never used a savage, I do however use a valmet 412 12/223 for turkey hunting

I have only killed a couple in the spring with the rifle barrel, but in the fall I have killed many, the 222 will do well on mature gobblers, in the fall on hens and young of the year its pretty hard on them unless you carefully pick your shots.
the head is a very small target and always moving so its out, you have 3 shots which will kill them and not do to much damage
1) through the ribs (does enough damage for a clean kill but doesn't hurt any meat)
2) directly going away at the base of the tail, the soft point bullets usualy are broke up before they get to the breast
3) broadside under the spine my favorite shot, 2" below the spine, and 2" deep from the anus is a soft place (its where you open them up to field dress them) all you'll hit is skin, tear that skin, they're guts fall out and they die.
rifles have always been legal here for turkeys, they really work well in the fall and I use them a lot, I use them cause they work.
RR