TINCANBANDIT's Gunsmithing : Savage Model 93 Varmint Sniper

Friday, May 1, 2015

Savage Model 93 Varmint Sniper

"License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote."
-Carl Spackler Head Greens Keeper, Bushwood Golf & Country Club

I was looking to pick up a .22 mag rifle, I had wanted one for a long time. I came across a good deal on a Savage model 93R17 rifle (in .17 HMR) on one of the local gun forums, so I did some research on the gun and the caliber.

The Savage model 93 is a rimfire rifle that was originally built & sold by Lakefield Arms out of Ontario, Canada. Savage Arms acquired Lakefield Arms Ltd and is now branding them as Savage models.
This gun has received good reviews from the magazines and online critics.

The rifle features their "Accutrigger" system and a black synthetic stock. The detachable magazine holds 5 rounds. Here is a picture from Savage's website:

The .17HMR is a necked down .22 magnum.
Here is the .22 LR, .22 Magnum & the .17 HMR

The .17 Hornady Rimfire Magnum shoots flatter and faster than the .22 Magnum. Despite having a lighter bullet, the drop in trajectory & velocity are less than that of the .22 Mag. The Energy losses even out after 100 yards or so.

When I got the gun it had a Simmons 8-Point scope and a Harris bi-pod. The bi-pod is the 9-13" variety, too tall for a table rest or prone, I guess it is designed for shooting from a seated or kneeling position?

I found a good deal on a bigger rimfire scope, so I bought this Tasco 6-24x50mm scope. It has a lighted (green & red), mil-dot style reticule and a sun shade.

Of course the raised scope mounts are required when using a scope with an objective lens diameter of 50mm (although these ones are a little too tall in my opinion). This also presents a problem with the cheek weld. I purchased this adjustable, strap on cheek pad from Blackhawk.

I like the fact that the cheek rest is not a permanent fixture, but it doesn't stay in place all that well.

When these rifles were first offered by Lakefield/Savage the only magazine available was the factory 5 rounder. Some enterprising gun guys created a 10 round replacement (see them here)

Then the factory began offering the 10 round magazines (notice the conspicuous use of French on the packaging)