Savage .... How disappointing

[6.5 shooter]

Well I am in month 16 of getting a rifle replaced from Savage.

Bought a 6mm BR for doing some 100-300yd shoot for score Bench rest League. Rifle worked fine with 105 gr. Lapua bullets even won a couple matches. Then things get ugly.

Thought I would shoot some lighter bullets for 700 yard gopher shooting ...WELL ..every bullet weight would blow up down range except 55 gr. Blitz Kings and the 105 bullets... all the "mid" weight bullets made it about 30 yards then poof white smoke.

So I had just happened to buy a bore scope so I take a look The bore looked like some one had use a D9 Cat to cut the rifling it was AWFUL. So on the Phone to Savage. No problem ship the rifle to Quebec and they will fix or replace.. Awesome ...well about 6 months go by nothing... Hummm... So I phone Savage leave phone messages, emails tried this for about 3 more months. Starting to get a bit cranky now. So finally get through the front line storm troopers and got a gal named Debbie (She was great) An hour later I get a call, well it seems the company in Quebec lost the rifle So she says a new one is on the way just have to wait for another run of Model 12 bench rest rifles to get assembled OK but what can you do.

So rifle number two shows up WELL it was worse then the first one there were metal fillings in the action, the bolt face had a ring around the firing pin like you get when you pierce a primer but this had a really bad case of it. Then on to the muzzle end ... the metal from the groves was actually pulled out from the face of the crown So 20 minutes later the rifle is back in the shipping box and back to Savage. Got ahold of Debbie (Direct line now) Send her pics tell her I am done want my money back ..Well I am sure you know what the answer was to that.

So yesterday Sixteen months later. Rifle number 3 shows up all seems good till I close the bolt .. RED AccuTrigger will not budge the red safety blade is a no go What the Heck! Finally play with it a bit and get the to release but fires when safety is released. So down to the gun room, strip the stock off ADJUST the new from factory trigger so the gun will function properly, Problem solved. Or so I thought.
Clean the bore and action today adjust the trigger so it is safer. Then try to load an empty case ...BOLT will not close ... Jiggle and fiddle and finally get the bolt closed on BRAND NEW LAPUA BRASS tried opening the bolt ..... won't open with normal hand pressure, So a couple taps with a rubber mallet bolt opens, OK maybe it was a bad case etc. 4 brand new cases same thing. So time for a closer look HUMMMM scratches on the case body, Sure enough the start of the chamber had brass filings on the edge...

So now what does one do now??? I guess I can gently buff the chamber or get a gunsmith to run a chamber tool in??? OR send it back and wait 16 more months.

But I can tell you one thing for sure, a $2000 dollar rifle that is suppose to be the flag ship of there target rifle line. If this is the best they can do, Savage will never see any of my money ever again, SIXTEEN months and 3 rifles all junk they need to hang their heads in shame.

6.5 Shooter

[marky_mark]

That sucks

[dennis47]

Originally Posted by 6.5 shooter

Well I am in month 16 of getting a rifle replaced from Savage.

Bought a 6mm BR for doing some 100-300yd shoot for score Bench rest League. Rifle worked fine with 105 gr. Lapua bullets even won a couple matches. Then things get ugly.

Thought I would shoot some lighter bullets for 700 yard gopher shooting ...WELL ..every bullet weight would blow up down range except 55 gr. Blitz Kings and the 105 bullets... all the "mid" weight bullets made it about 30 yards then poof white smoke.

So I had just happened to buy a bore scope so I take a look The bore looked like some one had use a D9 Cat to cut the rifling it was AWFUL. So on the Phone to Savage. No problem ship the rifle to Quebec and they will fix or replace.. Awesome ...well about 6 months go by nothing... Hummm... So I phone Savage leave phone messages, emails tried this for about 3 more months. Starting to get a bit cranky now. So finally get through the front line storm troopers and got a gal named Debbie (She was great) An hour later I get a call, well it seems the company in Quebec lost the rifle So she says a new one is on the way just have to wait for another run of Model 12 bench rest rifles to get assembled OK but what can you do.

So rifle number two shows up WELL it was worse then the first one there were metal fillings in the action, the bolt face had a ring around the firing pin like you get when you pierce a primer but this had a really bad case of it. Then on to the muzzle end ... the metal from the groves was actually pulled out from the face of the crown So 20 minutes later the rifle is back in the shipping box and back to Savage. Got ahold of Debbie (Direct line now) Send her pics tell her I am done want my money back ..Well I am sure you know what the answer was to that.

So yesterday Sixteen months later. Rifle number 3 shows up all seems good till I close the bolt .. RED AccuTrigger will not budge the red safety blade is a no go What the Heck! Finally play with it a bit and get the to release but fires when safety is released. So down to the gun room, strip the stock off ADJUST the new from factory trigger so the gun will function properly, Problem solved. Or so I thought.
Clean the bore and action today adjust the trigger so it is safer. Then try to load an empty case ...BOLT will not close ... Jiggle and fiddle and finally get the bolt closed on BRAND NEW LAPUA BRASS tried opening the bolt ..... won't open with normal hand pressure, So a couple taps with a rubber mallet bolt opens, OK maybe it was a bad case etc. 4 brand new cases same thing. So time for a closer look HUMMMM scratches on the case body, Sure enough the start of the chamber had brass filings on the edge...

So now what does one do now??? I guess I can gently buff the chamber or get a gunsmith to run a chamber tool in??? OR send it back and wait 16 more months.

But I can tell you one thing for sure, a $2000 dollar rifle that is suppose to be the flag ship of there target rifle line. If this is the best they can do, Savage will never see any of my money ever again, SIXTEEN months and 3 rifles all junk they need to hang their heads in shame.

6.5 Shooter

I can imagine what you going through

[Mayhem42]

I’ve shown the kids how to use the first empty 22 casing rim to hold the extractor down on their 22’s
I stopped buying factory rifles 10 years ago.

[huntwat]

It’s a savage. Not surprising. That is one of the 3 brands I refuse to purchase

[skidderman]

Approx 3 or 4 yrs ago I bought a new savage 22-250 with accutrigger. Price was good, what the heck. I used it a bit only on targets. One day I realize that from day one the safety didn't work. Took it apart & the screws were not even close. I adjusted it properly & been good since. Not sure I want another savage either. The kind of service you are getting is nuts.

[catnthehat]

Well that just sucks!
I have a friend who bought one of their model Fclass guns a few years back and the chamber was messed up.
It was replaced pronto.
My biggest issue with them is they keep changing series dimensions, just because it says model 10 or 12 does not mean anything anymore.
I have built match rifles on used Savage actions for years but will not go out of my way to buy a new one .
Cat

[270person]

No offense but Savage hasn't made a decent rifle for 25 years imo.

[tikka250]

I would either spin on a new prefit barrel or talk a Smith into touching up or re chambering it. I have the same rifle with 2 savage barrels rechambered to 6creed and 6dasher and they shoot awesome. So as long as you got a properly cut barrel it should shoot.

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by 6.5 shooter

Well I am in month 16 of getting a rifle replaced from Savage.

Bought a 6mm BR for doing some 100-300yd shoot for score Bench rest League. Rifle worked fine with 105 gr. Lapua bullets even won a couple matches. Then things get ugly.

Thought I would shoot some lighter bullets for 700 yard gopher shooting ...WELL ..every bullet weight would blow up down range except 55 gr. Blitz Kings and the 105 bullets... all the "mid" weight bullets made it about 30 yards then poof white smoke.

So I had just happened to buy a bore scope so I take a look The bore looked like some one had use a D9 Cat to cut the rifling it was AWFUL. So on the Phone to Savage. No problem ship the rifle to Quebec and they will fix or replace.. Awesome ...well about 6 months go by nothing... Hummm... So I phone Savage leave phone messages, emails tried this for about 3 more months. Starting to get a bit cranky now. So finally get through the front line storm troopers and got a gal named Debbie (She was great) An hour later I get a call, well it seems the company in Quebec lost the rifle So she says a new one is on the way just have to wait for another run of Model 12 bench rest rifles to get assembled OK but what can you do.

So rifle number two shows up WELL it was worse then the first one there were metal fillings in the action, the bolt face had a ring around the firing pin like you get when you pierce a primer but this had a really bad case of it. Then on to the muzzle end ... the metal from the groves was actually pulled out from the face of the crown So 20 minutes later the rifle is back in the shipping box and back to Savage. Got ahold of Debbie (Direct line now) Send her pics tell her I am done want my money back ..Well I am sure you know what the answer was to that.

So yesterday Sixteen months later. Rifle number 3 shows up all seems good till I close the bolt .. RED AccuTrigger will not budge the red safety blade is a no go What the Heck! Finally play with it a bit and get the to release but fires when safety is released. So down to the gun room, strip the stock off ADJUST the new from factory trigger so the gun will function properly, Problem solved. Or so I thought.
Clean the bore and action today adjust the trigger so it is safer. Then try to load an empty case ...BOLT will not close ... Jiggle and fiddle and finally get the bolt closed on BRAND NEW LAPUA BRASS tried opening the bolt ..... won't open with normal hand pressure, So a couple taps with a rubber mallet bolt opens, OK maybe it was a bad case etc. 4 brand new cases same thing. So time for a closer look HUMMMM scratches on the case body, Sure enough the start of the chamber had brass filings on the edge...

So now what does one do now??? I guess I can gently buff the chamber or get a gunsmith to run a chamber tool in??? OR send it back and wait 16 more months.

But I can tell you one thing for sure, a $2000 dollar rifle that is suppose to be the flag ship of there target rifle line. If this is the best they can do, Savage will never see any of my money ever again, SIXTEEN months and 3 rifles all junk they need to hang their heads in shame.

6.5 Shooter

I would get a hold of Debbie and tell her you need a test-fired and proven rifle delivered within the week or they can pay for the gunsmithing charges if they don't want to refund your money. 16 months of warranty is unacceptable. If they will not refund the money you will require a working rifle within a week. Pay to have somebody repair this rifle by their standards or get a proven rifle to me pronto. Those are the only choices. My patience has been stretched to the limit I will not wait months anymore.

That is the angle I would attack this from.

[Dean2]

I agree with Hyper. Make them pay to have it fixed locally. Three tries, they are out of chances to do it themselves.
Being left handed I actually own quite a few Savage rifles. All of them have shot excellent and I have never had to send one back. I also haven't bought a new one in about 8 years. sounds as though they have gone far downhill based on the OP's experience and the warranty response is past pathetic. Hope you get a satisfactory resolution.

[Full Curl Earl]

Originally Posted by HyperMOA

I would get a hold of Debbie and tell her you need a test-fired and proven rifle delivered within the week or they can pay for the gunsmithing charges if they don't want to refund your money. 16 months of warranty is unacceptable. If they will not refund the money you will require a working rifle within a week. Pay to have somebody repair this rifle by their standards or get a proven rifle to me pronto. Those are the only choices. My patience has been stretched to the limit I will not wait months anymore.

That is the angle I would attack this from.

Yeah, try that approach lol!

[6.5 shooter]

I did tell Debbie and others that I wanted a rifle, that had been inspected and worthy of the higher end dollar value and quality that one would expect from there "flagship" rifle. This is what I got

Never did like the look of Savages. But now I know they are ugly inside and out and their customer service and quality control are defiantly a thing of the past.

I may have Macgyvered a fix for the chamber? we will see what happens? Not sure if I can handle a look down the bore yet

Anyhow, forwarded is forearmed as they say. So if your looking to buy one of these Savages rifles be sure to inspect your purchase VERY carefully ... They are a joke.

[Glenn D]

Oh man that is a terrible experience i sure hope it works out for you. I purchased a savage 110 tactical in .308 about a year ago and it shoots great, sounds like i got lucky from what i have read. Sounds like quality control doesn’t exist with savage. I doubt i would buy another one from all the bad reviews i read.

[Dariouskater]

Wish I could say I hadn't had the same luck with my savage.
Bought a 10V/T with a heavy barrel a few years back.
Fired it once and everything locked up so tight I had to hammer a cleaning rod down the barrel to release the bolt.

Here is the story of what happened:

I bought my brand new rifle for Christmas.
March the weather clears enough to finally bring it out to shoot. So I load it up with top shelf ammunition and hit the range. 2 cases which failed to extract later and a call to a gun Smith and I find out my brand new rifle has a huge chamber burr that is locking my shell casings. I call the manufacturer who makes arrangements for me to get it brought back to cabelas for shipping to a warrenty repair center.
I bring it to Cabela's and leave it with "Manager1" who informs me that he will keep me updated and everything will be taken care of from there.
That's where it started to go down hill.
I dropped it off the last week of March. April 1st I received an email from "salesman2" stating they were contacting Savage and he would update me with a response when he received it. So far so good.
April 10th I still don't have a reply so I'm getting antsy and email asking for an update.
April 11th I get a message from "salesman2" Stating he finally got word back. Rifle will leave the store tomorrow. Perfect no problem.
April 23rd comes by and I still havnt gotten an update so I email back again asking what is happening.
The 24th I get a response stating to to "salesman2" having some family matters to attend to my rifle didn't leave the store until that very day.
So I email "Manager1" and ask what was going on and why it took 10 days after the rifle was supposed to be shipped before it actually was sent and why wasn't I notified.
He informed me that they were waiting on paperwork to be able to send the firearm. Makes sense the rifle is sent now so I'm happy to wait.
Fast forward to may 11th I still havnt received any updates so I ask what's going on.
"salesman2" follows up and the 16th I get a reply that they still havnt worked on it. They are At the beginning of April. Sounds good I have an idea on the time line now.
Wait another month and still no update. So June 9th I message asking for another update.
June 10th get a message from the warrenty center asking for a serial number because they can't find my rifle in their system.
By this point I'm upset.
June 11th still no information so I email again and ask them to confirm that they do indeed have my rifle.
June 12th I get an update that they have the rifle but it has not been repaired yet.
By this point I've ruled out the cabelas staff entirely. I can't rely on them to get an update or answer at all. So I'm talking to the gretch staff directly through our email chain.
June 19th still no update so again I send off for an update.
June 20th still negative. So I wait another week and ask again.
July 1st I receive an update that the rifle is back at cabelas and ready to finally be picked up.
July 2nd I head to the store. It's been a long drawn out process and I just want to finally get to shooting my "new" rifle.
I finally get to the counter and give the sales associate my information and the rifle information.
He goes into the back and comes back out empty handed asking me to provide more information on the rifle.
He goes back again and again comes back out empty handed saying he can't find the rifle. I'm freaking out by this point because yet again my rifle is lost.
I produce pictures of the rifle and serial number and again give him the model information.
This time he comes back out with the rifle. Finally.
I inspected it. Everything checks out so I finally have my rifle.

Long drawn out process and I still wasnt done with it.

I have since had to completely replace the extractor pin, spring, and bearing because primary extraction was failing. Also had to replace the bolt knob because of how stiff the original made working the bolt.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[6.5 shooter]

Dariouskater

Wow ... I thought my chamber was rough...LOL ... Mine has the same ridges as yours at 6 o'clock and 1 o'clock, mine are smaller in size but nearly identical to yours plus the chamber walls have long horizontal gouges running nearly half the length. The bore actually looks pretty fair minus the alligator tracks running from valley to lands in a several places (4-6 inches in length). Also found what look like the shavings (like you would get when you sharpen a pencil) at the the area where your case mouth butts up against the throat (3 of them) I am not sure if they are gouge or raised but I am afraid if I do fire a round I will have to do as you did to get the brass out of the chamber ( if they are raised then bullet release will be dramatically affected)
I also found that where the barrel and receiver screw together there are pieces of metal in the gap.

Sad that a company who prides themselves on "rifles that win matches" allows stuff like this out the door.

[AI 6.5]

You get what you pay for, I learned the hard way. Will never waste my money on a Savage again.

[Arty]

Savage rifles aren't supposed to be perfect out of the box. You're supposed to buy the action and potentially bottom metal separately, have it (re)barreled with a match-grade one, replace the red plastic trigger with an aftermarket one, and have it mounted on an adjustable stock like something from MasterClass.

The only advantage the LRPV had was it had the only magazine-fed 6BR Norma from a regular manufacturer, and you could rebarrel it yourself with a Savage barrel wrench. For a single-shot there are a lot more options.

Currently the only mag-fed 6BR I know of is a Tubb tube gun, or Eliseo HP:
https://www.gotxring.com/high-power/
https://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek016.html

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by Full Curl Earl

Yeah, try that approach lol!

It won't work everytime but it has worked for me more times than not. Also having record of such scenarios shows you were willing to reasonably work them before a small claims suit is launched. After 18 months of warranty with no end in site almost any arbitrator will side with him without even having to go to trial.

[Trochu]

Did you buy it at Canadian Tire?

Sorry for your trouble.

[mstefoniuk]

and quality is not remotely close to what they were years ago...very poorly made.

[Coulee]

By now you have at least $2000.00 damage to their reputation and future income. That won't help you hit a target, but it might help your mental health. Unfortunately, you have to spend a lot of money these days to get the quality that used to be affordable.

[Dean2]

The number of good to high quality factory rifles has certainly dropped the last few years but there are still quite a few. Tikka, Sako, Browning, Ruger, winchester, Weatherby, Vangaurd, Howa to name just a few still offer good quality at reasonable to mid priced options.

[fps plus]

For me I keep my eyes open for older guns that were made of decent quality. Which for me is FN , Husquvarna , Browning’s , Sako ,winchester, Ruger. Etc I have not bought a new for many years. Plastic parts do not appeal to me . There seems to be a lack of pride in the quality of workmanship these days .

[Coulee]

Originally Posted by fps plus

For me I keep my eyes open for older guns that were made of decent quality. Which for me is FN , Husquvarna , Browning’s , Sako ,winchester, Ruger. Etc I have not bought a new for many years. Plastic parts do not appeal to me . There seems to be a lack of pride in the quality of workmanship these days .

Got that right.

[YoteStopper]

I recently received my 7-08 back from Savage, it shot groups so inaccurate it was comical. Certainly the worst shooting rifle I have personally owned. Initially I sent it in to Gretch, came back after a few months and was somewhat better but still not what I consider acceptable. No paperwork or indication that anything was done to it but it was somewhat better. Savage eventually got back to my complaint and advised to send it to the plant where their smith could check into it. When it came back it had a new barrel, was reblued and they gave me a free magazine. Have yet to shoot it but hopeful the issue was fixed.

[liketoshoot]

Good info here, I was planning on a new rifle and was eyeing up a Savage but will take that off the list.

Best of luck

[Positrac]

Wow. That’s very disappointing.

I bought a new Savage 110 Storm Lightweight for $950 tax in last fall. It was an affordable lightweight stainless rifle with a removable mag so I decided to give it a shot not really expecting much. At 5-1/2 pounds there is nothing close in price in that kind of weight. I mounted a Leupold VX-II 3-9 Ultralight in Talleys and the whole thing comes in at 6.23 pounds. Well, I was impressed. The thing shoots 3 shots under an inch at 100 yards with a couple different factory loads. Still a pretty fugly rifle but it’s a tool that works for the intended purpose. Sounds like I got lucky though.

[KPIKE]

Absolute Junk
would never spend a penny on this brand ever again

[6.5 shooter]

Well I finally heard back from a Nick White @Savage, well after 45 minutes of trying to explain to the guy which end of the rifle the bullet came out of. I was given the "advice " that I needed to buy Factory Lapua rounds ( which of course Savage would not supply ) and fire them in the rifle BECAUSE that is what they used to test fire the rifle. ( I am still not sure how they ever got a round into the rifle to test fire it ?? ) And that somehow the "neck" on the empty case I was using were somehow causing the issue because it had no projectile in it ?? ( I did load a projectile with Wilson dies after full length sizing, trimming etc. just to be sure and guess what the problem was still there Surprise, surprise, surprise)

Anyhow long story short. I got an email today from Nicholas White and his "Master Gunsmith" in Canada saying all the stuff was just cosmetic and there where no issues with the rifle in their "expert opinion". (I sent a 10 minute video and stills of the raised mountains in the mouth of the chamber which their "Master gunsmith" also reviewed and saw no issues with. LOL)

I finally repaired the issue myself with some careful honing of the chamber, now the rifle feeds and functions as it should.

Sad state of affairs when one must FIX several problems on a new ( flagship ) rifle BEFORE it is able to even fire a single round. Sad indeed!

So needless to say Savage will never see another dime of my money. A good reputation in the firearms industry goes a long ways But one build on inferior workmanship and even poor customer service goes even farther.