:eek:
i have owned four different savages. all shot very well with a little tweaking; far less work than it took to bring a remington 700 adl up to snuff. the bolts don't feel any sloppier than a mauser's. it's all in the design and componentry . i think the savage feels loose because it has a separate bolt head, which, by the way, was featured on early mausers, the later mannlicher-schoenauers and other well-known rifles. this saves a lot of machining and handfitting.
same for the savage barrel lock nut. it doesn't look "nice" but it is a very effective and less-expensive way to properly headspace. the separate bolt head (because it can, in effect, float perfectly into square lock-up with the perfectly headspaced barrel and square barrel face) and the properly oriented and head-spaced barrel (that nasty looking barrel nut again) are two of the keys to savage accuracy. i think the third key to accuracy is the button-rifled barrel.
the first two keys keep the savage appearance and handling out of "classic" ranks. so if you want classic styling, look elsewhere for an action/chassis and pay more for it. if you want world-class accuracy, build a custom bench gun, and pay whatever it takes. if you want cost-efficienct better-than-yeoman accuracy, go for the savage. shoot, some folks like the way they look and handle.
so, beauty is as beauty does, i guess. my biggest gripe with 'em is that they are a little big around the middle for my small hands. even with a syn stock they simply are not as slim as a mauser, remington or winchester sporter. i reckon that sure does not matter for the varmint/target guys.
