You don’t need a budget like the Trump family’s to get a high quality, reliable, super-accurate hunting rifle. Here’s an article I did in 2008 for Backwoods Home magazine on the Savage 110 series.
The Savage catalog has descendants of the Model 110 series today that are better than ever. Anti-gun novelist Evan Hunter, who wrote the 87th Precinct series of police procedural novels, once wrote that “Savage” was a good name for a gun. Apparently he didn’t bother to research it: a man named Arthur Savage was the company’s founder.
I bought a stainless steel synthetic stock Savage in .30-06 that came complete with a 3-9x scope. The trigger on that thing (this is in the long-ago) was horrifically bad. I couldn’t get a sub-six-inch group at 100 yards simply because by the time I was done pulling that trigger I was always moving the crosshairs. But the Savages were known for crappy triggers back then and there were plenty of after-market options.
I bought a Timney adjustable trigger and had a gunsmith install it for me for a minor charge ($25, I think) and had him set the trigger at a 3-pound pull. He tried to measure the trigger pull of the factory one beforehand, but his scale only went up to 12 pounds, so I don’t really know exactly HOW bad that thing was. He did the pogo-stick testing to make sure that even with that light a pull it was still drop-safe. Groups instantly shrank to just under 1″.
I’ve had that thing for decades, and it’s been bounced around the woods, out in the rain, in sub-zero temperatures with the snow falling, and it’s never let me down. The stock has been beaten up so much that the end-cap of the pistol grip got busted off when I slipped on some rocks. But it still holds zero and will put a 180-grain Federal Nosler Partition right where I want it every time out to the limits of my shooting ability (which is now only about 200 yards).
I grew up in the Soviet Socialist State of MN and so I learned stand-hunting. We’re now in NW Wyoming but I haven’t done any hunting here. But if I do, that good old Savage in ought-six is capable of taking any game around here, from pronghorn, mule deer, and up to elk if I could get close enough.
.308, synthetic stock and weatherized barrel for mine, with the 3-9×40 scope pre-installed. It’s several years old now, but new enough that it came with the “AccuTrigger” feature; basically a Glock-style split-trigger safety — the tab in the center of the trigger is light enough that a negligible amount of spring pressure keeps it from moving if the rifle is dropped, but adds almost nothing to the overall trigger pull. (I believe the factory sets the overall trigger weight to 3.5 or 4 pounds; I’ve never had a reason to adjust it.)
The rifle is definitely more accurate than I am, and didn’t break the bank to acquire.
I have owned a number of Savage rifles over the years and all displayed very good to excellent accuracy. All were/are used as back-up/loaner deer rifles and provided good service. I’ve even helped several new hunters sight in budget Axis rifle packages and all were capable of good accuracy.
Apparently he didn’t bother to research it: a man named Arthur Savage was the company’s founder.
Kinda like how many anti-gun people think the “AR” in AR-15 stands for “Assault Rifle”?
Or how they think it’s a “military-style” weapon … which was based on a model developed for the civilian market and sold as a semi-auto-only sporting rifle for years before the U.S. military asked to demo a select-fire variant?
With respect to former President Reagan, it’s not that our anti-gun friends are ignorant, they just know so much that isn’t so.
Thanks for warning that I need to boycott Evan Hunter’s novels (I already have way too damn many other books to catch up on anyway), Mas!
I have an old 111 that with Federal Fusion ammo will drive tacks and has filled my freezer with deer for over a decade now. Great product that I bought used and has never failed me in the field.
Forgive them, for they are stupid!
Yep, I got a Mossberg with a 3×9 for cheap, and it’s accurate as heck!
I have a 110 FP with a heavy barrel that will put 10 shots @ 100 into a group that is less than 0.500″ all day with Fed GM168. I did install an aftermarket trigger and replaced the stock but no other mod’s. Most accurate rifle I have ever owned.
Still have three Savage rifles. I had four but gave grandpas model 99 to my niece to keep it in the family, now on to it’s fourth generation of folks. All great guns in their own way, at the pricepoint. I love Savage rifles!