Savage 111 Questions

[shedhunt]

I am putting this out to everyone to get some feed back. I have never owned or shot a Savage firearm, but have seen on here, a lot of Savage lovers.

So, I would like to know if the Savage 111 is a good model. I am not looking to do anything with it but hand it off for a present as a hunting rifle.

Please send me all your thoughts, information, likes/dislikes and any other information you may have.

Thank you,,,

 

[CogburnR]

I bought one in 6.5x284,mainly for target shooting.

It is accurate but if I put three cartridges in the magazine and stroke it firmly a cartridge will pop up out of the magazine resulting in two cartridges trying to go into one chamber. I asked Savage about it and they said they would look at it if I sent it in. I just load two in the magazine when hunting with it. Savage did replace the stock which was peeling.

I usually use a controlled round feed rifle for hunting like my Kimber or Winchester.

 

[shedhunt]

Thank you, that doesn't sound like a good thing for a hunting rifle. I am curious if others have had the same issue.

 

[yorke-1]

I've had 27 different Savage actions, so this is my experience (the 110, 111, 112, 114, and 116 are all the same long action and the 10, 11, 12, and 16 are all short actions).

Older Savages used what they called a staggered feed magazine. Those worked pretty well with standard cases (223, 308, 30-06 and belted mag). The newer guns use a center feed design which works better for almost all calibers (I still think the 223 case works better from a staggered feed). The problem with the 6.5x284 is the rebated rim. I had a 338/284 on a Savage center feed which was a little finicky some times. If you work the action too briskly, the bolt will slide right over the small rebated rim. I've never had feeding problems using other cases out of a Savage action (from 223 up to the RUM cases)Savage made a sort of controlled round feed for a while, but I don't think they do any more. It was very close to Winchester's controlled round push feed.

I think that Savage make a great hunting rifle. They are simple, reliable, light weight, accurate, and reasonably priced. They have some pretty good specialty models as well with special stock, barrel, and caliber combinations. I have to say, the most accurate factory gun I've ever shot and the most accurate gun I've ever owned was my LRPV in 22-250. It was an honest sub .25 MOA gun which would do better than that on most days, and regularly creep in to the high .1's. I've only shot a few customs (locally) which would do better. Not bad for an $850 factory gun!

The only action I like better for a hunting gun is the Ruger 77 Hawkeye.

Andrew

 

[shedhunt]

Andrew,

Thank you so much for the great information. This is exactly why I put this out there on a thread, for individuals like you who have had years of experience with the Savage firearms. This will definitely help me in my decision on the hunting rifle that I choose.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have 3 Savages and my favorite has to be the 11 Lightweight Hunter in 308. It's a great deer rifle, works on Mulies too.

It's not the most accurate rifle I own but for out of the box accuracy and a simple design and great trigger (Accutrigger) it's hard to beat. 3 in 2 holes at 100 yards is all I need anyway. The kilkl zone on a whitetail (or mulie) is a lot larger than the 9 ring on a paper target.

I want a lightweight, medium length barreled woods gun that I can carry all day and the 11 Lightweight fits that bill perfectly. Besides, it's inexpensive enough that if I had to use it as a walking stick, I wouldn't feel too bad.

I'm a tad over 8.5 pounds with a Vortex PST 4.5-16 and 4 in the magazine.

I realize it's not a big brusier but I'm over 60 and I don't want to lug around a tank anyway. If I want to 'tank' it, I have a Savage and a Sako in 338. Both are tanks.

I think the only distraction to the rifle is the walnut stock.; It's really nice furniture but I really need a MacMillan snot stock... and I'll have one this summer.

Wood stocks are pretty but not practical on a knock around woods rifle.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I think I'll add that all 3 of my Savages all suffer from the same issue and that is you can short stroke the bolt. It has to come all the way back and then lock. Short stroking won't feed a round, just a little quirk and something I'm used to.

 

[Gunpoor]

I bought a Savage 111 in 270Win several years ago off of gunbroker.com that had a Boyd's laminated stock and Timney trigger. When I received the rifle it looked brand new and I loved it but it wouldn't feed worth a hoot. I saw that the feed lips of the magazine had been jimmied with so I ordered and installed a new mag box. This helped very little so I dremeled the feed ramp to a shallower angle and this helped a lot but still wasn't quite right, so then I used a sanding block and sanded the cartridge guide flutes in the mag follower so that it tucked the cartridges into the feed lips on the magazine further and " voila", it feed like a dream come true. This rifle is a .25 MOA gun and is now owned by the oldest son, as I gave it away. It was worth all the aggravation it caused me and made Adam grin till his cheeks hurt when he shot it at the range.

 

[shedhunt]

Dennis,

If I go this route and need some more instructions on exactly what you did, I will look you up. Thank you for the feed back, you are not the first to tell me the same thing about feeding issues.