To be a big game rifle the (lets assume a bolt action) rifle must be adequate in size.....this means almost anything from the 26 calibers and up.

It must have reasonable accuracy.....lets say 1.25" groups or there abouts.

It must extract the fired rounds and toss them freely away from the action so that the next round can be fed into the chamber.

It must reliably feed a new round into the chamber without fail and the bolt must lock it into firing stance.

The trigger must be adjustable or at least in reasonable order...(the new accutrigger does this well)

The safety must work reliably.....it must render the firing pin unattached to the trigger mechanism when on. It must allow the gun to fire when off.

The bolt must open and close reliably.

Folks.....the last two Savage rifles didn't ccome remotely close to matching anything but the accuracy requirements!!!!!...Yes...since then the accutrigger has gained them a lot....but they still have a long ways to go.

I had safeties refuse to render the gun to not fire.....I've had cartridges fly out of the action when trying to chamber a round.....I've had the bolt rotate on me in such a manner it would not close.....now that is not a big game rifle....not for anything I'd hunt here or anywhere on the planet.

I've actually seen folks sit at the range with their Savage and have feeding trouble and actually ignore it....thinking this is normal and expected.....but look at a great group and smile.....the smile that says.....this is a great rifle. Not at all relevant that they must help the feeding when they chamber a new round.....by taking the rifle from the shoulder and watch to insure it's working right....then using the other hand help it out and finally get off the second shot.

In all fairness it's been a while since I've fired a Savage bolt action.....I had a friend that was left handed and we got him a .223 and a .22-250 left hand bolt rifle from Savage for varminting....he used them as single shots as neither of them fed worth a crap!!!.....nor did we care.....accuracy was superb.....and that was we wanted......

Maybe Savage has fixed all these things.......but I post my experiences....if yours is different you should do the same.....but every time I read...they're an accurate gun I think.....ok...but what about the rest of it?.....

As far as I'm concerned.....Savage has a long ways to go as a hunting rifle.....

Now the Savage 99....well...that's another story.....there's a fine gun!!!!

It just plain works for me. But my hands won't handle a lever anymore!!~!