• Cast Savage 110 Actions? Yes, They Do Exist!


    Question:
    I recently stumbled across an older Savage 110 unlike any I have seen before. It appeared to have Weaver-style scope bases on it, but they appeared as if they were part of the receiver rather than bolted on. I looked closer thinking maybe it had paint covering the seam, but no, they were integrated into the receiver. Can anyone shed some light on this unusual Savage 110?


    Answer: What you found is one of the rare cast 110 receivers that Savage briefly experimented with in 1988 or 89. These were made back in the "dark days" right after Savage filed for bankruptcy protection and were reorganizing. It was an attempt to cut production costs that never panned out. According to Bob Greenleaf, a retired engineer at Savage, what sounded like a good idea at the time proved to be more trouble than it was worth as they had persistent problems with porosity, bad finishes and warping. It is generally recommended to avoid purchasing rifles with these cast receivers if at all possible due to those issues.


    Photo's sourced by forum member Frontier Gear via a post on another forum

    During this time Savage also experimented with casting the recoil lug as part of the action as well. The following was posted by Fred Moreo (aka sharpshooter) in response to a member posting the photo below depicting one such action.

    Photo's sourced by forum member Frontier Gear vai a post on another forum



    Quote Originally Posted by sharpshooter
    Looking at that picture jogged my memory about a conversation I had with Bob Greenleaf several years ago. We were discussing when Savage Arms switched to casting receivers and he did happen to mention something about them casting the recoil lug into the receiver. He also said for some reason it caused a problem interfering with a drill fixture and the lug would not cast square enough so they ended up turning the lugs off the receiver face and went back to a stamped lug.

    According to Bob only the very first batch Savage had cast in `88 had the integral recoil lug. From the way he spoke about them it was my assumption that none of the integral lug receivers ever got out to the public.

    He also mentioned that there were about four different versions of the cast receivers, with one being a "unisex" version that had the high side of the port on both sides which could later be finish milled to make it a right or left hand receiver. I have actually seen one of those raw castings as it was on display at a casting companies booth at the SHOT Show several years ago and the sales rep. for the booth had no clue what it was. The main idea behind the "unisex" receiver was to reduce warpage by having an equal amount of mass on each side, but the one I saw still looked like a banana.

    One version had the scope bases silver brazed to the receiver, and the last version had the bases spot welded.

    Late in 1989, they realized that due to all of the associated problems with the cast receivers they were not saving any money so they went back to machining the receivers from billet stock.