I have to admit, now that I have my 93BTVS rimfire rifle in my hands, I feel rather like a fool...
I need an accurate 22 mag rifle for night coyote hunting. I previously bought a CZ 512 in 22mag and it was a disapointment. It was a 5" gun at 100 yards regardless of the ammo. Being a semi auto and having a seperate for and rear stock, I figured that there was probably not much that could be done to improve it. It also had a light profile barrel.
So I watched a bunch of you tube videos on people who seemed very satisfied with their model 93's then went ahead and got mine with its laminate stock and stainless steel barrel. I ordered 2 10 round magazines at the same time to go with the factory supplied 5 rounder.
When the rifle arrived and I tried fitting the magazines, I was amazed by the amount of slop. The magazines only seem to be controlled only in the downward direction by the catch. The magazine can rise about 1/10" when the bolt is pulled back and can be twisted left and right about 1/16" each way. This concerned me greatly since variability in mag position never bodes well for reliable feeding in any weapon I have owned.
Yesterday was the first time I had it out, after close of deer firearm season. It was a horror. The magazines would not feed on about every second round and it shot a "best" group of about 3" at 75 yards..... As a sanity check, I checked my 243 AI at 160 and 320 yards and it was dead on, then I shot a 3 shot group with a 308 with the identical 6x Weaver Classic K scope as the savage was wearing 2.5" at 320 yards.
So with a sporter 308 I shot a better group at 320 yards than I could get from the model 93 at 75 yards ?
All groups were shot from a bipod, seated position with my back resting against the side of my truck, so it was a good stable position. Ammo was the CCI black tip ammo. I have a bunch of it and it would suck trying to get other ammo now...
So what am I to understand about the magazine design ? The mag well appears as if it was not made for the magazine since the mag does not positive engage any feature on either the well or the action to controls its final depth or rotation left to right ?
Am I missing something or do I need to "bed" one of the magazines in the well to try to take out most of the slop ?
Is the finish on all the magazines also as rough as mine, sharp edges everywhere ? Are these mags really stainless or are they plated mild steel ? If they are indeed stainless steel, I could smooth the feed area out a bit with my honing stone kit, but if plated I will end up with a re-finishing mess.
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