I personally feel the savage is a better rifle, with much more potential should you choose to add/change things later. Look at any of the longrange forums and see what allot of guys are building on and you'll see plenty of savages.


Yes, to clarify... I mean the savage 10/110 type rifles. Not the axis, axis2 etc... Between the axis and the ruger I'd probably take the ruger.
-Jake

Depends on the Savage...if the OP is looking at the Axis package then you won't be seeing any of those being built up for LR...

The OP previously mentioned the savage 11 trophy hunter. Which is a package deal with a scope. I assumed that's what he was referring to, not the Axis
-Jake

True, I missed that. Still, price wise it'll be over $500...so more then a Howa that has a much better stock and trigger lol but for some reason the Howa is getting overlooked on this thread.

Oh well, you can lead a horse to water...

I just have no experience with the howa. and try not to comment either way on things I have no experience with. I have shot the others, and owned several savages so can comment on them. I've actually recommended looking into howa to people in person based on what I've seen you write about them. Figure if it's good enough to keep you happy, it must be a decent rifle.
-Jake

I have looked at and asked around at the howa rifles. The just of it is many people recommend them but when asked about certain things have no answers or it doesn't come close to the savage. For example I've heard the howa are great actions but the stocks are cheap houge stocks no metal bedding. Mind you others say they are top of the line hogue stocks. Same thing with the scope never heard of the brand and no one seems to know anything about it.
I've looked around and savage seems to be the best package for the money, solid base with lots of options to upgrade when I can, Nikon pro staff scope that I can upgrade later as well. Since I was looking into that scope it makes sense to go with the savage package. Now just to decide if I want the model 11 or model 10

Basically the same action as a Weatherby Vanguard and also the Nosler rifle. The new two-stage trigger is very good for a factory gun also, but the older trigger is also pretty good. I personally can't shoot an Accu-Trigger. I'm too used to real triggers so it's very odd to me.

For under $300 (if you're patient), I haven't found anything that will compare...yet. I have full custom rifles, semi-custom, high end factory rifles and honestly, I grab my Howa .243 more then any of them.

I've seen the cheap stocks on the Howa and it's just an injection molded stock like on the Savage and Ruger, nothing special about any of them. The Howa I posted the link to comes with the Hogue, they are a love or hate stock. Pretty stiff, pretty heavy but durable and easy to carry. Some of them come with a Bansner, but of course they are more money.

My Uncle loves Savages so I get the "pleasure" of shooting them for him and they just seem cheap to me. They are usually pretty tho.

The optics aren't a big deal, they will all be fine for regular hunting and ALL would need an upgrade within a few years. For under $200 there's a lot of pretty good scopes out there. Burris, Bushnell and Vortex to name a few.

I would go to a shop and handle all of them, even more expensive rifles just to set a "baseline" then close your eyes and make a choice...

OI bought a Savage, horrible customer service, couldn't even send me a new clip when I was bitching about the one that came with the rifle not working. Had to send them a picture of the clip, they didn't know from the model number and serial number which one it took. I would buy a Used Remington 700, Winchester 70 or a Ruger 77 before I buy another Savage.


As some one else said after deer season is over you can pick up some real nice rifle and scope deals from the used market.


http://shop.williamsgunsight.com/mor...ucts.aspx&ai=M


http://shop.williamsgunsight.com/mor...ucts.aspx&ai=M


http://shop.williamsgunsight.com/mor...ucts.aspx&ai=M


http://shop.williamsgunsight.com/mor...ucts.aspx&ai=M


Just a example of the used market in one of my local gun shops.


:D Al

If you are not in a hurry and can wait for the scope until a sale comes along you can usually find a deal. Last summer I bought a "blemished" Leupold VX-1 3X9X40 from Midway for $150. Leupold had a $50 rebate going on so the scope cost me $100. These are good scopes with the best guarantee around. I could not find the blemish.

I'm not in a hurry. Won't have funds till tax season so I'm still looking around to prices and all that. I have looked in the used market the issue is will those same deals be there in February. I have looked into the leopold vx1 and found them for about 100 dollars or so. I don't mind upgrading but if I can get a package or used rifle with a scope already it's a bonus, where as the rifle without the scope will just sit in the safe until I get a scope.