If you consider savage actions to be sloppy then I guess you' ve never handled a M98 mauser. It' s got the " sloppiest" action of them all, by design. It' s also the standard by which all other bolt actions are judged. What matters is the lockup, how much slop the action has when it' s not in battery is strictly a matter of personal preference. If you want the bolt to cycle without a hint of play that' s fine, but beware that an action like that isn' t going to tolerate field conditions very well. A loose action like the M98 will handle dirt and grit much better.

There is a valid comparison to made between savage and Colt Sauer, Dakota, Sako, Weatherby Mark V, that' s in accuracy. Most likely the savage will outshoot all of them by a fair margin.