Savage action rifles are common in precision shooting sports here in the UK, although almost everybody uses the PT RBRP version of the action. Many are still in factory form competing in Factory Sporter class in 600 and 1,000yd BR - very successfully too - nearly always 6.5-284 12 F-Class models. The 6BR version hasn't caught on here.
We're also seeing an increasing number of either complete Savage or Savage-action rifles in F-TR, the latter using a PT action usually with a True-Flite or Bartlein barrel, many built by Stuart Anselm (Osprey Rifles) who has successfully used Savages himself for some years:
http://www.ospreyrifles.com/
and is the GB F-TR Team Captain. They are normally 'conventionally smithed', ie the Savage barrel nut locking system dispensed with.
There is absolutely no reason why the RBLP LRPV action couldn't be used instead of the RBRP PT version apart from customer preference, target shooters generally being very conservative about these sorts of things. I just had a guy ask advice two or three weeks ago about the spec for a proposed .223 single-shot F-TR Savage. Before anything else, he stated he'd been offered a build based on the RBLP action, but wouldn't have that as left feed wasn't on. (Why? You only try to load the the first round of the match into a solid right receiver wall without thinking. After that, you just use the left port automatically.)
I suspect another factor is that dealers and gunsmiths find it easier to get hold of new PT actions. One advantage the LRPV RPLP version has over the RBRP PT action is cartridge feed into the chamber - the former has a sloped action floor so you just dump the cartridge in the port and close the bolt. The PT action has a flat action floor and the cartridge nose bumps against the rear barrel face, or at least it does in my .223 F-TR rifle, so you need to fiddle the round part way into the chamber with the index finger. No great deal for F-Class, but undesirable for benchrest.
Owning both types and using both in competition, I like them equally well. In fact, I probably favour the LRPV RBLP version I have which in untouched factory gate form is one of the smoothest working actions I've ever owned. Performance-wise, cartridge feed into the chamber apart, there is nothing between them. Put either into a good stock and with a good barrel up front, and they will form the basis of an excellent precision rifle. A shooting acquaintance who is a toolsmith as well as part-time gunsmith says these actions are built to tiny tolerances and come out of the factory machined amazingly 'true'. He's built a .22BR on one and does very well in 600yd benchrest with it.
Laurie,
York, England
I can operate the bolt fast enough to make a target puller sweat in January, and keep my scorer hopping... without dropping the sear. I don't 'slap' the bolt closed; rather I decelerate it the last 1/4-1/2" of travel which seems to work just fine.
