Experience with a Savage 64 precision

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Codester240

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Okanagan, BC
I ordered and should be getting my new Savage Precision 64 today, obviously its a budget rifle but does anyone have experience with it for precision shooting? I have some friends who compete in rimfire competitions and I’m planning to use this and maybe enter for fun. I know it won’t compare to their $4000 setups of course.
 
Nothing Precision about it. Had a 64 TR SR ( same gun just a different stock ) and it was mediocre accuracy at best. Even with the Mcarbo trigger kit, the trigger was rough. I kept on getting split groups and be over 5" at 100. My iron sight Cooey would do 2.5.
 
Good to know. Hopefully mines a bit more accurate than that, but we’ll see. My wife is due in less than a month so this was maxing out the budget the wife would say ok to and gives me something to target practice with. It was either get this or wait a year or two to spend more. I’ll use this for a year or 2 and then upgrade if I want to get into the competitions.
 
Codester240,
There are simple mods to the 64 that will make it much better. First is to take the action apart - there are YT-vids and MCarbo has an installation vid for the spring kit. You don't need to buy the springs, just watch the vid for instruction on taking it apart and reassembly. The Point is to take the inner parts and 'polish' them on 600g w/d paper to remove any burrs from stamping and polish the sides to smooth the action. And polish the 'pivot-pin' of the sear, too. DO NOT mess with the Trigger/Sear interface or you could F-it up. The trigger return spring can be replaced with about 1/2 of a Bic spring; start with 3/4 of one and see how the feel is to you - I'm down to about 1/3 of a spring. With the polish and bic-spring I have ca 2# trigger. I also 'opened up' the magazine well to make mag insertion easier, and drilled a hole in the mag release and put a bit of wire to extend that, and a blob of JB to 'soften it. And I put a self-tapping bolt into the charging handle to make it longer, with a 'captured' nut rotating to ease the grip. All of this with just a small file and patience. You might need to buy 600g (or better) and some JB :rolleyes:
With a scope the 1" @ 50 is easily attainable.
Pics below ->
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The design of the rifle is the weak point. It was intended to be a cheap plinker and it fulfills that criterion 100%. No matter what you do, it will never reach precision accuracy levels. Yes, you can make the trigger much, much better. But the barrel is a slip-fit into the receiver, and held in place with a bent piece of steel and a slot in the barrel/receiver. NOT a recipe for accuracy.
 
Thanks Buck1950, thats a great write up and I appreciate the pictures. I’ll make sure to do that, I’m pretty handy and have tools, JB etc so it shouldn’t be a problem.
 
Codester - I have a Savage 64 FVSR, which is a basic plastic stocked 64 with a 16.5" heavy barrel. Same rifle except for the chassis. I've owned several 64s, and have a soft spot for them. Definitely not a high end rifle, but as long as the magazine works well (this is key), they are pretty reliable rifles.

This guy with the heavy barrel will most often shoot sub-1" 5 shot groups at 50m with a wide variety of ammo types. It likes CCI SV and CCI Blazer best, also pretty decent with S&B Canadian Match. The very best 5 shot group at 50m I've shot with it is 9/16" with CCI SV. Also, no issues cycling sv ammo of any type.

No, it's not a CZ or Anschutz. But I have also had much more expensive 22s that don't shoot as well. Best of all, being able to shoot cheap ammo such as CCI SV and Blazer well is a BIG plus.
 
It seems pretty accurate so far, unfortunately I've been having horrible luck with it currently. It has the 20 round magazine and it is very unreliable,
today it fired 15/15 rds perfect from the first magazine and then after that it would misfire or misfeed jamming the rounds in diagonally which would damage the round and require me to pull out the magazine and pull back the action, often having to fish the round out.
My worst magazine was 6/15 shots misfiring or jamming. I've tried a couple mods another member mentioned and multiple ammo and its inconsistent one ammo will fire good for a magazine or 2 then start misfeeding.
CCI Varmint seems to be most consistent so far.
I have 2 new 10 round magazines im going to try tomorrow, Hopefully they help.
So far i'm regretting not spending more on a better rifle.
 
Codester240 said:
It seems pretty accurate so far, unfortunately I've been having horrible luck with it currently. It has the 20 round magazine and it is very unreliable,
today it fired 15/15 rds perfect from the first magazine and then after that it would misfire or misfeed jamming the rounds in diagonally which would damage the round and require me to pull out the magazine and pull back the action, often having to fish the round out.
My worst magazine was 6/15 shots misfiring or jamming. I've tried a couple mods another member mentioned and multiple ammo and its inconsistent one ammo will fire good for a magazine or 2 then start misfeeding.
CCI Varmint seems to be most consistent so far.
I have 2 new 10 round magazines im going to try tomorrow, Hopefully they help.
So far i'm regretting not spending more on a better rifle.
Click to expand...

I bought a basic one for $199.00 at our local Canadian tire less than a year ago. I put it in a $100.00 folding stock, added a cheap Tru-glo sight and am very pleased with the accuracy (it's no CZ, I have a 452 and 455); I have the same experience with the 20 round mag; I have two 10s that feed perfect, but the issue with the 20 is that the shells get stuck it and don't advance fare enough to get picked up. 15 or 16 runds will generally feed, more than the, not so much. I need to take it apart and see what is going on. Maybe a job for today. LOL.
 
I tried out the 10 round magazines and they work perfect so it definitely is the 20 round mag. I put in an email to Savage and we’ll see if they will send me a new 20 or a 10 to replace the defective 20 round.
Really happy the 10 round magazines work without issue though. Really liking the gun now.
 
My experience with them was that they're fun, an OK plinker, but lacking in accuracy.

I've spent some time pulling triggers, and with SK High Velocity Match ammo, I could get a 3.5" group at 100m at best. That's not so great.

I've shelved the 64 'precision' due to the fact that inaccurate rifles do not interest me much.

I tried a buddy's Derya TM-22 and have determined that it's slightly more accurate (1.25 MOA @100) with a poorly configured test setup, so it has some potential. I bought one over the weekend ($599) and shot a SFC 20m test target with it for a 97.2X - that's not bad. I'll get it out to 100 and 200 next week.

My suggestion for you - enjoy the S64 for what it is - a comfortable to shoot plinker with a cheap price tag.

If you're looking for precision, keep looking.

NS
 
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