First Savage Rifle-Not Impressed thus far.

[Retired Army Guy]

I've always heard Savage Rifles were accurate well beyond their price range. I always said if they made one that wasn't butt ugly I would give them a try. Well they did- the High Country and I bought one. My enthusiasm ended there. I'm new to Savage Center Fires and not sure "How" they build them but a lifetime of Rifle use in my life (approaching 60 faster than I care to admit) tells me this one was built all wrong. Over 20 clicks of horizontal adjustment(from a true centered scope) just to get the cross hairs over the barrel for a bore sight. UNACCEPTABLE. I tried different rings, bases, scopes and laser and manual bore sighting techniques all to the same result. Depending what type of scope you mount you would have to use 1/2 or more of your horizontal adjustments just to get a bore sight. The scope mounting holes appear to be straight so it has to be something with the barrel and receiver not lined up correctly. If this is one of the "high end" Rifles whats a cheaper model built like? My friend owns a sporting good store says he's had 5 or 6 Savages like this the past year! What is going on? I did not even shoot it, not worth the frustration. A higher priced rifle like this i expect a little better craftsmanship and attention to detail. Once I verified it was truly the rifle and not me or my equipment it went back in the box and back to Savage.

With all this being said I have owned many brands of Rifles and they ALL have their problems regardless of brand and price. Mass produced rifles are a roll of the dice and I'm aware of that. At this point what makes a Rifle Company Stand Out is their Customer Service and ability to properly fix the Rifle in a somewhat timely manner. With Covid-19 still going on I don't expect fast service but I do expect a near perfect rifle when it is returned. The Rifle has been with Savage almost a month, they said the Rifle was tore down and minor adjustments made. Not sure what "minor adjustments are?" and it was in line to be test fired. I really hope this turns out it has the DNA to be a great shooting rifle but so far I'm left disappointed and waiting............

[wbm]

Frustrating for sure. Think you should probably sell it and go with another brand.

[Robinhood]

I am betting there was an issue with barrel straightness or the process they go to when mating the barrel to the action. It sounds like the action and the barrel where pointing different directions. I think you will be happier when it comes back.

[want2ride]

I hope you are happy with it when it comes back.

Just some thought on the subject.
20 clicks is 5 moa, most scopes i have are 60 to 90 moa of wind, but i think i have one that is 40, so half each wayis 20, and minus 5 is 15 moa left. I personally don't dial wind, only elevation. 5 moa doesn't seem like a lot to me.

[want2ride]

Frustrating for sure. Think you should probably sell it and go with another brand.
This might be sage advice, to be 5 moa, or 1/12th of a degree off on the angle of the mounting holes is not going to be visible by the naked eye...

[want2ride]

i really hate to be that guy, but without a round down range and a real zero and testing to see how centered the scope really was, it just seems silly to send the gun back.
Did you use the mirror method to test the optical center of your scope? If you just ran the scope both ways and divided by 2 and put it in the mechanical center, your optical center may be off by 5 moa easily. I have 2 $900 scopes of the same brand that are 22 moa off optically from the mechanical center.

[Retired Army Guy]

Yes true optical center by click counting and mirror method. 5+ moa before you even start is extreme to me IMHO as well as the local gunsmith who works on rifles for a living. The last three rifles I mounted scopes on one or two CLICKS of horizontal for a bore sight. Yes 5 moa is not a show stopper but for a rifle that is over $1,100 msrp??? Come on... should be better. Don't get me wrong I hope it comes back shooting like a champion I bought it cause I like it!

[charlie b]

It probably is the rifle. Used to surprise me until I ran into a few guys with custom rifles with the same kinds of dumb problems.

One was a $5000 custom built with one of the higher end actions and barrels. The guy could not bore sight. He asked me what I thought. When I looked at the barrel from the back it was obvious it was installed crooked. Ended up being that high end action was the problem. And, yes, they fixed it.

[Dave Hoback]

This is one of the many reasons I don’t buy ANY manufacturers rifles or pistols any longer. Not even Savage. I build my own...myself.

You said if they ever made one that wasn’t “butt ugly” you would try it? And the High Country was your bride of choice? Ok.(beauty TRULY is in they eye of the beholder!) In any case...do you know why YOU are complaining about it? Because YOU are unfortunately one of the unlucky few who received one of the fractions of 1% of rifles that either missed QC or was damaged somewhere along the way dyring delivery. Yes, yes...I know some random “Gun Store” guy (you say a friend.. random to us), told you he’s seen several.. Uh-huh. I wonder if he’s related to one of the COUNTLESS Gun store guys who have seen all these many, many Savages that are just BAD! These guys are fairly easy to find. But we never see any evidence. Save of course for that FRACTION of a percent of the MILLIONS of rifles Savage sells. Strange thing, ALL manufactures seem to suffer this same problem..go figure! :noidea:

I don’t mean to disregard your situation OP. We can all, I’m sure, understand your frustration. But your first sentence is the resounding number of cases of Savage rifles. Many offer quite good performance for their price tags. Still though, this does happen. And what makes it worse is you chose one of Savage’s much higher priced offerings. Thus you went into the purchase with the misconception of a $500 Savage is supposed to offer GOOD accuracy, this rifle should offer DOUBLE the performance! Many firearms buyers have this thinking. As has been said, I’m sure Savage will address the issue to fair standards.

[tobnpr]

You don't want a rifle that takes this much windage to get to zero (assuming optical center of the scope is correct).
Could be any number of things causing it from bore curvature, bent barrel, and incorrectly drilled/tapped mounting holes in the receiver.
Bottom line is that you end up with a "zero" that will change based on distance and this isn't acceptable.
Just like a rifle with a scope mounted off the centerline (like a milsurp with a side-mount), the line of sight with the scope, and projected bore axis will cross at only one point in space and it will vary with range.

Even with no "wind", you will need a different windage adjustment for different ranges. It can be dealt with by getting that dope and making the needed adjustments, but it's an unnecessary PITA and shouldn't be on a new rifle.

They probably won't tell you whether they replaced the barrel, receiver, or both- but hope it shoots straight when you get it back.

[Robinhood]

You don't want a rifle that takes this much windage to get to zero (assuming optical center of the scope is correct).
Could be any number of things causing it from bore curvature, bent barrel, and incorrectly drilled/tapped mounting holes in the receiver.
Bottom line is that you end up with a "zero" that will change based on distance and this isn't acceptable.
Just like a rifle with a scope mounted off the centerline (like a milsurp with a side-mount), the line of sight with the scope, and projected bore axis will cross at only one point in space and it will vary with range.

Even with no "wind", you will need a different windage adjustment for different ranges. It can be dealt with by getting that dope and making the needed adjustments, but it's an unnecessary PITA and shouldn't be on a new rifle.

Yup


https://www.armietiro.it/files/articoli/1/1/2/11221/B_-mg-0770.jpg

Looks good

[pdog06]

Did you try a different scope/rings/bases to prove your issue was with the gun itself?

No mention of elevation has me wondering as well? Everyone uses 10or20 Moa bases for elevation with no worrry about optical center. Your worried about optical center on your windage, but were able to boresight it, have plenty of available windage left in both directions I’m sure, and never even put a bullet down range?

I think you shouldve shot it and actually zeroed it in, then re-evaluated how far from optical zero you were. Then decide whether that is really an issue or not. And also whether the issue is even the gun itself, or something else.....

[Mrvmax]

I’ve got the High Country in 6.5 PRC and have had no issues with it. It took minimal scope adjustments to get zero’d in.

[Retired Army Guy]

some random “Gun Store” guy (you say a friend.. random to us) Mr Hoback I would like to respectfully say you are out of line here. You do not know me nor do you know my friend. You have basically called me and my friend "liars". I have no reason to lie and my friend (who really owns a gun shop) has no reason to lie about sending Savage Rifles back to the factory. As if he has nothing better to do.

I do agree with some of what you said and in my initial statement I clearly stated all gun companies have an occasional problems. Nothing against Savage. As far as money spent if I spend more I expect more. Wanting the barrel to be in alignment with the receiver is a pretty basic part of rifle building. I'm sorry if I gave the impression I expected "better accuracy" for more money because I don't believe money necessarily buys better accuracy. I do expect better craftsmanship and better materials with higher costs.

Savage is american company and I want them to do well. I am disappointed initially but Savage has the opportunity to change that. I hope when my rifle comes back Im writing you all what a great job they did and what an awesome rifle it is.

[Retired Army Guy]

Yes tried different scopes, rings, bases and different bore scope methods all came out about the same. (about 22 clicks to the right required to get the cross hairs over the bore no matter what was tried) Elevation had no issues.

[Retired Army Guy]

I’ve got the High Country in 6.5 PRC and have had no issues with it. It took minimal scope adjustments to get zero’d in.

Hows it shoot Accuracy? Hows the recoil...what would you compare it to?

[Mrvmax]

I just started working on hand loads but the two factory loads I tried are around 1 moa. My Savage 12 LRP got me .29 moa with little effort and I was hoping this one would be grouping better. Hopefully I’ll find a load it likes at get to at least .75, not that it matters since I’m mainly shooting pigs with it but I expect less than 1 moa out of my rifles. Call me spoiled I guess.
I’m never good at gauging recoil since I normally don’t pay attention to it. Unless the recoil is excessive (like a Weatherby Vanguard I used to have in 7 mag was) I don’t think about it much. To me the recoil is minimal and my Benelli R1 in 30-06 that I was shooting that day definitely had more recoil. The recoil is low enough that I can stay on target but that doesn’t tell you much. The next time I take it out I’ll try and compare to another rifle or two.

[Orezona]

OP, did you happen to check it with the alignment rods that come in a ring lapping kit? I'm curious how much they were off (if any).

https://www.wheelertools.com/scope-mounting/rings-and-mounts/scope-ring-alignment-and-lapping-kit/305172.html

[gbflyer]

You don't want a rifle that takes this much windage to get to zero (assuming optical center of the scope is correct).
Could be any number of things causing it from bore curvature, bent barrel, and incorrectly drilled/tapped mounting holes in the receiver.
Bottom line is that you end up with a "zero" that will change based on distance and this isn't acceptable.
Just like a rifle with a scope mounted off the centerline (like a milsurp with a side-mount), the line of sight with the scope, and projected bore axis will cross at only one point in space and it will vary with range.

Even with no "wind", you will need a different windage adjustment for different ranges. It can be dealt with by getting that dope and making the needed adjustments, but it's an unnecessary PITA and shouldn't be on a new rifle.

They probably won't tell you whether they replaced the barrel, receiver, or both- but hope it shoots straight when you get it back.

Don’t think that’s how it works. The scope tube may not be in line, but the real action happens in the erector tube. Unless the erector tube is hitting the scope tube sidewall, the angular difference isn’t a factor. Good discussion here about it, does get into the weeds a little bit. Hope it’s ok to link: https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/how-critical-is-sight-base-alignment-with-bore.113115/

I would have taken the rifle to the range. But it’s not mine to take and don’t blame the OP for sending it back. Savage is no longer a budget rifle in my opinion, but the quality has become so.

[tobnpr]

^^^
Thanks for the link, I'll read through the discussion there. I don't see how the line of sight through the scope, and the outside of the tube can be anything but axially aligned but as the saying goes "I was wrong once before" :)

Radial alignment could be "off", which would be corrected if it were very minimal- such as the receiver mounting holes being a few thousandths off-center. However, if the holes are not axially aligned with the centerline of the receiver, this would not be "correctable".