Your Opinions and Reviews of Savage Rifles?

I'm shooting a Model 12 BVSS 300 Winchester mag with 180 grain Hornady sst bullets and put a piece of orange clay bird in a 22 hole so i could see it. Went back pulled the trigger and couldn't find the the orange clay piece in the scope. Had to make another 200 yard walk -drilled the .22 hole. I've since been able to call shots I know where there going before I look that only means one thing to me these guns are better than the shooters right out of the box. It's just plain fun to shoot a gun and know when you miss it's positively your fault.
 
Doug,
My first high powered rifle was a model 110 chambered in 270 win. My Dad bought it for me when I was 12 years old. It was nothin' fancy with a cheap ol' bushnell atop her. The dead-gum thing shot pretty dang good. It was responsible for many dead whitetails in South Arkansas. I definetely cannot camplain about 'em. I'll always hold the ol' girl close to my heart.
Brandon
 
Good day if you can take a stock Rem out the box , and out shoot a Savage I would like to see the targets ?
 
I have three Savages, LRH in 6.5x284, 223 in a Model 12, and a Predator in 22-250. The 22-250 and .223 shoot .5"-.75" at 200 yards with 55 gr Hornady VMax factory ammo. The 6.5x284 will keep three shots in 1.5" at 500 yards, the furthest I've grouped it. That's with hand loaded 140 Berger VLD's . All three rifles needed some of the barrel channel sanded to remove contact areas. The Accutriggers took some getting used to but now I like them. Not the prettiest rifles but they are reliable, and accurate shooters for the money. My buddy has the Benchrest Model in 308 and shoots clover leafs at 300 yards.
 
What I am saying is that the Savage will out shoot a out of box Rem with no mods
to the Rem. I have 7 Savages 222 cal 223cal 223cal 223cal 22-250cal 22-250 242cal, bought a new Rem 223cal Tac, had it for 2 weeks got my money back out of it and sold it .some guys like Fords some like Chev some Dodge what ever works for you buy it and good shooting ! PS I love my Savage
 
The 116 is alright if ur just gonna hunt with it. It's not too heavy. If ur doing more target shooting, I'd go with the model 12 and not look back. The VLP 300wsm is a tack driver as is the BVSS .308. I've taken the .308 out to 1015 yds and the wsm to 1500yds. Both will hold .5moa all the way. The original stocks weren't too bad but they had to go. both of em sport Mcmillan full aluminum block stocks and Super Sniper scopes. a 10x42 on my .308 and a 16x42 on the .300wsm. In my opinion, if ur not regularly shooting out to 1000 grab a .308. I also own 7 model 700's in different configurations. As far as being able to customize it yourself, the Savage is the way to go. Aside from reaming the thing yourself, you can do it all. The rem's are a little tougher.
 
Occasionally a Browning, Remington, or Winchester will come out of the box & shoot less than 1/2" groups, and when one does there is a very happy owner. More times than not these guns have difficulty shooting 1.5-2" groups. With Savages "out of the box" accuracy is almost common.

My Savage thoughts are best shown with the old Savage beater in .243 I picked up for my dad to use as a barn gun. I stripped the rust off the outside of it, polished the bore & took it to the range. 5-Shots into 1 hole at 50 yards & 5 into 1 ragged hole at 100 yards with factory ammunition. This is a gun that obviously needs a better stock, and trigger to improve accuracy. I wonder what it would be capable of if it wasn't going to hang out at his farm?? Yes, this is an ugly gun worthy based on looks alone of hanging out in his barn, but how many $2,500 custom rifles can outshoot this $150 beater?
 
We have been having long range egg shoots for several years. One of the reps from Savage attended a shoot and offered to arrange a plant visit if we were interested. They are located an hour and a half away in western Mass. About 20 of us went and spent a few hours seeing the manufacturing operation in action and got a detailed explanation of every stage of manufacturing process, from the raw bar stock to the finished rifles. Having seen the process first hand, it's no wonder the rifles shoot so well. While they have a lot of modern automation, there is also a lot of hand work and fitting, particularly with the critical areas of barrel making, chambering, head spacing, trigger work, etc. The people appear very skilled and take a lot of pride in their work, are motivated, and appear very focused on making a very accurate rifle. It is a very impressive company.
 
I have owned/own several Savage/Stevens rifles but only shot two in factory form (rest were donar actions).

Both Savage 110's with side release mags. Adjusted factory non accutrigger in 270, Boyds JRS stock bedded and fitted for mag, Nikon Buckmaster 4X14 SF scope.

sighted rifle with rds 1 to 3. Shot rds 4 to 6 into 1/4" at 100yds. Barrel broken in, load figured out I think.

I used this rifle for LR plinking and even with the rounded sporter forend, it shot sub MOA out to 850yds using 150gr SST's at 3000fps. Copper fouling not an issue.



Second, same rifle in 7RM. Put on a Micaluk brake and with 162gr Amax is a superb LR rifle using Re25 and Fed 215M primers for a little over 3100fps. Sub MOA out to 940yds no problem. This one had the trigger replaced with a SSS adjusted to around 1lb.

Even still wears the orig stock but has been bedded with a hogue prefit recoil pad and foreend opened up a lot.



Both have repeatable cold barrel performance at any range I have drops for.

You don't need a heavy barrel or a mega dollar stock to have superb LR accuracy and consistent first shot hits. You just need a well tuned rifle.

The heavy barrel will help if you need to make multiple shots but for a hunting rifle, I don't intend to need more shots then what is in the mag. The sporter barrel will handle that.

With the muzzle brake, I spot my own shots with the 7RM.

I have yet to find any factory rifle that offered such performance for the same money. If not for the cosmetics (easily solved), they rival the performance of some pricey factory and custom rifles.

make great donor actions too. Building 'custom' rifles with these is easy as the actions are modular and you can do all the work at home.

My most recent project uses a prechambered threaded Shilen SS match in a 7 Mystic. I spun on the barrel at home onto a Stevens 200 action. Rifle basix 2 trigger set around 6ozs. Modified Factory stock.

Very consistent sub MOA out to 1400m (1540yds). Ran out of scope elevation before reaching the mile.



Jerry
I have a new Savage 111 in 7RM. I hope my accuracy is like yours! I plan on using for elk in November.
 
I'm not faithful to any brand (call me a heretic). I honestly believe the market now requires/demands quality (insert your definition). Media now a days gets around fast - good and bad. People who speak negatively of certain brands - usually for good reason due to personal experience. But make sure to balance with other opinions though.

I love the classic Savage 110's and all the models based off the 110's.
 
This old thread has aged like a fine wine. I've got 3 Savages keeping company with Coopers, Weatherby's, Browning's and Sakos in my safes. They do better than hold their own accuracy-wise, but won't win any beauty pageants. Oh I forgot - those aren't allowed anymore!
 
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