Death of the Savage 110 Used & Take-off Parts Market
I'm sure more than a few of you have noticed that the Classifieds have gotten rather slow in the last 2-3 years. Where it used to be we would have 10+ pages of active for-sale listings for parts at any given time, now we're lucky to have a single full page (25 threads) of listings. And if you've been one trying to sell anything you've probably noticed that no one's biting unless you put a Crazy Larry's Bargain Basement Blowout price on it.
So what happened? The answer is really quite simple - cheap guns.
Back in the day if you wanted to get an action to build a custom on your only options were to a) find a used bare action, b) buy a complete older used rifle and part it out, or c) buy a new rifle and part it out. Prior to the introduction of the AccuTrigger and the round top action most guys chose option A or B because it was the cheapest. However, if they wanted a stainless steal action they pretty much had to go with option C as there weren't many used SS guns out there as they had only been on the market for a couple years.
At that time (pre-2003) you could purchase a complete used flat-back 110 for $250-300 pretty much all day long (new 110's and 111's Hunter series models were selling for around $400). Being used you could expect to get $40-50 out of the barrel and another $50 out of a hardwood stock. Tupperware stocks weren't worth anything and were usually just thrown in the trash. If you could find someone selling one, a flat-back action could be had for around $200.
When Savage switched to the round-top action everybody immediately started wanting them as it eliminated the age-old problem of the rear flat being ground improperly at the factory and not being square which caused scope alignment issues. As a result most guys stopped looking for and buying up the old flat-backs and started buying brand new guns to tear down. Base Model 10/110's were selling for around $450 at this point, a hardwood stock would still fetch $50, and a new take-off sporter barrel would typically go for around $75. So after parting it out you would have roughly $325 in the action for your build.
If you wanted a stainless steel action the smart move was to purchase a top end varmint model like the 12 BVSS or 12 VLP as the take-off parts were worth more and easier to sell. Both were selling for around $700 at the time. A new take-off SS heavy fluted barrel would typically sell for $150 and a new take-off laminate BVSS or VLP stock would fetch $200-225 all day long. In the end you'd end up having $325-350 in the SS action, basically the same as you'd have in the blued action if you bought a base hunting model rifle and parted it out.
Then Savage had the stupid idea to come out with the Stevens 200 and price it to be sold on the street right at $300. It was basically the same as the 11/111F models that were selling for $450, but had a grey stock rather than black and it had the old-style non-adjustable trigger rather than the AccuTrigger. What it did have though was the round-top action that EVERYBODY wanted and it instantly became the rifle everyone bought to build off of unless they wanted a SS action. The new take-off sporter barrel would fetch around $75 and the stock would find it's way to the trash can leaving you with just $225 in a brand new round-top blued action.
Probably the biggest hit to the new take-off parts market however was Savage's decision to start selling actions. In doing so they eliminated the need for people to buy a complete rifle and part it out to get their action. That put and end to the steady supply of heavy SS take-off barrels and the nice Model 12 laminate take-ff stocks in the classifieds.
Now we're pretty much up to present day with the Axis coming on scene and putting yet another fatal wound into the used/take-off Savage parts market. Like the Stevens 200 the Axis was extremely cheap with a street price starting around $280 and you could often find them on sale for $250 or less. However, unlike the Stevens 200 it took the Axis awhile to come into it's own as there were no aftermarket stocks readily available for it and the factory stock was horrible. Now that aftermarket stocks are available the Axis has really taken off and is the popular choice for a budget minded custom build as it's ability to be either a long or short action by merely changing the magazine and stock is a huge benefit - especially if you're one of the few remaining guys who have multiple barrels to use with the same action.
The final nail in the coffin though - in my opinion at least - was Boyds strange decision to slash their stock prices by nearly 40% about a year and a half ago. Previously most of Boyds finished laminate stocks sold for around $160-180 and they were dominating the market at that price. It's for that reason I can't fathom why they would voluntarily cut their prices so drastically and start selling the exact same stocks for $100-120 all day, every day. There was no new competition that came onto the market cutting into their market share and forcing them to lower their prices to get it back, so basically they just chose to cut their own profits for no readily identifiable reason.
What did happen though is that almost overnight every other laminate stock maker saw their business come to a screeching halt because there was no way they could compete or even come remotely close to Boyds new pricing. Having spoken with a few of these stock makers in the last year I've learned that just the price of the laminate blank is around $40-50 depending on what kind of quantity discount they're getting from the supplier. Now add in about 4 hours of labor to go from a raw blank to a finished stock, and add in the cost of a butt pad, sling studs and any other included hardware (trigger guard, magazine bracket, pillars, etc.). Naturally Boyds probably gets their blanks a good bit cheaper due to volume purchasing, and their machines allow them to produce multiple stocks at a time, but still...given the labor and cost of parts going into each stock I can't see how they're making a profit at these new prices.
Combine the new low-cost Axis with Boyds extremely low price stocks and it's no surprise the used and take-off parts market has dried up. When you can buy a complete gun and put a quality aftermarket stock on it for less than the cost of most quality aftermarket barrels it's no surprise no one's parting out guns or doing switch barrel rifles anymore. Instead guys are just adding more and more complete guns to their collection because it's cheaper and faster.
