Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage Model 25--opinions?

Any body have an actual experience with the 25, which looks like it was intended to be for the markets previously reached by the 23 and some of the 340-322 series rifles?

Mike, I'm guessing you're not referring to the old Model 25 .22 pump rifle?

no, wish I were! I mean the more recent bolt action rifle made in .22 Hornet, .223, .204 Ruger, 17 Hornet, etc. Includes models named "Lightweight Varminter" and "Walking Varminter." Nice names.

Mike, I was looking at one in 22 Hornet a while back, but I found a 23D Hornet and went old school. Sorry, no first hand info.

Joe, I think you lucked out..The 25 seems to have great accuracy potential, but the 23 is more like what I think a rifle should feel like. I'd hate to try walking one of their "Walking Varminters" around the boonies for a full day. Maybe they provide it with wheels?

They strike me as utility guns, which by no odds is a negative thing. My hunch is that the 23s (A, AA, B, C and D) were all pretty much aimed at the utility gun market. A gun you could probably buy at the well stocked hardware store. Anyone know what the cost comparison was between a 23B or 23C and a Winchester 92? My hunch is that they were cheaper and made to sell at a relatively lower price point. It's my hunch too that the bolt 22s were cheaper than their pump and lever counterparts. But's that's just a guess and I really don't know.

I think it was those "hardware store" guns that kept Savage afloat through the Depression. 23's, 29's, 40's, etc. kept the lights on at Savage while the 99 kept up the reputation.

I think that could be saying that most of our country went to the hardware store to buy their rifles and shotguns before they went to the "top shelf" offerings of the big name makers like Savage, Winchester and Remington. Marlin, which I happen to appreciate, may have embraced this reality perhaps more than anyone in their offerings by the 1930s. Maybe Mossberg fits in there too but I haven't really paid too much attention to that make Although I will say Mossberg managed to do something huge that Winchester wasn't able to do - stay in business.

So to get back to Mesa's question, I agree. The 25 probably fits right in with the fine and honorable utility heritage of the 23 and 340 series of guns. And it's likely making Savage money too so what's that tell you about the health of the "hardware store" or utility gun market today?

Just so folks know what's being discussed... the modern Model 25 Walking Varminter, weighing in a 6.9 pounds. Available in 222, 223, 204 Ruger, 22 Hornet, 17 Hornet.

I'd have to paint that stock. Plain black is too ugly.

I own two of them in 17 Hornet. They are not pretty but like all modern Savage rifles they shoot great.
Steve

I got it that we were talking about the new 25. And on another note, doesn't Marlin also make something like this? I know they do in rimfire, and Hornets are often little more than beefed up rimfire actions.

Looks like a truck gun to me.

Nothing wrong with that. Anybody that owns a truck needs a truck gun.....or 7.

The plastic magazines dont impress me

Seems

Seems to me the automobile makers should be offering them as options.

What a great idea!

Cadillacs and Lincolns: Weatherby option

Ford, Dodge, and Chevy cars: Remington option

Any Japanese/Korean rice burner: Miroku option

Domestic pickup: Mossberg option

Porsche/Audi/Mercedes: Merkel option

Jaguar/Rover: Holland and Holland option

Domestic SUV: Savage option

Volvo/Saab: Husqvarna option

Old clapped out British sports car: Westley-Richards option

Peugot/Renault: They don't get one

Fiat: Bwahaha, are you serious?

Ferrari: Beretta option

Harley-Davidson: Colt option

Japanese crotch rocket: Nunchuks option

I'm diggin' the Savage option on account of my Escape but isn't that a bit harsh on Ford, Chevy and Dodge PUs? If I ever really needed a PU I always thought I'd look for a cream puff basic short bed bench seat circa 1994-2001 Dodge Ram. Could I get the Savage option in that?

Frankly, I wish they'd just stayed with the single shot originally (very briefly) called the Model 40 (NO, not THAT Model 40!). I don't see the need for a repeater varmint rifle, especially one with plastic parts. And they could make a single shot on that action that you actually COULD walk around with.

Just handled a Model 25 "Lightweight Varminter" and my hands just itched for a rasp and mill file. My feet and back ached in anticipation of lugging the thing around. Seems they got the machine part of the gun pretty right, but the ergonomic parts wrong. Maybe it was designed for a robot varmint hunter?

Gonna look for one of those Model 40s in .22 Hornet. Can't be too many of them around, tho. Not a popular rifle--not enough firepower, I guess.

Mike, given "modern" powders and bullets, today's Hornet ain't your father's Hornet.

Give it 50-years and it will become the gun all collectors will be beating a path too! Funny how that works.