Every gun' s a great gun if its free!
If someone gave me a Remington 597, it would be a great gun too. If I had to pay for it, then it would be the piece of crap that it is.
Savages seen to nice enough guns for the money. They may not be as pretty as their more expensive cousins, but they' ve got it where it counts. I' m looking forward to getting the Savage model 12 22-250 as a varmint/coyote gun I' m currently saving for. I' m going to to get the cheapest blue/black composite version and spray paint it camoflague (Varmint Al is my artistic inspiration) rather than spending big bucks on a pretty Realtree stock. That way I can take the money I save on a fancy stock and finish and put it toward a nice scope and a reloading setup.
Mike