Savage mark II FVT review

mikeystew

mikeystew

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Today i recieved in the mail my much anticipated Savage mark II FVT. For those unfamiliar it is a basic mark II FV that is equipped with aperture target sights. I bought this gun thinking that it would be nice to have a gun that can easily go back and forth between target sights and a scope, and so far i think that it will do just nicely. While i was waiting for it to arrive, as usual i scoured the internet for reviews and couldnt find one that satisfied my interest, so i thought i'd make my own.

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First up, off the bat i have some cons...
The stock, this is a pretty $hitty stock. Not only does it flex pretty bad, but it is warped and one side of the forestock is nearly touching the barrel. It is for sure nothing to brag about and does not allow me to get any cheek weld, let alone a good one. It's more of a chin/jaw weld.

Secondly, it is shipped without plug screws for the tapped scope base holes... all in all, not that much to complain about, and certainly nothing that can't be fixed with a boyds stock and scope bases... coming soon.

Now the pro's...
Im an opensight enthusiast, and i've played with many different target rifles including higher end anschutz, BSA martini internationals, etc... and to be honest i wasnt expecting much in the way of sights when i ordered this gun.
But... to my surprise, williams actually made a decent one. It's solid, audible and tactile feedback is good and it seems fairly repeatable from the limited ammount of testing i've done with it so far. It has adjustment knobs that are 1/4 moa at 100m and it is mounted on a rail that attaches to the side of the receiver. It is also easily removable at the turn of a knurled thumbscrew.

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Front sight is also made by williams, and is also removable by a slotted thumbscrew. It comes with 10 different inserts for different ranges/uses... nothing special, but it works and is actually pretty clear. Not as nice as the Lyman globes, but appropriate for this gun.

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Finally the gun itself...
We have all read enough reviews to know that Savages can shoot, but i have to say that this gun has THE nicest... shiniest, cleanest looking bore i've ever seen. It looks like it's hand lapped (it's not, i know) and the dry patches just sing when being pulled through it. Very nice crown etc... Can't say enough about the quality of this barreled action. For the price i paid, i was not expecting this quality. I have owned savages before also... But this is the best quality i have seen in one yet. The accutrigger is well known for it's awesomeness so i won't even get into that.

I dont know if it was the lack of wind... Maybe the right batch of bullets... But I shot easily my personal best group ever with this gun today. I only tried 2 brands of ammo, CCI standard velocity, and Fed gold HV Match. It did not like the federal, but it loves the CCI... in a big way.

After a couple warmup groups i shot these 2 targets at 25m and 50m respectively, using CCI standard. Both are 5 shot groups. After the 50m group it was time to go back to work and i didn't dare take another shot for fear of killing my excitement with a lesser group. Hopefully the next time out is just as good!

25m
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50m
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I know some of you are probably thinking this group is not all that small... but keep in mind this was shot with aperture sights. I have only ever come close to a group this small with my Martini international ISU using Eley club.
In contrast to the thumb tack... it's a small group.

In conclusion for an entry level target rifle, I am beyond impressed with the performance of this barreled action. Heck, even with the crappy stock it shoots astonishingly well, and could be left as is to keep the budget under $450 after tax and shipping. But I have absolutely no problem dishing out the extra money for a nice stock and hardware now and still having the whole package come in under $600. For a target rifle that shoots this good... that is a very good price.


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It works better than any other aperture sighted rifle I own. I really enjoy it. I will try cci std vel in mine for sure now too! Good shooting! Aaron
 
I have to agree there a very nice rifle .I owned an FVT that was a pre accutrigger model that would shoot amazingly small groups.so I can only imagine how well it would shoot with the accutrigger.nice bug holes by the way :D .
 
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Thanks for this. I'm about to order a Boyd's stock for mine.
Also want to install some peep sites and you've got some great photos there.
Do you know offhand what model the Williams sight is?
 
Paatz said:
Thanks for this. I'm about to order a Boyd's stock for mine.
Also want to install some peep sites and you've got some great photos there.
Do you know offhand what model the Williams sight is?
Click to expand...

It is a Williams FP TK of some sort... You could find out by e-mailing or phoning Williams. But it is worth mentioning that it mounts to a rail that is attached to the side of the receiver so you'd have to get your rifle drilled and tapped. I think Williams also has a model that would attach to the rear scope base holes though.
 
Is there anything that can be done to improve the stock-like filling it with expandable foam?[carefuly, so as not to swell it by the pressure of the foam expanding]
and-would the wood stock be a better option if it was bedded, refinished and sealed against moisture potentially warping it?
 
After some further research, I discovered why this gun seems more substantial than the previous savages I owned... The receiver and bolt are way overbuilt! Turns out the new style E-receiver is designed to be used with both .22mag and .22lr and it is WAY beefier than a .22lr needs to be. It also has 2 barrel retaining pins instead of one like the old model. Heck it's even larger and heavier than the old 93 series. No wonder this thing shoots awesome when fitted with a high quality heavy barrel.

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ratherbefishin said:
Is there anything that can be done to improve the stock-like filling it with expandable foam?[carefuly, so as not to swell it by the pressure of the foam expanding]
and-would the wood stock be a better option if it was bedded, refinished and sealed against moisture potentially warping it?
Click to expand...

I was thinking of cutting the forestock down the middle on a table saw and securing a length of aluminum flatbar in the void... Easier to just replace it. I'm going to put it in a laminate, and pillar bed it.
 
Thanks, I'm taking it out to an informal monthly benchrest match today. We'll see how it stacks up, if I do well I'll take some more pics of the targets.
 
Well... Bit of an anti climax today, I didn't shoot very well. Not bad, but not good either. The cci really opened up for me and was grouping from 3/4" - 1.5" at 50 m which is really strange considering the one hole group I shot two days ago. I'm going to look at the sights and maybe see if the mag is causing issues. I'm also into a different lot # of the cci which could be the cause... Don't know, ill do some more shooting tomorrow and see what happens.
 
Went back out today with 5 brands of ammo...

CCI Standard velocity
American eagle 40g solid
Federal champion 510
Federal Gold HV Match 719
Remington Target (garbage... it was given to me)

Here's the wierd part... day one produced sub par esults with the Federal HV Match but shot a VERY small group with CCI Standard Velocity, today however the Federal HV Match and American Eagle produced the smallest groups ranging from just under 1/2" - 9/16" with the rare flyer that would stray 1/4" outside the group. CCI Standard Velocity seemed to float between 3/4" and just over 1", a far cry from the one hole group i got on the first day of testing. Federal 510 did ok at an average 9/16" and not surprisingly remington target was the worst producing an awesome 2" group and a foul smell... like it wafted up from the depths of an old septic. nasty $hit.
 
Thank you mikeystew for your pioneering efforts in testing and reporting on the features and shooting characteristics of this rifle. I'm certain that there are many of us across Canada and beyond who are very interested in your review.

Just a word regarding firing test groups with various brands and types of .22 ammo.
You likely know this already, but just in case: it is generally accepted that you should fire several rounds of the new brand ammo before firing a test group. This seems to produce the best results. My guess is that it takes several rds. to get the bore used to the new bullet's lube type and thickness - this is especially true with the various types sold by Lapua (excellent ammo in my experience) all of which have a lot of bullet lube.
 
bluebell said:
Thank you mikeystew for your pioneering efforts in testing and reporting on the features and shooting characteristics of this rifle. I'm certain that there are many of us across Canada and beyond who are very interested in your review.

Just a word regarding firing test groups with various brands and types of .22 ammo.
You likely know this already, but just in case: it is generally accepted that you should fire several rounds of the new brand ammo before firing a test group. This seems to produce the best results. My guess is that it takes several rds. to get the bore used to the new bullet's lube type and thickness - this is especially true with the various types sold by Lapua (excellent ammo in my experience) all of which have a lot of bullet lube.
Click to expand...

It is worth mentioning that i dumped 10 "seasoning" rounds of each brand into the silhouette sand bunker before shooting for groups. Thank you for bringing that up.
 
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