Savage Stealth Review

[Rondogg]

I was thinking same thing. With SMK GMM my SSG3k shoots 1/2 MOA easily...

Your SSG is shooting .5 MOA at 570 yds.???

[Warrick]

Your SSG is shooting .5 MOA at 570 yds.???

If your rifle is shooting .5 moa at 100 yards its a .5 moa rifle, your group size will more or less increase by that angle at any given distance. So your group size will basically grow by .5 per 100 yards. So he is saying he is holding groups just under 3 inches a 570 yards.

[Rondogg]

I understand that. Thanks for the clarification. The way I read it was his SSG was .5 MOA at 570yds. I stated in my original post that with my SSG I am currently at 570yds hitting a steel target that measures 2ft.x2ft. They both stated that was easy to do.

[Newsshooter]

No offense taken. As I mentioned the RPR was supposed to be a .5 MOA rifle. At 200yds, the RPR in 308 that I had would not group anywhere near that.

What was it grouping at 200 yards. What ammo were you using? Did you try different ammo, did you work up a load for it, did you have anyone you know that shoots tight groups shoot it as well? Not saying you can't but I've seen those things with different shooters and different rifles. A buddy has an AI 300 win mag with a S&B on it. He couldn't get it to shoot better than 3 MOA. I got behind it and had five rounds touching at 100 yards.

[bearcatrp]

Some folks reported there RPR 308 was not grouping well and sent them back for re barrel. Some QC issues but from what I have read, those came back shooting great.

[Russmerle]

Your SSG is shooting .5 MOA at 570 yds.???

.5 MOA is .5 MOA really... I've only shot my SSG out to 300 yards but at 100, 200, and 300 yds I can hold .5 MOA when I do my part. If the rifle groups 1/2" at 100yds it should group 2.5" at 500yds. That said, with greater distance comes greater influence of the environment and the shooters ability to compensate for wind and other factors I'm not experienced with. I can shoot 1.5" at 300 yds but I won't claim I can shoot 2.5" groups at 500 yds. I'd love to try but I don't have access to that kind of yardage right now.

[homefrontsniper]

Don't like it ......ugly!

[Jamie]

I understand that. Thanks for the clarification. The way I read it was his SSG was .5 MOA at 570yds. I stated in my original post that with my SSG I am currently at 570yds hitting a steel target that measures 2ft.x2ft. They both stated that was easy to do.

Ron,
What they are trying to say is that the accuracy standard seems to 1MOA for target size. So at 570 yards you should be able to hit a 12" (2MOA) target consistently with no trouble. The 2ft x 2ft target is 4 MOA should be down right easy to hit at that distance in most conditions. There are several things that can cause issues with groups including something as simple as how hard you squeeze your fingers around the stock. I use a 18" x15" (inch) for 1k shooting. When I set it up at 675 yards, it is absolutely boring.

The other part that they were trying to say is that the RPR and the Stealth are not really the same. The RPR was basically a ground up build to offer the market a lower priced rifle that has all of the tactical ( or tacticool) features they want. The Stealth is still a 12 action, just put in a lighter chassis. I have shot the RPR in 6.5 Creed out to 800 yards and it did very well, cannot complain at all about it. It did not shoot as small of groups as the LRP Creed that shot next to it but was close enough that it could have been rifle variances. The one I shot seemed to be well worth the $1050 my store list them for. It is NOT the end all, be all to rifles, it shoots nice and has the looks that is popular these days. There is no way I would pay some of the ridiculous prices I hear people tell me they paid. One customer said he paid $2K for his. Why? It absolutely is not worth that.

[BigBabyMoses06]

Mehh. Looks like an LSS chassis.

[Rondogg]

Ron,
What they are trying to say is that the accuracy standard seems to 1MOA for target size. So at 570 yards you should be able to hit a 12" (2MOA) target consistently with no trouble. The 2ft x 2ft target is 4 MOA should be down right easy to hit at that distance in most conditions. There are several things that can cause issues with groups including something as simple as how hard you squeeze your fingers around the stock. I use a 18" x15" (inch) for 1k shooting. When I set it up at 675 yards, it is absolutely boring.

The other part that they were trying to say is that the RPR and the Stealth are not really the same. The RPR was basically a ground up build to offer the market a lower priced rifle that has all of the tactical ( or tacticool) features they want. The Stealth is still a 12 action, just put in a lighter chassis. I have shot the RPR in 6.5 Creed out to 800 yards and it did very well, cannot complain at all about it. It did not shoot as small of groups as the LRP Creed that shot next to it but was close enough that it could have been rifle variances. The one I shot seemed to be well worth the $1050 my store list them for. It is NOT the end all, be all to rifles, it shoots nice and has the looks that is popular these days. There is no way I would pay some of the ridiculous prices I hear people tell me they paid. One customer said he paid $2K for his. Why? It absolutely is not worth that.

Jamie I really appreciate your answers.

[Rondogg]

Mehh. Looks like an LSS chassis.

Is that good or bad if it is an LSS chassis? I have read they area chassis from Drake Associates. As Jamie stated it will be the Savage 12 action in a Drake chassis. From what I have read the 10 and 110 BA rifles shoot fantastic. Hope the new Stealth is lighter and shoots as well as it big brothers. Thanks

[DrThunder88]

From Drake's page on Savage (https://www.drakeassociates.us/savage-history/):


Drake formed a systems integration team with Savage Arms, MDT, MAKO/FAB Defense, Hogue and LBE. Initially we called upon MDT technologies to design a special Drake variant of their proven and popular LSS model.

We added many features and modifications that were adopted from our experience in the US Military and Special Operations community. The chassis system also incorporated a Left Hand / Right Hand design. These chassis were exclusively built to Drake Specifications by the MDT team. We called this new platform the Hunter Stalker LWSS...

[MDTcorp]

It is indeed based on our LSS-XL chassis, and manufactured by us, with a number of changes requested by Savage and Drake.

[SlowTrigger]

Some folks reported there RPR 308 was not grouping well and sent them back for re barrel. Some QC issues but from what I have read, those came back shooting great.
I bought the RPR in .308 a while back and was going to sell it because I couldn't get much better than 1.5 MOA out of it. Then it occurred to me to have Benchmark Barrels make me a new barrel for the rifle. Now it is a tack driver. I'm glad I kept the chassis.

[LoneWolf]

From Drake's page on Savage (https://www.drakeassociates.us/savage-history/):

Some interesting reading on that link DrThunder. I'd like to hear what the actual operators thought compared to the guy trying to boost his future sales. I strongly believe that the accuracy was acceptable. I just have a hard time believing that the action functioned to the capability required for use in very austere conditions. I.E. Sand storms, rain, snow, mud and everything else that proves an actions capabilities.

I just have yet to see a Savage action make it through one of our matches out here on the west coast without some type feeding, ejection, or extraction issues. That was my experience and the experience of those running them. Maybe they do better on the east coast where there is less sand and dust blowing around? I will never argue the accuracy when using a Savage action, but the reliability factor will always linger in the back of my mind.

[bearcatrp]

To my understanding of what I have read on the stealth rifles, the actions are trued. Should be better than regular stock savages.

[LoneWolf]

Blue printing doesn't fix a weak extractor and ejector design.....

[Rondogg]

Some interesting reading on that link DrThunder. I'd like to hear what the actual operators thought compared to the guy trying to boost his future sales. I strongly believe that the accuracy was acceptable. I just have a hard time believing that the action functioned to the capability required for use in very austere conditions. I.E. Sand storms, rain, snow, mud and everything else that proves an actions capabilities.

I just have yet to see a Savage action make it through one of our matches out here on the west coast without some type feeding, ejection, or extraction issues. That was my experience and the experience of those running them. Maybe they do better on the east coast where there is less sand and dust blowing around? I will never argue the accuracy when using a Savage action, but the reliability factor will always linger in the back of my mind.

That's the difference in the big money AI rifles and others versus an out of the box Savage under $1000. I live in Phx, same conditions as So Cal and have watched more than 1at the AZ long range matches shoot out of the box Savages and strongly compete with the big money rifles. As well as I have seen those big money rifles fail on the line. I ordered the new Savage 10 BA stealth in 6.5 and will see how it does when it arrives. With what Savage has done I expect that it perform better than the RPR.

[bearcatrp]

That's the difference in the big money AI rifles and others versus an out of the box Savage under $1000. I live in Phx, same conditions as So Cal and have watched more than 1at the AZ long range matches shoot out of the box Savages and strongly compete with the big money rifles. As well as I have seen those big money rifles fail on the line. I ordered the new Savage 10 BA stealth in 6.5 and will see how it does when it arrives. With what Savage has done I expect that it perform better than the RPR.

Can't wait for your review. I was considering a stealth but the 10T came in 6.5cm finally so decided to build that one up. Should be a sweet performer.

[Rover31]

I would love to put my name down to order one of these.
Anyone know where to do that?

Thanks