Savage Hog Hunter
- Thread starter bunny
- Start date
The blind mag is kind of a pain but it works ok. The stock is pretty poor polymer. Not the most refined irons but if practiced with I'm sure they will work ok. The gun is quite accurate, the threaded barrel is nice, decent med heavy barrel profile doesn't get too hot with repeated shots. I'd say if you can live with it as is then it is one of the lower priced options. If you ever want to upgrade the stock or have a mag fed gun then maybe go another route? I'd like to see it have a finer front sight and ghost ring rear,and maybe even a basic laminated stock. As it is i think they are perfect for a quad gun. Zero issues with mine so far. Not a lot of iron sight options out there eh?? I debated these rifles also: Ruger scout, tikka battue, cz. Price won me over on the savage.
Had my Hog Hunter .223 for 3 or 4 years now, put lots down the pipe.
This platform is very specific, you cannot compare it to rifles costing 100s more which seems to be what happens, and always brings out the Savage haters........
I wanted a SHTF rifle, with the following non wood stock, back up metal sights, threaded heavy barrel, oversized bolt knob, and an adjustable trigger and in .223 same as my AR, since having common ammo made sense. I do not hunt except varmints so a .223 was my choice. If I hunted maybe .308 but then again in a SHTF scenario I want common plentiful cross platform ammo. Never going to shoot past 600 yards and just 100 to 300 yards truthfully.
When I bought mine it was 469.00, smoking deal.
The Remmy 700 was 100s more and was having safety recalls.
The Mossberg Patrol was great but the plastic sights, flimsly complicated bolt took it off the list even though the AR mag option was great.
Loved the Tikka, but the skinny unthreaded barrel and extra cost removed it as well from consideration.
So the .223 Savage made the list.
The oversized bolt knob, metal sights, beefy barrel, adjustable trigger, the matte finish make this platform completely different to the others. It is handy with the 20" barrel and ugly, but I wanted something TOUGH!!!
If it gets dropped and the scope is damaged I throw 2 levers and the metal backup sights are there for me.
This is a tough handy shooter not a safe queen bench rifle!
Yesterday we went to a indoor range, my buddys had a .223 Remington 788, and a Savage Axis.
Found the 788 not bad for the price but I immediately noted it felt like such a lightweight and no way near as tough, but it's extractor grabbed better. The skinny unthreaded barrel, plastic stock, no sights, rough action, skinny little bolt knob, and non adjustable trigger, made feel like a .22 rimfire to me, but still great value if that is what you want.
The detachable mag on the 788 was great!
The Savage Axis action was way rougher than my Hog Hunter, but my rifle is also broken in. Once again the skinny barrel, and little bolt knob just made me feel like I was handling something less, but I LOVED the detachable mag as well.
Now I have bedded my factory tupperware stock, sprayed foam in the buttstock, and epoxied a metal rail in the fore end of the stock.
Seems to like heavier ammo as mentioned with th 1 in 9 twist, balls accurate, and love the TRIGGER! When I removed the scope, used the irons, and I was absolutely amazed!!!!! At 50 yards (all we had) it did a tight little group, I know no matter what happens to the scope I will still have a rifle that won't let me down.
Summary, after a few years NO regrets. Love the action, hate the stock, hate the blind mag, but hey it is just so dependable, and even my Army buddy uses his 700 as a blind mag loading from the top making sure the barrel is not hot while shooting.
Really decide what you want, if you want a heavier threaded matte barrel and action, backup sights, adjustable trigger, and oversized bolt knob, there is not much out that does this for the price and is accurate.
I will be moving to MDT stock soon, but this is a keeper, as my kids love shooting it as much as I do since it has no recoil.
Have fun with your next rifle.
My Piggy:
Beefier than the others BY far!
MDT stock:
My Army buddy shot this group in the wind with ammo he had kicking around, even with my old scope being messed and him using Kentuky windage.
Not pretty just a tool:
This platform is very specific, you cannot compare it to rifles costing 100s more which seems to be what happens, and always brings out the Savage haters........
I wanted a SHTF rifle, with the following non wood stock, back up metal sights, threaded heavy barrel, oversized bolt knob, and an adjustable trigger and in .223 same as my AR, since having common ammo made sense. I do not hunt except varmints so a .223 was my choice. If I hunted maybe .308 but then again in a SHTF scenario I want common plentiful cross platform ammo. Never going to shoot past 600 yards and just 100 to 300 yards truthfully.
When I bought mine it was 469.00, smoking deal.
The Remmy 700 was 100s more and was having safety recalls.
The Mossberg Patrol was great but the plastic sights, flimsly complicated bolt took it off the list even though the AR mag option was great.
Loved the Tikka, but the skinny unthreaded barrel and extra cost removed it as well from consideration.
So the .223 Savage made the list.
The oversized bolt knob, metal sights, beefy barrel, adjustable trigger, the matte finish make this platform completely different to the others. It is handy with the 20" barrel and ugly, but I wanted something TOUGH!!!
If it gets dropped and the scope is damaged I throw 2 levers and the metal backup sights are there for me.
This is a tough handy shooter not a safe queen bench rifle!Yesterday we went to a indoor range, my buddys had a .223 Remington 788, and a Savage Axis.
Found the 788 not bad for the price but I immediately noted it felt like such a lightweight and no way near as tough, but it's extractor grabbed better. The skinny unthreaded barrel, plastic stock, no sights, rough action, skinny little bolt knob, and non adjustable trigger, made feel like a .22 rimfire to me, but still great value if that is what you want.
The detachable mag on the 788 was great!
The Savage Axis action was way rougher than my Hog Hunter, but my rifle is also broken in. Once again the skinny barrel, and little bolt knob just made me feel like I was handling something less, but I LOVED the detachable mag as well.
Now I have bedded my factory tupperware stock, sprayed foam in the buttstock, and epoxied a metal rail in the fore end of the stock.
Seems to like heavier ammo as mentioned with th 1 in 9 twist, balls accurate, and love the TRIGGER! When I removed the scope, used the irons, and I was absolutely amazed!!!!! At 50 yards (all we had) it did a tight little group, I know no matter what happens to the scope I will still have a rifle that won't let me down.
Summary, after a few years NO regrets. Love the action, hate the stock, hate the blind mag, but hey it is just so dependable, and even my Army buddy uses his 700 as a blind mag loading from the top making sure the barrel is not hot while shooting.
Really decide what you want, if you want a heavier threaded matte barrel and action, backup sights, adjustable trigger, and oversized bolt knob, there is not much out that does this for the price and is accurate.
I will be moving to MDT stock soon, but this is a keeper, as my kids love shooting it as much as I do since it has no recoil.
Have fun with your next rifle.
My Piggy:
Beefier than the others BY far!
MDT stock:
My Army buddy shot this group in the wind with ammo he had kicking around, even with my old scope being messed and him using Kentuky windage.
Not pretty just a tool:
Last edited:
- Location
- the prairies
Mine rides in the truck between the father in law and the dog when I am down at the farm-gets dragged through the bush and stepped on by the dog and has got more coyotes then any other rifle I have-I practiced up with the iron sights and find them just fine-or I throw my take off scope if I am going on the wide open plains-it has never failed me in 3 years.
I got one and mounted a 1-4x Leupold for load development and it shoots good, but with 220 grain Sierra RN's fueled by a healthy dose of H414 it shot a couple of 10 shot groups under 1" Hopefully I can get it to shoot the Hornady 180 SP cause I have about 1000 of them.
