Savage MKII Help

[JDGray]

My Heavy barreled MKII, wont group to save my life! At 50yrds I've managed a .360", 5 shot group today, but the norm is closer to 1", and worst is 1.5" The best group was my last group of the day, and with cheap Rem 550ct Bulk. Fed bulk, Fed Champion, and Rem Target, all shot worse. I can shoot 5 rds into the same ragged hole, but have a couple flyers to ruin the group. I'm useing a Leupold VX I 3x9x40 scope, a Boyd Evolution stock (which needed more inletting around the trigger assembly, and floating under the barrel. That helped take a good 1/2" off my groups) Is bedding the answer? The action is pretty funky, since it already has pillars, a magwell, in the way of a good bedding job. Maybe just bed the recoil lug area, and under the pillars?

Shooter, and shooting platform

Todays target, from 50yards

 

[Schleprok62]

Nice looking rifle...

For starters, I'd try some different types of ammo. Some decent match ammo might make a huge difference...

Next I would give the rifle a good cleaning... How many rounds have you put through it??

 

[hardluk1]

Clean the barrel of the wax that remington ammo may have left behind and try shooting it in the original stock first.I will not shoot remington again. I look at the first 200 rounds as just a break in session. Extra cleaning then find the one or two brands it shoots best. Some of those fancy look'n pieces of wood are not worth the money over what came on them. My 511 rem thats ready for retirement by age shoots better groups and has never been changed from stock except to put 4.5x14 power scope on it, and a shooter edge cheapy at that. Most 22's are a bit picky about ammo so keep look'n but also keep clean'n with that cheap stuff. The difference between my 10/22 shooting fed match and then there copper clad standard bulk box is about 100% in group size but that fioochi stuff will group like national match ammo. Just keep after it. But put that oem stock back on first then go from there.

 

[JDGray]

Bought the rifle used, with the stock already on it. I've put a few hundred rounds through it since I bought it. Its hard to get any ammo locally, so I buy what I can. I'd be tickled to death with the last 5 shot group, being the norm The last three groups shrank a bit each time, and this is when I was very consistant in my hold, grip, bipod loading, tried to be exact, maybe its just me? We all like blaming the equipment, anyone can shoot a .22, right?

 

[docsleepy]

Savage MkII

Hi,

At 100 yards on my best day I was able to get 5 shot groups of about 1.25" C-C with Eley Tenex. I was never able to get better. This was an old old used gun without accutrigger. I have no idea how many owned it before me. With the Tenex, the accuracy would improve through the first 12 shots and then stabilize as the tallow/beeswax built up in the barrel, I guess.

Try a good benchrest instead of the bipod and that may help also. The Tenex shot twice as much better than most other in my older Mark II. The "club extra" and others from Eley were no better than walmart value boxes.

The 1.25" at 100 yards would translate probably to 0.5" at 50 yards. I believe I actually got a 3/8" group at 50 yards a couple times.

A Savage 12FV with either match or hand loaded ammo was much much better.....

gordon

 

[TargetTerror]

I hear bipods can do funny things when placed on a hard surface, and this would be exacerbated by the longer lock time of a 22lr. Try it off of a bag and see if that helps.

And definitely try better ammo. You definitely get what you pay for with rimfire ammo, for better or for worse.

 

[gvnwst]

Just FYI, ALL MKIIS i have ever seen have hated remington match. Mine, my friends, and so on. I agree with Schleprok62, grab some new ammo, should bring the groups way down.

 

[sarduy]

how are the groves on the barrel?

 

[Chester32141]

I was feedinging my MKII Federal Auto match ammo yesterday and tearing the center out of dime sized targets w/ overlapping holes ... more than likely it's an ammo and/or shooter problem ... Here's a site w/ info on various .22 caliber ammo ...

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=31

Chester

 

[JDGray]

Just got done with a good cleaning, and found the factory scope mounts to be under torqued. I could not feel any looseness, but the shinny reciever, where the blue wore off under the bases, tell me differently. Cleaned everything up, and loctited it together, can't wait till the next range visit The screws came off very easily, and would be a very good explanation for my problem I'll update after that. Thanks for all the help

 

[Al Thompson]

That or my thought was that you may have a paralax issue with that scope. IIRC, most scopes are set for paralax free at 150 yards.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

FWIW, my Savage MarK II shoots very well with CCI Subsonics.

Also, make sure that all the screws on the gun and scope mount are tight.

 

[panrobercik]

Some rimfires shoot better when cold ,some when warm. I shoot a mag or two of cheap junk just to warm up my 22/45 and get great results as long as I keep it warm.
Try a bunch of different kinds of ammo. May favorite cheapos are Aguila subsonic or standard and CCI . Top shelf without breaking the bank would be SK brand

 

[Nhsport]

I believe you have several things working against you here.

Bipods can work against you unless you have taken the time to find a technique that works well for you and your setup. This is dificult when you are also fighting some other issues.

Untill you work out some other issues I would sugest a solid type rest or some
sandbag type rests.

It's a 22 so you will have to try a bunch of different ammos to find what it likes.Every gun is different but in general the standard velocity target ammos will shoot rings around any high velocity stuff or bulk stuff

As others have said check stock screws and scope mounts

The 3X9 is a bit low powered.better glass is - well , better

Your technique might be lacking . With a bit higher powered scope , better ammo , and a solid rest you should be watching every shot and getting an idea when the shot lands weather you had a poor sight picture , bad trigger break or were caught by a puff of wind (big issue with rimfire outside).
Try to determine the cause for every shot that is outside of your core group.
You will not know all the time but part of the process in becomeing a better shooter is to determine where you are makeing mistakes.

The accutriggers are not horrible but some (they varry) are not really that good . Is yours adjustable? can you lighten it ? For a target gun shot off a rest lighter is generally better. (not necessarrly good for a carry around gun or a gun to be used by inexperienced shooters)

Hope some of this is of help to you.

Don't believe a whole lot that you read on any web sight about group size. Lots of fudgeing going on

 

[kludge]

Every gun is different but in general the standard velocity target ammos will shoot rings around any high velocity stuff or bulk stuff

+1

I have a Savage Mark II BV

Try Federal Champion Target (standard velocity... they have both standard and high) and Aguila Match.

They are at the low price point for match ammo but they both shoot sub 1/2" groups in my Mark II BV, I regularly shoot .3" groups and less.

In IR-50/50 matches after 25 shots, all the shots are in a dime sized group.

The Federal Gold Medal is better, but not worth the money to me.

My trigger is all the way down and breaks at 3.0#... the Accutrigger is very good, but it's NOT a benchrest trigger.

 

[JDGray]

It was kinda windy that day, 10mph gust, but was only 50yrds out. The trigger breaks at 1.5lbs, same as my Savage .308, love the supprise break everytime. I'm really thinking (hoping) it was due to the less then tight bases, however, the last three groups did improove when I worked on my technique, keeping it exact. All the ideas, things to check, are appreciated
Will look for some standard velocity ammo, may have to bite the bullet, and mail order some of the mentioned match type

 

[Dave Markowitz]

...10mph gust, but was only 50yrds out...

.22 LR is very sensitive to wind, even at 50 yards.

 

[thesolidus]

Aquila 60gr subsonics.

Shot through my 10-22 from a bench /sandbag rest at 50 yards with gusting crosswinds at 15mph. Shooting at a line of little orange sticky dots the size of a nickel.
best one of the day was three shots in one dot. (Though one shot touched the outside line...)
Started shooting at playing cards, trying to 'shoot the pips.'
Then I started having the same problem you were. It was the scope bolts. Locktite from now on.
Other problem I had was the scope itself. A magnifying scope can change the apparent point of aim at different magnifications. So if you zero your scope so that at 6x the bullet hits the paper at 50 yards right in the crosshairs, then change to 12x... it'll be different. Unless you buy a good scope that's a little problematic. Better off going a fixed magnification for 50-100 yard ranges.

Oh, and try the playing card bit. Lot's of fun, and the waxed paper makes it as easy to see the holes as the shoot-n-see targets. And you get a whole deck for a buck!