cslinger
Member
Well like the old saying goes you can polish a turd all you want but in the end all you have is a shiney turd.
I have been very fortunite in my firearms purchases over the years in that even the ones that had minor problems or slight flaws were really not all that bad. I have never really gotten a lemon so to speak, well until now.
I picked up a Savage Mako .22 Long Rifle, which is basically a limited run of Savage Mark II bolt action with a heavy barrel, nice stock and accutrigger.
The subject in question can be seen below.
So on to the review. As always ratings are out of 5 rounds with 1 round being the worst and 5 rounds being the best.
My mamma always said that if you can't say something nice......so I will start with the good.
Appearance - 5 ROUNDS - The gun is a very nice looking and interesting piece. Hence the reason I was drawn to it. Kind of like a custom 10/22 in appearance.
Accuracy - 5 ROUNDS - Now when I was actually able to fire three or four rounds in a row the gun was laser beam accurate. I had boresighted it and was using a Leupold 2x7 scope. At 25 yards three rounds literally went through the same hole. At 50 an itty bitty cloverleaf was formed.
Ergonomics - 4 ROUNDS- The gun fit very well and felt good in the hand. The only thing I didin't particularly like was the comb on the stock seemed a bit high.
Trigger - 4 ROUNDS - The accutrigger, when it worked, was actually rather nice. Made for some pretty easy shooting.
Now with the good out of the way, on to the bad.
Fit and Finish - 2 ROUNDS - The stock had some rough cuts in the infinished areas and the bolt was a bit rough etc. It looked and felt good but any close examination revealed warts so to speak.
Reliability - 0 ROUNDS - What can I say this damn think was one of the worst POS's I have ever experienced. Upon loading the magazine up and inserting it for the first time, the trigger and safety completely froze. Have no idea why. So out come the magazine. Still frozen. Ejected the loaded round and threw it away. Loaded a round manually and was able to fire, only to find the cased wouldn't eject. This goes on for the 20 or so rounds I fired through it. I cannot express how poor the function of this rifle was. Not just FTE's or FTF's but total lockups of the trigger safety system. I have never given a 0 round before.
Build Quality - 1 ROUND - The bolt steel was soft and not at all impressive.
Value - 1 ROUND - What can I say, $350 for a gun that doesn't work and isn't made very well even if it had worked. I was not impressed. If the gun had functioned as it should then Value would like be 3 rounds.
Cool Factor - 3 ROUNDS - The gun looked cool, had a cool marketing gimmick with the Mako shark thing but all in all it was just a Savage Mark II and not a very good one at that.
Overall - 1 ROUND - A gun that doesn't work is simply not worth having. Bolt actions are not exactly new, high technology these days. At any rate I was not happy.
Now with all of that being said this story has a happy ending my friends. You see my local gun monger, being a prince among men, immediately took the rifle back for a full refund upon hearing about my problems and was very apologetic. The rifle is being sent back to Savage and I now have a CZ452 full stock on order from the same dealer. What more can one ask for then good customer service, especially since we all know that all gun sales are typically final. So even though I got a bad product I got stellar service and have a rifle on the way that I have been wanting for quite some time.
So one last rating for this review.
Local Gun Dealer - 5+ ROUNDS - The local guy came through for me without hesitation and that is worth the extra buck a box of ammo or the extra 40 bucks for a gun in my book.
I have been very fortunite in my firearms purchases over the years in that even the ones that had minor problems or slight flaws were really not all that bad. I have never really gotten a lemon so to speak, well until now.
I picked up a Savage Mako .22 Long Rifle, which is basically a limited run of Savage Mark II bolt action with a heavy barrel, nice stock and accutrigger.
The subject in question can be seen below.
So on to the review. As always ratings are out of 5 rounds with 1 round being the worst and 5 rounds being the best.
My mamma always said that if you can't say something nice......so I will start with the good.
Appearance - 5 ROUNDS - The gun is a very nice looking and interesting piece. Hence the reason I was drawn to it. Kind of like a custom 10/22 in appearance.
Accuracy - 5 ROUNDS - Now when I was actually able to fire three or four rounds in a row the gun was laser beam accurate. I had boresighted it and was using a Leupold 2x7 scope. At 25 yards three rounds literally went through the same hole. At 50 an itty bitty cloverleaf was formed.
Ergonomics - 4 ROUNDS- The gun fit very well and felt good in the hand. The only thing I didin't particularly like was the comb on the stock seemed a bit high.
Trigger - 4 ROUNDS - The accutrigger, when it worked, was actually rather nice. Made for some pretty easy shooting.
Now with the good out of the way, on to the bad.
Fit and Finish - 2 ROUNDS - The stock had some rough cuts in the infinished areas and the bolt was a bit rough etc. It looked and felt good but any close examination revealed warts so to speak.
Reliability - 0 ROUNDS - What can I say this damn think was one of the worst POS's I have ever experienced. Upon loading the magazine up and inserting it for the first time, the trigger and safety completely froze. Have no idea why. So out come the magazine. Still frozen. Ejected the loaded round and threw it away. Loaded a round manually and was able to fire, only to find the cased wouldn't eject. This goes on for the 20 or so rounds I fired through it. I cannot express how poor the function of this rifle was. Not just FTE's or FTF's but total lockups of the trigger safety system. I have never given a 0 round before.
Build Quality - 1 ROUND - The bolt steel was soft and not at all impressive.
Value - 1 ROUND - What can I say, $350 for a gun that doesn't work and isn't made very well even if it had worked. I was not impressed. If the gun had functioned as it should then Value would like be 3 rounds.
Cool Factor - 3 ROUNDS - The gun looked cool, had a cool marketing gimmick with the Mako shark thing but all in all it was just a Savage Mark II and not a very good one at that.
Overall - 1 ROUND - A gun that doesn't work is simply not worth having. Bolt actions are not exactly new, high technology these days. At any rate I was not happy.
Now with all of that being said this story has a happy ending my friends. You see my local gun monger, being a prince among men, immediately took the rifle back for a full refund upon hearing about my problems and was very apologetic. The rifle is being sent back to Savage and I now have a CZ452 full stock on order from the same dealer. What more can one ask for then good customer service, especially since we all know that all gun sales are typically final. So even though I got a bad product I got stellar service and have a rifle on the way that I have been wanting for quite some time.
So one last rating for this review.
Local Gun Dealer - 5+ ROUNDS - The local guy came through for me without hesitation and that is worth the extra buck a box of ammo or the extra 40 bucks for a gun in my book.
