Savage 110 Tactical Review

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10-17-2018, 09:01 PM
mcgradypilot

Savage 110 Tactical Review

So for those of you who saw my post in the newbies forum. I was mulling over the idea of getting rid of my ruger precision in .308 that I could barely get to consistently shoot 1 moa. I decided to make the swap to the Savage 110 Tactical in 6.5 Creedmoor and after some initial shooting I'm glad I did. I wanted to give a review on the 6.5 Creedmoor version to complement J Bakers review. Thanks to him by the way for the warm welcome and info in my first post. So now down to brass tacks.

After purchasing the rifle I took it immediately to the range. Upon pulling the bolt out of the plastic I had found it was reverse imprinted with 6.5 creedmoor from a piece of brass and the barrel was dirty. Obviously this rifle had been fired. A quick call to savage verified it was common to test fire rifles at the factory. I have never bought a rifle that came this way. So after a thorough cleaning I began the break in process (I know opinions vary wildly on this) of shoot one, clean, shoot one....(to each his own). After about 20 rounds I noticed I was having scope issues and the factory rail was coming loose so I decided to call it a day.

At home that night I disassembled the rifle for the first time. I was impressed with the stock having the integrated aluminum chassis that significantly helps stiffen the stock as well as provide a solid bed for the action. I cleaned every last inch of the rifle, uninstalled/installed the scope rail, and remounted my scope. I also adjusted the trigger to its lowest setting.

The next day I took it to the range to start load development. I had tested the trigger after I adjusted it but after firing the first shot truly realized how light it was. Never have I thought of adding weight back to a factory trigger. Either I got super lucky or this trigger is amazing. Anything beyond the force to push the safety blade in set it off. I don't have a pull gauge but its way way way lighter than any other trigger I have shot. Needless to say I adjusted some more weight into it that night. I couldn't even rest my finger against it. Any pressure would set it off. As for shooting I was keeping my fiance entertained with the 22 and AR15 so we were at the 50 yard range but 20 shots varying over 4 grains of charge weight landed in a .75 inch hole. I went up to the 100 yard range to end the day to shoot one group and ended up with a 4 shot .45 inch group with factory 143 ELD-X. To say I'm impressed is an understatement.

Today I took it back to the range to continue load workup. The trigger felt better after adding a touch of weight to it. Ended up with 5 shot groups ranging from 1.36 to .719 inches using 147 ELD-M over H4350. Another group of 143 ELD-X factory produced another .45 inch group. I have a feeling the handloads will tighten way up with a little tuning and me becoming more familiar with the rifle. The bolt gets better and better with every use. Its by far the smoothest I have ever felt. To say I'm impressed is an understatement. My only gripe so far is with the magazine. Its pretty floppy in the mag-well and its not as easy to load as a traditional AR10 type mag (centerfeed vs staggerfeed).

Pros:
Accurate: easy sub MOA
Trigger: Very light and easy to adjust
Hybrid stock/chassis

Cons:
Magazine is a bit flopppy in the mag well/harder to load
Scope rail was loose from the factory
10-18-2018, 03:32 AM
want2ride

Glad it meets your expectations! I know I have been very happy with my heavy barrel Savages. 10T 6.5 Creedmoor, LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor and 12FV in 22-250 are all around 1/2 inch rifles. My hunting rifles aren't quite as good, but as long as they are under an inch I am happy :)
10-18-2018, 01:53 PM
yoda4x4

I'm glad to hear how good the 110 Tactical is... I'll be buying the lefty 308 version as soon as I have the funds.

David

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10-18-2018, 07:48 PM
CFJunkie

It is nice to hear from someone who has gotten good results with his Savage.
Several years ago, I decided that my Savages shoot so well that I had to learn better technique to take advantage of their accuracy.
I have been on a dedicated learning curve and have improved my group averages by up to 26% (with my oldest rifles) just by taking the time and effort to get my set-up consistent to eliminate shooter induced variations.

I have two relatively new Savages in 6.5mm Creedmoor - 12 LRP (Long Range Precision) with the Precision Target Accu-Trigger and HS Precision stock as well as a 10T-SR with a standard Accu-Trigger and a standard Accu-Stock. The 12 LRP came with the Precision Target trigger set at 10 oz. All my other target rifles are set at 2 lbs. and I found that switching between rifles caused me to jerk the lighter trigger. Like you, I tightened the trigger a bit - I chose 18 oz. which was just enough to not feel too different from my other triggers and eliminated jerking it.

The two rifles shoot incredibly well. The 12 LRP has averaged 0.364 for 5 round groups at 100 yards for over 3400 rounds shot to date.
After months of shooting the 12 LRP, I bought the 10T-SR to use for load development to save the barrel on the 12 LRP.
The 10T-SR has averaged 0.383 for 5 round groups for over 1400 rounds to date.
These two are the most accurate rifles that I own.

I have two older .308 Savage Model 10s that average 0.457 for 3765 rounds and 3372 rounds respectively.
Those were the ones that my technique improvements provided the most benefit and the long term group size suffers from pre-improvement groups.
The most recent results are just slightly larger group averages than the 6.5mm Creedmoor rifles.
I have a new 11 VT package rifle in .22-250 that averages 0.393 at 100 yards, but I have just over 200 rounds through it.

Savages rifles shoot great out of the box but I found I had to really pay attention to my technique to be able to get the most out of them.
10-20-2018, 11:10 PM
Stifffingers

Has anyone not wanted to use the 20 MOA rail and found one that actually fits the screw holes on the barrel?

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10-21-2018, 07:10 PM
jpdown

I tried to change out bases. The base screws are 8-40. So bases drilled for the more common 6-48 screws won't work.
10-21-2018, 10:37 PM
Stifffingers

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdown

I tried to change out bases. The base screws are 8-40. So bases drilled for the more common 6-48 screws won't work.

Yeah. I tried two different rails (outer image? And Warne) they both had the smaller screws. Seems no one has made any rails with the bigger screws. Or I haven’t found them yet.

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10-22-2018, 12:55 PM
J.Baker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stifffingers

Has anyone not wanted to use the 20 MOA rail and found one that actually fits the screw holes on the barrel?

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There are no screw holes for the base on a 110 Tactical barrel as all 4 screws are in the action like any other standard Savage. The only rifle that has rail mounting holes in the barrel is the 110 Scout which is a totally different model. 110 Tactical uses the exact same bases/rails as any other modern 110-series rifle. Only difference is (as noted above) is the screws are the larger 8-40 rather than the typical 6-48.
10-22-2018, 01:24 PM
Stifffingers

I mistyped: base not rail, action not barrel.

The bases I purchased came with the smaller screws and were drilled for those screws. (The larger screws that mounted the 20 MOA bases do not fit the smaller holes on the purchased bases.) Lacking a drill press and/or an end mill, I’m not too keen on drilling purchased bases to allow for the bigger screws that came with the rifle.

The difference in screw size and thread pitch is a fitment issue. Which was the basis for my question. Or the question I should have asked...

Has anyone run across a 0 MOA base that fits on the savage 110 tactical?

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10-22-2018, 02:17 PM
J.Baker

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgradypilot

So for those of you who saw my post in the newbies forum. I was mulling over the idea of getting rid of my ruger precision in .308 that I could barely get to consistently shoot 1 moa. I decided to make the swap to the Savage 110 Tactical in 6.5 Creedmoor and after some initial shooting I'm glad I did. I wanted to give a review on the 6.5 Creedmoor version to complement J Bakers review. Thanks to him by the way for the warm welcome and info in my first post. So now down to brass tacks.

After purchasing the rifle I took it immediately to the range. Upon pulling the bolt out of the plastic I had found it was reverse imprinted with 6.5 creedmoor from a piece of brass and the barrel was dirty. Obviously this rifle had been fired. A quick call to savage verified it was common to test fire rifles at the factory. I have never bought a rifle that came this way. So after a thorough cleaning I began the break in process (I know opinions vary wildly on this) of shoot one, clean, shoot one....(to each his own). After about 20 rounds I noticed I was having scope issues and the factory rail was coming loose so I decided to call it a day.

At home that night I disassembled the rifle for the first time. I was impressed with the stock having the integrated aluminum chassis that significantly helps stiffen the stock as well as provide a solid bed for the action. I cleaned every last inch of the rifle, uninstalled/installed the scope rail, and remounted my scope. I also adjusted the trigger to its lowest setting.

The next day I took it to the range to start load development. I had tested the trigger after I adjusted it but after firing the first shot truly realized how light it was. Never have I thought of adding weight back to a factory trigger. Either I got super lucky or this trigger is amazing. Anything beyond the force to push the safety blade in set it off. I don't have a pull gauge but its way way way lighter than any other trigger I have shot. Needless to say I adjusted some more weight into it that night. I couldn't even rest my finger against it. Any pressure would set it off. As for shooting I was keeping my fiance entertained with the 22 and AR15 so we were at the 50 yard range but 20 shots varying over 4 grains of charge weight landed in a .75 inch hole. I went up to the 100 yard range to end the day to shoot one group and ended up with a 4 shot .45 inch group with factory 143 ELD-X. To say I'm impressed is an understatement.

Today I took it back to the range to continue load workup. The trigger felt better after adding a touch of weight to it. Ended up with 5 shot groups ranging from 1.36 to .719 inches using 147 ELD-M over H4350. Another group of 143 ELD-X factory produced another .45 inch group. I have a feeling the handloads will tighten way up with a little tuning and me becoming more familiar with the rifle. The bolt gets better and better with every use. Its by far the smoothest I have ever felt. To say I'm impressed is an understatement. My only gripe so far is with the magazine. Its pretty floppy in the mag-well and its not as easy to load as a traditional AR10 type mag (centerfeed vs staggerfeed).

Pros:
Accurate: easy sub MOA
Trigger: Very light and easy to adjust
Hybrid stock/chassis

Cons:
Magazine is a bit flopppy in the mag well/harder to load
Scope rail was loose from the factory

The slightly loose scope mount screws is pretty typical with Savage for whatever reason. Going from memory here, but I'm 99% certain that the final assemblers don't use torque drivers for the action screws or the base screws (when applicable). Not sure why they don't - sure would eliminate some bad initial experiences for their customers if the bases were properly tightened down right out of the box rather than them discovering they are not after wasting time and ammunition trying to sight-in the rifle. As it is, Savage fans know to always check the scope mounting screws on a new rifle before mounting their scope after learning the lesson the hard way on their first Savage.

As for the magazine fit, there's some wiggle in it but I wouldn't exactly call it floppy and it's no worse than any other mass production rifle I've shot that uses an AICS magazine. On mine the up/down play is maybe 1/16" at most and the side-to-side play is about the same. That's with a 5-round magazine. With the supplied 10-round magazine the little bit of play is exaggerated with the additional length which makes it look sloppier than it actually is.

Regarding difficulty getting the mag in, if you're trying to hold it level and slide it straight up and in then yes - it can be a bit difficult. What I found was that if I do it somewhat AK-style by holding the mag at a slight angle and first putting the rear of the mag against the rear of the magwell, then rocking the front of the mag up into the magwell it's a lot easier and smoother. Going to a metal mag would likely help as well as they're exterior finish isn't as "grabby" as the somewhat coarse finish on the plastic Magpul mag's.