Savage 93R17 Range Report

Today was my birthday and besides turning 46 I treated myself to a day of leisure.  That included a nice trip to the range to do some testing.  When I left the house the wind was minimal, maybe a couple miles per hour.  By the time I got to the range and set up winds were gusting from mostly calm to 10mph or so.  Normally I wouldn't even comment on this wind but you'll realize why later.

My previous experience shooting the 93R17 revealed an accu-trigger that was a bit of a disappointment.  I had read how great it was a few too many times I guess and my expectations were too high.  Reality was I had the trigger adjusted all the way down and it was still rather heavy, had creep and over-travel.  Even after doing some light modifications to get the pull weight down it still was nowhere near the quality of my CZ527 trigger.  The pull weight was now much more in line with the guns purpose though and didn't feel too bad.  The lighter trigger felt much better than the previous trip, but groups only narrowed marginally.

The rifle seemed to like the Hornady 17g V-maxes the best.  A normal group would run about an inch and a half with a couple groups over two inches and a couple as small as 3/4".  I know what you're thinking.  Those 46 years are starting to take their toll!  I may be aging a bit but I can still hold a lot smaller than 2 inches!  The problem was mostly lateral stringing.  A quick check of a ballistics calculator showed the .125 coefficient bullet moving over 3" at 100 yards in a 10 mph wind!  I guess I'll have to wait for some better weather to see the real potential of my new rifle.  I show a couple targets below.  The one on the left is one of the better groups, the one at right more typical.  For reference the square is just under one inch.

A couple things were of note.  First there was a big improvement in the trigger.  I no longer felt I'd pass out before the trigger let go.  A small amount of creep was noticeable, but not on every shot.  I may go back in and smooth the trigger a tad more, but it's pretty good now.  I think the additional weight I added to the stock also made it easier to hold steady on target.

The last interesting thing was a couple groups with vertical stringing.  I use one of those bunny bags at the rear and I usually have it sitting on a 2x6 chunk of wood to get it to a comfortable height.  Today I forgot the wood and had the rear bag sitting on a sand bag instead.  Every time I'd fire the sand bag would settle just a little.  The result was me constantly playing around with the rear bag to get the correct elevation.  The next time out I won't be forgetting the wood block.  Heck, I might even show up with a real front rest instead of a pile of sandbags!  Until the next time, keep your stick on the ice.