I had it in my mind that I was saving up for a CZ 452 or a varminter with a Nikon buckmaster on it. As it turns out I did a 180 and purchased another Savage MKII, F model. I have the BV, but it is a bit heavy for silhouette on which I plan on doing full bore this year. And the BV is a little too "purty" to do any serious field shooting, of which I thought the same of the CZ.
So I got this one at walmart for $127.00, ($107.00 as they had a $20.00 coupon with a credit card application) and thought it would work well for both a dedicated silhouette stick and a low budget "no worry about scratching it" centerfire trainer.
It is a stripped down no frills model, has gritty heavy trigger, open sights, and although the barrel seems "freefloaty", when flexed the stock does rub the barrel. the molding lines on the stock are present and sharp. All of which will be addressed.
I'm also going to try to keep it as "Walmarty" (things bought only there) as I can - to see what I can produce on a low budget trainer, hopefully under $300.00 as an off the shelf type of project, that anyone can make. so some accessories / enhancements may be a bit "rednecky", but it's to stay within that "low budget walmart trainer" catagory.
this will also limit my optics choice. i wanted to go with a target dot for silhoutte, but i like the mildot for everything else. so i'm thinking aboout the centerpoint 4-16x mildot. it works well on my .22 mag, and should also do well on this rifle while keeping me within the $300.00 budget. as i shot both reticles in silhoutte, the mildot is ok, but the target dot definitely has an advantage for me.
i was surprised that the length of pull fit me well, since i have short arms most of my stocks have to be cut. this rifle seems to be a good fit and may actually be a bit too small for taller / longer armed folks. even the grip felt ergonomic for a cheap plastic stock.
I found the orientation of the bolt knob to be very convienant for a factory rifle, either for a right or left handed shooter. It sticks out enough but not too much, has a nice length, and is slightly swept back. One thing i did notice about the bolt is that there are subtle differences in the bolt design and receiver between the MKII F and my MKII bv (the BV is a few years old, was manufactured the year before the accutrigger).
i don't really like the 10 round magazine for this application as it tends to get in the way for off hand shooting. will definately be replace with 2 5 round mags, but for now, the 10 round is functional.
my first thoughts were to start modifying the stock to make it more tacticool / a4 / a5 ish, but as i'm going to use it for hunter class for small bore silhoutte, i don't want to end up with something that violates rules.
will post pictures, cost, and range reports as it develops, should make for a decent thread.
