Took the new Savage 93 BRJ .22 Magnum to the “range” over the last month. My range as I call it is an area along the trees in the field with stakes at the measured 100 and 200 yard marks with a semi-permanent wooden target holder”. For a rest I used a gutted out table saw stand. Low buck set up for sure but it does the job for me. I had the use of a set of bargain shooting bags but really struggled with them thru probably half of my ammunition. I still ended up supporting the forearm of the gun with my hand most times while trying to figure it out. Scope was set on 9X. I guess I’ll need to invest in a decent rest one of these days. Looked at the Caldwell “Rock” and like it but not ready to shell out the money just yet. I even watched a couple of videos on shooting from bags but it didn’t seem to help. A lot of times I was able to get a better group holding the gun which hurt my confidence in using the bags as I know they should do better than I’m capable of. I think I may be just too impatient to adjust the bags all of the time. It’s quicker to muscle the crosshair onto the target but there goes the consistency part.
The gun was topped with a Redfield Revolution 3x9x40 with the accu-range reticle. I’m a big fan of the Redfields but the accu-range reticle for me is something I won’t repeat again. I like to shoot as much as I can and the reticle is just a little thicker and much more cluttered than a regular plex so when it comes to shooting paper it’s not ideal. The crosshair just about covered up my orange dots on the targets to where I really couldn’t be sure of the same aim point although I was able to get close. This scope started out on my 22-250 (dealer recommended) but was changed to the magnum and will be demoted to the Mini-14 in the future as funds allow.
Thoughts on the gun. Weight is 7 pounds without scope. Might be a bit heavy for walking around hunting but I don’t do a lot of that. I bought this for 60 yard shots at night as that’s about the distance I can positively ID at night with my current light setup. This is my first accu-trigger gun and the trigger is nice, (I left it at the same weight it came from the factory with) but my non accu-trigger Savage Edge with the 10 minute trigger job is every bit the equal imo. The laminate stock fits well, and has no flex which I can see. The barrel is 21” with a spiral fluting. It comes with one 5 round magazine that is common with the Savage model 93 line for .22 mag or .17HMR. Extra mags are around $18 ouch! There are no open sights, but the gun comes with installed mounts. My front mount was loose when I brought it home, or became loose soon after I began shooting. Like a dummy I didn’t check it before I mounted the scope. After stringing several groups horizontally I made the discovery. Cost before taxes was $409
When my gun shop first told me they had some 93 BRJ models coming in I looked on the computer to get an idea of what they were and what about the accuracy. Very little info about accuracy out there so I decided to shoot some different ammo and get the information to where somebody else might be able to use it. One of the gun stores I checked for ammo had a lot of new Savages from the economical to the higher end and the owner asked me what a Savage BRJ was. Guess either he doesn’t know the product lines very well or indeed it’s not that popular of a gun.
All groups were shot from 100 yards. Scope on 9X.
I did not adjust the scope for each type of ammo, just made small changes to keep the shots in the right area. The Dynapoint’s and Fed 50gr had the most drop as expected. Almost 4 1/2 “ below the 30gr bullets.
Ammo selection was:
Remington 40gr PSP
Remington 40gr JHP
Remington 33gr Premiere
Hornady 30gr Vmax
Federal 50gr JHP
Winchester Supreme 34gr JHP
Winchester 40gr JHP
Winchester 45gr Dynapoint
Fiochhi 40gr JSP
CCI MaxiMag 30gr HP+V
CCI MaxiMag 40gr JHP
CCI MaxiMag 40gr TMJ
CCI MaxiMag 30gr JHP TNT
Armscor Precision 40gr JHP
If I was consistently shooting near 1” groups I would quit on a particular type of ammo as I’m not sure my scope/eyes/lack of using the shooting bags the correct way would really do much better. Other ammo that shot larger than that I would shoot until the box was empty or I had seen the same size group enough to know that was as good as it was going to get. This was all of the ammo I could get locally so if one of your favorites didn’t make the list that is why.
Of note, I had 5 ftf’s of all the rounds fired. 1 with the Winchester Supremes, 1 with the Winchester Dynapoints, and 3 with the Fiochhi’s. I gave the rest of the Fiochhi’s to my Brother-in-law who was using a Marlin 883 and he had the first 5 not fire and quit with them after that. I also gave him all of the leftovers from each box so he’s been rather happy. Either a bad batch or it just requires a very heavy firing pin. 8 ftf’s in less than a box fired on the Fiochhi’s is not confidence inspiring for a varmint round, or any round for that matter. All appeared to have good case strikes.
Now on to the groups:
Remington 40gr PSP: Had about 20 left over from my previous .22 mag so I had limited groups. I would say that an inch and a quarter was more the norm, but it did shoot less when I did my part.
Remington 40gr JHP: Yes, I did get an inch group, but I would consider this more along the lines of 1 ¼” to 1 ½” group ammo in this gun. Normally had 3 grouped really tight with 2 shots opening the group up.
Remington 33gr Premiere Accu-tip: Most expensive of the bunch by about $4. Shot good and consistent, but so did others that cost less.
Hornady 30gr Vmax: These and the CCI’s were the easiest to shoot 1 inch groups with. Hard to fault them for the way they shoot but think for a coyote even at my planned maximum 60 yard distance would be pushing it.
Federal 50gr JHP: I did manage a .993 group but did not include it as this round in my gun was more an 1 ¼ to 1 ½. Was normally the same 3 shots piled close and then 2 off in another zip code. I felt like I was being consistent, and expected to get up to the target and find one large hole but it never turned out that way. This is the round I wanted to use for night hunting but now I’m going to have to reevaluate.
Winchester Supreme 34gr JHP: My biggest surprise of the ammo. Reviews I read praised their accuracy. My gun did not like them at all. I’m not sure if this was the best group as I did not pay much attention to targets when they looked like this but I ran out of ammo and had to use what targets I did manage to save. If I did have a better group it wasn’t by much. 1 FTF and a cost of $13.95 Was tempted to buy another box from a different store to see if it was a fluke but decided to save my money. Shooting like this will make you start to question if your scope mounts have come loose again.
Winchester 40gr JHP: Winchester didn’t impress me much in my tests but I would shoot these if I had to. These were the only Winchester’s that functioned 100% and provided good accuracy although they cost the same as many of the better performing rounds.
Winchester 45gr Dynapoint: These and the Fiochhi’s were the cheapest of the bunch, $7.95. For low cost plinking they would hold a huge advantage over the Fiochhi’s as they had 1 FTF versus the problems with the Fiochhi’s.
Fiochhi 40gr JSP: What else can you say about these? Pretty much the same accuracy as the 45gr Dynapoints, but when you pull the trigger will you hear a boom?
The gun was topped with a Redfield Revolution 3x9x40 with the accu-range reticle. I’m a big fan of the Redfields but the accu-range reticle for me is something I won’t repeat again. I like to shoot as much as I can and the reticle is just a little thicker and much more cluttered than a regular plex so when it comes to shooting paper it’s not ideal. The crosshair just about covered up my orange dots on the targets to where I really couldn’t be sure of the same aim point although I was able to get close. This scope started out on my 22-250 (dealer recommended) but was changed to the magnum and will be demoted to the Mini-14 in the future as funds allow.
Thoughts on the gun. Weight is 7 pounds without scope. Might be a bit heavy for walking around hunting but I don’t do a lot of that. I bought this for 60 yard shots at night as that’s about the distance I can positively ID at night with my current light setup. This is my first accu-trigger gun and the trigger is nice, (I left it at the same weight it came from the factory with) but my non accu-trigger Savage Edge with the 10 minute trigger job is every bit the equal imo. The laminate stock fits well, and has no flex which I can see. The barrel is 21” with a spiral fluting. It comes with one 5 round magazine that is common with the Savage model 93 line for .22 mag or .17HMR. Extra mags are around $18 ouch! There are no open sights, but the gun comes with installed mounts. My front mount was loose when I brought it home, or became loose soon after I began shooting. Like a dummy I didn’t check it before I mounted the scope. After stringing several groups horizontally I made the discovery. Cost before taxes was $409
When my gun shop first told me they had some 93 BRJ models coming in I looked on the computer to get an idea of what they were and what about the accuracy. Very little info about accuracy out there so I decided to shoot some different ammo and get the information to where somebody else might be able to use it. One of the gun stores I checked for ammo had a lot of new Savages from the economical to the higher end and the owner asked me what a Savage BRJ was. Guess either he doesn’t know the product lines very well or indeed it’s not that popular of a gun.
All groups were shot from 100 yards. Scope on 9X.
I did not adjust the scope for each type of ammo, just made small changes to keep the shots in the right area. The Dynapoint’s and Fed 50gr had the most drop as expected. Almost 4 1/2 “ below the 30gr bullets.
Ammo selection was:
Remington 40gr PSP
Remington 40gr JHP
Remington 33gr Premiere
Hornady 30gr Vmax
Federal 50gr JHP
Winchester Supreme 34gr JHP
Winchester 40gr JHP
Winchester 45gr Dynapoint
Fiochhi 40gr JSP
CCI MaxiMag 30gr HP+V
CCI MaxiMag 40gr JHP
CCI MaxiMag 40gr TMJ
CCI MaxiMag 30gr JHP TNT
Armscor Precision 40gr JHP
If I was consistently shooting near 1” groups I would quit on a particular type of ammo as I’m not sure my scope/eyes/lack of using the shooting bags the correct way would really do much better. Other ammo that shot larger than that I would shoot until the box was empty or I had seen the same size group enough to know that was as good as it was going to get. This was all of the ammo I could get locally so if one of your favorites didn’t make the list that is why.
Of note, I had 5 ftf’s of all the rounds fired. 1 with the Winchester Supremes, 1 with the Winchester Dynapoints, and 3 with the Fiochhi’s. I gave the rest of the Fiochhi’s to my Brother-in-law who was using a Marlin 883 and he had the first 5 not fire and quit with them after that. I also gave him all of the leftovers from each box so he’s been rather happy. Either a bad batch or it just requires a very heavy firing pin. 8 ftf’s in less than a box fired on the Fiochhi’s is not confidence inspiring for a varmint round, or any round for that matter. All appeared to have good case strikes.
Now on to the groups:
Remington 40gr PSP: Had about 20 left over from my previous .22 mag so I had limited groups. I would say that an inch and a quarter was more the norm, but it did shoot less when I did my part.
Remington 40gr JHP: Yes, I did get an inch group, but I would consider this more along the lines of 1 ¼” to 1 ½” group ammo in this gun. Normally had 3 grouped really tight with 2 shots opening the group up.
Remington 33gr Premiere Accu-tip: Most expensive of the bunch by about $4. Shot good and consistent, but so did others that cost less.
Hornady 30gr Vmax: These and the CCI’s were the easiest to shoot 1 inch groups with. Hard to fault them for the way they shoot but think for a coyote even at my planned maximum 60 yard distance would be pushing it.
Federal 50gr JHP: I did manage a .993 group but did not include it as this round in my gun was more an 1 ¼ to 1 ½. Was normally the same 3 shots piled close and then 2 off in another zip code. I felt like I was being consistent, and expected to get up to the target and find one large hole but it never turned out that way. This is the round I wanted to use for night hunting but now I’m going to have to reevaluate.
Winchester Supreme 34gr JHP: My biggest surprise of the ammo. Reviews I read praised their accuracy. My gun did not like them at all. I’m not sure if this was the best group as I did not pay much attention to targets when they looked like this but I ran out of ammo and had to use what targets I did manage to save. If I did have a better group it wasn’t by much. 1 FTF and a cost of $13.95 Was tempted to buy another box from a different store to see if it was a fluke but decided to save my money. Shooting like this will make you start to question if your scope mounts have come loose again.
Winchester 40gr JHP: Winchester didn’t impress me much in my tests but I would shoot these if I had to. These were the only Winchester’s that functioned 100% and provided good accuracy although they cost the same as many of the better performing rounds.
Winchester 45gr Dynapoint: These and the Fiochhi’s were the cheapest of the bunch, $7.95. For low cost plinking they would hold a huge advantage over the Fiochhi’s as they had 1 FTF versus the problems with the Fiochhi’s.
Fiochhi 40gr JSP: What else can you say about these? Pretty much the same accuracy as the 45gr Dynapoints, but when you pull the trigger will you hear a boom?
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