First.... and last Savage

Trevillian

Trigger Trash
2A Bourbon Hound OG
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im just not meant to have a bolt action rim fire it seems...

I’ve been wanting nice a 22lr bolt gun for years. A friends father has a Remington 597T (hell maybe not the right model but from the 60’s) that make it nearly boring to tag spent .22lr casings at 50yds. But he understandably won’t sell:rolleyes:

Anyway. I just impulse bought a Savage 9317r GV a bit ago for the world of Wally. Heard great things about Savage bolt rimfires and great things about the 17hmr. So when my usual trip through sporting goods when I’m forced to go to “walhell” resulted in seeing it on “special price” I snapped it up...

Here comes the whining from me:confused: yes, I know Walhell orders specific setups for profit margins. Usually means manufacturers cheap out the process to meet the sellers demands to get the product on the shelf... Once got a 10/22 from there that had such bad machining, it wasn’t worth tinkering on.... But as usual Ruger CS Is all that and a bag of tater chips. I posted about that crap show on the old forum. It’s where I coin d the phrase “minute of squirrel” lol.

Anyway. This Savage is all to hell. First thing I noticed is the safety is so hard to “switch to fire” it seriously has me worried I’ll bend the sheet metal part out of spec... But at least the non accutrigger (walhell spec, remember)is pretty good. Then..... I have fought, fought, fought getting some rings to mount.

Just figured all mine were pic, not weaver. Bought some rings for weaver mount. Seemed to work. Took it to the range. Zero kept wandering, BAD. Suddenly ran out of vertical adjustment in the scope.....

The flipping rear weaver factory mount was loose..... went to remove the rear ring to inspect the rear mount. Bolt was somehow seized in the mounting ring... Fought for an hour trying to get the bolt broken free without torquing the loose base it was attached to and wallowing out the receiver threads..... ruined a new Leopuld rifleman ring trying to save the receiver threading... after using a micrometer and various machinists tools. The stock weaver mount was just enough out of spec to completely screw up mounting rings and a scope. I missed it until it went all to hell..... I blame me for not figuring out that it was a spec issue, not a wrong ring issue.....

While screwing with the mounts I found out the action screws were loose in the stock:mad: I’ve put 30 rounds total through this..... what the hell. Oh guess what. The stock screws were tongued to spec as I checked (like always on a new firearm) but wait the lock tight used nuts that hold in the trigger housing with threaded ends are what have come loose:confused:

This specimen has lots of loctite in good locations. But everything I mentioned above came loose in 30 rounds because IT WAS LUBED BEFORE it was loctited:rolleyes::eek:

Every fastener mention has a nice ring of it around the bolt head.... perfectly preserved upon removal by the lube in the holes..........

An extra note. The plate that the trigger group mounts to and runs forward to be a part of the mag well. Is bent...

I hope I can come back and report “now that I’ve gone through it all, she shoots lights out”. But even still this may well be my first and last Savage:(
 
Huh. I've had somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen Savage rifles. Including 3 rimfires in the safe right now. They've all been trouble free tack drivers, even the 'lil Rascal single shot "kids" rifle.

Sorry you got a bad one.
 
Huh. I've had somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen Savage rifles. Including 3 rimfires in the safe right now. They've all been trouble free tack drivers, even the 'lil Rascal single shot "kids" rifle.

Sorry you got a bad one.

Yeah I’ve heard that from everywhere about Savage. Honestly each part is machined to expectation. Which is good. It seems out of spec weaver bases and crappy assembly are the culprits but it’s just danger disappointing. I’m going through it now. Hope to right the ship after some fixes and tweaks.....
 
Maybe savage send their blems to WM?? I wouldn’t put it past a mfg to do so to meet the stupid low prices WM demands.

I have 2 savage rifles, 308 and .22lr, best friend has the same. No issues at all from either, actually very impressed with them.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
 
More proof I’m not supposed to have a bolt rim fire.

I’ve never, NEVER had a spring or spring actuated part enter low earth orbit, to never be seen again. Dozens of AR variants, Ruger mk I,II,III. Even a Win 94. Never a lost part with full disassembly... never an issue with “troublesome tear downs”..

This thing. Took apart the trigger assembly (working out how to fix the super stiff safety), then went to reinstall. The trigger/sear engagement spring fell out! I heard it ding, looked that way and watched where it landed (in a basket of clean clothes).... picked it up and said out loud “ dang what kinda mind bending bs just happened to let me track this sum biotch”.

Then the dog chases his toy between my knees..... I got a snout to the nut and down I go..... spring is GONE.....

FML. Where is easiest to get another?
 
I bought a bad one a few years back at a local gun shop. You could squeeze the trigger as hard as you wanted.....it wouldnt release. I shipped back to Savage and they took care of it. I want to say it was about a 3 week turn around.
 
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Dang. I'm sorry to hear about your Savage troubles. My budget Axis-II in .308 is a stupid accurate with handloads.

Maybe try sending it in? They might just send you a whole new, and better one.
 
I've got one Savage..a model 64 semi auto 22lr. It's in the same class as a Marlin 795 or maybe a base 10/22.
Sights were never right. No amount of adjusting would bring them in-line. Somehow the front sight was way too short.
Finally ditched them in favor of a set of Marble peep sights.
The red safety indicator, just fell out. Savage sent me several new ones, it's just a red plastic bb you smash into the hole.
Apparently, it has a free floated barrel. The fit between the stock and the barrel is so sloppy that you can slip not just one dollar through it but a whole stack.
I know it's one of their cheapies but dadgum, it should be able to hit a soup can. The build quality of the rifle does not match the competition.
I finally got it to shoot half-dollar groups at 50 feet, but I hadta twerk this thing way too much to make it work.

I'm not ruling out future Savage purchases, but I'm sure gonna look it over tight before I buy.
 
I bought a bad one a few years back at a local gun shop. You could squeeze the trigger as hard as you wanted.....it wouldnt release. I shipped back to Savage and they took care of it. I want to say it was about a 3 week turn around.

One more thing......it was a fairly consistent rifle, just not as good as my CZ..... at that time it was also about $100 less than a CZ trainer model.
 
Hate to hear you are having trouble with Savage. I have four Savage rifles, MkII FV-SR .22, 11 VT .223, Axis .308 and a 10 BA Stealth .308. All four are very dependable and extremely accurate.
 
Never have owned a Savage. I have always been grateful to them for coming out with the AccuTrigger. Without that we would still be getting crap from everybody else like we used to. There was a lot of money made in years past doing rifle triggers. Not so much anymore. Thanks for the AccuTrigger.
 
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