On Savage
note: this is MY oppinion and we're ALL intitled to speak our oppinion. Mine may not match another persons, but then again, as my father used to say (at least once i got above age 12
) "if you thought exactly like me you BE me! and that'd be BORING"
there are three camps on savage.....
those that LOVE EM (where i am)
those that, don't know b/c they won't comment on guns they haven't shot (in truth MOST of the shootng populartion)
and those that HATE them with a passion for various reasons.
this last group contains a mix of folks who look at a savage and go "Too Ugly! Doesn't fit me right, etc, etc", or who were turned off by the older versions that put a short-action cartridge in a long action, or who simply think that anything that isn't THEIR brand is junk, or "anything THAT cheap HAS to be worthless!!"
Again, that's their oppinion, they are welcome to it. not my business if they don't like a gun i do.
as i said i LOVE em i've owned 3 and they were the three best "out-of-the-box" shooters i've EVER had. one a sporter version (110?? can't remember model designation) in .308, that got sold b/c i no longer had a use for it and was getting ready to move, the other two i were 110FPs. bought the first one in .308 then a shooting acquaintence that had just bought one in .223 adn I decided we'd each would be happier with if our gun was in the other caliber, so we stripped em down to "as bought" and swapped even.
yes they're UGLY yes they have a few quirks, but they shoot better than most other guns i've shot, and as for the ugly part, well I buy my guns to shoot, IF they look good that's a bonus. frankly if a gun shoots good i don't care if it LOOKS like it was eaten then thrown up by godzilla!!
if a savage don't fit you then, there are other rifles on the shelf. or if it's simply a stock fit issue, then like all other brands there ARE after market stocks adn that might be an option if the gun is otherwise "good to go" with you.
my one to three gripes (one has been mostly solved, and another is now no longer existant) with the three Savages i owned.
the Synthetic stocks can be a bit flimsy. this wasn't much of a problem with the FPs since they were shot bench/rest or prone with a bipod almost exclusively. but it could have caused trouble with the sporter.
(the no longer extant one) the use of a long action for both Long and Short action rounds, and the design of the magazine/spacer to allow this. i don't remember the Hunter series gun ever having this problem (i didn't shoot it near as much as the FP), nor the .308 FP (only had it 6 months).
but the .223 chambered FP had a little TOO much of a space between the front of the magazine well and the feed ramp casing an occasional jam caused by the round coming out of the mag, pitching up and to the side, causing the nose of the bullet to hit the flat portion of the breech face instead of the feedramp or chamber.
and lastly the trigger was a bit rough, though i have to say that after about 200 rounds and lots of dryfiring (with snap caps) it 'broke in" and became smoother and actually rather nice in my opinion. this of course has been solved by the "Accu-trigger" which i HAVE tried on a friends gun, and well i wish they had it on ALL their guns instead of just the "target/varmint" guns, and from what i hear it will be eventually (possibly by this fall).