Savage 110 Scout .223 Range Review

[IanC]

I just received my Savage 110 Scout in .223 in the mail, it came from Cabelas which would not normally be my first choice but these rifles are very hard to find here in Canada. Out of the box the rifle is well finished and the stock is really solid. It is an accustock so has an aluminum insert in it and is well bedded. The barrel is quite thick so it’s a nice rigid rifle. Not wanting to actually use the scout mount I removed it, I plan to use the Iron sights. As for the magazine the rifle came with, I’m a little confused as it’s an Accuracy-Mag versus the Magpul that Savage advertises as coming with the rifle. I think Cabelas must have put the wrong magazine in the box. I contacted them about it but have not heard back yet. The magazine is pretty decent and works well. Shouldering the rifle even with the longest insert it is still too short for me and I’m 5’11”. I don’t really understand why savage gives you all those inserts but not a longer set of screws to use them. For the time being I put a slip on recoil pad onto the stock. The stock itself is very solid and feels very natural to shoulder with a very soft pad. Another thing is the bolt handle pictured on their website is not actually the one that is on the rifle. Its large and easy to grab but I personally like the actual product to be like what’s in the photo.

Onto the range….. At our club we only have a 50 yard outdoor range so that was the extent of my shooting. The ammo I used was what I had on hand, Barnaul .223 steel cased Soft points and some Winchester .223 FMJ in a white box. A friend of mine was on the range shooting pistol so I started at 25 yrds just so see how it shoots. I had not adjusted the sights I left them as installed at the factory at about the mid point of the adjustment range. The magazine loads and inserts very easily, there is a little side to side play with it but I didn’t have any round fail to feed even holding the magazine. Actually shooting it was very pleasant I find the shape of the stock makes it quick to shoulder and find the rear sight. Recoil is practically non existent most likely due to the muzzle brake and weight of the rifle topping 7 lbs with no optics. I let my friend take a few shots and he was equally impressed but the short barrel and muzzle brake is a little obnoxious to stand near as a bystander. I had a few fail to eject with the steel case ammo but none with the brass cases. They would extract fully from the chamber but fail to come out of the action every now and then. Im not really attributing this to anything yet as I have only put 40 rounds through it. As for where the rounds went I was able to keep everything within a 4 inch bullseye standing. Which for me I was satisfied with. After a little while I moved back to 50 yrds and sat down with some sand bags. I am finding the same thing other 110 scout shooter have found and that is the rifle does shoot a little high. I lowered the rear sight down to its lowest setting and used a 6 o’clock hold on the 4” bullseye and again was able to keep all the rounds inside of it and even do just as well standing. I shoot a lot of handgun so often use the 6 o’clock hold so im used to it. Like I said it seems to shoot high but its manageable. I have read posts of how the .308 model is practically unusable with the irons so I was a little afraid of how it would shoot. Both types of ammo appeared to have the same POI. I can only imagine how well this rifle would shoot with a scope mounted. I never commented on the trigger yet but I have other Savages and the trigger on this one is just as good as my other ones.



Edit, this afternoon I found some Robertson screws and put in the appropriate spacer and took a bit off the bottom off the sight to drop it down a little lower to see if that helps.

[Robinhood]

Good write up. Thanks for taking the time to post your experience Ian.

[IanC]

I found there is not a lot of talk on the .223 model so I better start it.

[IanC]

Figured I might as well post again, its been a couple weeks since I got the rifle and have had 3 visits to the range so far, decided I'm going to keep the rifle....lol, although I do wheel and deal a lot so its not necessarily a joke. I picked up some longer screws since and added a spacer but find the butt pad is very narrow so ditched the spacers and went back to the Sims Vibration pad instead. Not really sure why Savage thinks anyone would want such a narrow pad on a rifle. Personally I find a wider pad makes it easier to locate the rifle on the shoulder plus there is little to no recoil with it in place. It literally feels like a .22 lr. I filed off some material from the bottom of the wedge on the sight and dropped it down 1/8th of an inch which didnt change much but like I said previously I am in the black at 50 yrds which works. I may complain to Savage some time but I dont want to send my rifle in right now, having too much fun. I received my MDT mags as well which work just fine but were a little thick at first and would not drop free. I contacted them and was told to just file them down. It did the trick and they work much better now but have to say they swell a bit when loaded so its best to change mags on a closed bolt but they feed very well. A great product and Canadian too. I took one of their mags and chopped it down to make a 5 round magazine which also works perfectly. As for my previous post about Cabela's sending me the wrong mag apparently their answer is that Savage does not supply a poly mag for the .223 model so they use a metal Accurate mag. Anyone else hear of this?