ORIGINAL: driftrider
Like I said, the advantages are mostly economic and housekeeping. The max loads with smokeless don't exceed the velocity from 150gr charges of powders like T7 by enough of a margin to be meaningful. But smokeless is MUCH cheaper to shoot, . . . .
Secondly, cleanup is MUCH easier. . . . .
But in terms of advantage in the field, followup shots are no faster. . . .
Some anti-smokeless folks claim that the Savage is too "flat-shooting". The truth is that, while the Savage can get a 300gr bullet going about 2300fps, . . . the only true advantage is that many Savage shooters are more willing to shoot full throttle loads because the reduced ejecta (due to less powder mass) significantly reduced recoil compared to "magnum" T7 loads. . . . .
If you decide to get the Savage, I don't think you'll be disappointed. . . .
Mike
Lots of good points from driftrider. I would only want to add the following: True you can get similar velocities as
standard Savage loads with BP/Substitutes and 150gr of powder, but hardly anyone ever does simply because the recoil is painful. Most folk will use 80 to 100 grain of BP/Subs and have a velocity of only 1600 to 1800fps to have a pleasant shooting load with the same bullet.
My standard load of 43gr of 4759 pushes a 250gr bullet about 2250fps. It is relatively mild in recoil. If I did the same with BP/Subs I would have to use 150+gr of powder, which adds about 110gr to the total weight pushed out of the barrel. That is like shooting a 360gr bullet at 2250fps and that just plain hurts! If I really want to, I can change to 4198 powder and easily get 2600fps out of that same 250gr bullet with a similar recoil to the 2200fps BP load. If I really wanted to go crazy (I don't) there are safe loads that will push that same 250gr bullet to near 3000 fps with the Savage, but unless you really enjoy pain, what the heck do you need it for?
The cleanup is much easier and the cost per shot lower with the Savage. It is more consistent shot-to-shot because of the lower fouling and if you forget to clean it after your last range/hunting trip you don't find a corrosion build-up when you finally get around to it.
Lastly, and most important to me, when you shoot a deer at dawn with a bit of fog and no wind you don't have to wait two minutes after your shot to see which way the deer might have gone if it did not per chance drop in its tracks. This happened to me last year and was the most compelling reason for me to go smokeless. I can not endure the thought of losing an injured animal because I couldn't see if it had been hit or not and don't have a clue as to which direction to search.
As far as legislation on smokeless powder is concerned, Florida is an anomaly. Most of the states that have recently changed rules have gone the other way, taking the powder used out of their regulations except that it be a type recommended by the manufacturer. If we make our choice only on what rules might be changed
in the future we would all be buying nothing but long bows and flintlocks.
As Mike said, "If you decide to get the Savage, I don't think you'll be disappointed. . . . "