I've sold off or traded most of my .22s over the last several years but it's time to get back into it. I need trigger time bad but my hand and shoulder problems keep me from sitting at the loading bench for too long at once so can't shoot the .223 as much this year.

I've got a Vortex PST 2.5-10x to put on this rifle and a closet full of standard velocity ammo to shoot. Gonna do a whole lot of 100-200yd shooting and 300y once a week. Looking forward to it. If only the snow would melt! Should have the rifle in about 4 days.

I haven't shot that Savage model, however I read that it's pretty accurate.

"a closet full of standard velocity ammo to shoot"
I suspect you're referring to CCI Standard Velocity / Target ammo. I find CCI Standard to be pretty accurate at shorter distances, say out to 100 yards. However by 150 yards CCI's inability to hold tight vertical becomes quite noticeable. I've seen vertical variation in groups at 150 yards from 1.2" to 4.5" in various wind conditions. The best ammo in my rifle seems pretty oblivious to wind at 150 yards.

CCI's variation gets more pronounced at 200 and 250 yards. I find CCI Standard can hold vertical fairly well in calm conditions, but it seems to be more susceptible wind variables -- especially as wind velocity increases.

If you really want to shoot well at 200-300 yards, I recommend trying different ammo.

I've had good luck with it in other rifles at 200 yards. Not shooting for tiny groups either, just ringing lots and lots of steel. It also just happens to be what I have lots of on hand already. 22 ammo is still hard to find around here especially for good consistent ammo. I haven't seen anything from Wolf or Eley or anything else like that in years. Some Federal match stuff but I've never had good luck with it in anything.

I will try what I have when the rifle gets here. It will tell me what it does and doesn't like haha..

Have one with a tan stock that i got from Dick's on clearance a couple years ago. Very accurate. Gonna need to go and shoot it now.

Enjoy!

quote:

Originally posted by Jus228:
22 ammo is still hard to find around here especially for good consistent ammo. I haven't seen anything from Wolf or Eley or anything else like that in years.

Wolf, SK, Lapua, Eley, and RWS (and its family brands of Geco & Norma) are all available with minimal web search efforts, in box/brick/case quantities, at lower prices than can be found in LGS.

It's been a long time since I bought 22lr with anything other than a mouse click and a credit card.

Use a big enough piece of steel and cheaper ammo will hit it. Somewhere. With the likes of Wolf Match Extra (or the better lines in Lapua/Eley/RWS) I choose which part of the steel the bullet will impact.

I buy most of my ammo locally. I buy very few guns anymore so need to support my local shops somehow. Especially good idea when trying something new anyway. Would suck to have 500 or more only to find out the gun hates it.

I started a big personal ammo test last year. My records show 36 different types of ammo run through my Kimber rifle over the years, with more than half of than in the past year. Many years ago I eliminated the cheap plinking ammo from my inventory -- CCI Standard and Federal 711B became my reasonable-cost, 100 yards maximum "plinking" rounds. With better optics and the desire to shoot at longer distance steel with solid accuracy, I found CCI Standard and Federal 711B just didn't cut it anymore. I have bricks of both, for when I thought they were the "good stuff". If I have any reservations about buying bricks of ammo, this is it. I bought the Standard and 711B around the start of the Obama administration, when just about any 22lr ammo was vaporware.

Recent 22lr purchases were all from websites. Search engines such as Ammoseek and Google make this easy. Sale prices aren't hard to find, as are free shipping promotions. I bought in quantities of 2 boxes of a given ammo type, maybe 8-10 boxes total at a time, all with free shipping. I don't need brick quantities to evaluate ammo accuracy or consistency. I used 6 steel targets from 100 to 250 yards, 5 rounds on each target, shot twice on different days. Roughly 80 rounds for a given ammo type, including fouling rounds.

Yep, I've shot brick quantities in the evaluation process, when all varieties are totaled up. I used that time to improve my trigger pulling and wind reading skills, too. I now have a great database of ammo performance versus cost -- true competition ammo, quality practice ammo, and short range & positional (standing/kneeling/sitting) ammo. In the event 22lr availability goes south in the future, I won't need to re-test. I have elevation requirements for various distances at different air density altitudes, and data to show vertical impact variations at given distances for typical wind conditions. Going forward, I will likely stock no more than 4 or 5 types of ammo.

Whatever direction you go, enjoy lobbing the rounds at those distant targets. The Savage and the Vortex should make it fun.

If you want to get better at something, the best way is to practice.

If you want to get a lot better at something, the best way to practice a lot.

Unless you're rich or you do it professionally, it's a lot easier to practice a lot with a .22 or an airgun than anything else.

The ammunition I shoot through my precision bolt gun (Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor 140gr Amax) is right at 9 times as expensive as the ammunition I shoot through my target .22s (Wolf Match Extra).

I shot tens of thousands of rounds of .22 as a kid doing NRA 4-position smallbore. Between then and a couple of years ago, my centerfire rifle shooting was limited to a few rounds a year to check zero and a few a year for deer.

I had the aforementioned precision bolt gun built a couple of years ago. I can't read wind for beans (not very important with a .22 at 50 feet!), but I can shoot nice little groups with it at known distances on calm days.

I've had a Savage Mark II .22LR for several years, it's a great gun for the $ & spooky accurate, depending on the ammo. My only complaint is that the mags seem tinny & cheap, but they work fine.