93R17 And I Can't Hit The Broad Side of A Barn

Hello everyone. I'm a newbie at this as you may be able to tell. Here's my story and my question.

I recently got a Savage 93R17 CAMO. Using Hornaday 17Gr ammo I took it out to my property in the country, set up some targets, and got busy setting up the scope (BSA 4-9x50, what came on the rifle). By the end of the day I was putting 5 rounds inside a 1.5in circle and drilling holes in quarters (@ 100yds).

It all went downhill from there.

Trying to get a feel for wind drift on a windy day was hopeless. They were all over the place. Then I had a calm day and they were STILL all over the place but somewhat better. Nothing like my first day. Junky scope I thought, so I got a BSA Sweet17 (6-18x40). Tried setting it up the other day, and winds were dead calm. Best I could get was a 4in group of 5 at 100yds. AO set to 100yds, good focus, turret at 100 (after calibrating the turret, more or less), and windage at 0 (after calibrating that too, more or less). For example, I would get maybe 3 rounds in a fairly tight group 2in to the right, then click in 3 clicks to the left and get the next 3 rounds 2in to the left... go back to where I was before and still get 3 more rounds to the left. It was like that all day yesterday. I kept fiddling with it until I was all over the bulls eye but still not better than a 4in group. So I moved out to 200yds, dialed in 200yds on the turret and AO and do 5 rounds. Didn't hit the target AT ALL (I think the target is about 10in square.)

I have the rifle set up on sand bags so I'm pretty sure it's stable when I fire. But what could be causing me to have lost that Annie Oakley feeling? I was happy with myself on day one but now I'm shooting like I'm half blind with a nervous twitch. From what I've been reading here and elsewhere, I'm starting to suspect the stock. The barrel can wiggle inside the stock and there is a 1/8in gap on one side between barrel and stock and zero on the other side. Suggestions welcome. (Go easy on me with abbreviations...I'm a bit new with the terminology.)

200 yards for the 17HMR is a long shot. Even just a tiny bit of wind at that distance is going to throw your bullet all over the place. Try zeroing at 50 yards to prove the scope and the rifle before trying the longer stuff. For what its worth I have never had good luck with BSA scopes.

Barrel touching issue: Loosen the action screws, center the barrel in the barrel channel, retighten action screws.
Scope: Cheap scopes are cheap scopes, and BSA is flat-out garbage in my opinion. Had a Sweet 17 when they first came out - it crapped on me within a week. Won't waste money on one ever again.

As your your skills as a shooter, there's not much we can do to help you there. Best advice is to practice, practice, practice.

I found the hard way that you get what you pay for in a scope.... Therefore i agree w/ MrFurious.
Check your mounts and scews in rings.
Your rifle will be a tackdriver once you get the bugs worked out.

Had no problems at all with my 93R17F right out of the box, and neither did my two best friends who got theirs after shooting mine.
They bought theirs with the Savage supplied scope. Mine was bought without scope, and I put a Cabela's .17HMR specific 3-9x40 on mine.
All were sighted in at 100yds. Accuracy is phenomenal.
We use Hornady ammo. Found out real quick to use the 20g HP's on game, the 17g V-max just obliterates small animals.
But we love the V-max for shooting nutria, a pest water rat common in Louisiana. Works good on coyotes too.

some of the .17's really like a clean barrel. I have one that will shoot clean or dirty,and I had one that I sold that wold shoot in the same hole when clean, but after about 15 or 20 rounds the groups would quadruple in size! Was a Pain in the butt to clean that often, so I sold it! Just something else to check out.

Yeah I've heard of that happening with this round, and it doesn't seem to make a difference what make of gun it is used in, but mine went on a 200+ round 3 day spree once without cleaning and it still just kept on hitting where I aimed it. I use only Hornady ammo it.

Trade Off or Sell the BSA (Stands For Bull Sh*t Artists) & Get a Real Scope
like a Bushnell Banner (Cheapest), Redfield Revolution (Best) or Weaver Kaspa (Good) 3-9 X 40.
Once you get a Good Scope Mounted your Accuracy Problems Will Go Away.

make sure your mounts are tightened and maybe put a little lok tite on the screws.

Go back to where it shot good, and then start over. It sounds like you got bad results after changing scopes.

HM

I'd center the action as pointed out earlier, then make sure everything is snug and by everything I mean everything; stock screws, scope mounts, scope rings, whatever. If there is a screw present it needs to be properly snugged (not tightened by a 800lb gorilla...)

After everything is centered and snugged down I would fire about one shot per minute making ZERO adjustments to the scope. Do about ten shots this way and see what the target looks like. Do the rounds go somewhere; i.e. do they form a line going up & down, side to side, diagonal, etc. or do they just look like buckshot hit the target and they are all over the place.

One you verify that the gun is shooting good (or not...) then and only then can you start making adjustments to the scope. I have also tossed a few BSA scopes in teh dumpster at the range, but that's not to say it's automatically the scope at fault...

Bottom line, in any kind of diagnostic work, make one change at a time and then verify the results before making another change. :)

George

I remember having the same problems with a 22 rifle one time and what I discovered was that the scope was moving around. I am not sure how tight is tight enough for the scope mount and I was afraid I would crush the scope so I got it installed by a gun smith and now it sits perfectly still and the shots are repeatable. It helps to use good quality ammo as well since I find that different kinds shoot a lot different. I realize you have a .17 so you would not use the same exact ammo as me. Some types are erratic and have a lot of flyers and some brands, like Eley (expensive) shoot in the same place each time. I also have had good experiences with CCI standard velocity so the guys telling you to buy Hornady are probably putting you on to a good thing.