accurizing the Savage 93R17 BTV

I just shot my new dicks special, 93 .17, has accu-trigger, fluted bull barrel and cheap od green syn stock. With crap chinese scope that came with combo I am shooting 6 shot groups @ 100y that can be covered with a nickel. I rested gun on my range bag that's all. Extremely happy. I found it likes the federal tnt 17g hollow points, doesn't like the vmax as much. Groups spread to about 2in with those. Nice day with little to no wind. Haven't tried 20g yet, nor did I adj. Trigger. Sighted in at 25y then went right to 100. I also cleaned barrel with a boresnake after every 3 shots. Took almost 2 boxes of both ammo types to get it really dialed in. I have 3-4 full boxes of the vmax I would sell if anyone is interested, so I can replace it with the federal stuff.
 
My Savage 93 is a tack driver but it is very finicky with ammo. It only shoots well with 20 gr. V-max and best with Hornady. It also prefers to be dirty so I don't clean it until the groups start to open up. After cleaning I put a couple of rounds through to foul it up again before serious shooting. I also replaced the tupperware stock with a wood stock I believe from Boyd's and adjusted the trigger pull.
 
Originally Posted By: Half cripple I would trade it for a Marlin and forget all the troubles.I had a Savage rimfire and struggled through a whole year with it, and because I was a good customer Cabelas let me trade it on a Marlin, shoots great and no problems at all.

As much as I love Savage rifles, I have to say that their rimfire models leave a little do be desired. I have seen trouble with the mags,the accutriggers on the rimfires, at least to me, dont feel as crisp as they do on the CFs, and I have seen no real difference in accuracy with even the bull barrel models compared to my Marlin 22 mag with a walnut stock and pencil barrel. As a matter of fact, my Marlin shoots better than the two savages 22 mags that I have came across. Marlin's Micro-grooved barreling seems to be the cat's meow with rimfires.
 
I will take some pictures on my next range visit. Hopefully tomorrow if the weather holds out. I got the 20gr in the mail last week and am anxious to see how that does. I wanna play with the 17 vmax again too and see if I can do better with that. I did install a rifle basix trigger in my mark 2 gxp and did get to shoot that @ 25yds so far using remington golden bullets 36gr. I was amazed at the difference in accuracy vs. The standard non accutrigger it came with. No more long trigger pull with gritty stiff sand feel. I covered 9 shots with a dime. I know pics or it didn't happen. Still learning how to upload on here
 
Originally Posted By: swift oneOriginally Posted By: Half cripple I would trade it for a Marlin and forget all the troubles.I had a Savage rimfire and struggled through a whole year with it, and because I was a good customer Cabelas let me trade it on a Marlin, shoots great and no problems at all.

As much as I love Savage rifles, I have to say that their rimfire models leave a little do be desired. I have seen trouble with the mags,the accutriggers on the rimfires, at least to me, dont feel as crisp as they do on the CFs, and I have seen no real difference in accuracy with even the bull barrel models compared to my Marlin 22 mag with a walnut stock and pencil barrel. As a matter of fact, my Marlin shoots better than the two savages 22 mags that I have came across. Marlin's Micro-grooved barreling seems to be the cat's meow with rimfires.

I have found the same thing, my Savage MKII has a horrible trigger and the mags suck, but I've been shooting it for 15 yrs so I'm used to it .
 
I have 2 savage rimfire rifles a 93R17 BTVS and a 93 BRJ in 22 mag.
Neither would group under an 1" @ 100yds until,
1- found the ammo my gun liked
2- shoot at least 200 rounds thru it.
3- adjust the action screws +/- a few inch/lbs do not exceed factory spec of 15 in/lbs.
In my case both rifles prefer the horandy v-max ammo.
The 17 is a real tack driver often delivering .6" groups @ 100yds, the 22 mag averages 1" groups.
Never would have believed it when I first strated shooting them. Lots of good info on rimfire central.com
 
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I bought mine and shot 50 rounds through it.... and hated it!!
I couldn't get comfortable behind it, the synthetic stock felt like a youth stock. I had to order it, because the .17 isn't to popular here in RI, I had the gun shop that ordered it check the order, to make sure it wasn't youth stock. I tried adding a recoil pad, and a cheek rest and nothing worked.

I was seriously considering trading it in for the Marlin, but decided instead of losing a $100 in the deal, I'd invest a $100 in a Boyd's stock for it. I bought the rimfire hunter laminate stock for it and what a difference!!

This totally transformed this rifle, that i thought was junk into my favorite. Since i put that stock on it, i haven't pulled any other rimfire out of the safe.
 
Originally Posted By: srs028I also have the Savage .17 93R and it groups awsome. At 50 yards 5 shots can be covered up with a quarter. Im shooting the Hornady 20 grain bullets and they work fine for me. I do know of some people that shoot the 17 grain bullets and have trouble with the grouping. Maybe its the wind.

You must have lower expectations for accuracy than me. I've got lever action 30-30 & .35 Marlins that shoot that well.
 
Just curious because not many have mentioned it, but do you have good optics on it? My Savage 93R17 has the accutirgger, a boyds stock, and it wouldn't group well at first. Tried different ammo, same issue. Bought a better scope, solved the problem. My scope was on the mark, but either the parallex was off, or the reticle moved that much between shots. You may try different optics if you have a spare laying around.
 
I have one and love mine! Haven't experienced any problems with mine. Mine likes the 20 grain xtps and 17 grain v-maxs. I like the trigger to
 
It is a tack driver also-moa at 100 yards for some reason the xtps do want to group a little to the right and high but I'm gonna sight it in with the xtps for yotes and foxes (they have a little better penetration for the bigger animals).
 
Try swapping out the thin bottom metal with the replacement from DIP ($26). It's well worth the investment (IMO) and you'll be able to get a consistent, solid torque on the action. Then find the ammo it likes.

Both of my Savage rimfires took over 100 rounds to settle in.


 
The 93R17 shot .5 MOA out of the box with Federal 17g. V-Max tip. This was done on a sand bag on my truck tool box. Its (my) max range is 125 yds., off a bipod. The gun shoots far better than I can. The only negative is with the Center Point scope at 16x ,the barrel jump obscures the target (ground squirrel). It has shot about 300 rounds through it and as someone above said, it likes to be fouled. ----- Found a thread where it was recommended that you soak the barrel overnight in Marvel Mystery Oil and in doing so spilled some oil between the stock and action. Removing and replacing the stock in order to clean required a sighting in this weekend. Shot 10 fouling shots with 20g Vmax. Shot 9 rounds with the Fed 17g, first group was 1.25, second went to .38, third was .65. Quit after that. Went to shoot squirrels.
 
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