I don't agree that equipment is secondary either. I got into shooting rimfire a few months ago and I participate in a weekly 50 yard match using ARA targets. In order to hit a 100 score every time, according to ARA rules, provided that the shooter is up to it, the rifle HAS to be able to keep all hits within a 3/8" circle.
The match that I shoot was started and intended to attract as many shooters as possible, so the match is operated with some changes to the ARA rules and everyone is required to shoot Wolf MT ammunition. These two things even the playing field somewhat. The scoring is done using the "best line" method, so some hits that would score a 50 under ARA rules are scored as being a 100 under the rules of the local match. This sort of opens up to field to less expensive rifles, or it was meant to anyway.
As it has turned out, shooters that shoot the likes of Anschutz and Remington 40X still dominate the match. Rifles like the Savages and CZs don't even come close to doing what would be needed to win the match.
Please understand that I'm only posting this for informational purposes and am not trying to get into a debate on the accuracy of some of the rifles mentioned here. From what I've seen, the Savages, out of the box, do not have the consistent accuracy necessary to consistently win "A" class, much less master class.
A friend of mine that is really involved in the match program recently bought a Savage TR, with the intention of rigging it up just to show that a guy that is interested in shooting the match can get into it without getting into the expense of buying an Anschutz or the like. The end result thus far has been that it just won't do. We're close, after a LOT of tinkering, but we aren't quite there with it yet.
So far, he has the trigger down to about 8oz. The Boyd's stock has been bedded and we made sure that the barrel was free floated. It's shooting pretty good, but we're still getting that occassional unexplained flyer that would account for a loss of about 200 points per card.
Another friend of mine that usually shoot a 10/22 that is all Volquartsen just bought another Savage TR. He usually shoots something in the 6800-6900 range with his 10/22. He got the Savage thinking that it would be a step up. Although he's still getting used to the rifle, I think he shot something like a 6400 with it the last time we shot. He actually shot a few zeroes with it.
The only point that I'm trying to make is that you shouldn't expect to get something like a Savage and expect it to be able to hit the X ring every time. Not without some tweaking.
From what I understand, the Savage's barrel is pressed in and pinned. The next thing I want to try with my friend's rifle is possibly bedding a part of the barrel.
Don't get me wrong. The Savage is nice, especially for the price and if hitting shotgun hull size targets is all you need it to do, it should do that nicely; but I wouldn't expect much more.
My match rifle is a Kidded out 10/22 and it shoots rings around any Savage that I've seen.
