My son’s best friend got a savage 110 Ultralite chambered in a 270. My son (17) and I were at the range with his friend and dad, so we had the opportunity to shoot it. It shot extremely well. At on point we shot over a box in a short time period and the groups didn’t seem to grow. My son loved it and wanted one.
My son has been hunting with me since 4 and hunting with a gun since 7, but doesn’t really understand calibers. He has a .243, 350 legend and 30-06 and is strong enough he doesn’t feel much of a difference in the recoil.
He researched on his own and decided he wanted an 280 AI (100% his pick). He is paying for it and wants to purchase the 110 ultralite. While I thought the gun was nice and shot great, I did not like the stock. Looks and feels cheap, but it was a tack driver.
Would he be better off buying the savage or me helping him purchase a nicer rifle. He loved the weight of the savage. He is hoping I take him out west to chase pronghorn and elk with it. The Fierce rogue has some nice offering in carbon and steel barrels. Both barrels/guns are pretty light. The rouge is a little more expensive, but I don’t mind helping him. Not a lot of companies offer the 280 ai.
Should I look at another gun and possibly help him? He specifically liked the savage because it is extremely light (less than 6lbs) and he can shoot it more than his other guns and still get tight groups.
I’m not familiar with that particular offering from savage. I do have a fierce rage in 280 and it is absolutely one of my most favorite guns ever.
I shoot it suppressed, and developed a hand load for it. I would rather shoot this gun every day of the week and twice on Sunday over an old school 270 with a Woodstock and hard rubber, or absent completely, butt pad. The fierce is an absolute kitten!
The big thing in my opinion is that you know your son better than any of us. Is he going to be upset if he doesn’t get the Savage even if that means he’s getting a higher priced gun? Is his heart really set on the savage? As they say, sometimes a person wants what a person wants.
If its his first gun purchase all his own, my thought would be to let him buy whatever he wants and let him do it on his dime. I still have my first rifle and I will never part with it while I’m alive. Its a basic Savage 116 30-06, nothing special. But it was my first buy…
He will NOT care in the least if I help him get a nicer gun. In fact, he would appreciate that and still think he bought it (he will have paid for most of it regardless). I’ll have to help him with Optics regardless. I just didn’t care for the savage stock, which he even made note of. He just can’t afford anything else. But the savage was a shooter!
Does anyone have any experience with that Fierce Rogue? Seems like a nicer fit rifle. He just wants something that shoots well (we can find a reload round that works), is lighter than normal and doesn’t through flyers after the first couple shots. If we go in together and get him a “nicer” 280 ai it needs to hit those requirements. Lots of guns are good hunting guns, but you can’t shoot them repetitively.
I will add that he bought his .22 rifle and scope and shoots it ALL the time. I believe his .22 is sentimental to him, but me helping him with this purchase wouldn’t bother him or change anything. I just want him to get the best possible option if he is willing to spend that much money. If he doesn’t want help him can buy what he wants, but I’m very comfortable he will take my money…lol.
I have an old Remington model 700 30-06. It was my first gun that I bought. I bought it used in the 1995-1997 range. It was always a really good rifle, but just unattractive. It hasn’t been shoot in 6+ years and likely will never be shot again. The scoped was robbed. My son was the last one to shoot it.
I assume I could use the action on that gun and then add a carbon proof barrel, trigger tech trigger and stock and still come in that $1500 to $2K range. He may even like that better seeing how it was mine. Any reason that action wouldn’t work for a 280 AI?
I just added a CF stock to my 110 UL 7PRC. The stock stock is pretty light. My CF stock is certainly more substantial and stiffer. Have not shot it yet but I like how it feels. The question is what do you get for $2K ish compare to that cost of upgrading the stock on the Savage. I have had the rifle for a couple years. I have $2K plus optics and mounting. The optics mount was $200 or so. Have to use a pic rail. I tried rings direct by not enough distance in receiver to set a scope properly- I put a VX6 3-18x50 on it. I upgraded the bolt knob as well.
So if you can find a rifle with CF stock and CF barrel at the $2K mark and it has a better action then go that way. I am happy with mine so far though.
To answer your question…I’m not sure what we can get in the $2K range that might be better. That is what I was trying to figure out. Spent a good amount of time thinking and researching today. I will probably either purchase the savage UL and consider upgrading the stock after we get it or spend about $2K to build a 280AI with my old Remington 700 action. Maybe a benchmark or proof barrel, with a good CF stock with a goal of $2k or less.
The stock is the VG2 CF from Stocky’s. Christmas sale was less that $500 shipped. Otherwise $600 now. I got the carbon olive color. It fits great. I think the only problem would be it uses factory mags if that is even a problem . Spare factory mags are hard to get and an aics type would be nice. But for hunting it is flush fit. So it is ok.
I have a 110 UL in 6.5 CM and have been fairly happy with it. I handload and it has been a genuine sub MOA rifle with 3 out of the 4 bullets I’ve built loads with, and the one that wasn’t sub MOA, was sub 1.3". My best load shoots around half MOA. But I think there are a few things you should consider.
The first is recoil. 280 AI shouldn’t recoil super hard, definitely a step down from it’s magnum big brothers like 7mm RM or 7 PRC, but it’s not a low recoiling round either. Put it in a lightweight platform like the 110 UL and it might not be a good option if your son is recoil shy. If he were to use a muzzle break or a suppressor it would probably be a very tame shooting experience.
Second, it’s already been mentioned, the stock is cheap. Although it definitely doesn’t feel like an heirloom piece, the stock on mine has caused zero problems in the field.
Third, the trigger. Some people hate how the accutrigger feels. I don’t necessarily hate it, but I never loved it. The pull adjusts down to under 2 lbs. Which is plenty low for the vast majority of hunters. But, I discovered a little bit of an issue with it. One day I had a couple misfires at the range and had no strike mark on the primer. What I figured out is if you apply some sideways pressure when you go to pull the trigger it will “pull” the trigger without releasing the firing pin. Now, this problem speaks to my poor trigger pull as much as it speaks to the reliability of the gun. But the fact that it is even possible makes me nervous. I plan on replacing my trigger down the road.
You can pull the trigger without using the blade. It uncocks the rifle without a firing pin strike. I do not know if this is intentional or not and I certainly would not trust it with a loaded rifle. But I can uncock it every time as I tested it unloaded by pulling on the trigger without the blade. I shoot my 7PRC suppressed and with a Banish 30 on the 22 in barrel it is not too long and the recoil is a none issue for me.
Thinking about it I do not think it is a feature other than it is intended be a safety mechanism where as you have to plull the blade to pull trigger to prevent accidental discharge. To recock you have to pull bolt all the way back. And in that case if you left a round in the chamber it would come out anyways. So just a safety feature of the trigger. Of course if you accidentally did that and did not reset you might be unhappy if you go to pull the trigger.
You can reset the trigger by lifting the bolt and dropping it back down. You don’t have to do a complete bolt cycle. I don’t see the point of a trigger safety anyways. It seems pretty unlikely that something would catch the edge of the trigger and not catch the trigger safety as well.
In Glocks, their purpose is to prevent the gun from discharging should it be dropped onto a hard surface on the gun’s butt. Without the safety, it’s possible that the inertia of the trigger would cause it to travel rearwards enough to discharge
Savage says that is a reason. Probably from the Remington issues. Interesting this stock has some sort of interference. When I torque to spec it prevents the trigger from reset on block open. If I back off of the 45 in lbs the trigger cocks on the bolt lift.
We have the UL in 300 wsm (24” proof barrel, vx5-hd 3-15 firedot scope, banish 30 suppressor). My son (13) and I (and JVB for that matter!) don’t like the stock. The action has taken a lot of work to smooth out. It shoots well (I would almost say just under an inch every 3 shot group, but I don’t have the targets to prove it). He’s just not a fan of how it feels. For $1500, I want more. He wants to trade it in for a browning x bolt pro (he loves my 300 win mag) or a wetherby 307 or something like it. But after DSC he is dreaming about an alterra arms shadow carbon something something… his eyes are bigger than his wallet. And we did have the trigger issue mentioned by others when we initially began working with the UL. We upped the weight a little bit on the trigger, and it is much less common now.
So even though it is light weight, accurate, and has a beautiful carbon fiber barrel, we would recommend going elsewhere. For what that’s worth.
