Not a Happy Hunter

[x-hunter]

I have 4 Savage rifles and 1 Savage shotgun. They are all magazine fed and I have not shot the Axis rifle yet but have problems with 3 others. I have a model 12 in 223 and a 111 Trophy Hunter in 30-06 and you have to push the rear of the mag up with your fore end hand to get the head of the case up enough for the bolt to strip it off. I just bought a 220 slug gun and we know that's not an inexpensive gun and you can not even get the mag to snap up into the well if you have 2 shells in it if the bolt is closed. The Axis rifle doesn't have a problem , but that is probably because i haven't taken it out and shot it yet. I bought it at Dick's and when I got it home i took it out of the box and figured out by measuring the stock and calling customer service that it is a youth model. The only way to figure it out was to call Savage with the seriel #. Dick's said it's my problem. Yes my attitude has changed about them. (bunch of *****!) Savage offered me a full size stock for 1/2 price but i have no use for the youth stock and didn't go in to buy a youth gun in the first place. I doubt i would be happy with the gun anyway now. I should be able to get my money back when I sell it but don't like selling a product that i am not happy with to some one else. I am not sure what to do with the others but now regret buying them and can not believe that these problems even get out of rhe factory. I called custemor service and they said "adjust the magazine". yeah with a pair of pliers, and they were serious. That should have been enough for me but no i had to buy three more to find out they all have issues. You know, if you can;t build a gun that doesn't feed properly and you have to hold the magazine in place to cycle the rounds through it, than just make single shot rifles. They shoot fine but hunting rifles they are not. and i''ve spent my last dime at Dick's too. They can pound sand too! Brownings are worth the xtra money!

[DzNutz]

1. Why not just take the brand new "never fired" Axis with the receipt back to Dick's and get your money back or trade it in on another rifle?
2. Are you seating the magazines on the other three properly? Tilt loading (from the rear) is the only way to get a Savage magazine to load correctly, otherwise you will be left with it partially seated and have to push up on the magazine to cycle right. If properly seated there shouldn’t be any play that would allow you to push it up. This is an assessment based upon the observance that you are having the same issue with three rifles of the same make.
3. Just another observance, but why keep buying rifles from the maker if you keep having issues and then come to a forum like this one and rant about the "FOUR" rifles you have purchased being no good?

[03mossy]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. A week ago you seemed happy with your Savages.

QUOTE=x-hunter;281903]I have three Savage rifles and have been happy with them so far. [/QUOTE]

[wbm]

Just another observance, but why keep buying rifles from the maker if you keep having issues and then come to a forum like this one and rant about the "FOUR" rifles you have purchased being no good?

Buyers remorse perhaps?

[J.Baker]

Savage does need to start marking the end of box labels to indicate which one's are youth models so they're distinguishable from the adult models, but Dick's should have made it right for you (even if they just swapped out the stock with one on another gun in the store so they wouldn't have to do the paperwork again on a different S/N).

[Stockrex]

Write to dicks corp about the their mistake.
Where r u located? I have a few factory Tupperware dbms if they don't make right we can exchange

[x-hunter]

[QUOTE=wbm;282722]Buyers remorse perhaps?[/QU
Your probably right but let me explain. First I bought a Mark II and have no trouble and love the gun. then I bought the mod 12 and right away realized a problem with the feeding. I called CS and was told to adjust the mag with a pair of pliers (bend the lips of the mag open a bit) I thought they were kidding.I shoot the gun from a bench so I load 1 at a time any way. The next three I bought, and had the third bought before I shot any of them. So yes I said I had 4 but had really only shot 2 of them. But at the time I had no reason to be unhappy so I would say I was happy. The Axis I still have not shot so I need to be fair and say I don't know if it's a problem but there is a thread on this forum from a guy who had to tie the bottom of his Axis mags on with bailing wire, if I knew how to link that up I would but it would be easy to find. The shotgun mag is big enough to hold two rounds but if you put two in it, it will not fit in the gun if the bolt is closed. My bad, I looked up the specs for shot capacity and it says two round (s). I guess they mean two total right? why make the mag big enough to hold two. It doesn't need to stick way down out of the gun. I buy guns when I see good deals and the 111 was no exception. I will go back and try to see if there is room to TIP the mag in as suggested but I tried that at the range and it did not work. I'm sorry if I offended any of you Savage lovers with my comments. I should not have jumped the gun and said I like them all when i had not shot or hunted with them yet. I bought a Ruger American rifle and it didn't feed right so Ruger sent me two spare mags and only one worked, then the extractor broke off the bolt. They took the gun back and when I got it back it was repaired and all three mags worked great. They admitted there was a problem and they fixed it. Some times when enough people have the same problem then the manufacturer realize it 's not user error. I should have just been asking for help instead of picking on Savage. I like the way they handle and shoot but like any gun in there price range they are not perfect. And in regards to Dick's, I'm in NH,writing corporate would be the only fix if it would work because the manager of the store told me all gun sales are final and the gun had not even been taken from the box before I discovered the issue. Trading the stock would be a better solution. Again CS admitted they need to address the problem about labeling or marking the gun to avoid the confusion at the store. Reviews are not always kind, fact is they are other brands of firearms that I own that I have never had any issues with so I will continue to hunt with those. Thanks for your help.

[barrel-nut]

Any and all firearms manufacturers can have issues from time to time, even new out of the box. I have a Browning A-Bolt in .243 that I bought for my son about 8 years ago that has always had feeding issues like you describe. If you hold the bottom of the magazine up with your off hand, it feeds fine. Otherwise it usually binds if you cycle the bolt slowly. If you cycle it very sharply, as you generally are supposed to with a bolt rifle, it will shove the round in, but at the expense of badly scarring the brass. Not good for handloading. Also this particular rifle has always been an extremely fickle shooter. Sometimes groups very well, other times, meh.. Often times within the same shooting session.
My point is that, unfortunately, none of the manufacturers are immune to these sort of issues.

[Axtell3]

I have a axis stock you could have for shipping. pm me and amins don't flame me for helping a guy out.

[Lincoln4]

I have a axis stock you could have for shipping. pm me and amins don't flame me for helping a guy out.

That seems mighty decent...

[Axtell3]

I have benefited greatly from members here. Pay back time. Beside that I don't use it anymore.

[Luke45]

just deal with the quirks. Example, if you cant put the magazine in with a closed bolt, open the bolt, insert mag, push down on top shell and close bolt on an empty chamber. the fact that you own 4 savages and have problems with ALL of them seems pretty fishy

it seems like you have problems with the majority of rifles you have ever owned and have had to contact the manufacturer according to this post.

sorry if that sounds mean it just annoys me when people buy a 350$ factory rifle and expect it to be spit polished perfect, and flawless.

[x-hunter]

Some people just jump to conclusions, Call me a whiner if you'd like, but you have no idea how may rifles i have owned. To say that I have had problems with most of them is pretty ignorant. I have been hunting, shooting, reloading, buying and selling guns for 40 yrs and have never had a problem with a gun that was a result of a design problem until the Ruger American that i discribed. I have have called CS twice, once to Ruger once to Savage. (They have a phone # so you can call). I have owned most brands at one time or another. The "$350" gun that I expect so much from has an MSRP of $612.00. It had 13 rds through it and the guy listed it for $400. Maybe he wasn't happy with it. I asked him and he said he did'nt like the recoil. $350 is what I paid not what it is worth. The shotgun that i'm supposed to deal with, list for $646.00, add a $200.00 Nikon scope $80 for base and rings, and it's a $900.00 setup. i was dissapointed that the mag holds two rounds but it's a two round shot gun. I don't usually need three shots but it still makes me wonder what they were thinking or it's one that just got by them,.So the model 12 that i bought that I have around $1400.00 into I do single feed because the bolt slides over the cases. So I do DEAL with the quirks. Awful pricy gun to have a quirk like that. The Axis which I have never shot is in a box that is not labeled in any way as a youth model. So dick's say's it's not thier fault so I'll DEAL with that one too. In fact I own 5 savages and called CS once and have a problem with two of them . Same problem with both guns, same style of magazine, now that's fishy! I bought the Savages i did because they have earned a reputation for there accuracy, Savage firearms have a lot going for them. When you have an issue you just go ahead and stick your head in the sand if you want to but I have spent enoughh to earn the right to whine a bit. Search it and you'll see I'm not the only one with these issuse. If nobody speaks up, nothing gets done.

[wbm]

Seems like you are having a string of bad luck with firearms.

[x-hunter]

The up shot here is that when I buy, I buy right. I have never lost money selling a gun. Sometimes I will just break even so it's all good, I admit that i should not sound so negative. I did have a have bad day at the range and am a little dissapointed with hwat seems like easy fixes. I have gotten very good deals on all the rifles that I have issues with. It just seems like the problems that are out there, and many people are having them, are problems related to DBM's and feeding. And on the entry level or "affordable"guns. if you picked up the Savage slug gun in a guns and handled it, You would expect that it is a 2+1 gun. I have never seen a DBM on any firearm that is designed to hold 1 shot. For god sakes make it another 1/2 " longer and get a second shell in it. I guess that's just the perfectionist in me. I am not always trying to reinvent the wheel I just expect it to roll like a wheel is designed to.

[wbm]

I also wonder if the incredible sales increases over the past three years have pushed production limits past "acceptable quality control". The Savage "flat rear" receivers that I have purchased definitely are smoother and have better finishes than some of the newer ones.

[olddav]

Okay?

[devildogandboy]

x-hunter, if the guns are still under warranty, why not return them to Savage for repairs? shipping at their expenxe of course.

Bruce

[x-hunter]

Me again, I had the time to go back to the range this weekend and brought the 111 and the shotgun with me, With the advice offered in a previous post I looked at the "tip the magazine into the well" method and was able to see a small nub of plastic that sticks out of the stock up in the well. On the back of the back off the mag it looked like there was something wrong, It appeared that there was something broken from the mag on the upper rear of the metal box. I took a trip yesterday to the gun shop and looked at a new rifle on the rack and inspected the mag and found that the mag in my rifle was damaged and missing that small metal clip that sticks out and grabs that plastic nub. It looks like the original owner may have tried to bend the tab out to get it to snap in to place. The guy at the gunh shop said he's seen it before. Maybe two new mags for the for the two rifles will fix it. The one time that i called CS at Savage thay told me that the warrenty is only for the original purchaser and is not transfereble. It's an item that I would not expect a warrenty to cover. I did some reading about the shotgun and learned that the mag is tricky to put into the gun and does not slide straght up int the well and snap in. Once I figured out how to load the mag it seems to work ok. I guess like a previous poster added, there is a way to load Savage mags into the rifle. I still don't really like the fact that you need to use a technique, to insert them and really don't like the plastic release on the front of the mag. I'm sure if that breaks off it will be at the worst possible time. I wished some one made a real goog aftermarket mag for these rifles, I'm sure they would sell tons of them. I will let you know how the new mag works and Thank you for your help. If I ever have a problem in the future I will present it as a qiestion instead of a negative comment.

[DzNutz]

Good luck and I hope the new magazine does the trick with the Rifle. I was used to a "Top Down Blind Magazine" on my older 110 7mm RemMag and different styles of "Tilt-in" magazines like my FN FAL or straight insert into my Kel-tec RFB or my HK94 Clone (and of course carrying an M16/M4 variant for 21 years). The tilt in from the rear was a little new to me than just slamming a magazine straight up in.