the Maxi-Mag +Vs. I may go shoot it some more today.
