Comparisons between Reminton and Savage

[jonsidneyb]

Remington 700 vs Savage

I was not sure where to start this thread so I am sorry if it is in the wrong location.

I am interested in knowing the differences and the various pros and cons of each.

I am not interested in a price comparison. I am interested in what ways the Remington is better than the Savage and in what ways the Savage is better than the Remington.

Thanks
Jon

 

[chino1969]

If you are talking off the shelf factory, Savage has more choices in rates of twist than Remington which is a big advantage. The Remington will take a Jewell trigger which is a big advantage, however, there are several very good aftermarket triggers available for the Savage; Sharp Shooter Supply and Rifle Basix. With the Savage, you can buy several very good aftermarket barrels the gunowner can change. Shilen, Pac Nor, McGowan, etc. are some of the quality barrels that can be had. Adams & Bennet barrels, which is not in the same league, are available from Midway for a third of what you will pay for the others. Remington will require a trip to a gunsmith for a new barrel. With the Savage, you can adjust your headspace to a minimum which is an advantage. Both receivers will require some work to true and correct. The bolt lugs on the Savage will self align to a degree, the Remington will need to be lapped. The Remington receiver is prettier if you subscribe to the Gentleman's Quarterly review of the best dressed rifles.
I own both and if I were to buy an off the shelf factory rifle it would be a Savage.

Lou Baccino
Chino69

 

[beartrack]

I have both and agree with what has been stated. I would only add these: The strength of the remington bolt design is inherently stronger than the floating head of the savage. I'm not sure that makes any difference except to suicidal handloaders, but it is.

Also, savage can often have feeding issues. Most are fine, but the design of the feed from magazine to chamber is fragile. Remington magazines feed everything with seldom any problems at all. Even though they recommend changing the follower for different calibers, I actually tested a long action 30-06,with the barrel off). It held and fed .284 cases and .300 WM cases with the same ease as the 06.

Lastly, the savage action has many parts. The remington is simplisticly rugged. It is probably for this reason more than any other that M40s & M24 are built on the Reminton action - reduces Murphy's law. Lots of little things that can go wrong with the savage, but the remy is GI proof.

Having said this, my most accurate gun in a savage .204 and my next purchase for long range target shooting will certainly be a savage. I'm not an army sniper and can't afford to put into them the money it takes to make them perfect. The savage design allows me to change the recoil lug,w/ a SSS) and a barrel,L/W) and have rifles that are legitimate 1/4 MOA guns,at least in the case of the .204).

 

[lukehalee]

I am of the opinion that your chances for a stock savage shooting extremely well are higher than that for a Remy.

Floating bolt head almost always gives very high lug to receiver contact. Remy will probably be one lug barely touching. So in stock form, Savage will take much more pressure.

Savage is making some shockingly good shooting barrels. Not always smooth, but the silly things shoot.

Accutrigger is good enough for anything short of Benchrest. I even had some success with 4 oz A-trigger in local benchrest.

If you are talking a modded gun, both are great platforms. Can't speak to the floating head design being ultimately weaker than the one piece, but I know Jerry Stiller has built both and could answer that. I do understand that he was of the opinion that a floating head had minimal/no advantage over a properly machined one pc from an engagement pespective.

 

[usngunner]

Lastly, the savage action has many parts. The remington is simplisticly rugged. It is probably for this reason more than any other that M40s & M24 are built on the Reminton action - reduces Murphy's law. Lots of little things that can go wrong with the savage, but the remy is GI proof.

Um, no. Savage was a company changing hands on a regular basis when that contract was let. And quite frankly, the bolt action rifles they were making at the time weren't much to trumpet about.

Regardless, Remington won the contract, thus it became the standardized rifle. Once there were several thousand in inventory and all the 2112's were trained on completely rebuilding the supplied actions so that they would finally shoot well, inertia took over.

Other than that, I can go with the previous posts.

When it came time for me, a guy with 20 years experience working on mil-spec rifles of all flavors, to buy a personal rifle, I bought Savage.

I have three Savages, the one factory 10FP,except for the stock) in .308 still shoots right in there with all of my friends custom sticks that they paid 3-4 times what I gave for mine, even with the stock.

I do take a certain perverse pleasure in that.

The other actions I won have had barrels, bolts, you name swapped for different purposes, they all have shot really well. Custom from my basement is what I tell guys at the range.

 

[jthyttin]

Remington magazines feed everything with seldom any problems at all. Even though they recommend changing the follower for different calibers, I actually tested a long action 30-06,with the barrel off). It held and fed .284 cases and .300 WM cases with the same ease as the 06.

How do you test feeding w/o barrel?

BTW, I'm feeding 260Rem,OAL 2.8"-2.9") from long Savage det. mag.,originally 30-06) without any modifications and it feeds 100%.

As a side note, Remington extractor isn't the best out there. And about the barrel nut; you can go with a barrel nut also in Rem action, if you get aftermarket barrel. More costly than in Savage, though. Personally, I don't like barrel nuts,it's very difficult to return to exactly same headspace after barrel removal).