Re: What can I expect from this combo?
nicest thing about it is that you have a good squirrel gun, and if something with more "girth" come out, you have enough "oompah" to knock it down effectively at 100 to 150 yards.
i use it for my walking around rifle also, and for chucks under 150 yards. when a 22lr is too small and a or .223 is too big, the wmr fits the bill, seemingly without as much wind drift as the 22lr or 17hmr.
with a 50 yard zero the 30 gr hornady is dropping 1" at 100, 19.5" at 200. just over 2200fps
with a 50 yard zero the 40 gr cci fmj dropped 2" at 100 and 23.5" at 200. just over 1910fps
wieghing them out helps too. the cci 40 fmj works third best out of my marlin without causing too much meat damage (on turkey).
i tried the 40 cci gamepoints (which are based on a pointed soft point center fire bullet)out of mine, but didn't like the groups at 100.
the winchester supremes in the black box are execellent, but a bit too explosive on the turkeys, and penetration is a 50/50 to the vitals, would rather the penetration of the fmj.
the remington 33 gr. vmax sucked out of it. i'm sure it's not because of the vmax, but the "green box" it came in.
once again, that's through a marlin, your results in the savage will probably differ, and for the better.