Your experieces with Savage Arms products

I had a Savage 93 in 17HMR with accutrigger & heavy barrel and found the following:

Trigger was very nice but took some getting used to.
Mag fit and finish was poor.
Action was not as smooth as the T3 I owned and not even close to as smooth as the 700 I currently own.

I recognize that this was a $299 gun and you can't expect everything. It was certainly worth that much but was not for me. In the future, I will probably try a centerfire LRPV or something similar. There are lots of good reports to be found on them.
 
Mag fit and finish was poor.
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I also have a MKII .22lr. Great, accurate little rifle that was $189 a year ago, with an accu-trigger.

However the 10 rnd magazine that came with it is atrocious! Its shaves the noses off bullets and any flatter nosed / truncated cone type bullets don't feed properly at all out of the mag, they get stuck on the botom edge of the chamber most of the time.

I bought a 5rnd mag which fits much more precisely (less rattle) and its feeds much better, but still not great. Not an issue I really worry about as it is a low price rilfe and it shoots well.
 
I would say that the trigger on the T3 is the best factory trigger out there right now, with the Accutrigger probably coming in 2nd place.

The Savage is a great, accurate gun, but you can definitely tell that you've picked up a much nicer feeling rifle when you grab a T3 or a 700. JMHO.
 
i've owned 4 savages. two model 93 17hmrs and two model 12 in .243 and .204. i would still have them i didn't buy the fiance a truck, house, honeymoon, wedding, ring, appliances and so on.

likes:
-smooth action
-great trigger
-accurate enough for my purposes (yotes, gophers and paper punching)
-laminate stocks were nice
-synthetic stocks were good enough
-fit right/felt good in hand
-never had a failure to feed or extract on the model 12's

dislikes:
-the rimfires had mag issues with feeding (nothing major)
-lack of a drop mag or hinge plate on entry models
-the forward scope mount screw had to be shortened to allow the bolt to close on the model 12fv. (this depends on the bases you use i suppose).
 
I'm a huge fan of Savages. But sadly with all of these "What do you think about Savages?" and "Are Savages made by God's hands?" threads, Savage has been able to increase their prices. :mad: They still make the reasonably cheap Stevens 200 though.
 
I have two SAs,a 308 SS varmit and 243 SS,both hunting Accutrigger.The Varmit has a heavy barrel and a laminated stock. I use it for F-class and I'm competive with other 308s,costing three or four times as much. This is with a untrimmed stock and hunting trigger,not the target Accutrigger.Five shot groups are about an inch at 300yds.They might be better if I could be better. It has a couple issues,the barrel hole in the action is angled,I had to use Burris front ring insert sideways to center the scope. And when the barrel heats in the 25 shot groups ,POI moves down .

The 243 was bought for the action,it can be either a 260,6.5RM or a 350RM.In the factory plastic stock,I had vertical grouping.When I switched to the wood Savage "Classic" that I had bedded ,the vertical grouping ended.The issue I had with this rifle was the right lug of the bolt would hit the bridges.The anti-bind slot on the lug was likely too wide.A couple of passes with file put a bevel on the bridges.It's not like my Sako,Husqvarna or my '80 Remington,but it's still pretty good.Oh,the walnut stock was well finished, which you can't say that about a A-Bolt as I had to refinish my son's after one season,and well checkered.

Things I like about the Savages,safety,it's the safest rifle for a case separtion out there,with all those baffles and vents. Speaking of safety,it's in right place, middle of the tang,and three position to boot.The center feed magazine feeds slick.I think Sako copied Savage's clip release on the SA,it's solid and protected. The bolt head pivots so the lugs bear evenly.You have to blue-print other actions to get that. Since the sear releases at 90 degrees,it doesn't throw the bolt out of alaignment,either. It's a switch barrel and bolt head rifle.

Looks,it doesn't have any.The bolt looks like an after thought.The cheap looking sear/cocking indicator/bolt release certainly doesn't help.I don't mind the nut.


I've had excellent service from Savage when I have ordered extra parts.


They are not perfect,but I can heartly recommend one in SS,though my taste in rifles is polished blue and fiquired walnut.
 
I own by choice, a Savage 99c (DM) 308 lever and it is my fave rifle. Accurate, balance like a Winnie 94 and built like a brick privvy. Smooth cycling and absolutely no slop it this old girl. Made in 1967 and my family will be fighing over it when I have gone to the big happy hunting grounds. They were top notch once and still do pretty good. Buy something old if you want better quality. Besides-new stuff is always a gamble no matter who makes it. Tried and true works for me. I have 2 guns I shoot regular over 100yrs old. Something 10 or 20 yrs old is just broken in.
Think of it as "tested".
 
I do have an old 340B in 30-30 that my uncle gave me, not a vary valuable gun monetarily speaking, But it means a lot to me. Just purchased a lyman peep sight for it... Yeah it'll be a good 6 months at least before I can think of making a purchase on a .308 . Savage is sounding like the way to go though guys, I really appreciate the input. I'm really pondering weather to sell my Glock 17c to go towards the purchase, tearing me up inside guys!:mad:
 
I wanted a new hunting last year and i had was feeling picky: I wanted a walnut monty carlo stock that truly free floated the barrel, a short action for 308, a 22" barrel, iron sights, removable clip, all steel construction (the little button for the bolt release is poly but close enough...)a trigger that would not need modification, cut checkering, cost less than $1K all in,and a couple other things i can't remember.
After checking out a lot of rifles i ended up with the Savage M14 Euro Classic and i gotta say i am thrilled. Got a 1"group at 100yds with Rem corelokts right out of the box. with reloads and adjusting the trigger the accuracy is better than i can shoot-meaning i need a lead sled or something to really check it out.
It has only one little inconsistency: it will not group 180 grain bullets. 165 is the favorite of this little beast. I have taken a moose and a little black tail with it so far and can't rave enough about it. BTW it really likes federal fusion rounds 165 gr. Affordable!

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Does anyone know of a dealer who stocks a good selection of savages (preferably in BC but not necessarily). I think I'm going to trade my Glock in, my only pistol, but I think I can make more use of a good rifle right now.
 
Savage are a great deal for the money. I bought a 300WM 111 a few years ago.(DM with the push button side release) I like the rifle and want to shoot it, but it doesn't like me. The thin barrel and synthetic stock make it a nice light hunting rifle to carry. They also make it recoil enough that it beats the s**t out of me. Have thought about reworking the stock and getting Mystic to rebarrel it, but then it takes me into the cost realm of higher quality rifles. Still haven't made up my mind. Unless someone out there wants to make me a deal.
 
I was recently looking for a 30 caliber and after looking at a lot of rifles I also decided on the M14 Euro Classic in a 308. And I love it. I just need to get a scope for it now!

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I really like the accu-trigger. I own three Savages, they are a great value. I would definitely recommend Savage :sniper:
 
I have 2, a 93 stainless heavy barrel 17hmr, and a 22-250 LRPV. The machining on the 93's action looks like a child did it, pretty rough, but the little rifle is a great shooter, I get 5 shot groups of .6 MOA with some really amazing groups once in a while.

The LRPV is not what I expect at all, it is a 2 moa rifle. I have tried about 10 different factory loads, several different handloads, different scope and mounts, bedded the action, and relieved the bolt handle channel. Out of the box the rifle shot 3.5moa groups, now it gets 1.5-2 moa, but all you can really count on is 2moa. For a bull barrel rifle in a stiff target action I expected to see groups around half MOA.

I say they are like every other manufacturer, you could get a good one, or a bad one.
 
used to have a mod 99 in 308 liked the gun but didnt need it at the time. now have a sstevens 200 in 22-250 and love it. the brotherinlaw bought a 111xcfp package gun this year and loves it. even shot his first deer on the lat day of the season and his very first day out deer hunting.
 
Jordan Smith said:
I would say that the trigger on the T3 is the best factory trigger out there right now, with the Accutrigger probably coming in 2nd place.

The Savage is a great, accurate gun, but you can definitely tell that you've picked up a much nicer feeling rifle when you grab a T3 or a 700. JMHO.
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I have a couple of T3s and a Model 10 FLP and I disagree. While I love my
T3s and they are awesome hunting rifles, I feel that the accutrigger on my 10is simply a bit better, a bit crisper, never any creep and it adjusts down 1/2 lb less than the Tikka does without changing anything. To each his own of course, though I would be hard pressed to say the Tikka trigger is better in any of the categories I rate as important. I myself don't care for the package non accutrigger and stevens models because the triggers on them feel like #### to me, however that being said you can put a Timney on them and you're still way cheaper than most rifles.
 
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