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I shot the Savage Model 11 Scout rifle today. They had one as a rental at my range today, my lifetime membership gives me free rentals, so why not.
It was a nice rifle. Good solid feel. Fit me well. I put 20 rounds through it. Even though rentals are free for me, I have to use, and purchase, their range ammo to use in the rentals. They charge $30 for a box of 20 .308, which I thought was a high price, but then I don't own a .308 currently and don't know what ammo for it costs these days.
Pros:
The trigger. Very light, crisp, no complaints about it what-so-ever. Actually, only compliments about it. Good job Savage.
Recoil. Waiiittt. I thought this thing was a .308? What's it doing recoiling more like a .243? Hmm. This thing didn't kick much at all. Could be the thick cushy recoil pad. Could be the muzzle brake that comes standard on it. This is a .308 you could shoot all day. Not that .308's are all that big of a kicker, but this one felt very light recoiling for this caliber.
Adjustable cheek rest. I didn't adjust it (this was a rental gun), but it's a nice feature to have.
The sights. It comes with a rear aperture sight, which I think is much better than a notch sight.
The bolt. Feels solid. Doesn't wobble around like on many rifles. Not up to my Howa in quality feel, but still pretty good none the less.
The stock. While plastic, if felt very solid, not hollow and cheap like on many rifles. The tan color was a nice change from the typical black plastic.
Comes with a threaded barrel and muzzle brake.
Cons:
The external 10 round magazine seemed a bit finicky. It was difficult to get seated fully. You have to smack it pretty good. Sometimes when you think you have it seated, you don't ... the bolt will fail to strip a round off the top. This may be user error on my part. Possibly I was trying to be too gentle with the thing.
The mag release. Too small and up front. Or course you can change magazines with it, but not very quickly. Needs to be larger.
The bolt. Yes, the bolt was both a pro and a con. The con part of it is that you don't want to baby it. Open it with reasonable force, close it with reasonable force. Just like you would with a lever action rifle. Trying to move it slowly when it's handling a live round or empty case doesn't work too well. Operate it like a man and it works fine though. It's not terrible, like a Mosin, where you need a 2x4 to whack the bolt with. But it's not butter soft, operate with two fingers, like my Howa (however, that Howa is .223, so not really fair to compare to .308).
Muzzle blast. Not a problem for the shooter. But people standing to your sides will surely notice with that muzzle brake in place. But that's the nature of muzzle brakes.
Unknown:
It comes with a forward mounted scope rail - scout style. There was not a scope mounted on this rental, so I don't know how I'd like the scout style compared to traditional scope mounting. I can't recall if the receiver was drilled/tapped for traditional scope mounting. I'll bet it was, but that is something I forgot to check.
Overall:
It was a good gun. I think I might go ahead and buy one. Been thinking about it for a while.
http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/11Scout
It was a nice rifle. Good solid feel. Fit me well. I put 20 rounds through it. Even though rentals are free for me, I have to use, and purchase, their range ammo to use in the rentals. They charge $30 for a box of 20 .308, which I thought was a high price, but then I don't own a .308 currently and don't know what ammo for it costs these days.
Pros:
The trigger. Very light, crisp, no complaints about it what-so-ever. Actually, only compliments about it. Good job Savage.
Recoil. Waiiittt. I thought this thing was a .308? What's it doing recoiling more like a .243? Hmm. This thing didn't kick much at all. Could be the thick cushy recoil pad. Could be the muzzle brake that comes standard on it. This is a .308 you could shoot all day. Not that .308's are all that big of a kicker, but this one felt very light recoiling for this caliber.
Adjustable cheek rest. I didn't adjust it (this was a rental gun), but it's a nice feature to have.
The sights. It comes with a rear aperture sight, which I think is much better than a notch sight.
The bolt. Feels solid. Doesn't wobble around like on many rifles. Not up to my Howa in quality feel, but still pretty good none the less.
The stock. While plastic, if felt very solid, not hollow and cheap like on many rifles. The tan color was a nice change from the typical black plastic.
Comes with a threaded barrel and muzzle brake.
Cons:
The external 10 round magazine seemed a bit finicky. It was difficult to get seated fully. You have to smack it pretty good. Sometimes when you think you have it seated, you don't ... the bolt will fail to strip a round off the top. This may be user error on my part. Possibly I was trying to be too gentle with the thing.
The mag release. Too small and up front. Or course you can change magazines with it, but not very quickly. Needs to be larger.
The bolt. Yes, the bolt was both a pro and a con. The con part of it is that you don't want to baby it. Open it with reasonable force, close it with reasonable force. Just like you would with a lever action rifle. Trying to move it slowly when it's handling a live round or empty case doesn't work too well. Operate it like a man and it works fine though. It's not terrible, like a Mosin, where you need a 2x4 to whack the bolt with. But it's not butter soft, operate with two fingers, like my Howa (however, that Howa is .223, so not really fair to compare to .308).
Muzzle blast. Not a problem for the shooter. But people standing to your sides will surely notice with that muzzle brake in place. But that's the nature of muzzle brakes.
Unknown:
It comes with a forward mounted scope rail - scout style. There was not a scope mounted on this rental, so I don't know how I'd like the scout style compared to traditional scope mounting. I can't recall if the receiver was drilled/tapped for traditional scope mounting. I'll bet it was, but that is something I forgot to check.
Overall:
It was a good gun. I think I might go ahead and buy one. Been thinking about it for a while.
http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/11Scout
