MK II BVTSS

Just acquired this rifle yesterday--LNIB-AccuTrigger safety bar removed,and trigger set at 21oz. Older fellow I purchased this from, attested to its "spooky" accurrecy. Long story short. I get it home and I see that the right side of the barrel is "hard" against the stock. I guess my assumption was that these rifles were "floated". I'm taking it to the range tomorrow, and putting it thru some paces, but non-the less, could use some input on whether to float this barrel or not. I'm a "big bore" shooter,and with the exception of a life time of .22 small game hunting, this will be my first endevor into precision .22lr shooting. Also is their a suggestion on a decent scope (hopefully inexpensive) that would complement this rifle, right now it gets a 4x12x40 Leupold off a deer rifle. I want to be able to maintain an 1" at 100yds, and hopefully around .5" at 50yds. Not too much to ask, since I do this with larger calibers already. I'm not a competition shooter, just a shooter. Thanks

I have a new BTVLS (same rifle, left-handed) that I mounted a Bushnell Elite 3200 4-12x42 scope on and the combination works very well.

The scope was about $300 at Midsouth Shooters Supply and has a parallax adjustment down to 10 yards so it will work at indoor ranges as well as outside. I also looked at the Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14x40 for about the same price but the parallax adjustment is only down to 50 yards so that disqualified it.

The barrels on Savages aren't always completely "free floated" from the factory when using a wooden stock. The properties of wooden stocks seems to be able to change a decent amount with humidity as well. You can simply relieve the barrel channel on a stock with a dowel wrapped with sandpaper and a little bit of time. It worked well for me. That said, rim-fires also don't usually have the problems with temperature gradients that center-fires do, and the POI doesn't move as drastically.

As for scopes, I've used a cheap Bushnell 3-9x32mm rimfire scope and it works decently. You can certainly benefit from a larger objective in low-light or clearer optics for target shooting, but 100 yards isn't very far away.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NLPeaden

As for scopes, I've used a cheap Bushnell 3-9x32mm rimfire scope and it works decently. You can certainly benefit from a larger objective in low-light or clearer optics for target shooting, but 100 yards isn't very far away.

---

Rimfires really don't abuse scopes the way heavy recoiling centerfires do so a less sturdy scope will work well on them. That said, my favorite "cheap" scope is the Nikon ProStaff 2-7x32 "Shotgun" model. These typically sell for about $130 and are bright, clear and rugged (shotguns with slugs give real meaning to the term recoil). They are particularly suited for rimfires since the parallax is set at 75 yards.

Even less expensive but more limited is Nikon's fixed power 4X32 "Rimfire" ProStaff mosel. It usualy goes for about $100 - $110 (I got mine at the local Wal-Mart for $99) and is parallex corrected at 50 yards.

A lot of people want you to spend big bucks on scopes but my gun shop has recommended inexpensive scopes for a good while and I support that recommendation. I have a $49 BARSKA 3-9x40 on my .30-30 and an NCStar $39 3-9x40 .44Magnum that shoot flawlessly. I have an old SWIFT 3-9x40 on my MKII BSEV that I paid $40 for and it shoots inside a dime at 50 yards. If you are not a professional hunter or match target shooter why waste the big bucs on glass that is probably manufactured by the same people. Did you know REDFIELDS are owned and made by Leopold? My .22LR Ruger SS Competition Match pistol has another $40 NCStar 2-7x36 scope on it and I consistently hit one hole shots with it at 25 yards hand hold. Most of the scopes manufactured these days have the glass made in the same factories.

I would rather spend the extra money on a better rifle or pistol than on an expensive scope. Who needs a $3000 Swarovski???