A few years back I started rebuilding my gun collection. I never got “out” of firearms, but my interest dwindled when I went for my undergraduate degree. Living on campus was required until senior year. Firearms were, of course, strictly forbidden in the dorms. The local sheriff would temporarily “hold” a longarm for those in college. You could only pick up your gun or guns on certain days of the week at certain times. Since pheasant and deer seasons were smack in the middle of mid-terms and finals weeks, I decided it wasn’t worth the bother. I gave up on the idea of getting much hunting done . . .
Fewer than two weeks after graduation, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I were getting ready to make our move across the country. Preparing for the trip, I gave away, sold or traded my firearms for what we needed: Money for gas and rent, and furniture for our new desert home. As I slowly started acquiring firearms again, my wife acclimatized herself to my collection. While not immediately interested, a spark caught and a fire grew. My safe now shelters a half-dozen or so firearms purchased specifically for her.
But not really. Most were guns that she may have liked; in reality, they were guns I kind of wanted anyways. I tried some smaller 9mm’s, a compact this, and sub-compact that. As it turns out, my wife’s favorite gun is a 6-inch S&W 586 that has been refinished and action-tuned by S&W Performance Center. Go figure.
My most recent acquisition: a Savage 93R17-GV in .17 HMR. Luckily for me, I don’t think my wife will have any surprises in store for me and my guess is that she will likely leave my 7mm Magnums alone for a while. You see, unlike handguns, my wife can’t hold a long arm up for more than 15 seconds. She is also a squint over 100 pounds. Even the kick from my AR is a “bit much” as she puts it.
Out of the Box…
The Model 93 is one of Savage’s bolt-action rimfire line. The Model 93R17-GV is the .17 HMR variant. It leaves the factory with a heavy barrel, a walnut-stained stock, a 5-round detachable magazine and scope bases pre-installed. (The 93R17 comes in 19 varieties including a Mossy Oak camo stock with a Bushnell scope, a black synthetic stock, or a thumbhole stock). The nicely shaped wood stock with its hard plastic buttplate has it going on, although purists should note that it’s made from “walnut-stained hardwood” not “stained walnut.” Enthusiasts seeking classier companionship would be better off with one (or more ) of the 93R17 BVSS, 93R17 BTVS and BV 93 variants.
The Savage 93’s heavy contour barrel has a 1-9” twist. It’s 21″ long, bringing the rifle’s overall length right up to 39.5″. Thanks to the relatively long (for a rimfire) and heavy bull barrel, the 93 tips the scales at around six pounds (sans scope, rings, and sling). It’s a bit “nose heavy,” but not uncomfortably so. Nor does the balance impose any irregular handling characteristics.
The Savage 93’s detachable box magazine is a single-stack design that holds five rounds of ammo, allowing a 5+1 loadout. Push the release and the magazine drops free. Counterintuitively enough, you have to push the release button significantly harder when the 93’s bolt is left open (it is what it is).
Initially, I had some trouble manipulating the magazine. When fully loaded, the 5-round magazine would “release” all of the rounds in an embarrassing, jack-in-the-box manner. After a quick inspection, I simply “pressed” the feed lips down a bit on the shooting bench. Problem solved.
The magazine felt “rough” at first when being loaded into the rifle, but it has smoothed out some. However, it still takes a bit of force to insert. With a little practice, a fresh magazine can be inserted without unshouldering or moving the rifle (great for varmint hunters). Also, the magazine capacity of five is a bit of an annoyance and I wish Savage offered a 10-rounder. I’d suggest that anyone who purchases one of these get an extra mag (or two, or three, maybe four).
Savage’s AccuTrigger is an amazing innovation; the 93R17’s go pedal is no exception. [Click here for Shooting Times’ excellent explanation of its operation.] Using my new Lyman Trigger Pull Gauge, the trigger break is clean and consistent. An average of 10 trigger pulls showed a trigger weight of 2 lbs-9.5 oz with a standard deviation of only 2 oz. Obviously, Savage built this trigger to inspire accuracy and precision and I can’t imagine anyone needing a lighter trigger for hunting purposes.
Other than the magazine quirks, my only gripe about the rifle is the safety. Having used many Savage rifles in the past, I always appreciated the tang-mounted safety. The 93R17 models have a push button safety located on the upper right-hand portion of the receiver, similar to those on Remington 700s. Due to its location (and to the fact that my thumb isn’t made of the same stuff as Gumby’s) I found it easier to use my trigger finger to manipulate the safety. Unfortunately, this requires removing my grip from the stock — not something I’m fond of in a hunting rifle (or any rifle for that matter).
At the range…
The holiday season is upon us; I had a heck of a time getting Hornady 17 ammo. My local gun shop, Big 5, Dick’s, and even Wal-Mart had a limited supply, both in quantity and diversity. Eventually, I was able to secure three different types of ammo: Winchester Supreme 17-grain, Hornady V-Max 17-grain and CCI TNT JHP 17-grain.
After mounting a spare 4-12×40 Leupold Rifleman scope, I bore sighted the best I could and headed to the range. I was close, about 8 inches low and 2 inches left. With a few tweaks I was hitting the center dot at 50 yards. After letting the barrel cool down for 10 minutes, I got to work.
All three types of ammunition claim 2550 fps and I had every intention of verifying that. Unfortunately, in my new-gun excited state, I forgot my tripod at home and couldn’t find a volunteer to hand-hold my chrony. D’oh! For accuracy testing, I shot 10-round groups at 50 yards. When calculating shot groups, I only used the best 9 shots from each set. I like having a little “wiggle room” and I feel that eliminating one shot per set (as opposed to “calling flyers”) allows me to relax a bit. John Taffin feels the same, so I can at least say I’m in good company.
Using my new Caldwell Lead Sled Plus, I set up three color-changing targets at 50 yards. Of the three, the Hornady V-Max 17-grain rounds were the most accurate, punching clovers in my 8-inch Dirty Birds. However, all rounds proved to be quite accurate. Assuming the winds are calm, one can extrapolate the data below to calculate 100-yard accuracy from this rifle to be in the 1.5-2.5 inches range. Not bad for any bone stock rifle. And pretty exceptional considering that this Savage model is a rimfire. The only other rimfire that I’ve shot that comes close to this type of tack-driver accuracy costs more than $1,000.
|
.17HMR Cartridge |
Hornady V-Max |
CCI TNT JHP |
Winchester Supreme V-Max |
|
Vertical Spread (in) |
0.578 |
0.953 |
1.5468 |
|
Horizontal Spread (in) |
0.703 |
1.078 |
0.703 |
|
Extreme Spread (in) |
0.766 |
1.141 |
1.5468 |
|
Avg Spread (in) |
0.6823 |
1.0573 |
1.2655 |
|
Testing Notes – 9 rounds, 50 yards, cold barrel, Lead Sled, Savage 93R17-GV |
|||
[Note: I measure Vertical Spread as the furthest distance that can be measured between any two points along the vertical axis of the target (i.e. how far apart of the two farthest holes up and down). Horizontal Spread is the furthest distance that can be measured between any two points along the horizontal axis of the target (i.e. how far apart are the two farthest holes side to side). Extreme Spread is the furthest distance that can be measured between any two points (i.e. how far apart are the two farthest holes). Average Spread is the average of the three spreads (horizontal, vertical, and extreme).]
One thing I wasn’t expecting from this bolt-action rifle: misfires. Overall, I had 12 misfires out of 100 shots during the day of testing — nine of which came from the Winchester Supreme ammo, two from the CCI, and one from the Hornady. Upon inspection, the primer strikes were strong and distinct. I still don’t know what to make of it, but I’ll be sure to report any updates as I shoot this rifle more.
Back at home…
One tidbit that didn’t dawn on me until I got home: I didn’t have a cleaning rod for this rifle. My smallest cleaning rod was a 28-inches carbon-fiber Tipton that barely fits down a .223 barrel. No worries. A quick trip to the gun shop and I was back in business.
Cleaning the Savage 93R17 is no different than cleaning any other bolt action: Remove bolt, run a couple solvent patches through the barrel, a patch or two of oil, a dry patch and you’re done. To say the Savage cleaned easily would be like saying it shoots straight. Based on how the patches looked, had little copper fouling.
Conclusion…
The “GV” in Savage 93R17-GV doesn’t stand for “Great Value.” It should. The 93’s MSRP sits at around $280 (real-world pricing is between $250 and $275). Luckily for me, the SKS market has sky-rocketed lately (relatively speaking). I happened to have had an extra one sitting in the back of the safe collecting dust. A quick trip to Buck’s Guns here in Casa Grande and 20 minutes later I walked out with the Savage and a box of ammo in hand.
As for the caliber . . . .22LR deserves a spot in everyone’s gun safe. My first rifle was chambered in .22LR, as will my son and daughter’s first rifle. For varmint hunting, the .17HMR is the hands down winner. It has double the speed (2550 fps vs 1250 fps), packs 245 ft-lbs of energy (vs 150 ft-lbs), and can effectively reach out to 200 yards. Prairie dogs don’t stand a chance…
As for my wife, she’s excited to finally have a rifle to shoot alongside me. However, I still haven’t let her shoot it yet. I know, I know . . . I’ll let her eventually. As it turns out, I enjoy shooting the 93R17 as much as she likes shooting my (her?) S&W 586. I guess I’ll just have to go out and get my own.
Specifications
Brand: Savage Arms
Model: 93R17-GV
Caliber: .17HMR (Hornady Magnum Rifle)
Sights: No sights, pre-installed scope bases
Barrel Length: 21” w/ 1:9” twist (Heavy Contour)
O/A Length: 39.5”
Weight: 6 lbs
Receiver: Matte carbon steel
MSRP: $280 (November 2011)
Ratings (out of five stars):
Style * * *
The wood looks better than any of the 93-series synthetics, but could be better. Then again, that probably would jack the price over $300.
Ergonomics * * *
The stock is short, as is common with most rimfire rifles. While the Savage 93 fits and shoulders well, I’d prefer a different safety. The comb is a bit low considering that the gun is specifically designed for scope usage, necessitating the need of a chin-weld. One of those foam, stick-on cheek pads would help.
Reliability * * * *
I’m not sure if it is ammo-related or gun-related, but I had 12 misfires out of 100 rounds. (FWIW most of misfires involved Winchester ammo.) I’ll post an update as my wife shoots this rifle more; I’ll add that star back if necessary. The magazine needs some tweaking right out of the box, so I dinged it another half a star.
Customizable * *
A factory-installed sling swivel studs allows for attaching a rifle sling or a bi-pod to the forend. I don’t consider a scope and rings “customizing,” so only two stars. You could certainly put on an OEM laminated stock or perhaps one of the custom “Stocky’s Rifle” stocks, but that would be done for aesthetic reasons only.
Overall Rating * * * *
Dollar-for-dollar the Savage 93 is one of the best rimfire rifles [small] money can buy.
More from The Truth About Guns:
.17 HMR Shoot-off: Savage 93R17 vs. CZ 455
Gun Review: Ruger American Rimfire
New Marlin XTTM Bolt-Action Rifles
Because “smart” guns can be deactivated by an EMP. That’s why grabbers love them.
Stuck a left hand version on a Richards Tac Driver, pillar bedded, gun fits like a glove. at 100 yards these things are right on top of each other.
The trigger is excellent, I broke it in pretty good. Love to shoot it, just put a bipod swivel on the front, was using a really nice gun rest.
Had a BSA Sweet 17 on it but after 3 yrs the rubber coating melted off it, so I am waiting for that to come back and I am going to see it I can trigger some tannerite at 150 – 200 yards
If you own one of these, please do NOT degrade this fine Varmint Machine with a BSA Optic. It deserves Bushnell, Nikon, or better if you are serious about shooting Quarters at 100yds. Cheap optics for this rifle are an insult to it’s capabilities. If the groundhogs were still alive, they would also agree.
I got mine about 18 months ago. Looks like the -gv but has a gray laminated stock and came with an inexpensive 3-9x40mm Bushnell.
Right out of the box 1.5″ at 50. On a calm day you can clover leaf it at 100.
Don’t think I’d do it on a regular basis, but had coyote situation involving the neighbors pregnant poodle at 175 yards. With Hornady 20gr. xtp it only took one shot. I have since taken several small-med. hogs (125-175lbs.) out to 125 yards.
A friend of mine worked for Textron and came up with a slightly abused 4×8 sheet of 1/4″ Kevlar. The 20 gr. makes a clean hole out to 40yards and a jagged one at 50, at 55 the bullet is fully embedded with only a bulge in the back . For the .17 subtract around 10 yards.
Any of the 20gr. (for me CCI is best) ammo shoots better than the 17gr. (Winchester)
A cheep bi-pod and a sling will save you much aggravation with this rifle. While it is a fairly forgiving platform, you must have a stable base.
Nice report Patrick – I bought my 93R17 GV a few years ago (I think this is my third summer with it) for ground squirrel control on our little farm. And this little Savage is the best varmint gun I’ve ever had the pleasure to use. With the exception of one miss year before last, one of the nasty little critters has been eliminated every time the gun has spoken. A not-very-expensive Simmons 3×9 scope sits on top.
I agree with Dale – some form of rest is best for the relatively heavy barreled gun. So almost all of my squirrel shots are taken with the barrel resting on a fencepost or the like.
Anyone looking for a fun plinker or a tack-driver of a varmint gun simply can’t go wrong with one of these.
I love mine, it is my second one, the first i purchased an after market stock, and it was a tack driver, sadly it was stolen.
There is a company making a 10 round magazine now. I haven’t picked one up yet but just looking at them they seem to be good pieces. http://17hmrmag.com/main.sc
I picked up a Savage 93R17 and I to have bent a few rods, cleaning as well, now I use the solid rod, I’ve mounted it with a 4×12 Bushnell a 14 in. bipod holds nice patterns with the v-max loads at 100 yds. nice little rifle around the farm.
They should have put Guy Fawkes masks on and shot eight shots.
I bought a savage 17 hmr and it is a piece of junk!
It’s n the burn pile with the scope on it!
I could only hope that these weapon would not be used in war, due to miss fire. War would not last long!!!!!!!!
I would hazard a guess that it is the ammo giving you problems, not the rifle. I own and really enjoy a BTVS. Originally, I purchased a Marlin XT-17VR. Every fourth shot would stick in the chamber due to a cracked case and one shot per clip of 10 would hang fire. Thinking it was the rifle, I traded up to the BTVS. Well, the BTVS is a much nicer rifle and I was glad to have made the upgrade, but I had the same statistics in firing with the new firearm. Then I changed ammunition. I was using Winchester 17 grain Vmax and when I switched to Hornady or CCI, the cracked cases and the hang fires went away. I kept the cracked cases and made careful comparisons and then I contacted Winchester. They agreed that it was a problem with the ammunition and bought back the 3000 rounds of 17HMR ammo I had purchased.
This rifle is my plinking rifle of choice. I agree that it is a bit more expensive than .22LR, but it is more like firing a large calibre rifle, but at a fraction of the cost. Lets face it, the only way to become a better shot is to shoot.
The thumb hole in the stock is a great addition. When I first saw it, I thought to myself, what a stupid idea. After shooting with a rifle with one, I wonder why all rifles do not come like this.
I still use my .22 for hunting and put rounds through all my other rifles, but by far, the .17 HMR 93R17BTVS sees the most shots.
Caliber aside Savage 93R17BTVS is the rifle I have most problems with. Also, I don’t know if you actually did some math for ammo cost. A bulk ammo I bough last time in .22 which happens to be pletty accurate in my CZ cost me 4.5 cents per round after WA tax. A Hornady 17HMR I bough comes out to 30.6 cents a round after tax in Cabela in WA and that’s actually best price you can find locally. That’s almost 7 time more!!! Can you imagine if you paid 7 bucks for a bottle of water at gas station instead of 1 dollar?
I’ve seen it on Midway online for 3 dollars less per box, but the shipping was costly, so if I ordered 10 boxes, I could save maybe 10-15 bucks on 500 rounds. I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty darn expensive to plink when each shot is costing you 30 cents and speaking of “large calibers”, I did some math and reloading .223 would cost me about .25 cents per round (I collected 1000+ free brass).
Almost all of the 22LR ammo I have seen on Ammoseek.com is .12 or more per round. .17 HMR Hornady 17 grain is .26 per round. Its a little more than double the cost. If you were to add up the cost of your reloading equipment, and your time involved reloading those .223 rounds, they are costing you way more than .25 per round. I reload most all of my ammo, but sometimes its just nice to buy some and go shooting. Plus these little guns are pretty quiet, and won’t wear you out after shooting squirrels all day.
Just my 2 cents.
I just checked GunBot, there is 9 cents Armscore ammo and it’s available, shipping brings it to 11.5 cents, but I don’t buy .22LR online, I just check my Walmart, Cabela’s and Sportco whenever I go there and I was able to stockpile 5k rounds, after I realize how much I have I just stopped buying and in fact thinking of selling some back. I just hardly shoot 22LR anymore. The most I paid for local ammo was 10 cents and that’s for premium stuff like Velocitors in small quantities, the average is 7-8 cents. But I also bought 2.5k rounds of bulk ammo for 5.5 cents per round in last 2 years. Remington Golden and Federal auto match bulk stuff.
I agree that reloading is a choir and it would be nice to just buy cheap ammo. You’re right, I spend a lot on reloading equipment, but I look at it as investment, It will pay for itself in savings plus I can produce precision ammo that shoots more accurate than factory. Besides .223 I also reload 300 blackout, 9mm, .380 and .40/10mm and my next caliber will be .357 mag.
Just got a 93R17-FV. Bull barrel, blue, composite stock. Safety was in-op right out of box; after talking to a buddy that had same issue, got the flat spring back in place after removing action from stock. Still very stiff to operate safety, but thought it would loosen up. Wrong. After mounting scope and bore-sighting, safety spring tang came off again with first dry-fire cycle. Either the flat spring is too long, or formed incorrectly. PITA. Scope now off, waiting to hear from Savage again. Can’t get it to the range to shoot it … not impressed so far. Maybe just spoiled by CZ452 22MAG I have had for years…it’s a great little rifle.
Right now, I am shooting mostly .17HMR because I cannot find .22LR. I usually plink with standard velocity target Remingtons, but I have not seen any at any of the stores around here for well over a year. About the only .22LR rounds I can find are Winchester 222 or 333 packages and I do not like those. Just recently, there has been a lot of Aguila .22LR standard round nose around and I am going to give them a go, but I was paying under 30 bucks for 500 of the Remingtons and these Aguilas are 50 bucks a brick. Where have all the .22LR gone? Even the .17HMR have gone up in price. I bought several bricks for $97 and now the same ammo is $140, but at least it is available.
I bought a Savage 93R17 BTVS a couple of years ago. Great rifle. First I put an inexpensive Simmons 8 point 3-9×50 scope on it. I used Weaver 1″ extra high ring mounts so the 50mm objective would clear. At 50 yards I did 1 1/2″ groups with little effort. However for me the .17 HMR holes in the target were too hard to see at 100 yards. Better glass is required. Balancing cost vs. focal length vs. quality, I ended up with a Redfield Revenge 4-12×42 scope. I added a Champion Bi-pod to the mix and I now have a serious 100 yard shooting system. As a relatively new rifle shooter I need to tweak my shooting to tighten up my 100 yard groups and cut down on the flyers though. What a fun shooter.
If you’re getting 1.5″ groups from the rest than that’s terrible. My old cheap marlin shoots like this with bulk 22LR ammo which costs 6x less. If am paying 15 dollars per box of ammo, I expect much better results. I get 1/2 inch groups with my CZ in 22LR at this distance.
For a new rifle shooter I wouldn’t say it was terrible with a gun right out of the box. Certainly can be improved, and it has been at that distance.
In case you didn’t know, all 17 HMR ammo are made in ONE factory in a little town in Idaho. The stories behind that certain brands of ammo misfires compared to others almost sounds like BS. The only differences the brands made in ONE factory, is the bullet itself and only. The rimfire brass and powder are all the same.
There needs to be further investigation into why there are misfires, I’ve had misfires with CCI, Hornady, Winchester and Federal with my Savage M93 and this very dangerous when I am teaching children and young adult proper firearm shooting and safety. Has anybody here sent there 17 HMR back to Savage due to 20% misfire regardless of 17 HMR brands/
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