Savage 93R17 FV W/Accu-Trigger

I talked to a couple of guys at the shooting range some time ago that laid praise on the 17 HMR cartridge.  A couple stories they told sounded good and the groups were very nice.  I've been wanting something accurate that I don't have to reload just to be able to afford shooting it.  The 22 LR is as cheap as it gets, but it doesn't perform well when you get much past 50 yards.  I suppose it can perform with match ammo and a thousand dollar rifle, but that's too much money.  This 17 HMR was looking like just what I wanted so the cartridge was chosen.  Now I just needed an affordable rifle to shoot it in.  The 17 HMR is chambered by all the big makers so it was just a matter of finding something I liked in my limited budget.  Marlin, Mossberg, and Savage all make affordably priced 17's.  I have a Mossberg shotgun that has served me reliably for thirty years.  My 444 Marlin I've never had a lick of trouble with and shoots surprisingly well.  What I didn't have was a Savage and I've read a lot about the Accu-Trigger being a nice piece.  My CZ 527 has the best factory trigger I've ever felt and I thought it would be interesting to see how the Accu-Trigger stood up with all the hoopla.

I perused the Savage website and found a 93R17 FV with Accu-Trigger, cheap synthetic stock and heavy barrel for a list price of $295.  After looking at online prices I found I could order one for $220 plus the $25 transfer fee from my FFL.  I was ready to order online when I decided to stop by my local gun store.  I kind of know the guys in there and figured I owed giving them a chance, but honestly didn't think they could compete price wise.  Well, I was happily surprised.  Three days later they sold me the same rifle for $249 plus tax.  It cost a little more than online, but I prefer to keep my business local.

It's a plain blued steel action and heavy barrel on a black tupperware stock.  No sights are installed but it came with Weaver style ring bases installed from the factory.  Savage lists the weight at six pounds and it sure feels light with most of the weight forward in the heavy barrel. It's not good to dry fire rimfires, so I resisted the urge to try out the lauded Accu-Trigger until I got some ammo.

After mounting a scope, see separate article here, I picked up three different boxes of ammo from Walmart and waited for a trip to the range.  I shot the Winchester 17g V-max loads the first day out.  Five shot groups were in the 1.5" to 2" range at 100 yards.  Better than a 22 LR, but nothing to brag about.  The thing was, most groups had three or so bullets clustered nicely and then a couple off on there own.  This rig may have potential.

On my second range session I shot the CCI 20g FMJ and Federal 17g V-max rounds.  As I got more rounds down the barrel two things kept going through my mind.  Despite being adjusted as light as it would go, the trigger was too heavy.  The trigger has a little creep and some over travel, but besides the heavy pull, it was pretty good.  Now combine that heavy trigger with the light weight of the rifle and it was hard to get a clean let-off without the gun moving.  Upon returning home I checked the posts on Rimfirecentral.com.  It seems the trigger can be lightened even more by simply modifying a spring.  I tore the action down and trimmed a coil and a half off the spring and put it back together.  After chambering a spent casing, I tested the trigger for feel, pull weight, and safety.  It now breaks at a little over two pounds on my fish scale.  Now that is more like it!

With the trigger setup to my satisfaction, it was time to see what I could do about adding some weight.  As I stated earlier, the rifle weighs about six pounds without scope, with the majority of the weight in the heavy barrel.  I pulled the butt plate off to find a nice hollow in the stock.  I also just happened to have a sand bag on the work bench, when a flash of semi brilliance hit me.  Pour the sand into the stock!  Now I'm sure somebody else has already done this, but I was pleased as punch as the sand poured from the bag into the stock.  After re-securing the butt plate, I gave it the old hold it in your hand and heft it up and down a couple times test.  Yep, it's heavier.  It actually feels pretty good with the extra weight rearward balancing out the heavy barrel, so I'm off to get the digital bathroom scale.  I couldn't tell you how accurate the scale is, but after balancing the rifle/scope/sand combo on it, I got a reading of 8.7 pounds.  I like it just like that and I can't wait to get back to the range and test it out.  I have very high hopes.
 
Update:  See my latest post HERE for another range report including group sizes and target pictures. :)