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I foolishly didn't buy a Colt Sauer when I had the chance. As you said, likely the smoothest action ever, and the bluing was spectacular, but too many $$ for me at the time.
Should be 3 points against it Calvin!
My son's 6.5prc shoots very well. The trigger is nice and overall I am very happy with it. The only thing that I find interesting is as the bolt closes, you have to make sure you are using some pressure as it feels like as the bolt is closing you are popping the extractor over the rim of the cartridge.
. On this front I fully salute Browning for leading the charge on making faster twisted standard chamberings and stamping it on the barrel for good measure. Love that.
WOW that's a excellent write up!Hey hey! I've been meaning to do a big write up on my observations of the 100 series rifles I decided to bring into our store. I still have yet to shoot one. I'm dead serious about intending to buy one when I can swing it again haha.
So, as has been pointed out, they're VERY similar to the Mauser 18 rifles, a "working man's" Sauer, an entry into the world of affordable but not as cheap as possible quality rifles. As such there are a few funny or at least odd little "quirks" - not defects or faults but compromises maybe that allow these excellent German made and American imported (I don't love that it has something about San Antonio, TX, 2022 stamped right on the gun as well as Isny, Germany - minor detail and truly unimportant but it does kinda degrade the aesthetic overall in my subjective opinion. "Made in Germany" surely is enough haha) rifles to be accessibly priced.
Handling and analyzing them, to my mind they certainly are aiming to compete with the Tikka, Browning, and to a lesser extent Bergara rifles that we also have. Decidedly a bracket up in cost and "finesse" compared the savage 110, ruger american, and weatherby vanguard rifles. Similar MSRP's to the tikka t3x and browning xbolt series rifles broadly speaking, similar features and desirable attributes in many ways. They're not well known, at least around here…farmers and indigenous subsistence hunters in Saskatchewan know and trust Browning, Savage, Winchester, Tikka etc…and many have never even heard of Sauer. So they have their work cut out trying to break into these particular demographics that no doubt has many similar counterparts in the USA.
My own two cents, not owing rifles from any of these brands at present, is that dollar for dollar I'd take one of these sauers over any similarly priced tikka or browning ANY DAY. And I plan to. I have no plans on buying a tikka or browning any year soon, the Sauer will likely be my next gun, I get to handle and play with all of them and hear feedback from customers too. When I consider what you get from a rifle at equivalent price points I'm getting to really respect Bergara and Sauer at this point.
ANYWAYS…first point of observation is that trigger is AWESOME. it is adjustable and not just yet another version of a savage accutrigger, but adjusting it requires no disassembling of any kind either, it's via a ring Allen wrench (included) through small hole inside the trigger itself. I fiddled with this at my gun counter with several different models, they all consistently could be adjusted to well under one pound and up to six pounds. Most came from the factory at 3-4 pounds, and I personally like a hunting rifle right around 3. No lighter. That's just me. Sauer does not recommend going under 1.5 or 2 or something like that for understandable reasons. ABSOLUTELY ZERO CREEP. So freaking crisp and positive, definite, responsive. Far and away a better factory trigger than anything I've felt on any factory tikka, browning, Winchester, Remington, weatherby, ruger, or savage. I don't know if there's aftermarket triggers and for my own purposes don't care. It's an awesome trigger.
That said, I don't love that the trigger itself is PLASTIC! I also don't know that it matters, maybe it's even a good thing and I'm behind the times, but it's just a minor beef I do have ESPECIALLY when the bottom metal and trigger guard most certainly made of metal. Why have a plastic trigger and a metal trigger guard? Surely THAT isn't where they saved money haha, Oh well…
The detachable box mags are true double stack, so you have a five round flush-fit magazine in .30-06/.308 family cartridges. I like that. The magazines are polymer just like everyone else's are now, I don't care. I used to. I got over it a while ago and now believe there is absolutely zero disadvantage to plastic versus metal for magazines. They are however potentially harder to get ahold of regarding replacement mags, something to consider, and aren't cheap (though none of them are really anymore). I appreciate that it's very decisively clicked into place, no doubt about of it's fully in or not, there is no cheap plastic latch integrated into the magazine itself like what so many have gone to, and the release tab is depressed into the stock such that it would be almost impossible to accidentally detach a magazine out and about. Good idea.
As far as the action, it's gone the way of so many others at this point ( not in a bad way) and is another "fat bolt" 3 lug design, so 60 degree bolt lift. It's very smooth. But not quite as smooth as some of the tikkas, Sakos, and bergaras we have in the store. Additionally, it "feels" smoother in long action chamberings which relates to a point I've yet to come to. But overall, very nice. Not crazy about the cheap feeling plastic bolt knob, but don't care really. A rigid action with a narrower ejection port than say a savage 111 or Winchester m70 for sure. Push feed. DUAL PLUNGERS….thats a bit odd for a bolt gun, common for many gas guns. Don't know if it's a benefit, a detriment, or neither.
ONE AWESOME THING…the top of the receiver is dimensionally identical to a Remington 700 long action including placement of screw holes. So any base or bases meant for the rem 700 will work perfectly on the sauer 100, I have verified this with multiple rails and integral rings just to be sure. They're the same. This was a super smart move for Sauer, I was scared after i ordered them in that itd be some annoying proprietary system…NOPE!
Now regarding the stock…not all synthetics are equal as we all know. Not all the Sauer ones are either. The basic synthetic stocks on the classic xt, Pantera, and various camo iterations is indeed just plastic of some kind BUT, it's pretty thick, much stouter and more rigid than the basic models of browning x bolt or tikka t3x or savage 111 or ruger american. Much stiffer. I test this simply by gripping the gun firmly by the action or barrel and then trying to twist the stock with the other hand by the fore end and bend it up and down toward and apart from the barrel. they all move of course, but even the most basic and inexpensive of the Sauer 100 series moves notably less. It's decent I think, solid for what it is and what it costs. Every Sauer 100 rifle we got in passed the old "dollar bill test" regarding if they really are free floating with flying colours. The Cherokee model has a coating on the stock reminiscent of "soft touch" and feels good to hang onto. The Wood stock is, well, wood, enough said. The wide land Pantera stock I beleive is still just plastic but I might. Wrong. The real gems are the upgraded HS models featuring hs precision fiberglass stocks. These are definitely a cut above (they're also pricier).
the bedding system is interesting…I'll describe that more in a second post. Can't tell if it's really a benefit or just classic German overengineering what could be simpler.
The barrels are cold hammer forged and are NOT, repeat NOT press-fit into the receiver like many high end sauers and other European rifles. They are threaded, American style. No idea WHAT the TPI and all that is, but they are threaded for what it's worth.
Finally, two more problems or at least complaints.
1. Twist rates. I regret to inform you that all the .30 cal offerings are 1:11 twist. The .270 is the usual 10. .223 is a 9. Any of the the older cartridges come with similarly traditional or even slower twist rates. Come on!!!! It's 2024!!!! Cut it out already!!!!
2. Long actions only. Tikka does the same dang thing and it just irritates me. It's not the end of the world, but WHY use a long action to shoot short action rounds? I get it, scale of production bla bla bla, it's annoying and there's many other companies that actually can be bothered to make short actions for short action cartridge and vice versa. But they use the same action for everything and just use magazine spacers to make up the difference. EVEN ON THE .223. a full 30-06 length receiver to shoot .223 just seems silly. And the action doesn't feel as smooth on the short action chamberings and I think it does have to do with the magazine as the bolt rides over honestly.
3. Length of pull is 14.5 inches on standard models. That's on the long side. I don't find it at all uncomfortable freehanding, but can see how it would suck from prone. No spacers or adjustability on that front. I'm 5,11 and sure wouldn't want these any longer, entirely unsuitable probably for more smaller framed or shorter shooters.
More details and a bunch pictures coming some time, but I gotta go to bed now!
