suggested ammo for Mark 2 heavy barrel?

[JOE PA]

Last year, I bought my son a Mark 2 heavy barrel with sights to use on our High School rifle team. He had major problems with extraction, and the gun shop sent the gun back to Savage. They said the chamber was too tight, and returned the gun foc. He had been using a school M 52 Win. while the Savage was gone. It will be easier for him to shoot matches with his own gun rather than sharing and trying to fit/sight in, etc. everything at the last minute. I know these guns have excellent barrels on them. Read on Rimfire Central that Savages shoot better with subsonic ammo. For all of you Savage experts on here, any suggestions for accurate ammo? Next match is in May (50 yard outdoor) so we have time to get everything dialed in. Thanks. :)

[TOP PREDATOR]

you can't go wrong with Wolf match target or extra match, or SK Jagd plus or rifle match.

they seem to work well in almost any rifle, and more or less is the benchmark to at least start with (and usually keep)

[JOE PA]

Shot a few more groups after glass bedding the receiver ring and tang of the Mark II. CCI Std. Vel. shot 1". .67, and .74 for 5 shot groups at 50. I'm sure there is more accuracy there. I will be ordering and trying...

Lapua Center X
RWS Rifle Match
SK Standard Plus
Wolf Match Extra

Will post results when I have them.

[Eric in NC]

Sounds good and a good choice of ammo to try. Sure that you know it, but don't pay any attention to the groups you get when switching ammo until you have shot 50-100 rounds of the new stuff through the barrel. Takes a while to settle in with a new lube.

[forger]

depending upon how costly you must get.... I have had good success with CCI standard rounds..and for much less cost. Worth a try anyway..

[rez187]

my ruger 10-22 shoots as good or better groups with cci standard than your mark 2, thats not gonna cut it in a match. you have a good start on getting a few well known brands and see what the gun likes. you can never be sure what gun is gonna like what ammo they seem to all be different.

[JOE PA]

I had hopes for the CCI Standard, since I can get it easily locally. Shoots pretty well out of my old Remington 781, shooting groups around 3/8ths with a 4x scope. With my eyes, anything less would be accidental. Just need to find something the Savage likes. I know they are great guns as many posts on here and Rimfire Central will attest.

[TOP PREDATOR]

for HV ammo and only 50 yards:

1. CCI blazer
2. federal champion blue box
3. winchester super x wildcat

for subsonic / match / standard velocity and only 50 yards: (and not breaking the bank)

1. wolf extra match or match target
2. sk jagd rifle match or standard plus
3. Aguila match rifle - (although i just got two bad bricks - FTF and FTE
4. Federal gold medal (red box)
5. believe it or not, remington subsonics

[viper9696]

wolf match target for mine,shoots better than wolf target extra,don't judge the groups until you get 10rds or so down the tube when you change ammo.

[JOE PA]

First of all, I want to thank all of you who responded with suggestions. ;D

This was all to get an idea of which ammo to use in the gun for iron sight/prone matches. He has one 50 ft. indoors in 2 weeks, and the 50 yard outdoor match is in May. Because the next match is pretty soon, and today was forecast to be the calmest day of the week, I tried to get all the shooting done in one session. It was suggested by Ron AKA on rimfire central, that I shoot as many 2 shot groups as possible, then analyze. Shot with a cheap Simmons 3-9 x 40 scope, that I couldn't quite adjust for sharp target AND sharp crosshairs. Not bad, but could have been a bit sharper.I had only one box of 50 for each type. I got suggestions to shoot anywhere from 5-100 shots before worrying about groups, but had to work with what I had. Ended up shooting two 5 shot groups, and 20 2 shot groups to burn up each box of ammo. I wasn't real steady today, but not terrible either. Results below, all shooting at 50 yards.

SK Standard plus: 5 shot .625, .68 2 shot average .375 largest .625 smallest .06
SK Subsonic: 5 shot .64, .65 2 shot average .372 largest .5 smallest .12
RWS Rifle Match 5 shot .65, .55 2 shot average .354 largest .56 smallest .07
Lapua Center X 5 shot .28, .34 2 shot average .224 largest .37 smallest .11

If the gun was intended for scoped benchrest, I would either try some other ammo to see if it could improve on the Lapua, or look for another gun. I did buy this one used. It was mostly an inexpensive gun to see how he would like shooting on the rifle team. Don't really know how it shot for the other owner. For iron sight prone, High School level, it ought to be OK. I did like the very first 4 shots of Lapua went into a .09 oblong hole, before I ruined the group out to .28. Still, compared to everything else, it looks decent. Thanks again.

[nonnieselman]

I tested 30 different brands of ammo thru my Savage..
I cleaned and fired 50rds and then next 50rds is what i used to check for groups. I found my Mark II FV loves the SK Standard Plus. Even tho everone swears that the SKSP and Wolf Target is the exact same stuff, my rifle didnt like the Wolf at all. Talking 2" groups at 100yds. The SKSP was under .75" at 100, After 1500 rounds it will still average under 1" for 5 rounds. Cant complain for 9 cents a round.