• Savage Model 12 Benchrest Dual-Port Review in 6mm BR Norma

    I was ecstatic when I saw the new Savage models for the 2009 year; you could say (like the old Saturday Night Live saying, holding my shirt out) “I was as happy as a little girl.” Savage took a big leap in building of a dedicated benchrest rifle. Savage has listened to its customers, as CEO Ron Coburn is quoted from their web site. “We have become somewhat of a large company over the last several years, but we are determined to stay close to our customers and continue to act like a small company.” It is great that Savage and its employees care so much about their customers, and are willing to listen to their wants.

    The new left feed, right eject, dual port action was something once only available in expensive custom guns, but is now available in a factory produced gun. Savage states that the new 12 Benchrest is designed for 1000 yard competition, with a 29 inch long barrel, a flat bottom stock, and chambered for popular cartridges such as 6.5x284 Norma, 308 Winchester, and 6mm BR Norma. Savage offers the dual port action for sale by itself, if one would wish to buy such a thing. The spec's that Savage gives for the gun is an overall length of 50 inches, barrel length is at 29 inches, weight is 12.75 lbs, the action is a single shot, and comes with a gray laminate stock that is 3 inches wide with a flat bottom forearm. Savage offers the calibers in the following rifle twist rates, The 6.5 x 284 Norma and the 6mm Norma BR are a 1 in 8 twist, and the 308 Winchester is in a 1 in 12 twist. The 12 Benchrest has been outfitted with a target AccuTrigger that is adjustable from approx 6 oz to 2.5 lbs, oversize BT bolt handle, and a stainless extra-heavy free-floated, button-rifled barrel. The suggested retail of this rifle is $1,375.00. What a great rifle for the price! Sign me up! Where can I get one quick?

    Finally, my rifle came in, I was anxiously waiting for its arrival like a kid at Christmas, and I must say, this is one pretty gun. The gun I got is chambered in the 6mm Br Norma round. The gun came with a test target that measures .6-inches, as well as the other usual stuff like an adjustment key for the trigger and owners manuals. The first thing I noticed was the long 29-inch barrel and the ports on both sides of the action, with the usual target AccuTrigger warning now placed on the top of the action. Another surprise was that the gun came with a set of Weaver scope bases. The barrel has the usual target recessed crown, and the muzzle measures at .875. It was then I noticed that this rifle has different action screw spacing and uses a longer trigger guard, similar to what is used on the model 40.

    The stock is a gorgeous grey laminate with three vents on each side, and six vents on the bottom. The stock put me in mind of the BVSS stock, with extended sides, and a flat bottom. The stock has a nice subtle palm swells, and fits in the hand nicely. The way that the forearm of the stock is designed (With a 1/4 inch recess from about the bottom up top the top) fits the hands well, and could be shot hand held, or as termed “Offhand.” The stock was measured, and was found that it would comply with short-range IBS/NBRSA benchrest rules; the barrel contour also complies with the aforementioned rules, this was a shock, as the rifle was designed for long-range specks, but it will also fit into a short-range heavy gun speck. The gun tested weighed in at 11 ¼ lbs as shipped without scope or rings. (With a scope, the gun should be under the 13.5 lbs weight limit.)

    The stock was taken off to adjust the trigger, and now we found out why the action screw spacing is different, Savage corrected a problem of the rifles of the past in this model by moving the rear action screw forward, eliminating the half pillar, the rifle now has three full metal pillars. The action still has a hole drilled where the back pillar would have sat, but it would need to be threaded for use. The trigger was set at the factory at 26 oz and I adjusted it down to a repeatable 18 oz. The gun was put back together and ready to test fire.

    The weather was 71 degrees with switching winds up to 21 mph making conditions hard to read, but otherwise it was a beautiful sunny day with no cloud cover. I placed a 24 power scope on, and then I started out with some new Norma brass and did some loads with different bullets using Accurate Arms 2015 powder. All the brass was prepped with Remington 7 ½ benchrest primers. Some of the bullets I used started on the light end of things with the 75 grain Honady V-Max, next was the 87 gain V-Max, then a 95 gain Sierra Match King, an old favorite 95 grain Starke Red Mist hunting bullet, and ended with the heavy a 105 gain Hornady A-Max.

    After sighting the rifle in, I shot eight, five shot 100-yard groups. The gun started grouping tighter as more rounds were fired and the barrel started to break in. It looked like the barrel really liked Starke 95 grain bullets the best, with groups measuring in the .3" area. The sad thing is Clint Starke is no longer making these (or any) bullets. Over all average of all the groups, shot was .566, I do not think this is too bad considering the barrel is not broke in and the present conditions. One thing I noticed was that the barrel remained cool, dissipated heat well, and it seemed to clean easier than other factory Savage barrels I have owned.

    The gun is fun to shoot and it was great to have the added speed of feeding the rounds from the left side and operating the bolt from the right. Man, this is how shooting should be - It is super smooth and just feels natural. It's nice to machine gun the rounds down range and keep the same conditions for more shots. I love the size of the ports on the action as I'm easily able to stick my fat fingers in to flip out a round if needed. The length of pull feels right, and overall the stock is very comfortable. One thing I did notice is that because of the long barrel, the rifle is a bit front end heavy so extra attention was needed to make sure the rifle was held down in the rear bag with the thumb of my trigger hand. The other thing I noticed was that after the gun fired the whip of the long barrel gave a tuning fork feel, making the gun have a slight ½-second vibration. I did notice that the gun was a bit hard on the brass, making small marks to the shoulder area, (but it is a simple fix with a dermal tool.) The gun rides well in the bags, and returns to battery easily. I noticed that because of the design of the gun I did not like shooting it free recoil, as for me it shot better pinned to the rest with my shoulder. I found that the bolt lift and operation was just like any other factory Savage, not bad, but it pulled the rifle out of the bags when opened, a time and true job from Sharp Shooter Supply would quickly fix this problem.

    The second trip to the range was similar to the first, but at least we found another combo that the rifle likes. The wind was again switching from east to north, but now heavy mirage has come into play. The temperature was at 49 degrees and it was sunny. The rifle is starting to loosen up, the bolt is feeling smoother, and the groups are starting to tighten up as the barrel breaks in. Using a Hornady 105 grain a-max jumped .020 off the lands with Varget powder showed to make repeatable five-shoot groups in the .4's at 100 yards, with many groups going down in the high .3’s. The rifle was then shot at 200 yards and the average groups were around 1 inch with several under. The problem was seeing a 100-yard sized bench rest target at 200 yards under heavy mirage, and using a 24-power scope has shown to be some of the hardest shooting I have done. I believe that under better conditions, the 200-yard groups would have been more impressive. The one thing I can say is the more I shoot this dual port the more I fall in love with it, and wished all my guns had a dual port.

    So far I am impressed with the rifle, but there is one modification I would like to make - to cut the barrel down a couple of inches. I think that this would improve the rifles feel and balance, and the velocity that would be lost (if any) would be insignificant. I have talked to another owner of the Model 12 benchrest rifle and his thoughts were the same as mine. Another modification that someone may want to do to the gun would be to drill a hole or two in the back of the stock so that lead could be added to even out the weight distribution or just to add weight to the gun. I feel that this gun would be perfect for a person shooting local club matches, or the person just starting to get into casual match shooting. I feel that this rig would be great for varmint hunting; especially in prairie dog towns. I did change out the bolt handle to a tactical bolt handle from SSS, just because it is more to my liking.

    I shot the gun in a few local non-sanctioned matches and it proved to be very competitive (heck I even placed in a couple of them). I switched over to moly-coated bullets after the gun had over 150 rounds down the tube. The gun responded well to the moly coated bullets, making barrel cleaning much easier. Now all I had to do was run a brush down the bore with a bit of cleaner on it a few times and patch it out. Other combinations of bullets and powders were tried, but it seemed as if the best working combo was the 105 A-max on top of Varget.

    Midway through the evaluation my scope took a turn for the worse and I had to replace it. As a result, I found that the barrel has a straighter profile and needed taller rings to clear larger optics which which would normally clear on varmint profile barrels with medium rings. The replacement scope I chose was a Vortex 8-32x Crossfire, and the gun has responded well with it.

    Overall, the gun shoots well. The gun was shot in different conditions (from cold weather and rain, to blistering heat) and has shown to be reliable. The gun will consistently shot five shot groups in the ½ inch area at 100 yards, and does just under an inch at 200 yards. I never got a chance to fire the rifle at longer range, but based on the short-range results I feel the gun should perform equally well at 600 and 1000 yards.

    In summary, I would say that this is an excellent gun for someone starting out in unsanctioned club matches. The dual port is awesome, and loading is super fast, and makes it easy to get off shots under the same conditions. The gun is very versatile; it would adapt to other shooting needs, and has great potential for the custom builder. The stock looks great, and rides the bags well. Overall, I would say that this rifle is a great addition to the Savage line up, and fills a great need.


    Additional Photos: