I took delivery today of a Savage 16 Varminter with a 20 inch fluted barrel from Bud's today. The rifle had a "Cabela's Exclusive" sticker on the butt-stock . . . overstock at Cabela's? Dunno, but the price was sure right: $443 delivered. Here is Bud's listing:

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/...SSSYN+20%5c%22

No connection to Bud's here except as a satisfied customer. True confession: I had not checked the specs (or picture) closely enough before purchasing, which is funny, because I certainly viewed the page at Bud's enough times. Still, we see what we want to see. The rifle has a smooth barrel nut and a "bottom" bolt release in front of the trigger guard. Looks like I will finally be able to use the "other end" of the barrel nut wrench sitting in my work-room.

The rifle comes with stainless scope bases that match the receiver installed, which was a nice surprise. The rifle sits in an Accustock w/aluminum bedding block -- which I was not expecting for the price. Also a nice surprise. I had purchased it with the thought of converting it to a .222, but I thought I would take it out today and shoot it stock, just to see how it all came together. I tried to fit a Sinclair F-class bipod to the front stud, but the two did not want to play nicely together. I wound up shooting it off a Bull's Bag supported by a plywood riser to get it to a comfortable height. I was using a Muller 8.5-32x44 scope that has Warne QD rings on it -- just to get it sighted in. Ran out of left adjustment on the scope turrets at 50 yards with Fiocchi 40 grainers. Maxed out and POI was still two inches to the right. Hmmmm. Could be the rings. I will try another scope/ring set up to see what gives. The scope has worked well on a variety of other rifles, though. D&T holes for the scope bases off-axis? Will have to double-check. The trigger is Savage's standard Accutrigger, which I have come to really like. It breaks crisply and trigger pull is on the lower end of what you would expect for a light hunting rifle.

Light was failing and it was getting cold, so I just shot two groups of three shots each with 55 grain Outback ammo. Groupings under an inch at 100 yards! I am sure it will do better with hand-loads. Overall, I am very pleased. Particularly at the price, it is lightweight and very accurate out of the box with factory ammo. Kind of what I have come to expect from Savage's mid-range centerfire rifles. Now the dilemma: how to justify tinkering with a rifle that does well out of the box. . . .