Looked at a bunch of 11/111's for the first time in years, why all the plastic now?

I was looking at some Savage 11/111 rifles recently and noticed the new (to me) design. Instead of a magazine with a metal floor plate and metal release lever, it is all plastic.

The plastic release lever looks really cheap and feels like it will wear/break easily.

The button in front of the new PLASTIC trigger guard is also a design feature I do not care for.

When did this occur? All of my older 111's have metal parts. Is this the new trend for Savage?

I realize plastic is cheaper and lighter, but it just seems so cheap to put that on a Savage rifle.

Are people here having good or bad experiences with these new "improvements?"

The new forward bolt release has few if any fans that I am aware of, but it seems to be of decent design. I cannot say I have heard anyone complaining of mechanical troubles with them. Mostly I think the dislike is interchangability with some of the aftermarket stocks and such.

The plastic DBM came about around the same time that the Axis rifles did. They use the same release system. Savage still uses the metal bottom metal on many models, but not the lower level 11/111 package guns. It does seem cheaper than the metal ones and it is but I haven't seen many reports on here of people breaking them yet.