#1
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Savage B17 Precision review
I just picked up a Savage B17 Precision with the MDT chassis.It comes with a 18" long .800 straight taper barrel, threaded with a thread protector and the best crown I have seen on any Savage rimfire. The barrel is attached with a threaded barrel and locknut, just like the centerfires. The receiver is much thicker and much more ridged compared to the model 93 and it is built how the B Mag SHOULD have been built. The rotary magazine feed flawlessly and was easily latched in the gun every single time. It has an adjustable cheek riser and adjustable length of pull by removing spacers. It uses an AR style hand grip, so you can use what fits you best, although I was quite happy with the supplied grip. The action was much smoother than any MKII or 93 that I have, which is 4. It has a larger 'tactical" bolt handle which I actually like. It also has a pic rail. I really wanted one of the chassis rimfires and decided the .17HMR was the one for me. First the bad. If your looking for a lightweight gun, this is not it. It weighs around 9 lbs with the Weaver V16 scope. If your used to shooting using a rear bag, you might want to get an M Lok bag rider, because the butt stock does not ride a bag without. Thankfully I had a sweatshirt in my pickup to wad up for a rear support. Many folks don't like the trigger blade. Many here won't like the chassis. Loading the magazine fits in both the good and bad. The last 3 rounds are a little bit of a pain to load. Now for the good. The first 7 rounds load like a breeze! I LOVE the ergos of the rifle. The Ar hand grip, to me, make the trigger pull seem lighter. The trigger comes at it's lowest setting which is supposed to be 1 1/2 lbs. and it feels that lite or possibly a little less. The cheek riser is quite nice, easily adjustable, and comfortable. The cylinder shaped bolt knob is very nice for some quick bolt cycling, like I did to try to shoot between gusts of wind. The chassis has M Lok slots in the front and butt stock to mount bipods, light's or what ever you desire. It also has a front sling swivel attached from the factory. Now for the fun part, how does it shoot? I took Hornady Vmax, Remington boxed Vmax, yes I know they are the same ammo, CCI 17 grain h.p., CCI A17 ammo, and Hornady 20 grain XTP. I ran a borescope through it first and was actually impressed with the lack of chatter marks. I did a quick polish with Flitz followed with solvent, and patches until they came out clean. I snugged the pic rail, which was good to go and made sure the action screws were secure, but did not torque, because I wanted to be closer to out of the box, and torque to tune latter. I installed a Winchester CHIpod on the front and wadded up a sweatshirt in the back. I got it zeroed at 25 and shot several groups at 50 to see if I would eliminate any of the ammo. By the time I got to the 100yd range the winds were gusting 10-15 mph. The range has 12-20' berms on 3 sides so your dealing more with swirling winds than anything. The worst performing was the A17 ammo. The best group was 1 1/4" and the worst was a bit over 1 1/2'. The CCI 17 grain h.p. also did not shoot well in this gun. it was 1 1/2" down to 1 1/4". It's really hard to call the 20 xtp second best, but by .020 it was. The best group was .480 and all were under 1". The .480 group was 5 rounds touching in a line at about a 45 degree angle. The winner by a hair was the Vmax ammo. .460 5 shot group. All the groups were 7/8" or under with either the red box or green box, and the gusty winds. I bought this gun with the thoughts that I wanted to try a Shilen or PacNor barrel and my PTG .17 hmr match reamer, but now I really don't think that I could improve the accuracy. I am really tempted to try a tuner on it now. I have 2 model 93's and both shoot all ammo to the same poi. What is a bit weird with this is the groups shift as much as 3/4" horizontal depending on the ammo? After around 200 rounds thru it, I will give it a cleaning and get it ready to try to find a still day to shoot. All; in all, I find this to be by far the best Savage rimfire I own.
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#2
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Sounds like a good idea, to just shoot it as it is, since it is doing so well, then when it start failing, re-barrel with one of the others you mention.
Right now, that sounds like it is spot on. Bill K |
#3
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The 17gr. Vmax ammo sounds great!
I have not heard of that rifle - seems I need to look into it.
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Daryl |
#4
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Quote:
Sorry about the format guys. Normally I don't write a book, I should have broken it up in paragraphs. |
#5
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I've shot a few Savage 93s and the CCI 17gr TNTs were always the most accurate. You may want to give them a try.
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#6
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I did and they were the second worst in this gun.
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#7
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The little Savage I bought, stainless barrel and action, black plastic stock, preferred 20gr. Winchester HP's over all other makes and weights/plastic and HP's, including the 17gr. TNT's.
At that, it was a heavy barrel and would barely do an inch at 100metres. I pulled the barrel and was going to put a .22 Mag barrel on it, but haven't gotten around to that yet - some 5 years later.
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Daryl |
#8
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I have two 93's in .17 HMR. a heavy barrel and a std barrel. Both of them really, really, liked it when I bedded them. Both have the RB trigger. They are picky about action torque. Both are under an inch with the .17 Vmax, and the HB is better. I got one of the first ones off of the line, before the ammo was available, so possibly the tooling was better?
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#9
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Maybe I should put that barrel back on and give it another try, after bedding.
I also had trouble with the magazines not being able to use over 5 rounds in them, even though they were supposed to be 10 shot mags.
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Daryl |
#10
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I would try it. The nickle plated mags seem to feed better. I spray with teflon spray and it seems to help. I really like the new rotary mags.
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