Savage Model 10 Tactical vs Remington SPS Tactical

The Remington has more options and most gunsmiths worth the time can work a 700 action. The problem is you need a gunsmith to do most work on a 700. For the budget minded, the Savage allows for not only easy barrel swaps but also easy caliber swaps, with in reason.

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Yes that's exactly right and the Savage bolt has a floating bolt head that allows the locking lugs to engage and bear evenly. The boltface is then in proper alignment to the bore. With min headspace the cartridge is fully seated in the boltface and as you can guess is in an optimal postion to provide repeatable accuracy. It's a poor boy's blueprinted action so to speak.

Better barrels can be screwed on, Stocks replaced, triggers adjusted and all from your own workbench. Again more great reasons to consider the Savage.

As for them being "clunky" they aren't. IMO just a little beefier but not clunky at all.

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I am confident that once broken-in, and handloads developed, any of these rifles will keep 1" at 300 yards...

Oh, you are indeed an optimist.

Don

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don't be too quick to dismiss. here's a seven round group i shot at 300 yards with my remmy 700 SPS Varmint in .308 with Hornaday's 155 grain A-Max Match/Palma load. this is a 7 round group, just under 1.25 inches. i put the action in a Choate Ultimate Varmint stock and it wears a Millett 6-25x56



i know remmy's quality of late has not been as good as it has been in the past, but it's still not too shabby.

Bobarino,

Actually, it's rather easy to dismiss as wishful thinking. Having shot in 200, 600, and 1,000 yard competition for the past 7 years with some great shooters using some of the best custom built rifles, the off-the-cuff statement that "any of these rifles will keep 1" at 300 yards" does indeed make me laugh.

Don

I recently worked through this same decision. I wanted a heavy barrel "tactical" style of rifle, in .308. I have an old early 110 tactical in .223. I was actually always a fan of Ruger rifles, no one could tell me that they were not the best. I bought the Savage at a gun show, guy was carrying it around, I had heard good things, so I bought it. Sat in the safe for awhile, I was messing with a lot of handgun stuff right then. Finally gota few loads to try as well as some factory stuff, went to the range. Man was I surprised, Five shots in less than an inch at 100 yds., my rugers don't do that ever. The thing would do it all day too. Hmmm. Well anyway, over the last few years, most of my rugers have went down the road. That Savage caused a case of accuracy fever. I bought a couple of Remingtons, very nice, more accurate than the Ruger, But not as accurate as the Savage. In order to get the remington to shoot with the savage I had to have it glass bedded and the trigger adjusted, and it still does not have a very good trigger. So, $499 for the rifle, $110 for bedding and trigger adjustment. So how does a regular Savage hunting gun shoot? Picked up a 110 in .270 at a pawn shop. 4x12 Bushnell, sling, had been put in a Butler creek stock, kinda ugly, but servicable. That rifle shoots into an inch at 100 with all loads I have tried so far. $250 as it was purchased. So when Dicks started selling the Remington sps for $449, I had to look. Nice rifle for a good price, but what will I have to do to get it to shoot? I went with the Savage 10fp in .308, it has the accu-trigger, which all the other makers are trying to copy. Believe it or not, I think the Savage stock is nicer than the Remingtons, Savage has done a little work, made it kind of a bench friendly beavertail kind of thing, better texture too. I haven't shot it yet, still saving up for optics and mounts. The rifle was $590, ordered from my gunshop. So far very happy, I am sure I will be even happier when I get it all set up. There is also a model 11 7mm-08 that appeared in my safe, have to attend to that one before long too.

i have a savage 10fp in 308 and it is an amazing shooter with handloads and an after market stock, but with that said remington has way more to offer in terms of aftermarket/custom parts and is a platform that bench match shooter can work off easier. but i need a rest and sand bags to even try to shoot equal to the full potential of the savage and i am never going to be good enough to out shoot it. unless you plan on dumping a few grand into your rifle and become a benchrest competitor, get the savage.
-Pat

You guys keep mentioning that the 700 has greater aftermarket than the savage. Yet I can't think of one thing you can buy for a rem that you can't get for a sav as well. However there are many things you can buy for the savage that aren't avalible for the 700, like 100% drop in barrels or a ready to install bolt knob fir example

^^^ The aftermarket support for Savage is very strong. There's more than enough out there to clean out a savings account for either one.

jpwilly said:

^^^ The aftermarket support for Savage is very strong. There's more than enough out there to clean out a savings account for either one.

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I can indeed vouch for that!!!!!!

What you don't see is as many smiths that have a bunch of experience truing receivers. You don't see near the amount of stocks for the Savage, though there are quite a few. You don't see the amount of options for top quality triggers. A barrel blank is a blank so that certainly is equal to the two and the availability of drop in barrels for the Savage is an advantage to the home smith, but for a guy buying a blank, it means nothing.

There are decent triggers out there for the Savage, but the only true match grade trigger I know of is the top end SSS trigger, and that requires the action go in to be blue printed as well for the trigger to work right. You don't see near the amount of true benchrest stocks nor tactical stocks for the Savage as you do the 700. While you can get the actions trued, there is basically one go to shop, SSS, and thats it. Others do it but if you ask online I doubt 1 in 10 suggest somewhere other than SSS for a trigger, stock, and blueprinting. Just more to choose from with the 700.

In my honest opinion I don't see a use for these upgrades to a 700, unless you just can't afford more than one part/step at a time. When you look at the price of a custom fit barrel, a blueprinted action, a top end stock, and a top end trigger you will be dang close to the price of a custom actioned rifle. If you are willing to buy a used rifle things lean even further from the 700 to me. For me I see the top end 700s as their place in the market, a quality factory rifle with good fit and finish that can shoot that will be left stock. Their budget stuff cuts too many corners in my mind and costs too much to fix relative to other options.

Here's mine in case any of you were wondering: