Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles wow...savage...

85 grain sierra hollowpoint boattail. 37.5 grains of varget, remington large rifle primer.

savage model 10 .243 with cheapo package scope and pallet wood stock.

less than 1/4" 3 shot group at 100 yards.

first load i tried. yeah these savages are junk...

i have loaded for several .243's and have sorta been keeping track of what shoots well in MOST of them...this load is sub MOA in several .243's.

-Matt

i think for the $295 i paid, i might go buy another one in another cartridge. maybe build a .260 on one.

The most accurate hunting rifle I've ever owned was a Savage in 270 Win I bought used at a gunshow for $275.00. They might not win any beauty contests but I forget all that when they shoot lights out.

Ugly shooters is what they be.

yeah, but jeff cooper had that quote...went something like "i like the way it shoots so therefore i like the way it looks."

kind of a form-follows-function thing there.

my savages usually get spraypainted to look like local trees and bushes and so the looks don't really matter.

-Matt

the 6mm 85g Sierra HPBT "Gameking" is THE bullet to start with in a .243, if you want to know if the rifle will shoot ... pretty much because if it won't shoot that bullet, you're screwed.

I run that bullet along side the 85g TSX, simply because they have nearly identical ballistics ... Lapua brass, about 46g H4350, and Fed210M primers ... both shoot about 1/4-1/2" all the time ...

Sort of like a lobster, ugly, but good.

That said, I think that I'll spend my truck gun $$ on the Marlin XS-7 and/or XL-7 line before I buy another Savage or Stevens. A little easier on the eyes and good shooters too.

Jeff

I have a Marlin XR-7 in 270Win that is probably the most accurate hunting rifle I've ever owned....

I've been shooting HB Savage rifles for over 10 yrs now....the first one was a FP 223...I bought it on a dare....they all have shot very good with my handloads....in those 10 yrs I have built alot of Pac Nor barrels and screwed them into Savage actions...which I still have from 20 Vartarg up to 358 Win....the latest being a 260 Improved with 28" 8 twist SS SM barrel...on a large shank s/shot action....the nice thing about Savage rifles is they are an easy switch barrel rifle...if you have 2-3 actions...a vise...action wrench & nut wrench and you can have a vast assortment of calibers..Savage rifles can bring out the tinkerer in all of us...Savage has made alot of major improvements the past 10 yrs....keeping Big Green..Ruger & Winchester on their toes....

Yep. I usually use the analogy of a hot dog at the beach. They're just so dang good, you can over look the grit.

I have a Stevens 200 .223 that I got in a trade with 260Remguy that really bothers me. For such a cheap, ugly rifle, this thing shoots. I hate to admit it, but it's becoming my favorite rifle. It just plain works!

I currently have 11 Savage 110 series rifles and did the switch-barrel thing, but think that for most people, the switch-barrel thing is an impractical novelty.

My current Savage 110 series rifles are:

204 - Savage 11 FNS
223 - Savage 11 FYXP3 (Stevens 200 stock)
22-250 - Savage 11 BGNS (A&B barrel)
257 Roberts - Savage 11 FNS
257 Roberts - Savage 110 FNS (non-A/T)
25-284 - Savage 11 FNS (A&B barrel)
260 - Savage 11 FNS (A&B barrel)
260 - Savage 11 F (non-A/T)
6.5-284 - Savage 16 FCSS (Shilen barrel)
7x57 - Savage 110 FNS (non-A/T)
30-06 - Savage 110 FNS (non-A/T) (A&B barrel)

Jeff

PS - I traded the Stevens 200 in 223 to elkchsr for his Winchester/USRA 70 Super Shadow in 223 WSSM because I needed a 70 Super Short action to build another 25 WSSM and also because I already had 5 223 bolt guns that were tuned and ready to shoot.

Glad to hear you have a real shooter.

My Savages are hunting tools. I don't care how ugly someone says they are. And I don't mind you borrowing one. Inexpensive and can be replaced.

stumpy

Savage rifles are great guns. I bought one in .270 years ago that shot about everything I put in it. Was poor as a church mouse and had to sell it. I miss that gun!

i am also thin in the money category, as i am on a strict budget until my divorce and finance situation improves.

nonetheless, i can swing $295, and so i plan on adding a stevens 200 in another cartridge soon.

They have the walnut stocked Savage Classics at BassPro for $399.00.

no way!

now i wanna go to bass pro...:(

I have 4 Savage rifles and each, without fail, is a tackdriver.

It is interesting that there are many threads about folks disappointed with the accuracy of their Remingtons, etc, but there are very, very few such comments about the accuracy of Savages. Perhaps because the prices are so low that we expect little, but receive much.

i think what i am going to do is scrounge gunshops for beatup old savages.

i can adjust the triggers and replace barrels if they are worn.

i could have a decent collection of cheap "shooters."

-Matt

Shot a 338wm Savage yesterday. It was my buddies Grandpas he inherited. The old guy never took it outa his truck. It was beat to [bleep] bad. One ugly rifle rode hard and put away wet

But boy can that thing group!! Impressed with it's function and accuracy. They lost count years and years ago how many critters died to that rifle.