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