Savage frustration leads to a positive note

[Barrelnut]

I had a new Savage LRP that shot pretty well but seemed to have some flyers and kinda high SD. When cleaning the barrel I could feel a loose spot, with a cleaning patch, in about the last 1/3 of the barrel. Called Savage. They said to send it in and they would look at it. They replaced the barrel and said the original one was out of tolerance.
I think the steel was not consistent thru out the barrel and the button hit a soft spot when laying the rifling and caused the bore to open up a bit.

 

[Robert R]

Its sad to hear this happen. i have several older savage rifles that shoot 1in groups also using American whitetail ammo and i have been pleased and with hand loads well below 1/2 in groups. i was going to buy another savage for a long range fun rifle but i see they dont carry the MOA Guarantee anymore so i steered away from it unfortunately but knowing that a good barrel helped is always good to know.

 

[Dean2]

Its sad to hear this happen. i have several older savage rifles that shoot 1in groups also using American whitetail ammo and i have been pleased and with hand loads well below 1/2 in groups. i was going to buy another savage for a long range fun rifle but i see they dont carry the MOA Guarantee anymore so i steered away from it unfortunately but knowing that a good barrel helped is always good to know.

Did they ever actually guarantee 1 MOA or did they just advertise their competition results? To be fair, being left handed and Savage being one of the few that makes a wider selection in LH, I have owned quite a few Savages starting in 1968 and still own a few that all shoot great. All of the current ones will do sub .5 x 5 shot groups with hand loads. Never had one that didn't shoot well but when they do put out a lemon it would be good if they actually stood behind it. Their cost for a new barrel is really low, not much to ask to keep a customer happy.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Did they ever actually guarantee 1 MOA or did they just advertise their competition results? To be fair, being left handed and Savage being one of the few that makes a wider selection in LH, I have owned quite a few Savages starting in 1968 and still own a few that all shoot great. All of the current ones will do sub .5 x 5 shot groups with hand loads. Never had one that didn't shoot well but when they do put out a lemon it would be good if they actually stood behind it. Their cost for a new barrel is really low, not much to ask to keep a customer happy.

They offer a 1.5inch guarantee on their sporter barrels and 1inch on their varmint contour barrel and target police models

 

[Rich Coyle]

It makes me wonder how the factory was able to squeak it in within their "acceptable" limits?
Congrats on finally getting a good rifle, and thank you for seeing it through instead of dumping it.

They got closer to the target.

 

[Rich Coyle]

I fully agree and I will never recuperate that money if I ever tried to sell it but if you really think about it most middle of the road factory rifles are in the 800-1000$ range and you could still potentially get a lemon with those and those only may have an accuracy guarantee of 1moa. By building this rifle, I very likely will have an easy sub .5moa rifle with handloads. Isn't that the point at the end of the day for a rifle? Accuracy? But yes it is not a Sako or a higher end remington or a browning hell's canyon...etc

If I had the option of the ones you mentioned, I would take the Savage.

 

[MtPockets]

They got closer to the target.

That's what I was thinking! My first thought was "CHECK THE TARGET FOR POWDER BURNS!!!"

I also envisioned them shooting at 6 or so targets stacked together, then just pulling one out when they can't get one to shoot.

Sorry, BigE, I couldn't resist.

Thanks for posting this experience. I like Savage as much as the next guy, but if they are not going to stand behind their rifles I'll find a different brand to spend my hard earned cash on.

 

[Deputy819]

@ Bigeclipse
Sounds like you definitely fought the good fight, and recognized when to appropriately abandon that fight. I'm glad you got a shooter now! The $1,100 figure you quoted is exactly where I'm at with my in-progress Savage .280AI build with a slightly used action, B&C stock and barrel, nut, and lug from NSS.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Sounds about like my first attempt at switching barrels. I grabbed an old Savage with a magnum bolt face (value about $300), switched the bolt head ($100), replaced the plastic stock ($200), barrel ($410), installed a used Nightforce ($750), and bedded it.

It shoots in the .4's. Fun and it works.

 

[GPR23]

I hate to see this happen, but I think all manufactures are the same and try anything to get out of warranty work. I purchased a Ruger Hawkeye FTW stainless gun, as at the time it was the only stainless left hand 6.5cm gun on the market. I paid $1100, and it shot decent but not great.

The problem was the action ran like crap, the bolt lift was terrible. the entire action/bolt was media blasted so felt like i was rubbing sand paper while cycling the bolt. I've had many m77 MKII actions which are great and smooth. So sent it to ruger, and they wanted to charge me to replace the entire trigger assembly since i lightened up the spring from their factory 6 lbs... They said this was the cause of the hard bolt lift.... Then shot a group at 50 yards and said its shooting 3/4" and is a great gun.... After talking with the gun smith he admitted the actions were terrible how it ran being bead blasted, but was nothing they would do about it. Pretty disappointing when they sell ruger americans for 1/4 the price which shoot and cycle better!

I also bought a Stag AR-10 that had issues with a rough chamber and cartridges sticking in it, making it difficult to impossible to cycle. I sent it back to stag, they opened the box and immediately denied warranty and sent it back with out even looking at the issue. Reason being is i had put a butt stock and grip on it.... Well i bought the gun as a "bones" kit that comes with only an assembled upper and lower with no butt stock, grip, or forend... That stuff is sorta important to be able to fire the gun....

The moral of the story is from my experience all big gun manufacturers are the same, terrible customer service that will try to deny any wrong doing any way possible.