SAVAGE Firearms are garbage

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Pantharen

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5 years ago I bought a Savage A22, I barely used it maybe 20 rounds down the pipe. 3 years ago went out with a buddy, fired 2 rounds, and then click. Ejected the round no impact mark, clicked 3 more rounds same thing. The repair cost at a gunsmith near me was going to be minimum $250. I found another Savage A22 for $300 last October (2025), used the PO said he barely used it, maybe 20 rounds. I was at The Range Langley today less than 50 rounds in, and the charge handle broke..

I'm frigging done with Savage
 

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The "early" A-22s were plagued with probs, and seems you bought 'used ones' in both cases. I had one about 4-years ago and it ran fine. I didn't like the action assy and it felt clunky, so it went down the road. Just a poor design IMO.
I have a B-22FV that shoots sub MOA @ 50 and 1.5" @ 100.
Also a SAV-12 in 308 that does MOA to 200, and a Sav-64 that runs fine too - just not really a target rifle.
 
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I hear ya. Owned an A22 from brand new for a short period of time. First time at the club - loaded my very first round...click...subsequent attempts yielded same thing. Back of rimfire casing showed no marks. Other members tried to troubleshoot it without success. I ended up sending it back to Savage who promptly replaced the entire bolt assembly and send me a new one. I tested it, it worked and I promptly sold it, since it was still under warranty and advised new owner of such.

I did ask Savage whether others have had similar problems with the A22 and I still remember the answer that I got back by email. "Yes, you are not the only one..."

The warranty process and customer service was quite good, from my experience.

My first bolt action I owned a couple of decades ago was a Savage Mark 2. Affordable yes, but it had some QC issues and mag/loading/magwell, etc. issues. I have not bought another Savage rimfire and probably never will.

But that said, I know others who own multiple Savage rimfire rifles who haven't had any issues. I also own Savage centerfire rifles and they have been decent - no one will mistake it for a Tikka, but for the price point, the centerfires are ok.

So maybe for the A22s, it's just a hit and miss thing, or a bad batch thing.
 
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Pantharen said:
5 years ago I bought a Savage A22, I barely used it maybe 20 rounds down the pipe. 3 years ago went out with a buddy, fired 2 rounds, and then click. Ejected the round no impact mark, clicked 3 more rounds same thing. The repair cost at a gunsmith near me was going to be minimum $250. I found another Savage A22 for $300 last October (2025), used the PO said he barely used it, maybe 20 rounds. I was at The Range Langley today less than 50 rounds in, and the charge handle broke..

I'm frigging done with Savage
Click to expand...
yes they are but people will say how good the one they have is
and for the most part even the ones from 40-70 years ago are of very poor quality
 
I've had really good luck with my A17's but tried a A22lr with no luck. The charging handle broke first mag on a brand new A22 lr. Savage immediately sent out a new one. Said the handles missed the hardening process. After rebate and being on sale it was under $200 (2 years ago) so i guess for that money you get what you pay for. Sold it with some banana mags for a quick sale
 
My worst was a brand new left hand savage precision that came with such a burr in the chamber that the bolt had to be hammered open. That infuriated me, being that it was an expensive gun.

The only other foible was aftermarket a22 banana mags not working at all in a B22 - both platforms use the same mag, though to be fair these were marketed for only the A22.

I’ve a few Savage 22s, because they are one of the few companies who bother to make left handed guns - I patronize such companies when I can. And the rimfires punch above their price point

My own experiences have been mostly positive, save for the Precision. I know they are built to a price point, though to be fair they are also engineered to be that way, and those accutriggers are pretty damn good.

I’ve heard stories about the A22, though, and chose to stay away.
 
I love Savage. The rascal is the best kids gun on the market, the Axis was the best deal in a hunting rifle for years (not so much these days but mine was $235 back in like 2014), the Mark II is the King of cheap bolt actions...

Some models have issues no doubt, but I can say the same thing about Remington and Ruger and Winchester so....
 
Savage Firearms = Fugly.

That's just IMHO. Most of them work well enough, and the recent manufacturing practices are much better than they were a few decades back.

Somehow, not catching charger handles that didn't get heat treated????????????

Over the years, I've had too many harsh lessons with Savage quality control, and no longer use them, other than two old Model 99 Lever Action rifles, and they don't see much daylight either. Might just be time to move them on.

I can understand hit and miss to a point, but when the odds of "miss" are too high??????????????

When they work, they work well.
 
I have an A17 and while it's not flawless at feeding, its pretty good. Really accurate. I bought an aftermarket mag to reduce feeding problems, and it works pretty good at that. And the design has advantages (over many others) for bolt removal for cleaning.
 
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Newer model Savage guns are using a lot of Metal Injection Molding (MIM), cheap cast metal and plastic parts. They do this because it is much cheaper than using more expensive and longer lasting milled, forged or even stamped steel parts in their new guns.

This has led to gun models that have many parts that do not last as long as traditionally made firearms of the past.

I would be wary about buying any newer model guns from most makers these days as many are going this same route and it is getting much harder to find or buy guns that will last a lifetime or more like previous models used to easily do.

All gun makers are trying to under cut their competition to sell more and many do it by offering inferior and cheaper products to what they did in the past.
 
I have zero experience with Savage semiautos, but I have owned a number of their bolt rifles (both centerfire and rimfire) and have always been more than satisfied. Had one centerfire, bought new, that had a problem and was quickly replaced. That's a much lower rate of lemons per brand than I had experienced with Remington and Ruger.

I still have a couple of MkII rimfires and a Cub kid's rifle, and I think they represent the best value you can get in a rimfire rifle. I've had some slightly more accurate .22's, but for much more money. Zero problems with any of them. One MkII in particular has had many thousands of rounds put through it over the last decade or so, and continues to chug along beautifully. Nothing else comes close in terms of value per dollar spent.
 
mkrnel said:
Newer model Savage guns are using a lot of Metal Injection Molding (MIM), cheap cast metal and plastic parts. They do this because it is much cheaper than using more expensive and longer lasting milled, forged or even stamped steel parts in their new guns.
Click to expand...

Plenty of companies have been using MIM for a while at this point. Ruger has been doing it for ages, and their guns are priced way higher than Savage.
 
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