The cheap synthetic stocks on the Savages is all about keeping the costs down. Even with the cheap stocks they are arguably the best out of the box accuracy rifle around. I replaced the stocks on my Savage 116 and 110FP with the Duramax stocks and they look and feel much better. The 116 300 rum went from an accuracy of .75" (three shot groups @ 100 yds) to less than .5" (best group was an incredible for me, .25"). The accuracy on my 110FP in 25-06 went from .6" to less than .5".
I understand that Savage has just come out or is coming out with a better synthetic stock. I assume this will raise the price of the Savage rifles.
