Savage Rifles

Savage Arms company continues to innovate. They've introduced a model they call the Long Range Hunter, both in a short action and a long action. Several years ago, I bought my second son a rifle like this. It's a 7mm Remington Magnum, and at the time, Savage was calling it a varmint rifle. (Yeah, who hunts varmints with a 7 mag?). It's got a heavy barrel, a synthetic stock and that wonderful Accu-trigger. We found that with the proper handloads (it likes Nosler Ballistic Tips and IMR 4831 powder), it would routinely turn in groups that hover around a half-inch at 100 yards. Matt shot a lot of 3-shot cloverleaf groups with that rifle, all bullets touching the same hole.



Dave Petzal reviews the Long-Range Hunter and comes to the same conclusion I came to many years ago.

This is not a handsome rifle or a paragon of the rifle-maker’s art. It’s consistent with Savage’s philosophy of spending its time and effort on whatever will improve accuracy and not worrying a hell of a lot about looks. If I stuck with the best-shooting load for this rifle I would have a .500-inch gun. If I went to a custom smith with $3,000 I might get a rifle that would do .400, or even .350. Might. For an off-the-shelf factory rifle to shoot the way this one does, and for under $1,000, is nothing short of fantastic.

Dave's right, although a lot of us have been saying the same thing for years. Savage might not make attractive rifles, but they make accurate rifles. This for a suggested retail price of $934.00, it's a heck of a deal if you want a long range rifle. It comes in the standard calibers and in 6.5X284 Norma. It's a heck of a deal if you want to shoot something far, far, away.

On the other end of the spectrum, Savage is making an entry level rifle they call the Edge. It's a rifle for the beginning hunter, or the hunter on a budget. It uses a different receiver, and from what I've read, Savage took some bold steps when making this rifle. For example, the recoil lug is imbedded in the stock, rather than sandwiched between the barrel and receiver. With an MRRP at $329 dollars, the base rifle very inexpensive. I've paid more than that for used rifles on pawn-shop shelves. This new Savage Edge comes in all the standard calibers, from .223 Remington to .30-06. There's a caliber for any game you'd like to try.



What do you get from a rifle that costs so little? Jeff Quinn reviewed the rifle.

To those of you familiar with Savage rifles, you will know what I mean. For those who are new to Savage bolt guns, it means that this rifle is very accurate; a lot more accurate than a hunting rifle has to be. Several groups were fired that measured under one-half inch, but the five-eighths inch group shown was typical for the day. No groups measured in excess of the magical one-inch mark. I remember years ago when a typical hunting rifle took a lot of tuning and load development to shoot consistently under an inch at one hundred yards. Now, many rifles will do that well or better, if you are willing to spend the money for a quality rifle. This Savage Edge, with standard hunting ammo produces very good accuracy, with no special tuning nor working up tailored handloads. Right out of the box, it shoots like a Savage.

This rifle is what we've come to expect from Savage Arms. A low price point and excellent accuracy.

What more could a rifleman ask?