Small groups are pretty much the reason why anyone on this forum buys a rifle....and it's cheap too. What more could you ask for with this sort of rifle. I don't think anyone out there thinks a $419 rifle is going to be an heirloom type of rifle, but I just don't get the hate where Savage is concerned.
Savage 12 FV .223
- Thread starter nilebartram
- Start date
TheCZKid
Silver $$ Contributor
I've only got 2 Savages, and the 17 WSM B-mag is stupid accurate, the other is the 17 HMR semi-auto which is not as accurate as my CZ in same caliber, but I wasn't expecting match quality from a semi-auto.
I initially thought Savage were like the Harbor Freight of guns, but a friend explained about the floating head design, and the ease with which a person can change the barrels and so on, and I like them a lot for that reason. For the price, they are a great value in my mind. They are not custom-built quality, and for those of us who can't put $2500 into a rifle, plus optics, I'm cool with what you get.
I initially thought Savage were like the Harbor Freight of guns, but a friend explained about the floating head design, and the ease with which a person can change the barrels and so on, and I like them a lot for that reason. For the price, they are a great value in my mind. They are not custom-built quality, and for those of us who can't put $2500 into a rifle, plus optics, I'm cool with what you get.
Every time I build a Savage I tell myself, never again. I have done 223, 223, 250, and 280AI.
I don't like the bolt design, the barrel nut, the feeding, nor the stock availability.
I can replace the barrel nut with cutting a shoulder on the new barrel.
I try to focused on builds of Pre 64 Win M70s, Rem 700s, and pre war Mosins.
I will even still build Savage 99s.
I don't like the bolt design, the barrel nut, the feeding, nor the stock availability.
I can replace the barrel nut with cutting a shoulder on the new barrel.
I try to focused on builds of Pre 64 Win M70s, Rem 700s, and pre war Mosins.
I will even still build Savage 99s.
Attachments
I have two of the 12FVs from cabela’s: a.223 and a 6.5. The .223 shot dimes with my first 50vmax handloads. But I intended to shoot longer range with it so I rebarreled to a 7tw CBI with a longer throat. The oem barrel is in my spares, barely 200rds through it. The action on this rifle is relatively slick for a savage. The factory blind mag drags the bolt so a new stock really helped. I removed the bolt buffer to get full short action throw with .223 aics mags. This rifle is my primary shooter for anything 600 or closer.
The 6.5 was pretty rough. This rifle gave the distinct impression that the Cabela’s rifles were build from out of spec parts too bad for “real” savages. That bad. The chamber had such terrible tooling marks that it left stippling on my brass, bad enough that it was causing failure to extract. The barrel was terrible in overall quality even though the accuracy was mostly ok.
I threw every remedy at it I could. Shot the whole box of Tubb Final Finish bullets. It needed it. Flex honed the chamber to get the tooling marks out.
Not much change to accuracy potential, but huge improvements in consistency (the Tubb fire lapping is legit—you can feel the difference with your cleaning rod.) Also the extraction issues are gone now.
But the action is still sloppy and despite hundreds of cycles really isn’t smooth. If I had bought the 6.5 first I wouldn’t have bought the .223 because even for the $310 I paid it was a bad value. But now it’s not so bad. I learned I really like the 6.5 creedmoor and will eventually build a proper rifle in that chamber. I’ll keep the savage as a goof around beater to dabble with 22 creedmoor probably.
I will likely never buy another savage anything.
The 6.5 was pretty rough. This rifle gave the distinct impression that the Cabela’s rifles were build from out of spec parts too bad for “real” savages. That bad. The chamber had such terrible tooling marks that it left stippling on my brass, bad enough that it was causing failure to extract. The barrel was terrible in overall quality even though the accuracy was mostly ok.
I threw every remedy at it I could. Shot the whole box of Tubb Final Finish bullets. It needed it. Flex honed the chamber to get the tooling marks out.
Not much change to accuracy potential, but huge improvements in consistency (the Tubb fire lapping is legit—you can feel the difference with your cleaning rod.) Also the extraction issues are gone now.
But the action is still sloppy and despite hundreds of cycles really isn’t smooth. If I had bought the 6.5 first I wouldn’t have bought the .223 because even for the $310 I paid it was a bad value. But now it’s not so bad. I learned I really like the 6.5 creedmoor and will eventually build a proper rifle in that chamber. I’ll keep the savage as a goof around beater to dabble with 22 creedmoor probably.
I will likely never buy another savage anything.
centershot
Silver $$ Contributor
I was a Remington fan forever. When the product went downhill, Thought I would buy a Savage for prairie dogs. I bought a box of 55 grain factory ammo and it would key hole at 25 yards. Sent it back to Savage twice and they said there was nothing wrong with it. Took the barrel off and had a Shilen pre fit put on it. Shot fine. I removed the magazine and installed a single shot follower. Also put a Boyd's stock on it which I pillar bedded. Everything was great.
Bought another one and had the barrel replaced without the nut. Set it up like the previous one. Shot fine.
I would consider buying another one.
Funny thing is that Jack Krieger said that the best factory barrels came from Savage. Go figure.
Bought another one and had the barrel replaced without the nut. Set it up like the previous one. Shot fine.
I would consider buying another one.
Funny thing is that Jack Krieger said that the best factory barrels came from Savage. Go figure.
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