Muley, I suggest you do everything you can to personally handle a Savage before you buy one. I had a friend who ordered one back when they were the hot item. He waited anxiously quite a while for it to arrive. He shot it a few times but sold it before I got a chance to see and handle it myself. When I asked him why he sold it he said that while it shot well it was too heavy and bulky for his taste.

Anytime.

I use mostly loads that produce 33K PSI or less and can do it with a low standard deviation and extreme spread. Peak FPS/FPE are not the reasons i like SMLS. There are guys that want that but where i hunt it isnt needed.

Semi,
I'll try, but I live in a small town with not much opportunity.

It has to feel lighter than a GPR, and I like that.

I'm looking for all the advantages it has. I've mostly up close in timber most of my life. I'll continue to do that in ML season. However, I want to try some longer range hunting. There's certainly lots of that around here. I figured a smokeless ML would have a better chance of pulling it off. Then when I want a soft recoiling gun I have that too. Cleaning has never been an issue with me. I'm looking for performance now, and a softer shooting gun when I can't take anymore recoil. At my age. That's not far away.

I may not currently hunt with my Savage BUT i have worked up some nice loads.

NULA
Barnes 225gr XPB at 2300fps+
Parker 275gr BE at 2250fps
Both are very pleasant to shoot

Savage 50cal
325gr FTX at 2150fps and at 2300fps with another powder. This bullet can easily go faster in the Savage. The 2150fps load isnt too bad. The 2300fps load will wake you up a little. I use the same amount of powder in the 45cal Pacnor conversion for convenience and get 2600-2650fps with a 200gr.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'll probably stick with my Knights, but the smokeless guns are definitely intriguing. If there's a chance of blowing something up, with my luck I'll do it. I can tear up an anvil.

They don't build anvils like they used to.

Just my opinion but I think if you can bulge a smokeless barrel, chances are you can bulge a black powder barrel. It all comes back to being cautious and careful. A double load is a double load is a double load.

I just can't see any advantages of BP guns over a smokeless unless BP is just what you like personally. So in a way you can say that it is just a personal preference but as far as performance along with other things go the smokeless won't be beat by the BP.

You're probably right, but it's hard to get a smokeless ML that I can't use in ML season unless I use BP. Kind of defeats the whole idea of getting it. I'm ok with using it in rifle season, but it would be nice to use it all the time for what it's made for.