Yes, you are right that it is the ammo. If I shoot 10 groups (again, on a calm day - very rare here near Ottawa), I will have 5 or 6 near or slightly under 1", 2 or 3 will have either 4 or 9 shots within the inch, and one flier, which pretty well confirms that it is the ammo, and for the rest, the spread will be my fault, undoubtedly. Generally, I can tell as soon as I pull the trigger if the shot will be good or if I muffed it. At 50 yards, the Savage does very well with CCI and WIn subsonic, but I haven't been able to find either for quite a while. Oddly enough, the Rem subonic is no good in my Savage, but it is the most accurate ammo in my son's CZ.
Actually, I'll be going to the range early next week, and I'll post some targets, just to show what I mean.