a vanguard or howa is an excellent rifle. Triggers could be better but other than that they are good guns. Keep in mind savages are american made, the vanguard and howa's are japs. Nothing wrong with that I own both. Come to think of it though, none of them have factory barrels on them, my oldest howa was a 308 for probably 20 years and a couple of years ago I decided the barrel was shot out so I changed it.