Savage Mark II very impressed

Brickman301 · Mar 1, 2020

Finally got a chance to shoot my Savage Mark II, today. I mounted a weaver CT36 scope on it, as this is just a range toy. For those not familiar with this scope, it’s a fixed 36 power and is 40mm.

I took 7 different types of .22 ammo, to see what type this rifle would like best. Took 3 shots to sight it in, at 50 yards.

All groups were 5 shot groups shot at 50 yards, from a sand bag on the bench. After all groups were shot I then adjusted the scope to hit at the point of aim.

Everything shot pretty good, but my rifle definitely likes the CCI mini mags the best.

Here’s some pictures of my ammo testing target. Aiming points were center of bullseye, except for 2groups that were shot at the center red line where the points of the center target meet it.

2nd picture is of the group of mini mags, less than 3/8”” group at 50 yards.

Brickman301 · Mar 1, 2020

Damn pictures went sideways :mad54:

budman93 · Mar 1, 2020

The savage mark II is a great rifle for a bargain price in my opinion. They are very accurate.

GuitarmanNick · Mar 2, 2020

Yep, Mini-mags are consistent and give the best groups for me, too. Been looking at the Savage in .17 HMR and it appears to be an awesome value for the money.

John from MD · Mar 2, 2020

I too agree that the Savage MkII is a very accurate gun for the money. Too bad they are built in Canada and not in the US.

I will say that Savage's customer support is top notch. I had one rifle that had the barrel clocked wrong and additionally, was not as accurate as it should have been. I contacted them and shipped it back and the shop supervisor called me back and gave me a run down on what they did to the rifle and sent a test target with a cloverleaf back with the rifle.

Brownl345 · Mar 2, 2020

My MKII is also really accurate, but I get the intermittent extraction issues that are well documented on the internet. For a bolt action, it requires a little too much maintenance for my liking. I've considered selling it. I usually shoot my CZ 452, anyway.

baltech · Mar 2, 2020

I love the accu trigger on the markii.

Uncle Duke · Mar 2, 2020

I ran the same testing on my factory stock 10/22 recently. No surprise to me from doing that in the past that Mini-Mags would likely shoot pretty well. They have always been extremely reliable also, probably more so than any other brand.

What did surprise me is that my 10/22 likes Aguila SuperExtra HV 40 grain copper washed round nose. And when compared to most of the other brands, it wasn't even close. I did not shoot any of the expensive match grade stuff in that rifle.

CCI standard 40 grain lead round nose took 2nd. Mini-Mags took third. Remington Golden Bullet was far and away the worst.

Not that my results mean anything for anyone else's gun, as rimfires especially are individuals, notorious for having distinct preferences, as OP notes.

The good news nowadays is that upon doing the homework, you can lay in some preferred stock, and ideally of the same lot number.

Melnic · Mar 2, 2020

Congrats with the buy.

With the number of 22LR rifles I have the most consistent thing I found was that only the cheap (currently 4cpr) ammo did ammo test pay off. CCI Standard Velocity tended to do the best on a clean rifle.
CCI Green Tag (can you still get this) always performed better. ELEY match tended to do the best back when I got that it was almost 20cpr, not sure how much now adays.

I do think that Minimags and SV are for sure one of those bullets that shoot really well out of 95% of the rimfires out there. Prices have come down on those too.

Qbeam · Mar 2, 2020

What model MkII?

Q

bigdv · Mar 2, 2020

Brownl345 said:
My MKII is also really accurate, but I get the intermittent extraction issues that are well documented on the internet. For a bolt action, it requires a little too much maintenance for my liking. I've considered selling it. I usually shoot my CZ 452, anyway.

Had the same issue. I added another extractor spring and issue resovled.

My MarkII is an awesome gun. Very accurate.

Brownl345 · Mar 2, 2020

bigdv said:
Had the same issue. I added another extractor spring and issue resovled.

My MarkII is an awesome gun. Very accurate.

You replaced the spring or added a second one?

Brickman301 · Mar 2, 2020

Qbeam said:
What model MkII?

Q

Not sure off the top of my head, as I’m at work, but it’s a heavy barrel, with a laminated stock.

Brickman301 · Mar 2, 2020

Uncle Duke said:
I ran the same testing on my factory stock 10/22 recently. No surprise to me from doing that in the past that Mini-Mags would likely shoot pretty well. They have always been extremely reliable also, probably more so than any other brand.

What did surprise me is that my 10/22 likes Aguila SuperExtra HV 40 grain copper washed round nose. And when compared to most of the other brands, it wasn't even close. I did not shoot any of the expensive match grade stuff in that rifle.

CCI standard 40 grain lead round nose took 2nd. Mini-Mags took third. Remington Golden Bullet was far and away the worst.

Not that my results mean anything for anyone else's gun, as rimfires especially are individuals, notorious for having distinct preferences, as OP notes.

The good news nowadays is that upon doing the homework, you can lay in some preferred stock, and ideally of the same lot number.

I’ve done this same test with a bull barrel Ruger 10/22 I own. Just like you I only used the cheaper type ammo. The Ruger shoots, almost as good as this rifle. Funny thing is the ruger is the opposite of your rifle, mine shoots the Remington golden bullets, the best by far. I was shocked, but hey it likes what it likes.

Brickman301 · Mar 2, 2020

By the way the 2nd smallest group with this rifle was done with the Remington golden bullets.

I have a friend who asked me to sight in his .22 rifle. It was and old Remington, can’t remember the model number.
I did this same test for him, so I could tell him to get the best ammo for it. He uses this rifle to shoot groundhogs, on his farm.
His rifle, shot the thunderbolts the best, talk about good luck for him. Cheap, and a lot of people pass them up, even during a ammo crunch, as these things get a lot of hate.

Uncle Duke · Mar 2, 2020

Brickman301 said:
I’ve done this same test with a bull barrel Ruger 10/22 I own. Just like you I only used the cheaper type ammo. The Ruger shoots, almost as good as this rifle. Funny thing is the ruger is the opposite of your rifle, mine shoots the Remington golden bullets, the best by far. I was shocked, but hey it likes what it likes.

Years ago, I ran this same test on a Marlin 25. When I got finished with it, I went back to Cylde's and bought 1000 rounds of the same lot of....Remington Golden. Took a magic marker and marked each of the ten 100 packs "Hunting".

The very first ammunition I ever put through my (only a couple years old) 10/22 was Golden Bullet. Not just bad. It was absolutely awful. I mean awful enough to make me think there was a problem with the gun.

One can't assume much of anything with rimfires IMO. You just won't know what they'll like and not like until you go. At least that's been my experience many times over the years.

fidelity · Mar 2, 2020

Brickman301 said:
Not sure off the top of my head, as I’m at work, but it’s a heavy barrel, with a laminated stock.

Throw up a pic later, if you have one. Want to see how that scope balances on it. Shooting off a bipod or a rest/bag?

Brickman301 · Mar 2, 2020

Uncle Duke said:
Years ago, I ran this same test on a Marlin 25. When I got finished with it, I went back to Cylde's and bought 1000 rounds of the same lot of....Remington Golden. Took a magic marker and marked each of the ten 100 packs "Hunting".

The very first ammunition I ever put through my (only a couple years old) 10/22 was Golden Bullet. Not just bad. It was absolutely awful. I mean awful enough to make me think there was a problem with the gun.

One can't assume much of anything with rimfires IMO. You just won't know what they'll like and not like until you go. At least that's been my experience many times over the years.

I’ve come to the same conclusions as you, about you never knowing what ammo will shot best. It doesn’t just apply to rim fires though. I’ve done this a lot with shotgun slug ammo. Some would shoot great, others, were horrible. The worst caliber that I’ve come across, to shot the smallest groups has been .223/556. Shooting a variety of ammo, 100 yards from a bench, some ammo shot a pattern, not a group. I’m talking 5” groups, then you find the ammo it likes, and it shoots sub MOA.
Just takes a lot of time, and different ammo’s.

If you have a friend that has the same caliber as you, and wants the smallest shooting group, just like you do. I’ve found it’s nice for each of you to buy a variety of different ammunition.
Then each of you shoot your groups with all the ammo, makes finding the correct load, a little easier on your wallet.

Brickman301 · Mar 2, 2020

fidelity said:
Throw up a pic later, if you have one. Want to see how that scope balances on it. Shooting off a bipod or a rest/bag?

No pictures, I’ll try to get some up soon.
All my shooting was done from a bag.

Uncle Duke · Mar 2, 2020

Brickman301 said:
I’ve come to the same conclusions as you, about you never knowing what ammo will shot best. It doesn’t just apply to rim fires though. I’ve done this a lot with shotgun slug ammo. Some would shoot great, others, were horrible. The worst caliber that I’ve come across, to shot the smallest groups has been .223/556. Shooting a variety of ammo, 100 yards from a bench, some ammo shot a pattern, not a group. I’m talking 5” groups, then you find the ammo it likes, and it shoots sub MOA.
Just takes a lot of time, and different ammo’s.

If you have a friend that has the same caliber as you, and wants the smallest shooting group, just like you do. I’ve found it’s nice for each of you to buy a variety of different ammunition.
Then each of you shoot your groups with all the ammo, makes finding the correct load, a little easier on your wallet.

Typical Aguila 5 shot 50 yard groups with my 10/22. Grid on top 3 photos is 1/4 inch.

Bottom photo grid is 1/8 inch. Note that Remington 10 shot 50 yard group spans 3-1/2 inches.

Same 10/22 rifle. Same day. Same nut behind the butt. 5 other brands fell between these 2 extremes. All fired not too many minutes apart.

Definitely one of the wider rimfire ammo variations I've noted. But yeah, you're right. Slugs can be and typically are every bit as contrary. .223 can be as well. I think they all conspire to drive us nuts at times.

Just goes to show,you can't typically just buy a box of whatever, and expect the best results. That would be entirely too easy I suppose.

Savage Mark II very impressed

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