Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 375 H&H Savage Photos

...and you wouldn't know a decent rifle if it bit you on the azz...

Savages are far more accurate than Remingtons, or most other production rifles. Also, the new Savage 116 375 is a CRF with plenty of room for the 375 length rounds...not so with 98 Mausers. I have guns worth around ten grand here in the safes, and have 3 safes full of guns of all types. This FSS116 Savage out shoots all of them but one. It also feeds much better than the Winjammer Safari series rifles ever did. I owned five of the Winjammers, trying to find a "decent" rifle.

Snobs, are snobs......Savages work..... Two pearls of truth...

"+1"

While I can sort of understand the history part of the DG rifle, CRF or double what have you, how can one tell another that what he has is any less a weapon than your idea of ideal. If a warm fuzzy feeling is had because you spent 3K and he did not, more power to you. Both weapons get the job done.

The only rifle failure I ever had was a CRF Ruger that would not extract. Pretty is as pretty does. Problems can be found with anything. Look at the money spent on the shuttle program, with major problems. The hunting lifestyle is about the roads traveled, be it with a BMW or a Crown Victoria, both get you to your destination.

Now I don't know about the Crown Victoria.

Replace that with a 67 Buick Electra 225 and I agree with your point.

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Funny stuff indeed. If you would call a Savage a fine rifle, then you would be the one that needs to be bitten on the azz. Never heard of or seen any Savage used by any dangerous game PH, not one, not a single example. So you go ahead and be the trendsetter, know it all.

Might be the perfect choice for the $100 dollar buffalo hunts.

Not a comment on any particular brand, but I had a target rifle built that had a Shilen Match tube, Mauser action stiffened and trued, pillar bedded. It would shoot 1/10" groups at 100 yds when I did my part, and stayed calm.

I was running a benchrest match and a friend asked to use my custom built. I let him and he shot a 1/2 group at 250 yds. Everyone said "well yes any one could with that rifle" Tony took his virtual stock Winny ranger in 270, and reshot the course of fire. He scored 5/8 ". We had done a glass bed and load development but other than that it was an out of the box Ranger.

Moral of story. A good shooting rifle is a good shooting rifle and a good shot is a good shot. Brand name is not the determining factor. The Ranger had a crappy piece of wood and the bluing was not good, but that gun was a shooter. Every one at the shoot commented on how they liked his Ranger. No one made comment about my custom other than to offer me 300 bucks for it, the price of a Winny Ranger at the time.

Randy

Not only a rifle snob, but you can't eaven read. The term was "decent" and doesn't translate to "fine". Now get your head out of yours and your nose well above everyone else's here, where you choose to keep it.

By the way, my next buffalo hunt is costing only a plane ticket over and back. Since your caught up in money being the measure of everything, I'll be using a $7,500.00 combination gun and a $750.00 (including scope and mounts) Savage. Please don't tell the buffalo, however. They may insist I use the expensive gun with expensive ammo to kill them.

Yes, but I can spell, you might try it sometime. I am not a rifle snob by any means. I just think that better tools exist than a Savage for dangerous game hunting. I think most PH's would agree with me. Botton line, use what makes you happy, it's your life on the line, not mine.

[/quote]

Yes, but I can spell, you might try it sometime. I am not a rifle snob by any means. I just think that better tools exist than a Savage for dangerous game hunting. I think most PH's would agree with me. Botton line, use what makes you happy, it's your life on the line, not mine. [/quote]

I kan spel reel gud. Its these D*#^@d flingers uvv myn that dun't allers work rite!



As I said before, nothing beats a well tuned up Mauser action. But, as our dollar nosedives and investments and pensions shrink, it may well be that average Joe safari clients like myself need to use what works at lesser prices, buddy-up for 2X1 hunts or even 4X2 hunts, forget about Tanzania, and find ways to get to Africa the first time, or in my case...one last time.

I have two other good 375's that I don't want to expose to the real possibilities of theft while traveling (went through that not long ago), and the Savage seems to work well on all counts. If I were making my living hunting dangerous game, I would have a heavy rifle, built on a magnum Mauser action and a reliable double rifle, but the Savage is fine for the occasional safari client and is a very good choice for dense wet forest elk and bear hunting.

The cost of a gun isn't a true measure of its functionality and appropriateness. I sold a very fine Sako Safari Grade 375, because I didn't want to use a push-feed for Africa. It was a good elk rifle, however. I had a good friend who lived in Africa for years in his earlier life; he worked culling elephants, using a circa 1966 Win Mdl 70 in 30-06. He loved the gun. A PH I know uses a Rem 700 416 Rem as his buffalo back up rifle.

In all actuality, I worry more about the smaller whallop of the 375 than the rifle spitting it out. If offered, I'd take a Savage in 416 Rem over ANY 375 ever built at any price for buffalo.

I'm glad we have so many choices, and we have a good forum to fight over them. It makes the time between hunts go by...

>It makes the time between hunts go by... <

Exactly.

Telling a guy that a rifle he has carried, and shot, and trusted, and been successful with, isnt of high enough quality to merit its use on this or that game or on this or that continent is nuts.

But it do kill time between seasons.

luv2safari, thanks for the civil reply. I think that we can agree on what you stated above. I am clearly not a big Savage fan, but I do agree with you on the magnum mauser actions. I have been fortunate enough to have had good luck with model 70's myself, and they are cheap enough. I realize not everyone gets a good one, and most all should be worked over right out of the box.

Those old push feed model 70's were good rifles for sure.

I have to say that I do respect your opinions, and feel they are well founded and from experience. Trading a few jabs is what men do, and we do it with respect. Keep posting them, and I'll keep reading them.

There's a lot of education to be had here. Entertaining thread.

It did open my eyes to an idea I hadnt thought of, which after some consideration makes a lot of sense.
A light weight and weather proof 375 that I wont mind getting covered with snow or salt spray, or laying across the seat of a boat on a trip to shore. No fancy wood or blued steel to worry about.....strictly business.

Yes. It sounds like the Ruger 'Alaskan' if the 375 Ruger fulfills your needs. And if it is reliable -- that's not a slam, I just have no experience with that rifle.
I did have some experience with a Ruger 77 458 that was not reliable in feeding a quick second shot (at a range).

g5m,

I had two of the "Africans", but had to sell them for medical bills. They both were slick feeding rifles. I thought very highly of them and the 375 Ruger round.

I will get a new African Hawkeye in the new 416 Ruger round next year. I have enough 375s, if that can happen...

[quote
Also, the new Savage 116 375 is a CRF [/quote]

Savage has a new action?

Its not listed on their website - unless I am missing it........

Weather Warrior section at the bottom of the listings. Did you see the bolt face for the 375 in the posted photos? It isn't the old Savage bolt face.

Got it now - looks like a similar setup to a Sako 85.

luv2,

first off, let me state categoricaly that i love savage arms as a company... they built the .22 rimfire that i chose to use as a trainer for my youngest...
i love the accutrigger... in my experience they work as a trigger should, and i believe that all manufacturors will emulate it eventually...
my old 99f is one of a pair of rifles that i will not willingly part with...

but...
some years back, i had a savage 110 in 30-06 in captivity... it shot like a house afire... spooky accurate with just about any load that i ran through it...
bolt handle kept falling off the dang thing though... the handle was attached to the rear of the bolt by a slot head screw device that threaded axially into the bolt...
about every 8 action cycles it would work its way out and the bolt handle would come right off...
after i degreased the threads, both internal and external, and applied some loctite to them, the problem did not re-occur... but i did not have the rifle for long either...

the savages that i see now have what appears to be an"allen" headed screw attachment, but i have not looked at them closely enough to detect any other differences...
how securely is your bolt handle attached???
regards.... john w