What do I not know about Savages?

[Vodoun daVinci]

My brother and I put 80 rounds of Hornady 140 gr. ELD Match thru my Savage 10 FCP-SR in 6.5 CM today. Vortex Strikefire 6-24X50 scope, Atlas bipod, Area 419 Hell fire brake.

9 rounds to zero the gun at 100 yards. All the rest were in the X with sub MOA groups. This with a new gun and newbie shooters. Shot like butter. Fed like butter. No problems.

Highly impressed both of us. The only rifle that shot better was Bro's Les Baer custom AR in 5.56 which put 3X in 2 holes at .45 MOA. The Savage is awesome considering it literally cost 30% of what the Les Baer cost.

But I'm a newbie. YMMV.

VooDoo

 

[myronman3]

Okay, you had a problem with Savage in 1995?

95, or yesterday....when someone fucks me in the ass, i make it a point to not repeat that mistake. as you can see in the quote in my post, pineoak pretty much had the same customer service experience with them that i did, not sure of the timeframe on his experience though.

i dont know what your gig is, but you seem to have a burr up your backside. but i can assure you, i did my time in the line with the 82nd airborne, and i was most definately not DRT.
i havent attacked you, nor have i said savages are junk. all i have done, is share my experience on savage with the OP. now if that bothers you, That's your issue.

i stand by what i said; in my experience, savage's customer service sucks donkey cock.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Yeah, but you're acting like a Leg with some stupid obsolete resentment.

 

[myronman3]

my apologies to the rest of you who can have a civil conversation with folks that may see something differently than you do.

 

[The_Lucane]

my apologies to the rest of you who can have a civil conversation with folks that may see something differently than you do.

I mean, he pointed out a logical fallacy on your part. I fail to see how that is not civil. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you aren't too good with constructive criticism either?

 

[scatterbrains]

I built a stevens 200 243win into my match gun and had it in an xlr chassis shoot that rifle for 2285 rounds until the barrel was smoked,it was a bone stock action. The only issues i ever had with it were shooter induced usually from blowing primers on a too hot load.

It worked fine i shot it for 3 seasons of PRS matches. Now it sits idle waiting to be rebarreled. They arent pretty they arent refined, but id still be paying for a "high end" rifle instead of being 5 seasons into shooting PRS matches if i hadent built and shot that rifle.

 

[myronman3]

I mean, he pointed out a logical fallacy on your part. I fail to see how that is not civil. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you aren't too good with constructive criticism either?

logical fallacy? i must have missed that part. what i saw, was him saying that because it happened in 95, it is irrellevant. and what about the other person that had piss poor customer service from savage?

from where i am standing, it does matter. do i hate savage? no. lots of guys have them and have really good results. i just wont buy one, and i wont recomment them. the OP asked, and i told him what i expereinced. to which the grand poobah declared my expereince with savage as being irrellevant. you call that constructive? i call that him being a numbskull. and obviously you missed his other jabs. constructive criticism my ass.

hey, buy all the savages ya want. it's your money. just hope to hell you never need them to stand behind what they make. just dont say you were not warned.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

Knock off the fucking Bullshit and stop the back and forth

 

[fdkay]

I find it difficult to recommend either savage or remington when Howa rifles are readily available.
I have a couple of savages, no complaints. Especially if your looking for a hunting rifle. They tend to shoot very well, though they have had more than a few issues with short chambers.
I used a 10PC in a sniper class. We weren't exposed to inclement weather, but it ran VERY well and I had no issues with cycling.
The actions that ER Shaw uses are indeed savage, but they are a version with changes at the request of ER Shaw.

 

[Lowlight]

Culpeper and Myro

Knock off the bullshit or I am banning both of you assholes

 

[Deleted member 10043]

No problem, LL. I guess I got caught up with every time he disagreed with me he kept urging me to be objective.

 

[The_Lucane]

logical fallacy? i must have missed that part. what i saw, was him saying that because it happened in 95, it is irrellevant. and what about the other person that had piss poor customer service from savage?

from where i am standing, it does matter. do i hate savage? no. lots of guys have them and have really good results. i just wont buy one, and i wont recomment them. the OP asked, and i told him what i expereinced. to which the grand poobah declared my expereince with savage as being irrellevant. you call that constructive? i call that him being a numbskull. and obviously you missed his other jabs. constructive criticism my ass.

hey, buy all the savages ya want. it's your money. just hope to hell you never need them to stand behind what they make. just dont say you were not warned.

Yes, actually, your feedback is illogical, as Savage Arms 1995 vs. Savage Arms today are basically two different entities. They filed for bankruptcy in 1988, and were bought out by a man named Ronald Coburn, who was formerly with Smith & Wesson, in 1995. Quality control has improved tenfold since. Your rifle was likely built during the downward spiral of Savage, where quality control was on the back burner and their primary objective was making profit, rather than making quality firearms. Your cognitive dissonance regarding them is understandable, but not logical. I have no quarry with you, just with your point of view on a matter you seem uneducated on.

As far as me buying Savage, I would not hesitate if the price is right and it's a gun that fills a niche in my collection, because I know that their modern offerings are literally nothing like what you experienced in 1995.

ETA: Also, I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm merely trying to educate you.

 

[Vodoun daVinci]

Yup just bought my first precision rifle and shot a few before I did. I don't think the Savage 10 FCP I'm shooting can compare with a custom but for a $600 gun it was worth it. I can't shoot better than the gun yet...it's not limiting me in any way. I'm way more interested in pounding this Savage until I burn it up and figure after a few thousand rounds of 6.5 CM I'll be ready to move up.

Or not....the only thing I'd change about my present gun is a better stock/chassis and better glass. The action and accuracy are fine for me with no feeding or extraction issues and I really actually like the Accutrigger arrangement. No creep, no grit, light and crisp right out of the box. Shot a Remington 700 in 6.5 CM last weekend and it's not really all that great compared to the Savage as a stock rifle. $ to donuts I think I did pretty well.

VooDoo

 

[myronman3]

i know lots of guys that have them, and lots of guys that really like them. i can not say they've been exceptional shooters when compared to similar guns. that's not a knock on them, btw.

my buddy had a bvss and i shot it side by side with my ruger m77, both were in 223. i didnt see where the target/varmint gun outdid my little ruger. dont get me wrong, the savage wasnt what i would call bad, it just didnt beat the pants off my ruger.

from where i am standing, i wont buy a savage due to my last experience. i know guys that have had the same issues with other brands and wont touch them. if i buy a gun and the company remedies it, i have no issue. but when they basically say "tough tittles", i'm dont.

i am curious, how many of the savage owners had an issue, and savage stepped up? anybody?

 

[myronman3]

Yes, actually, your feedback is illogical, as Savage Arms 1995 vs. Savage Arms today are basically two different entities. They filed for bankruptcy in 1988, and were bought out by a man named Ronald Coburn, who was formerly with Smith & Wesson, in 1995. Quality control has improved tenfold since. Your rifle was likely built during the downward spiral of Savage, where quality control was on the back burner and their primary objective was making profit, rather than making quality firearms. Your cognitive dissonance regarding them is understandable, but not logical. I have no quarry with you, just with your point of view on a matter you seem uneducated on.

As far as me buying Savage, I would not hesitate if the price is right and it's a gun that fills a niche in my collection, because I know that their modern offerings are literally nothing like what you experienced in 1995.

ETA: Also, I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm merely trying to educate you.

i thoroughly respect all of that.

 

[Clark]

I build Win 70s, Rem 700s, 98 Mausers, Mosin Nagants, Arisakas, and Sav 110s.
I have owned Sav 110s for 35 years.
The Sav 110 is the only rifle worse than a Rem 700.
But I am still buying and building myself Sav 110 types.

 

[Upstate43]

I think of Savage as the firearm equivalent to the Honda brand in the car world; they're cheap, perhaps not of the best build quality but still very reliable and capable for the money you're spending.

I would have no problem recommending them to a new shooter alongside Remington's, FN's, and certain Ruger's.

I suppose that Savage isn't really known for producing cream-of-the-crop rifles, but then again neither are most of the other big firearm manufacturers. People who want the ultimate in long range performance will generally buy from a custom builder.

 

[ShortShooter1908]

Well this is where it sits now. I just need a day to do the scope tracking and zero it.

 

[LA260]

View attachment 6879680Well this is where it sits now. I just need a day to do the scope tracking and zero it.

Very Nice. What kind of stock and DBM is that?
I 've had couple of savages for about 5 years now and haven't had any problems with them. Both have been re-barreled with Bartleins (308 and 260) and are lasers but even with factory barrels they shot well. The bolt fit is sloppy on both but other than that everything else has been fine.I have adjusted the Accutrigger to 1.5lb and treat it as sort of a 2 stage trigger. To be fair I haven't competed with either one on regular basis so I can't comment on reliability for competition purposes.
Some pics of how the LRP260 is currently set up

 

[ShortShooter1908]

Very Nice. What kind of stock and DBM is that?
I 've had couple of savages for about 5 years now and haven't had any problems with them. Both have been re-barreled with Bartleins (308 and 260) and are lasers but even with factory barrels they shot well. The bolt fit is sloppy on both but other than that everything else has been fine.I have adjusted the Accutrigger to 1.5lb and treat it as sort of a 2 stage trigger. To be fair I haven't competed with either one on regular basis so I can't comment on reliability for competition purposes.
Some pics of how the LRP260 is currently set up

B&C target/competition and AccurateMag bottom metal and mag.

 

[MakeSawdust]

I had several savages as hunting rifles. In stock form they are pretty darn accurate for what they are. With good load development most will break .5 moa at 100 and a lot will do even better. The actions are typically not smooth and feeding and ejection are hit and miss. When I became interested in shooting prs style matches a friend and I built off of some Savage actions. With criterion prefit barrels both guns are capable of shooting less than half moa of vertical to 800 (sometimes the shooters aren't). I run an hsp stock with cdi bottom metal and Magpul mags and my buddy runs a McMillan stock with the same mag setup. They feed very smoothly at least for the way I run the bolt, even in match settings. We had a gunsmith add a second ejector to our bolt heads to solve the ejection issues (we were having some problems before that). If you look online you can find several tricks to make the bolt lift better. After doing all of that they are surprisingly nice guns. I wasn't sure I would be satisfied, but if I had a better optic and a more ergonomic grip on the stock I would be quite happy. We have less than $1000 in each rifle if you don't count glass and bipod. They definitely aren't custom rifle quality, but they compare to most of the Tikka and Howa rifles I have messed with. They are better than some. The caveat is that it took a lot of work to get there. I love to tinker and I already had the actions. If that is not the case I think you would be much better off getting a Howa or Tikka or saving money and waiting for a John Hancock.

Edited to add: Around 3 years ago I bought a pair of 12fv from Cabela's. Both triggers had a significant amount of creep. I contacted the Savage CS and was offered a shipping label. I told them the fix was simple if they would send me the parts. I signed a waiver and they sent me new trigger parts free of charge. The problem was taken care of within a few minutes with no arguments from them. That is the only time I have had to use their CS , but all of mine were bought after Ron Coburn purchased Savage.

 

[J McGriddle]

I was a fan of Savage for a while. Accuracy on a budget was attractive and the model 12s are very accurate. The last two I bought had one thread holding the front action screw in. I got tired of loose fitting bolts, flimsy stocks, and heavy bolt lift for no reason. I wanted to like Savage but I eventually cut my losses and sold all of them. I doubt I will ever buy another.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I own several Savages:

A pair of 11VT's, a .223 and a .308, each identically upgraded with Choate Tactical stocks, EGW 20MOA bases, Vortex Medium 30MM rings , and Mueller 8-32x44 Target Scopes. I consider them to be fairly ideal F T/R beginner competition rifles, 'beginner' essentially because they utilize unmodified factory barreled actions. The included 'regular' trigger works fine for me, I'm not all that demanding. Hefty bolt lift; honestly it never bothers me. Flimsy stocks, still a few left that might be marginal, and actually started fixing this issue going on ten years ago (where ya been?), but Savage has just revamped their basic stock with the Accu-Fit model, currently being phased in for additional models.

The 11VT is a proprietary rifle configuration limited to Dick's and Outdoor Life, and some folks here will take issue about dealing with them. Cabelas also offers a comparable rifle, the 10T. But the 10T is a bit more pricey. It can even be ordered in 6.5CM and 6CM, making the same design conform to F Open class. There's also a 300WM for those who can take it and want to shoot beyond 1000yd.

Customs they ain't, but then they total out around $1000 each, including the mods , and shoot OK enough in F T/R to keep this old duffer smiling. Hey Savage, if you're listening, it might not be such a bad idea to offer this stock on the 10 FCP.

My older MKII 22LR has educated over 100 younglings in rimfire marksmanship; including a handful of Distinguished Junior Rimfire Experts, one of whom did it both as a righty, and as a lefty.

A 10FCM Scout 7.62x39. This is the seldom ordered option of the original Savage Scout. It has a .308 bore, and handloads with the HDY 110Gr V-Max are accurate enough for me to consider it the about the equal of the .30 PPC.

The original SH Ghost Dancer, built on a 2001 Savage 10FP .260. It's a full-on custom with a (gorgeous) factory pillar bedded Ghost Gray McMillan A3 tactical stock, the L-W 28" 1:8" barrel, .260 Rem SAAMI chambered, replaced the Factory 24" barrel after a couple of years, and shot for several years in the Bodines PA 1000yd F Class League. I finally replaced the Tasco 6-24x42 Mil-Dot Varmint/Target scope with a vintage NIB Weaver T-24 just this week. I'm redeveloping the load with the new HDY 143 ELD-X bullets.

My Deer rifle is an Axis II .30-'06, with a laminated aftermarket (Boyd's) stock (A Blem, I got a big discount and I till can't find the blemish. It completely changes the ergos for the better), and an upgraded 3-9x40 scope (off the 11VT package rifles). I'm developing a load for it with the 178gr HDY ELD-X bullets. For practice, I use my 150gr HDY FMJ-BT Garand handloads. It's not my Win M-70 Featherweight that I passed down to my Daughter's family, but few rifles are; the Winny took 4th in the 1997 NJ State Sniper Championships.

I am looking seriously to acquire a Savage A22.

I have the family heirloom Savage 340 .222 that my brothers and I all learned to shoot Chucks with back in the 1950's and 1960's. Very neglected, it needs a complete and intensive cleanup and overhaul; and is one of my slow and steady projects to continue as long as it takes.

The only problems I've had with a Savage over the past two decades was with the original Ghost Dancer. The load I was using was too hot for the environment, and blew several primers. In the process, it destroyed an extractor each time. We had a gunsmith in our party, and I also had a spare bolt and a standby manual extractor tool (don't laugh, it's invaluable); I passed the bad bolt over my shoulder, and got a fixed one slapped into my palm each time, and I completed my course of fire without timing out. It was at the first (Provisional) Spirit of America Match in 2002, on the 1000yd line.

This problem was not a mechanical manufacturing or design issue, it was an unnecessarily hot handloading issue.

When these legitimate questions are brought up here, we have our usual Savage HatIng Trolls (SH*T Brigade) jump in and jump all over the Savage products. We recognize the names right off, and most folks have learned how to put their user id's on ignore (Click their username, then click on ignore, all done.).

I apologize to the new guys, a free and reasonably open web site is just gonna have these folks; please bear with it, or put them on ignore if you find their fervor offensive.

Please understand that all makers have issues with mass produced rifles, and it's not that the problems are especially common, it's just that the incessantly repeated complaints by a biased few are.

At least it's not Remington. Please don't get us started on Remington, it's impolite kick someone when they're down.

Greg

 

[spife7980]

When these legitimate questions are brought up here, we have our usual Savage HatIng Trolls (SH*T Brigade) jump in and jump all over the Savage products.

Never heard that before, good sh*t

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Hey, that guy has a full head of hair! Dang it!

I just now made it up...

LOL

Greg

 

[Big Bo]

I own two, .308 and .223. They are accurate.

 

[z71rat]

Well, my Savage’s have always been hammers. Yes, I have had a few problems with the ejectors after losing some primers from worn out brass. Yes, I replace the triggers, modify the bolt lift, change out the extractor bearing, etc. And I have had a few feed issues resulting from some bent feed lips on a few magazines. Not a huge deal for me.

However, my hunting rifle, and my comp rifle are both Savages, and Savage is all I own with the exception of one 17HMR Rifle. I have taken my share of animals with all them, and I have won a matches with them. People are either gonna be a fan, or not. I personally am a fan, and I don’t see that changing in the near future.

I have owned many different rifles, from many different manufacturers. Savage is all that I currently own. I held the Smack The Smiley record for a while with my Savage too. Do they have their faults? Yes. Are they reliable? Yes, for me anyways. Are they affordable? Yes. Have I pissed off my share of people with $8-10K customs? Absolutely HELL YES!!

It’s your dime, and your time. If you want it, get it, shoot it! Just be prepared to catch grief from the haters.

DK

 

[Bulldog10]

Z71Rat spot on. The winners of the 2015 international sniper Competition were using a Savage. https://www.drakeassociates.us/us-army-sniper-comp/ The 2017 PRS production class winner was using a Savage. Multiple bench rest records have been set with a Savage. I don’t believe there the best rifle out there A.I has got that spot but there pretty good for the money.

 

[DWDjr1244]

For the money i love my savage

 

[archistrong]

I've had and seen nothing but good luck with Savages. I own a Savage 12 which I keep a .308 Win (factory barrel), .223 Rem and 6.5x47L barrel for and switch out depending on what competition I might be shooting in. This last year I won the .30cal (non-magnum) category in a club match with the factory .308 barrel. I made NRA Expert in F-Class Mid-range the first year shooting competitively with the 6.5x47L barrel.

Similarly, I've seen firsthand as a factory Savage 12 Magnum (.338L) made multiple hits on 2200yd steel plate where other high $$$ rifles were having a hard time landing a hit.

Maybe I'm lucky but I've never run into the extraction / feed issues others have reported and I've run some pretty stout loads through this gun. I'm not going to say that the fit and finish is on par with a custom rifle, or even a Tikka, but its hard to beat accuracy/$ I've experienced.

 

[patriot07]

Buddy of mine was a big Savage fan. Owned about a half dozen. Went to shoot his first informal "match" with it and it started giving him all sorts of extraction/ejection issues. Fortunately the time constraints were generous, but it still distracted him from the tasks at hand and I think it impacted his score.

I choose to run one bolt gun and master it, so I have a Tikka CTR in 6.5. I had a feeding issue with it when I first got it where it wouldn't pick up the next round sometimes. Bent the mag spring to fix it and haven't had a hiccup since. Can't say enough about how much I love that gun.

My first bolt gun was a Savage 11VT from Dick's. That thing was lights out accurate and it never gave me any trouble, but I only put about 150 rounds through it before selling. If you keep them stock and buy them cheap, you won't have to deal with the resale issues. If you buy a cheap gun and start tricking it out, it's kind of like the souped up Honda Civic for sale for $25k with 100k miles on it - nobody sees the same value in the gun that you do, so you end up taking a bath on it. If you're going to trick it out, buy a Tikka or even a 700 and be done with it.

 

[ICU22250]

dogpile, schmogpile.

the op asked, and had people offer up their experiences with them. good, bad, and in my case, ugly. i fail to see legitimate basis for you to be indignate and butt hurt.

I'll agree on this, the OP wanted opinions and that's exactly what he's getting. Just sometimes the truth hurts... Fact is, everyone has different expectations of their purchases, while someone may love their purchase the next guy may think it's the biggest piece of shit ever created.. But, functionality issues are just that, issues, and savage definitely has their fair share of them, both rimfire and centerfire... I do have one Savage MarkII rimfire that both shoots pretty well and functions perfect, and have had a pile that didn't function correctly..