Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders The Savage 10ML-II Muzzleloader HELP!

Going to pick one up soon for deer/elk hunting and wondered which set-up was perfered and why? THX!! SS with composite, SS with laminate, SS thumbhole, blued with composite, etc..........!

If your looking to buy a new one all your going to be able to buy is a blue/composite unless you find a NIB SS model somewhere like GBroker for sell.
Myself I like a SS/ TH Laminate because I hunt in all types of weather conditions plus I like the feel of the TH stock.

I have always been a fan of SS and just wanted a little feed back on the subject! My Austin & Hallack is SS and I like the ease of care. Been looking on GB and see they have a few listed! Thx!

The SS models are getting hard to find for sale anymore, last year at this time I had 3 of them but I'm down to just 1 now.

If I round across one I'll shoot you a pm if you want.

I'm of the same opinion as rick59, I have the SS/Laminate TH and love it. I'll be doing a little fine tuning with it at the range Saturday, getting ready for our ML deer season later this month.

i love my stainless savage,plus adding a custom pacnor barrel is so easy.. i love the laminate and ther thumbhole,,,,may be a bit heavier but shoulders rock steady and feels natural for me but for the money im going to build a rem 700ml smokeless for my son...only a few bucks more than the savage and will be top notch custom!!

Just throwing this out in favor of "ease to care for": I bought one of the T/C Pro-Hunters and then added a "smokeless" barrel from Smokeless Muzzle loading. Use H4198--no clean-up or very little like your center fire. I went this route 'cause I'm from IA and it's either BB gun slugs or a front loader. It's accurate, equally fast or a bit more so than BP or any of the substitutes making a set-up 300 yard shot possible. And....

NO CARBONED UP MESS!!!!!

I have a blued with black synthetic stock, have had it over 6 years now. No rust or anything like that, had it hunting in the rain and down pours. Just keep it wiped down and cleaned, and you won't have a problem.

I'm with Redhawk, been running a blue/syn Savage since about '03 and it still looks just fine. I've had the entire gun covered in a layer of ice from freezing rain, put it through many down pours, snow, etc and she still works like a champ. Just last week I hunted through a day of rain with it. All I did was put the finger of a rubber glove over the muzzle after I loaded, and wiped her off after each hunt.

Another vote for the basic blued ML10. I have never learned to love the look of stainless, so the ability to use smokeless,totally avoiding the corrosive issues, caught my attention. Have used it for 3 years, in all kinds of weather, with success each year.
First 2 years I used the 300 gr XTP. For no real good reason, used the 250 gr FTX this year. Both bullets are effective on deer and I remained dazzled with the accuracy.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the guns discussed in this thread. I think the blued Savage barrels for, whatever reason, tend to be on average a little better than the SS Savage barrels for accuracy.

Of course, I'm partial to 45cal Pac-Nors. But, like I said, you can't go wrong with any of them!