Re: Savage Mk II BTV and TR .22lr owners
I bought a TR and feel like it is a bit of a waste as far as money goes. What sets it apart is the finish, the stock, the barrel flutes, and the bolt knob. I don't really care for any of these things.
The finish is ugly in my opinion but I'm a fan of blued metal and would have really loved this rifle if it were blued and not what appears to be parkerized (I don't know for sure if it IS parkerized or not but is similar).
The stock is strong for the most part, minus the bedding area, which is crucial. The bedding area is somewhat weak, but downfalls are to be expected with inexpensive rifles. Personally, I would have rather gotten a plastic/wood sporter stock and just replaced it down the road. The one upgrade that I would recommend (for ANY model of MkII) is to replace the bottom [paper thin] metal that they come with. D.I.P. sells an 1/8" thick replacement as does Savage Gunsmithing and both units are solid and do what they were intended to do, which is allow you to properly torque the action screws (a way of accuracy tuning) without worry of the metal warping and allowing the fragile wood to crack.
The barrel flutes are shallow, and very unnecessary. Totally useless on a .22 for cooling effects and whoever posts that it saves weight (on a TR) is full of crap. The weight savings are minuscule and unnoticeable. The flutes are PURELY for aesthetic purposes, so if that's your thing, then all the more power to you. It isn't my thing anyways, so I could easily do without them.
And lastly, the bolt knob is nice to have and use compared to the knobs found on the other models, but still unnecessary and not exactly what I want. I am planning to have it replaced with something more my style.
All in all, it is a fine rifle if the features are worth the extra cost to YOU. They weren't worth it for me, and I wasted money because of it. Looking back on my decision, I would have been much farther ahead to buy a different heavy barrel model and just replace the stock sometime after purchase. I'm still debating if I should sell my TR and buy a different model just to save a few bucks and end up with a rifle that much better resembles what I want.
All that being said, when I bought the rifle, I really just wanted the "tactical" look in a rifle that I could train with for when I could afford a centerfire. After falling in love with rimfire, I realized what I bought had perfectly suited the intended purpose, but now that my interests, and consequently my tastes, have changed drastically, it is no longer what I want. Therefore, I am unhappy with may of the features that I paid for when if I weren't quite as stubborn I could have bought a different, more "plain" model and ended up with something that MUCH better suites my style of shooting.
Our tastes certainly do change as we grow and try new things. If you want to train for your tactical centerfire then the TR may be the right choice. This is what I originally bought it for and it served the intended purpose perfectly. Now that I have dabbled in other things, I no longer care about "tactical" rifles. I'm much more interested in NRA/CMP competitions. For instance; I like shooting positional sports like: Silhouette, 3-Position, Smallbore Prone (slung up), and the Rimfire Sporter league really interests me as well. I suck at all of the above, but I love them all because they are FAR more challenging than sitting at a bench or behind a bi-pod laying on your stomach. My TR does none of these sports properly, but does "good enough" for a beginner at all of them for the time being (minus Rimfire Sporter because it doesn't meet the restrictions but that doesn't keep me from practicing it on my own time).
To each his own. I've said quite a few times on this forum and a couple others, I love iron sights. But most people here seem to prefer scopes. My tastes are different and out of place so take this with a grain of salt. If the TR is what you want because it serves your goal properly, then go ahead and get it. But I would still HIGHLY suggest you buy the BTV or whatever other model you deem ideal if the "extras" on the TR aren't totally worth spending the extra coin.
I hope this helps!
My best,
-Dylan
