Savage 22lr

M

Marlin989

CGN Regular
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Location
Ottawa
I was just checking out a couple of Savage 22l rifles. The 64 Precision, and the MKII.

I was hoping to really like the 64, but for whatever reasons, I don't. It sure does look cool though!

The MKII however, felt just right. And the action is pretty smooth - something I didn't expect.

I may decide to pick up the MKII. What has been your experience with it?

Cheers,
Neil
 
I don't have either but I do have 2x 'regular' 64s, the precision is just a slightly better version of the simple 64. A bit more accurate and a simple chassis. I love my 64s. I also have a B22-FV that has the rotary mag and heavy barrel and they come in 'Precision' models. Likely just a bit more $$ than the MKII, but I've also read the MK has magazine issues.
A lot depends on whether you want Bolt or Semi.
OH - I just wanted to add, I hate the A22s; don't recommend one. See my other posts about 'em.
 
I have an MKII-G from 2006 or so. I personally like it except for one issue which has been somewhat resolved somewhat recently (two years ago). Since day one the 10-round magazines have a lot of play when inserted and occasionally will have a feed problem. Ammo doesn't matter. The 5 round mags never had this problem. If I hold the magazine by pushing forward on it (or is it pulling back - I don't remember), it feeds better. Action screws were tight, couldn't figure out what it was. It didn't matter if it was the black metal or the silver coated "stainless" models - the 10 round mag had this problem.

A fella here found what was the apparent cause and what he did was built up the spine a bit with some metal compound. I tried this myself and make a complete mess of my mags - couldn't determine the moment it was cured enough - I have dried bits of compound on my mags and in the magwell which took forever to clean. Anyways, a buddy from my club took a good look at it and it turns out that metal piece in the magwell can be bent around and bending it a certain way (again I don't remember which) allowed the 10 round magazine to seat much more snugly and as a result the feed problems were more or less gone (I say more or less because it still does it occasionally only on hollow points).

Others who bought MKIIs made in other years seemed to be hit and miss. Those who have the feed issue with the 10 rounders will know exactly what I am talking about. There are more than a few reports of others having these issues. But for the price I paid back in 2006, it's been a decent rifle.

The action on the MKII is decent and for the years I had the problem with the 10 rounders and the FTF, I just inserted one round at a time and the thing was very accurate, even with a crummy Bushnell scope. I taught two of my kids to shoot using my MKII-G.
 
my MKII is from 2008 (just before Cabelas took over SIR Mailorder)
it shoots great. With good ammo it gets about 1MOA at 100m
no mag problems

wh2daYG.png
 
Guys with MK IIs at our club shoot well with them. Not in the same league as Brnos, CZs, Anschutz, but almost, and for less money. I have seen a couple that do shoot as well, so maybe just a little TLC needed regarding bedding and polishing? The barrels from Savage are excellent.
 
Thanks for the information - very useful stuff! I had heard about some ejection issues, but had not heard of mag issues. Overall, they seem to be manageable.

Last question: any thoughts on how cutting the barrel back to 18" would affect accuracy?

Cheers,
Marlin989
 
MKII mags 'fix' ?

thegazelle, RE the mags, I had that prob with my 64 since after a few thou rounds they would 'wear loose'. I put JB Weld on them then filed them until they fit snugly. On some the JB was all it needed, w/o filing. The 'lips' of the mags still wear and I 'beat 'em' around a bit to snug them. They're gonna die someday, tho.
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Buck1950 said:
thegazelle, RE the mags, I had that prob with my 64 since after a few thou rounds they would 'wear loose'. I put JB Weld on them then filed them until they fit snugly. On some the JB was all it needed, w/o filing. The 'lips' of the mags still wear and I 'beat 'em' around a bit to snug them. They're gonna die someday, tho.
View attachment 696632
Click to expand...

Yeah, what you have is the fix, but mine was like that since day one - it wasn't over time it got like that - it was like that out of the box.

I think Jerry from Mystic Precision posted on this on CGN a while back...and did what this guy did...but this really captures exactly what my problem was and he way he fixed it is what Jerry (and you did) with the spine.

This explains why the 5 rounders function perfectly but the 10s don't. Anyways, the below is exactly the issue I had and it looks like others have had too with certain MK2s.

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/dealing-with-the-savage-mkii-feeding-issues.243195/
 
I have had a Few Mark II's G's and F models and a Mark 1 G over the years. They are nice rifles for the price, a simple proven design and work well. Metal work and bluing were ok with no sharp corners but nothing really special, the accutrigger is reliable and for me the magazines were too. As for the sights I never really liked them as they are very simple. Made in Canada so that's a bonus though. Accuracy for me was about .75 at 50 yards but I was using bulk ammo all the time. To me the Savage is a basic rifle that does what its supposed to do with good enough accuracy for any plinking and hunting situation. Although for me I no longer own one as for some reason I figured accuracy should be so much better than it is, perhaps the heavy barrels with the Wood stocks are better. I would like to get a Mark II F in stainless though just for kicks. I now have a CZ452 Varmint and it seems to exactly what I want in a .22 amazing accuracy, great fit/finish and just feels a lot more solid but its also a lot more money.

I don't really think you can go wrong with the Savage, I enjoyed the ones I had but just wanted more in the end.
 
I love simple things - one reason why I'm considering the MKII.

The sights though..... Yikes. I'd probably replace them with fiber optic sights, as I could barely see the factory front sight when I handled it in the store.

The irons would be for backup though. If I do get this rifle, I'll put a simple 4x scope on it.
 
I think they're decent guns for the $, though I've never hit the accuracy #s people claim they get with theirs. As I've mentioned before, back when I had mine I didn't test as wide a variety of ammo as I would today with a new rifle. Maybe mine were that good? I know the last one I had was a Mark II-FV SR and the machining on the barrel was so rough it ground cotton fibres off the rags I was using to wipe the barrel down after use. Mags were not an issue overall, though the 10-rounders sometimes operated more reliably if only loaded to 9.

The black synthetic stocks on these guns were not well-suited to scope use, but a cheap riser can be bought/made to compensate. I don't think the wood or laminate stocks suffer from this.

I've never held or shot one of the new B-series guns, but would like to.
 
I handled a B22 at the store as well.... It didn't feel right to me. But the MarkII G felt right as soon as I shouldered it.

I can't comment further, except to say only one synthetic stocked rifle ever, felt right to me - and that was a Colt civilian version of the C7.
 
The Mk II G is my main hunting rimfire rifle. Mine's about 10 years old and has probably 3000 rounds through it. The OEM trigger is great at about 2.5 lbs adjusted down and the bolt is nice and smooth now.

With Eley Subsonic HP I can get nearly 1/4" at 50 yards if I let the barrel cool between shots. It drifts about 1/2" to 1" if I shoot continuously but seems to hold about 1/2" group where it settles (down and right of the cold-barrel shot). And this is with a Simmons scope, which makes for a handy and fairly lightweight setup.
 
Thirsty_Fox said:
The Mk II G is my main hunting rimfire rifle. Mine's about 10 years old and has probably 3000 rounds through it. The OEM trigger is great at about 2.5 lbs adjusted down and the bolt is nice and smooth now.

With Eley Subsonic HP I can get nearly 1/4" at 50 yards if I let the barrel cool between shots. It drifts about 1/2" to 1" if I shoot continuously but seems to hold about 1/2" group where it settles (down and right of the cold-barrel shot). And this is with a Simmons scope, which makes for a handy and fairly lightweight setup.
Click to expand...

I was surprised at how slick the action was, with the display rifle at the store.

And I'm happy to hear about the accuracy - I don't know if I am personally capable of shooting 1/4" groups (not yet, anyway!) - but it's nice to know that the rifle won't be a limiting factor.

I use a Simmons 22Mag 4x, and I like quite a bit. The eye relief was a little too long for me, but I was able to adjust my shooting form. So now, it's turning out to work very well.

Cheers,
Marlin989
 
A number of years ago, a friend of a friend bought himself a stainless/synthetic Mk II and asked me to take him to the range for a lesson on shooting it.
As it was his first rifle and first time shooting (open sights) he was a little discouraged that his groups weren't very good at 25 yards. He was getting a little frustrated. But he was improving as the session went along. (Some people have a hard time with accepting that it is a skill that takes time and practice to develop.)
Finally, he asked me to shoot the rifle to see if there was something wrong with the rifle, or if it was just him. It shot fine at 25 yards...but then he asked me to try it at 100 yards. I shot 1" groups at 100 yards with it (do not recall the ammo he had that day)! That was fun! Hadn't done that since I was a kid, spending hours and bricks up in the back 40 on the farm.
I had to explain this to him...it was going to take time and practice to acquire the skill to do this. Not quite sure he had the patience for it...

Point is, I was pleasantly surprised with the rifle's accuracy, as I had never fired a Savage 22 before. Have thought about getting a LH one from time to time, but just never pulled the trigger (pun intended!).
 
BlackRam said:
A number of years ago, a friend of a friend bought himself a stainless/synthetic Mk II and asked me to take him to the range for a lesson on shooting it.
As it was his first rifle and first time shooting (open sights) he was a little discouraged that his groups weren't very good at 25 yards. He was getting a little frustrated. But he was improving as the session went along. (Some people have a hard time with accepting that it is a skill that takes time and practice to develop.)
Finally, he asked me to shoot the rifle to see if there was something wrong with the rifle, or if it was just him. It shot fine at 25 yards...but then he asked me to try it at 100 yards. I shot 1" groups at 100 yards with it (do not recall the ammo he had that day)! That was fun! Hadn't done that since I was a kid, spending hours and bricks up in the back 40 on the farm.
I had to explain this to him...it was going to take time and practice to acquire the skill to do this. Not quite sure he had the patience for it...

Point is, I was pleasantly surprised with the rifle's accuracy, as I had never fired a Savage 22 before. Have thought about getting a LH one from time to time, but just never pulled the trigger (pun intended!).
Click to expand...

^100%, and just yesterday I was reminded that if you take an extended break from 22LR shooting, you might feel like you're starting from scratch! :)
 
BlackRam said:
...

I had to explain this to him...it was going to take time and practice to acquire the skill to do this. Not quite sure he had the patience for it...

Point is, I was pleasantly surprised with the rifle's accuracy, as I had never fired a Savage 22 before. Have thought about getting a LH one from time to time, but just never pulled the trigger (pun intended!).
Click to expand...

It sure does take some patience. Luckily, I enjoy it so much that it's still a pleasure to shoot, even when I'm shooting poorly.

Speaking about taking a new guy to the range, I remember taking a friend to the range a couple of years back. He had never shot before, and it never occurred to me that he would not know to use his right eye to aim, since he was shooting right-handed. After maybe 15 rounds of him not hitting paper, I noticed he was holding his head at a weird angle, so he could use his LEFT eye to aim. Once he fixed that, he was shooting just fine.

And speaking about LH versions of the MkII, I notice that SAIL is only selling the left-handed version of the rifle. It's great they sell it, but I was really surprised that they don't also sell the right-hand version!
 
.22LRGUY said:
^100%, and just yesterday I was reminded that if you take an extended break from 22LR shooting, you might feel like you're starting from scratch! :)
Click to expand...

No kidding! I had not shot in many months, before getting back to the range this past spring. It was painful to be shooting like I did when I started a few years ago. In my mind, I knew what I should be doing... but my body had forgotten. And coupled with the excitement about being there again just made it 10x worse.

I still notice that my first few groups are pretty lousy, but they tighten up quite a bit once I'm settled in.
 
Get the heavy barrel FV or the FV-SR, I've had 2x FV-SRs and they have both shot great for the $$$. The one I currently have likes Center-X or SK Match, shoots CX out to 300m no problem, I have never had an issue with the 10 rounds magazines so far, I have 3 or 4 of them.

I'm tempted to buy another one of the new ones with the green paint job, they look great.
 
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