My Budget .22LR trainer

[DeauxJoe]

I wanted to put something together that my boys and I can enjoy without breaking the bank. This is what I ended up with.



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Cost to build:
Savage Mark II F 189
Boyds Tacticool Stock 110
EGW Base 40
Burris 1" Rings 50
Bushnell Elite 3200 199
$5 Bolt knob mod 5

Waiting on:
Trigger guard
Bottom Plate 27

Total: 620

Tuesday I should have the rest of the parts and be able to take my boys out and play with it. What do you guys think? Also I ordered a EGW rail with 20 MOA but Midway sent me one with no MOA. How far do you guys think I will be able to get out with this setup? Thanks fou your time.

 

[BrettSass844]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

Right now you should have around 40MOA adjustment. That will easily get you to 200 from a 50 yard zero. I would test it out and see what you come up with for max distance with your current setup. If you want to shhot further, swap the base and add the extra 20. Enjoy the Savage, they are great rimfires. I love mine!

 

[tincan]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

Hey, anything you can do to get the boys out there shooting, that's the way to go. A basic bolt action .22 is great to get them started too. Nice build. Give us a range report when you get a chance.

 

[itieknots7]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

Range report yet?

 

[DeauxJoe]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

I had a chance to get out today for a little while. I zeroed @ 50 yards, and was shooting win super x. I was a little disappointed with my results to be honest.
First off I am not the greatest shooter so let's get that out the way but at short ranges I mean it's not that hard to be good. I got rid of a VTR597 to do this build I could shoot 20 rounds @ 50 yards and cover them with a quarter with of course the occasional flyer. I ran 8 5 shot groups and honesty wasn't holding much better than MOA. I would have tinkered more at this range but the light was fading and the Mosquitos were trying to carry me away so I backed up to 100 to see what that looks like.
No good news here either. After about 30 shots I had one five shot group that was about 2MOA. At this point I am trouble shooting in my head. My first guess is ammo. What do you guys think? Or am I just being over critical of the little guy for just starting out?

 

[2guard]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

ammo probably. superx standard or high velocity? either way, it's probably the ammo. Most everyone that has an mk2 says that wolf mt and its sk counterpart shoot great through them, so give them a try. not much more expensive than the superx. Mine likes lapua centerx a lot, but also shoots cci subs pretty good and i have also had good results from fiocchi biathlon match.

If the rifle is brand new, you might want to shoot a few hundred rounds to season and break in the barrel a little bit. Mine settled in after a few hundred and began to shoot better, although I still believe it's your ammo in this case. I just tried some eley club xtra in mine two weeks ago and I could only get about 1" groups at 50 with 5 shots.I switched back to the lapua and shot under 1/2" easily all day with some wind (with a lot around 3/8).

Have you done any trigger work to it yet? Replacing the accutrigger on mine was the single biggest improvement I made with my savage. I put a rifle-basix on mine and it is so much better than the accutrigger. I have it set around 1.5lbs. Shooters Discount is about the cheapest on them ($84.25 shipped), unless you have a dealer account with brownells, midway, or somewhere. If you don't want to spend that much on it since it's a budget build, check out the accutrigger tuning page at rfc:
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227014.

try a lot of ammo until you find the one your rifle likes and adjust that trigger and your groups will shrink. You might also try some of the 1/8" bottom metal, although the fvt I mentioned shooting the lapua did not have it on it when I shot the other week. It's a nice addition, but if it shoots good without thicker bottom metal, why upgrade?

 

[DeauxJoe]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

Solid advice, I think I'll try and get through a few more rounds then start playing with ammo. I mean its still fun too shoot and plenty accurate for my little boy.

P.S. it was the HV Superx.

Whats the deal with that bottom metal you were talking about?

 

[2guard]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

1/8" bottom metal to replace the factory thin metal around the magazine. It's supposed to allow you to torque the action screws tighter without bending the stock metal or wood. DIP and savagegunsmithing make them (maybe some others?). The DIP is cheaper, about $28 shipped from them. I would adjust (or replace) the trigger first to your liking, and then add the bottom metal if you need it or want it.

 

[DeauxJoe]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

Ok did a little shooting at lunch today and I got some really weird results. Let me know what you guys think.

All shots are from 49 yards.

First target is with Rem 550 Value box


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This is target number 2 with the same ammo.


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After I shot those two I wanted to just compare to the superx I shot yester day. So I dialed back to my DOPE from yesterday, loaded up and shot.

First target


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Second target.



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What I dont get is it seemed to be grouping together pretty good with the value ammo. Then I switched to a higher dollar ammo and all went to hell with the first target and then on the second it seemed to start grouping again. Any ideas? On the third target the first two shots are in the same hole!

Here are some more pics of my rig just so you guys can check it out.



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[2guard]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

Neither of those two ammos are going to be real consistent, that's is why it is going to be hard to determine how well the rifle will shoot until you get some match ammo. While these make work in some 22s, yours apparently doesnt like the superx. I have shot some decent groups with federal champion target 40gr, but could not do it consistently due to the ammo. With the lapua I shoot, the gun will duplicate almost the same group every time (if I do my part). Try the wolf mt or sk standard, those seem to be the consensus starting point for the savage as far as ammo goes. You may also want to try some cci green tag or aguila match. All of those should be around $6/50 (green tag a little more, aguila a little less).

Other things you may want to check also:
Is the barrel free-floated completely
Are the action screws torqued right (I think 15 lbs recommended)
Scope mount, rings, etc tight. Just to make sure.

Adjust the accutrigger down to a lighter setting with the tool. Are you shooting prone from the ground?

 

[IronSights2011]

Re: My Budget .22LR trainer

In order to keep the cost down - both for the rifle and the ammo - we used a Beeman airgun with open sights to learn. Plus, the fact that it's a single shot (breech action) makes your kids really take their time with each shot.

I was always #2 shooter in the company, which I attribute to countless hours with the airgun.

very nice bolt action.