Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles ER Shaw MkII GenII Rifles

Hello all. I've seen a couple of these rifles for sale and on their website the "build a rifle" interactive site is very cool. These rifles appear to be a great buy for what you get. Wood seems to be average, but for a custom rifle the overall rifle quality appears to be pretty good. I see they are built on a Savage action. Does anyone have any real world opinion on these? I'm tempted.....just would have trouble deciding on caliber. And whether to go Timney or keep the standard Savage accutrigger.

Thoughts?

Buy a Savage in your choice of cartridge and drop it in a Boyd's stock and you'll have nearly the same thing for less money, hell you could probably drop it in a McMillan your choice of fill and still be less money. I have no doubts the Shaw rifles will shoot well, but then so do most factory Savage rifles. For that price there are a lot of options for rifles that are way above your average rifles you can purchase OTC. I sure wouldn't use Shaw to build a rifle in a standard cartridge that I can pick up over the counter and I wouldn't swap the Accutrigger for the Timney either.

I have no issues building a rifle on a Savage action or using Shaw's barrels either, I have a few Savage rifles in cartridges that aren't factory. It's an easy way for you to put something together in you garage or living room that doesn't require you to visit a gunsmith or require a huge investment in tools. However, Savage limits your options where building on a M700 or clone doesn't. Plus if you use the barrel nut system on a Rem 700/Clone you can do many of the same things at home as well.

Ask yourself a few questions like, what do I want the rifle for and how will I actually use it? What cartridge interests me the most, and can I get a factory rifle in it? Do I want to limit myself to the options Shaw is offering, or do I want more of a choice in components I'll be using?

Taylor...expand on what you mean by savage limiting options but not remington

I like mine, .300 WIn Mag, blued, walnut, 26" sporter barrel. It was MOA out of the box. Made some changes since I've had it(Timney trigger, swapped stock for a Savage 114 surplus one with nicer wood), still solid shooter. I think they are a nice value for what you pay, don't regret the purchase at all...however, if I did it again, it would be in a chambering not offered by Savage...8mm Rem Mag.

It mainly applies to short action Savage rifles and stocks that are available for them. If you want a chassis/tactical stock for a heavy barreled rifle you're golden, if you want a hunting style stock you're extremely limited on options. Long actions don't have nearly the same problems because Savage has never changed the screw spacing. You pretty much only have Boyd's or Hogue for a drop in ready hunting style stock under $200, after that you have to step up to a McMillan, MPI or Stockade with the new 4.4" screw spacing. There is just nothing in the middle price range for a hunter. If your handy and not in a big rush you can always try fitting a Richard's Microfit stock on your short action Savage.

I have used several E.R. Shaw barrels . Four in the past four years . All have been tac drivers. Sub 1" performers. My latest , two years ago , a 6.5-06. A wonderfully accurate , moderate recoiling flat shooting round. I might suggest,,,there are tons of used Win, Rem's etc rifles available at modest prices. Pick the one you like & send it to Shaw for re barreling. Their equipment is modern CNC state of the art. They tend to be hundreds of dollars less than the so called premium brands. They use the same 416 stainless or 4140 CM as others. I prefer stainless .
I might also add I have two stainless Savage factory rifles, a 223 & a 260 Rem . Both are supper accurate . The 260 has accounted for several elk & the223 for countless coyote's.

Does Shaw do anything to tighten up tolerance stack or QC vs. what rolls off the Salvage line? If they don't, I wouldn't be likely to pay them to screw a barrel or stock on for me. If they do, though, it may well be worth the money.

And I _would_ replace the trigger with a Timney.

As I recall they do work over the action - true it up or something, but can't find where I read that. They do polish the feed ramp and rails, glass/pillar bed actions and free float the barrel; the barrel has an 11 degree target crown as well.

The wood stocks are probably nothing special and are a blind magazine. You can get about any caliber/cartridge you want. The interactive website is pretty cool in that you can swap out polished vs matte finish vs ss, barrel lengths, rate of twist for many calibers, etc.

I asked that question back in 08 and here was the reply I got. Back in 08 the rifle I was interested in (.338-06) would have cost around $700, the cost today is more than double.



What they do to the action costs you about $250+ at any other gunsmith on a Remington 700 action. And I have to ask would you pay Shaw $150 to install a Timney trigger you can buy for less than $100 on sale? If Sharpshooter Supply ever does another run of their competition triggers that's the one I'd buy to replace an accutrigger. Other than that you can remove the blade safety and change the springs and basically turn your accutrigger into a Timney.

Thanks for the info on what Shaw does with the receivers and other parts.

The accutrigger will never be as durable or as well made as a Timney. The parts quality and processing just aren’t as good. I see where you’re coming from on the cost of having Shaw put the trigger on for you.

A custom Savage sounds a lot like the "good kind of syphilis."

Well ER Shaw does a nice job putting them together, I've been pleased enough to order 3 more Shaw barrels.

Well think about it. I can get a custom tack driving rifle in caliber of choice with $250 of fitting, glass bedded, free floated with a Timney trigger delivered to my FFL for $1,115. Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. Wish it had a better walnut figured stock, but for the price this likely can't be beat. I can't afford the real high end stuff and this seems like a good deal.

Sure you can afford whatever you're willing to pay for, but remember you just don't have to do it all at once. Buy an action custom or commercial, if commercial have it blue printed and put away. When you get some more money have a barrel of your choice installed on that action, drop it in a factory take off stock and shoot it. When you get some more money together buy that nice piece of wood and have a stock made.

The Shaw rifle is an option, but it doesn't sound like the option you really want in the end. It really sounds like you are willing to settle, just to have something right now. In the end if you do that you won't be happy.