Well, the grooves on a .17 HMR barrel are very tiny. So, you have to be really careful with the barrel. So, if the previous cleaned the barrel with a dirty boresnake and damaged the barrel, you can start to get big groups. Probaly did not happen, but for 200 bucks, you can get a new one. Savage also upgraded the way the bed the rifle. I think it's call acu-bed. So, a newer one will have this, I think.

That being said, it's really difficult to judge how this will shoot. But, all savages that I have used with an accutrigger are good shooters.