Savage Arms Archives – TopGunReview

Savage 110 Review

Imagine for a moment that it is around 1957, your name is Nicholas Brewer and you work for Savage Arms. Your boss walks into the office one day and says “Nick, we need you to design a bolt action rifle for us. This gun has to be as accurate and dependable as the stuff already out there and you have to figure out some way to make it cheaper. Oh, by the way, don’t violate any existing patents and make it flexible enough that we don’t have to ever retool.” Most folks would take out the want ads and start looking for a new gig.

The Savage 110 was what Brewer came up with and it really did meet all the requirements. Borrowing from a few existing designs, Brewer created a push feed, dual-opposed lug action with a rotating extractor and enclosed bolt face. The bolt head itself was separated from the rest of the bolt body and held in place by a through pin. The 110 also had a few features geared towards ease in production that were all new. The barrel was headspaced by a big lock nut and threaded into the receiver. The receiver itself could be produced from a single piece of seamless tubing and stamped parts were used wherever possible. The use of a separated bolt head (which had never really been tried on a commercial rifle) made the bolt lugs essentially self-lapping and resulted in great accuracy without added machining. The end result was a rifle that could easily compete on the range and blow the completion away on a sporting goods store gun rack.

The number of incarnations and variants that Savage has produced on the 110 action over the years would fill an entire page. In essence, they are all the same sturdy, affordable unit that Brewer designed and they all work pretty well. Savage has even farmed this action out in the form of the Stevens 200 rifle, which has met with great success. The 110 is Savage’s go-to action and by whatever designation it is called will be around for a long time to come.

The 110 lost points a few points in our comparison for: ergonomics, due to a sometimes sloppy-feeling bolt throw, feeding/extraction, due to occasional jamming in feeding. Also reliability, due to the action’s rather high number of parts that, however rarely, do still fail, and fit/finish, due to Savage’s well-known commitment to sacrificing aesthetics in the name of accuracy and cost control. All of the 110’s foibles are well known to 110 owners, but most either don’t care, or stop caring, when they discover how well their surprisingly affordable rifle shoots.

Ranked #6 of 7 in our Best Bolt Action Rifle Comparison

Savage Axis Review

With the Savage Axis we see yet another repackaging of Savage’s previous highly successful bolt action rifles. The Axis does have a few differences though. The first thing noticeably different is the safety, which has been moved back to the tang. Tang safeties seem to be making a comeback in rifle designs and whether the tang safety is better or worse than any other is largely a matter of preference. If you are used to a tang safety from your favorite shotgun, then this is an added convenience.

The ejection port of the Axis is something of an oddity in the Savage line. The port is enclosed on top and looks smaller overall. Naturally, the port is plenty big enough for ammunition to get through, so the change appears to be largely aesthetic. Normally ejection ports are made smaller to stiffen up receivers and add accuracy in benchrest-type rifles. The smaller port may make the Axis negligibly more accurate, but in a sporter package it’s hard to say if anyone will notice.

In our comparison, the Axis only pulled top ratings in the areas of recoil (it has a pretty decent recoil pad) and accuracy (because it shoots as well as any other Savage). All other ratings are closer to average, but the Axis is only meant to be exceptional in certain areas to save on cost.

What will make this rifle a real hit with between seven and ten percent of the population is that it is the only rifle in its price class that can be had in either a right- or left-handed version with no additional cost for the left-handed bolt. While no gun company will ever get rich off the American left-handed shooting public, making a rifle like this available will increase sales. Savage has even wisely chosen to chamber the Axis for a couple of cartridges like .22-250 Rem or .243 Win which are difficult for lefties to get their hands on without paying a bundle.

Honorable Mention in our Best Budget Bolt Action Rifle Comparison

Stevens 200 Review

The Stevens 200 is intriguing, not because it is different from existing products, but because it is the same. The 200 is basically a repackaging of Savage’s tried and true 110. The 110 in its various incarnations has never been a pretty gun or particularly smooth, but that is not what people buy them for. Savage rifles shoot wonderful little groups over and over again, a performance is made all the sweeter knowing what you shelled out for such a great-shooting gun. There is nothing more satisfying than having a rifle that shoots better, but costs less, than the rifle one bench down. With an MSRP of $420 (in the real world you’ll probably get one for around $350), the Stevens 200 will have a lot of people eating crow.

The 200 has everything that makes a Savage shoot well. The barrel is free floated and the floating bolt head allows for better accuracy and less factory fitting. The only thing missing is Savage’s AccuTrigger, but Savage owners got by without it for a long time and one can be installed aftermarket if the 200 owner wants it. The 200 probably has all the little foibles of its Savage ancestors, but it also has their attributes. The areas in which we deducted points from the Stevens shouldn’t come as a surprise, with the floating bolt head being a bit of a double-edged sword. While the bolt design resulted in an excellent score for accuracy, more parts means more points of failure and ultimately lower overall reliability and durability.

Ranked #6 of 7 in our Best Budget Bolt Action Rifle Comparison