MSRs

Folks, why am I not seeing more MSRs on the market? Ruger and Smith are killing it, all of the usual EBR players seem to be doing well, What's up? If these things are any good at all, I'd expect to see them in the big box stores and in my lgs too! Why am I not seeing more of them?

Few things you have to consider....

1) Savage was super late to the game getting into the MSR market, so most buyers interested in this segment of the market had already purchased several from other brands and also likely have built some loyalty with those brands over the years (you don't see a ton of the Ruger's or now discontinued Remington's out there either).

2) Savage chose to offer "higher grade" MSR's with common and popular accessories installed right from the factory (Magpul or Blackhawk furniture, aftermarket triggers, etc) which naturally brought them to market at a higher price point than your typical mil-spec units. As we know, gun owners can be rather tight with their money so that significant price difference would have turned a lot of potential buyers away from the Savage's.

3) Look at the MSR market right now and it's pretty clear why the Savage's aren't selling. You can buy a brand new bare bones mil-spec AR-15 for around $500 - sometimes even less, and bare upper and lower receivers are selling for about half of what they used to run. This is a direct result of an over saturated market with too many players trying to undercut each other on price. Good for the consumer, but bad for business in the long run as eventually as sales taper off their profit margin will be so thin they won't be able to keep the doors open.

4) Like Remington and their 1911, Savage getting into the MSR market was viewed by many as just another "me too" move, and given Savage's history of dabbing their toes into a market for just a couple years and then leaving (they've done this numerous times in recent decades within the shotgun market) those of us who have been around awhile know to "wait and see" when it comes to Savage and new product lines as nobody wants to buy something and then 3-4 years later it be discontinued making getting replacement parts all but impossible in the future.