I actually own one and am not at all happy with it. It will NOT extract and or eject surplus / european ammo.
I bought it for my boys to practice using a bolt action with cheap surplus ammo. I figured the additional upfront cost would be offest in a short time with the cheap ammo and cleaning the corrosive ammo by pulling the bolt would be easy. It is easy to clean but it will not eject and or extract surplus / european ammo.
So far I've 250 rounds through the gun trying to find ammo that it will consistantly eject. It seems to handle the American Eagle 7.62 Russian ok (about 30 rounds) but at $20+ for tweny rounds this is not cheap. It will NOT consistantly extract / eject any surplus ammo. The best it does is with the Russian surplus where I seem to get it to eject optimistically 33% of the time. The Cech and other surplus ammo that I've bought (I bought every differnt one I could find) it simply will not eject. The shells just lay in the chamber above the magazine and need to be tipped out.
Another issue with the gun is that the magazine capaity is only three rounds. The magazines (part #55221) is marketed as being four round magazines but they only hold three rounds. I ordered a spare one, from a differnt source, at the time the I bought the gun and they both will only hold three rounds.
I'm also not that happy with the peep sight. It is ok but mounted way to high. If the peep sight was mounted lower then it would be easier look through the rings on a scout scope. The way it is mounted I am not sure that it will be possible to use look through rings.
Maybe, I should have done more homework but my experience with other Savage firearms had been good. This one, however, is proving to have been a giant / costly mistake.
Moreover, in my opinion, the gun which cost $800+ is simply not worth it without the offset of being able to use cheap ammo. For approximently the same price I could have bought a Tikka T3 which, I believe, is way better rifle or spent less than $100 more and got a Ruger Scout (although recoil would be a bit tougher on the boys). Even within the Savage line I believe that I could have spent in the $500-600 range and got the same or better quality gun, albeit not in the same calibre. A good lever action gun in 30-30 would give about the ballistic performance for just over half the cost, also have iron sights, carry more ammo and have a faster action.
Now on top of all this, I'm reading about it being a .308 vs .310 which I thought was the standard for the 7.62x39 round.
Finally, making matters even worse is the fact that Savage customer service seems to be completly non-existent. During the last three weeks I've called customer service almost daily and have never have gotten through, so I have been leaving a voice message for them to call me. During that time, about ten days ago, I got one call back but missed it. Since then dispite my immediate call back and subsequent calls there has been no response.
All in all, I'm not at all happy with my purchase and without trying to sound like I'm ranting would strongly advise you against buying it, expecially if you plan on using surplus / european ammo. If your are not using surplus / european ammo then I think there are better buys either; for about half the cost a 30-30 lever action; or for the cost a Tikka T3 or for a little more a Ruger Scout. If I had known that I could not have used surplus ammo I would not have bought it.
Maybe someone knows and can help. If it is in fact chambered in .308 is it possible to convert the gun into a 308 Win and if so what would I have to do. Talk about trying to make lemonaid out of lemons.
UPDATE October 15/14
I got so fed up with this gun that I gave it to my borther and told him see what he could do with it. My brother took the bolt completley apart determined that the head was messed up. He worked on the head and ended up having to replace a bunch of parts from one of his Savage guns. He now reports that he has gotten it to work fine i.e. it will now shoot any 7.62 x 39 he puts in it. I have not shot it but he has and is very happy with it. I may now have an issue of getting the gun back from him he likes it so much.
Since he had to use his own parts to fix what was a new gun I decided to get in touch with Savage customer service to get the replacement parts he used. I Left a message with the Canadian customer service rep to call me back and noted that if I did not get a call back promptly I would be calling her supeirous for service.
Whether it was the threat or otherwise I did get a call back fairly promply.
I started to explain the situaiton to the Canadian customer service rep, but she cut me off. Evidently she just wanted to know what I wanted her to do, so I told her that since we used our own parts to fix the new gun we were looking for replacement parts. Unfortunately, the customer service rep at Savage Canada said that she could not send us any parts. Instead her soluiton to the problem was for us to send the gun to the US, although she was not quite sure how or where to actually send it. I explained that we had already fixed the gun and what she was proposing was that we unfix the gun and ship it internationally with lord only knows how much paper work. Moreover, all we were looking for is a $15 part kit!!!! Well to bad, this was all she could or would do.
Ok at that point I knew that something was seriously wrong with either the Canadian customer service rep, Savage Canada or that Savage in general and demanded that she get someone on the line who could do something. No Mrs. I will not wait for you to call me back, thank you very mcuh. After a five to ten minute wait she promiced that someone from Savage USA would contact me immediately and I should clear the line for the call.
It was the worst coustomer service call I've ever been on. Thankfully, my brother was on the call because I'm not quite sure he would have believed the call otherwise.
While I did not recieve a call back right away, no real surprise at this point, I did recieve a call back the next day at 5:50 am pacific from Savage USA. Dealing with the Savage USA rep was like night and day. Right away he wanted to know about the problem, listened to what my brother did to fix the problem, agreed the fix was appropriate and then on his own accord suggested that he have the replacement parts plus some spares sent out. My brother and I were stunned by the expert level of service especially after what happened to us the day before and told him so. He then wanted to know what happened with Savage Canada, evidently all he had was a message to call me, so we told him. I then got a follow up call from a senior executive wanting to know about my issues with Savage Canada's customer service and left his number to call if I ever have an issue with Savage or its products agian.
Savage Canada Customer service gets an F while Savage USA customer service is A+.