I bought one of the mod 16 with fluted barrel in 243,tried some loads that I had good results with out of my rem 243 and they shot just as well out of the savage.It will shoot 55gr bullets up to 105 gr,The 105 shot fair but not like the lesser weight bullets.
Looks like the scope base may be sitting on the recoil lug,I put burris bases and signature rings on mine and still had to grind some off the front base because it was on the recoil lug.
Below is a target shooting 55gr and 100 gr bullets out of the mod 16.