I notice on every Savage rifle post usually one will show up to bash them when someone is thinking of buying one.I agree to disagree with them but will say compare apples to apples and you won' t find a better deal than a Savage rifle for dollars spent bar none.All this gritty/sloppy bolt and ugly barrel nut talk is kinda superficial and if thats the best shot you can take(pun) have at it.Savages are reasonable,accurate to the point of making custom gun owners jealous,strong,and very trouble free.I' ve used them for almost 40 years first cause they were all I could afford and now because they shoot better than most all the others and have NEVER let me down, even once.If you take any new gun and lap the bolt into the action for a few minutes and then oil and lube the bolt and lugs and simply work it about 100 times it will smooth up to where its slicky smooth whether Savage or Remington or Winchester.I would hope a big dollar semi custom rifle would already have had this done to it for some of that extra money []you spend.The rifle I posted the above groups with cost me $550 and I' ve got $37.50 in a skim bed job so far and thats it.The bolt responded to my above mentioned treatment and is plenty smooth while it shots as good or better than guns costing many times more than it did.Looks? Well I' ll let you decide how ugly it is with this pic.

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.

Sloppy Sloppy Sloppy!!

Grow up.

I own a few Savage rifles and find them pretty good but I wouldn' t say they are anymore accurate than most of the other guns out there . The statement that they are the most accurate out of the box is easy to say but would be hard to prove ,and as far as I know nobody ever has .

I have a 243 savage allso , simply put it is the most accurate rifle I' ve shot , with the proper load . It likes 100 grain federal premiums , will not shoot 90 grain winchesters worth a dam . These guns are excellent , by the way my friend had a colt he paid more for , what a peice of junk .

Hey TNRed where are you? (Jackson, TN here) Dont let the naysayers boosheut you, the Savages are FINE guns. Sure they had their rough years, they arent the ONLY gunmaker to do so! My brother has 3 stores in Memphis and Jackson and since he opend the first one in 1985 we have seen a HUGE turn around in SAVAGE.
A good freind of mine who I got hooked on deer hunting just 2 years bought a 308 Patriot (SA Lazzeroni) Savage before last season. He listened to me and put a QUALITY scope on it (3x12x56 Kahles) and the first deer he wacked with it was over 300 yds (laser ranged). I finished sighting the gun in for him before a hunt in Missouri, it kicks like a MULE (MUCH harder than my Sako/Lazzeroni Warbird, but I have a KDF brake and the Savage is so much lighter).
That gun feels SWEET and carries awesome especially for a cannon like Patriot. If I hadnt already gotten my Sako back in 99 (was a first run) that Savage WOULD be in my safe now!
Are they $4k rifles? No, but they will do anything with guns up to twice their price range. With modern mfgring techniques, quality factory ammo and superior optics, the case for spending thou$and$ on a deer rig gets smaller each year. Under $500 rifles ARE a great decision now days, dont let some armchair gunsmith/ballastician tell you otherwise. Do the wise thing and spend your money on the quality optics. The VariXII 3x9x40 (or 50!) will be a GREAT tube for the Savage and will do you for anything on this continent under 400yds. The gun/scope WONT be the weaklink, it will be the shooters bullet choice and abilities!!!

Good luck and, " Drop em where they stand" [:-]
RA