Savage MkII G - First impressions

[Marlin989]

Hi,
Cabelas had a sale, and I said "What the hell, I'll go get one".

I've had it out once, shooting 100 rounds. I really like the rifle so far. The action was a tiny bit rough out of the box, as was the safety. But they smoothed out pretty nicely somewhere between 50 and 75 rounds. The trigger is crisp. You get sort of a two stage feel as you engage the safety blade of the trigger... as soon as you get to the trigger itself, it breaks clean and crisp.

The stock is pretty nice too. I'll guess it's birch, with a satin walnut finish. The checkering is basic, but good. It could be a bit deeper and with a larger pattern though. There is no palm swell at the wrist of the stock. Which is good by me. I had a Marlin XT22 in the past, and I disliked how it felt in my hand.

The sights... well, at least you get them. They're serviceable, but I find them a little too hard to see properly. I'm using a basic Simmons 4x 22mag scope and it's fine for shooting at 50 yards. I'd push it a little farther is necessary, but I wouldn't want to use it all the time at longer distances.

The magazine is actually decent. Edges are not smoothed, and it wobbles a bit when locked in place, but it fed reliably (no failures in 100 rounds) and was pretty easy to load.

I did have one FTF with S&B Canadian Match. I'm starting to dislike that ammo, as it turns my Marlin 989 into a jam-o-matic.

I may get a few things done on the rifle, like shortening the barrel, and getting fibre optic sights. It's otherwise a plain Jane right now, so I didn't think pictures were warranted.


Cheers,
Marlin989

 

[IvoB]

I have one like yours except I sold the stock and replaced it with a tupperware stock - have close to 5k through it - yes the bolt smooths out - I have a Simmons 4x on mine - the iron sights are good even though with my aging eyes they are useless to me for now but I do like them.

The only thing I did to the barrel is to put a recessed crown (similiar to the crown that's on the 93r17)

 

[Marlin989]

I have one like yours except I sold the stock and replaced it with a tupperware stock - have close to 5k through it - yes the bolt smooths out - I have a Simmons 4x on mine - the iron sights are good even though with my aging eyes they are useless to me for now but I do like them.

The only thing I did to the barrel is to put a recessed crown (similiar to the crown that's on the 93r17)

Did the new crown affect your accuracy?

 

[Thirsty_Fox]

You can get aperture sights from Tech Sights that you might like for target shooting with irons. I had them on my Mk II G for a while but have a scope on it now as it's my dedicated small game hunting rifle.

I have another set of them on a Marlin. They really helps to make accurate shots further out but you lose field of view.

For the money, they're great rifles and made in Ontario.

 

[Marlin989]

Yeah, I had tech sights on a Marlin 989 that I just sold.

They do work better than open sights, but I found them a little challenging in lower light. For me, a scope makes more sense. Although, I do have backup open sights on my other 989, and will be putting better sights on the MkII, just in case the scope were to fail.

You can get aperture sights from Tech Sights that you might like for target shooting with irons. I had them on my Mk II G for a while but have a scope on it now as it's my dedicated small game hunting rifle.

I have another set of them on a Marlin. They really helps to make accurate shots further out but you lose field of view.

For the money, they're great rifles and made in Ontario.

 

[thegazelle]

I have a Mark II-G from the early 2000s. Was my first bolt action .22. Got it at Le Baron. Over the years, I have bought and sold guns but have kept this one. For the price I paid, it was good value.

Only issue I had with it, which became a persistent issue which a few others have had - you mentioned your magazine is looks and wobbles. Mine does too, but only the 10 rounders. But unlike yours, the extra play and movement in mine caused significant failures to feed. Now, others have not had this problem, so it's not like it is systemic. But the cause is something to do with a gap space in the magwell and the spine of the mag. Jerry from Mystic Precision posted about his fix was was to apply some metal compound paste to a particular area of the spine of the mags and then let it cure and that seems to resolve the issue in the 10 rounders. Because I have zero handy skills and mess everything up, I did so here too and ended up with magazines with blotches of cured compound that were either too little, too much, or all over the place - a real mess that wrecked my magazines. I may try it again sometime if I buy more 10 rounders.

Some have said use the stainless steel version but for me, that made no difference. It was the longer 10 rounders that had the movement and subsequently caused the jams. The 5 rounders never once had a problem.

A fellow range member looked in the magwell area and bent a piece of metal a bit, which closed some of that gap in the spine area, which improved things a bit. Still don't feed hollow points well.

That said, the trigger, bolt throw and inherent accuracy of this thing is superb, for the price. For years I shot this thing with the onboard sights, opting not to put a scope on it til later. It's a great little gun that I used to teach two of my kids to shoot.

 

[Marlin989]

I have a Mark II-G from the early 2000s. Was my first bolt action .22. Got it at Le Baron. Over the years, I have bought and sold guns but have kept this one. For the price I paid, it was good value.

Only issue I had with it, which became a persistent issue which a few others have had - you mentioned your magazine is looks and wobbles. Mine does too, but only the 10 rounders. But unlike yours, the extra play and movement in mine caused significant failures to feed.

...

That said, the trigger, bolt throw and inherent accuracy of this thing is superb, for the price. For years I shot this thing with the onboard sights, opting not to put a scope on it til later. It's a great little gun that I used to teach two of my kids to shoot.

I'm glad to hear about your experiences with the MkII. You've got it right about the action, trigger, and accuracy. Honestly, I didn't expect them to be so good. This is one of those "everyman's" rifles that I love. Basic, well made, and accurate. It's easy on the budget as well. It may not win many competitions, but heck, neither can I .

I'll focus on accuracy after I have a couple of hundred rounds through the barrel, but so far I'm happy. CCI SV is shooting a little less than one inch groups at 50 yards - I'm guessing with a little break in, that number will improve. And I'm looking forward to trying out some entry level Eley ammo. In my Marlin 989M2, it was more consistent than CCI SV, but did not eject as reliably - which was very frustrating! The Marlin just loves CCI- I get few failures when using it.

I will have to disagree about the sights though. True, they work. But I find them a little hard to pick up. As well, since I mounted the scope low (with the standard #16 Weaver bases and their quad-lock rings), there is not enough clearance for the rear sight. I'll replace that with a folding Marble Arms rear leaf sight. I was planning to get the barrel shortened, so the front sight was going to be replaced anyway. I'm thinking a brass blade or bead would be nice to have.

While the mag wobble is little bit annoying, I don't plan to do anything about it unless it starts to give me problems. Oh - one small surprise - the mags drop free when I hit the mag release lever.

Cheers,
Marlin989

 

[Thirsty_Fox]

I have a Mark II-G from the early 2000s. Was my first bolt action .22. Got it at Le Baron. Over the years, I have bought and sold guns but have kept this one. For the price I paid, it was good value.

Only issue I had with it, which became a persistent issue which a few others have had - you mentioned your magazine is looks and wobbles. Mine does too, but only the 10 rounders. But unlike yours, the extra play and movement in mine caused significant failures to feed. Now, others have not had this problem, so it's not like it is systemic. But the cause is something to do with a gap space in the magwell and the spine of the mag. Jerry from Mystic Precision posted about his fix was was to apply some metal compound paste to a particular area of the spine of the mags and then let it cure and that seems to resolve the issue in the 10 rounders. Because I have zero handy skills and mess everything up, I did so here too and ended up with magazines with blotches of cured compound that were either too little, too much, or all over the place - a real mess that wrecked my magazines. I may try it again sometime if I buy more 10 rounders.

Some have said use the stainless steel version but for me, that made no difference. It was the longer 10 rounders that had the movement and subsequently caused the jams. The 5 rounders never once had a problem.

A fellow range member looked in the magwell area and bent a piece of metal a bit, which closed some of that gap in the spine area, which improved things a bit. Still don't feed hollow points well.

That said, the trigger, bolt throw and inherent accuracy of this thing is superb, for the price. For years I shot this thing with the onboard sights, opting not to put a scope on it til later. It's a great little gun that I used to teach two of my kids to shoot.

I got mine at Le Baron as well, about 10 years ago.

Both the 10 rounders that came with it have run flawlessly over thousands of rounds. However, I bought 3 of the 5-round magazines and only one of them feeds reliably -- the other two let the round pop up too early. Might be able to fix it by further bending the edges inward a bit.

I think my trigger is about 2.5 lbs and very crisp. Bolt is smooth as any at this point, although I know the brand new ones tend to be a bit gritty for a little bit. Accuracy is excellent, especially with Eley subsonics.

 

[thegazelle]

I will have to disagree about the sights though. True, they work. But I find them a little hard to pick up. As well, since I mounted the scope low (with the standard #16 Weaver bases and their quad-lock rings), there is not enough clearance for the rear sight. I'll replace that with a folding Marble Arms rear leaf sight. I was planning to get the barrel shortened, so the front sight was going to be replaced anyway. I'm thinking a brass blade or bead would be nice to have.

You may be right, though my sample size for using sights is pretty small. It was that MKII-G and the Sub2000 and the latter was beyond horrible. The MKII-G I had used the built in sights to teach the kids how to shoot before putting an optic on it. I took some videos of my daughter in particular going lights on on reactive targets like coloured water bottles and balloons etc using the sights. Never complained about them and neither did I. Both of us HATED the Sub-2000 sights...

I now have a Leupold VX Freedom on my MKII. May break it out this weekend to take to the club, for fun...

 

[thegazelle]

I got mine at Le Baron as well, about 10 years ago.

Both the 10 rounders that came with it have run flawlessly over thousands of rounds. However, I bought 3 of the 5-round magazines and only one of them feeds reliably -- the other two let the round pop up too early. Might be able to fix it by further bending the edges inward a bit.

I think my trigger is about 2.5 lbs and very crisp. Bolt is smooth as any at this point, although I know the brand new ones tend to be a bit gritty for a little bit. Accuracy is excellent, especially with Eley subsonics.

Interesting...I have saved my Eleys for my CZ, never thought about running them through the MK2. To be frank, I have mostly ran budget ammo through that gun, due to a presumption that it is, well...a budget gun. But your post had me thinking. A number of us conclude for the price, the accuracy is quite good. And I've been running mediocre ammo through mine. I will throw some Eleys through it this weekend and see how it fares with better stuff...

 

[deadman]

Savage MKII

Only had 5 minutes of light left when I got home last night from work, but had an itch to put a couple down range.

By the time I got set up it was getting dark fast so only had time for one mag.

2 shots to check my zero and these are the following 8 at 50 yds.

Obviously I don't always do that well but.....

 

[thegazelle]

Savage MKII

Only had 5 minutes of light left when I got home last night from work, but had an itch to put a couple down range.

By the time I got set up it was getting dark fast so only had time for one mag.

2 shots to check my zero and these are the following 8 at 50 yds.

Obviously I don't always do that well but.....

Nice shooting! What ammo were you using?

 

[deadman]

SK Standard+. Of the lower end SK and Eley stuff I've found it to be decent for my rifle.

That being said, mine isn't the G model but my son has one and it shoots too.

 

[Marlin989]

Savage MKII

That's great shooting!

Which MkII model do you have?

 

[thegazelle]

SK Standard+. Of the lower end SK and Eley stuff I've found it to be decent for my rifle.

That being said, mine isn't the G model but my son has one and it shoots too.

Interesting. A fella at my club was shooting in the lane beside me a month ago at the 100m and he was holing his targets with a cz 457. I have a 457 too (though I was shooting my 308 at the time) and asked him what ammo he was using...he said SK Standard Plus - it is superb. I have bricks for it I bought for my CZ, though I haven't shot it yet. Some of my fellow club members who shoot 22 quite a bit swear by the stuff. Will definitely try some this weekend.

 

[deadman]

There are many people here that know more about ammo selection than me, I've only gotten started shooting anything other than Fed blue box 525 packs recently.

 

[deadman]

That's great shooting!

Which MkII model do you have?

It's the MKII FV. My son has a pencil barrel version and as I said it shoots well too.

 

[Marlin989]

It's the MKII FV. My son has a pencil barrel version and as I said it shoots well too.

I might have gone for one with the same barrel as yours... if there was one with a wood stock.

 

[deadman]

Aside from all the models with laminate stocks, the only heavy barrel with wood is the 93r17 GV as far as I know. I have a couple of those as well, my son and I both enjoy them.

 

[Marlin989]

Aside from all the models with laminate stocks, the only heavy barrel with wood is the 93r17 GV as far as I know. I have a couple of those as well, my son and I both enjoy them.

The MKII Minimalist had caught my eye. Sporter barrel though. I wonder if it's the same barrel as the base models, but shorter.

In the end, as much as I do like some new (stock) styles, I always prefer a classic look.