bigcountry I' ll answer your questions and then I' m done as nothing I say or do will be accepted by you and hey thats OK,I just don' t want to waste the energy debating with someone who don' t believe anything I say.No I don' t think a savage 16 will shoot 1/2" groups unless its really exceptional.They are the stainless sporter weight rifles(6 3/4#) with light profile 22" /24" barrels.I have two a 300WSM and a 7mm-08 and both shoot 3/4" -inch.I consider this good for their barrels and weight,my 1/2" gun is a 12FV 26" bull barrel that weighs over 10# with scope.I do have a 110 in 243 that shoots 1/2-3/4" pretty consistantly and feel its the exception rather than the rule for lighter weight sporter class guns.I don' t know what kind of shooting backgrounds and abilities your friends have so I don' t know what they are capable of from a benchrest with a model 16 that the barrel has been checked to make sure it floats and the trigger has been set to about 3#,with the action screws good and tight and the bore good and clean.I would say with a load the gun likes it should shoot 3/4" -1" as that has been my experience with that gun model.

woods