The Savage Scout Rifle
The "Other" Factory Scout Rifle
Savage logo (8k gif)

Savage has upgraded the Savage scout rifle to include the new AccuTrigger and their AccuStock bedding system, which addresses the complaints of poor triggers and the flexible plastic stock.  The new design incorporates a center feed magazine design which will further improve reliability.  

Please note that I am NOT an employee of Savage Arms nor their distributors and I have no official "pull" with  them, nor can I help you with special orders and the like.  However, in the interest of camaraderie among Savage Scout shooters, if you do have a problem or a question not answered on these page I'll be glad to see what I can accomplish--but I make no promises.


| General Information | Field reports | Tips & Tricks | Odds & Ends |


A New Savage Scout (4/18)

Savage recently announced a new scout rifle.  The Accufit 110 Scout features both their AccuTrigger and Accufit stock, as well as a detachable 10 rd magazine in all calibers.  It is available in .223, .308, .338 Federal, and 450 Bushmaster. Suggested retal is around $820

Nominal specs are:

Fir further information contact Savage Arms or see their website at https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/110Scout/


The original Savage Scout

Savage Scout Rifle (5k jpg)

Original Savage scout rifle

 

Current Savage scout rifle with Accutrigger in RH and LH configurations.
Shown with Savage's sling, after market Harris bipod, and Leupold scope.

Suggested retail is about $814 and extra magazines are about $32 each.

The Savage scout rifle weighs approximately 6.65 pounds unloaded without sling or scope, is 39.75 inches long, and features a detachable 4 round box magazine.  The rifle has a 20.5 inch barrel with a 1:10 twist which should give better performance with 175 gr and heavier bullets, functional ghost ring reserve sights, and standard 2-position Q.D. swivels.  Length of pull is nominally 13.5 inches.  It also comes with an odd sling that Savage calls the "rifleman's combo shooting sling/carry strap" that does not lend itself to fast loop up.   There is no bipod furnished.  It is currently available in .308 Win and 7.62 x 39, although other calibers can be ordered through the custom shop as can a left handed version.

It is factory fitted with a B-Square scout scope base which carries the user supplied optics a little bit higher then some mounts but which is quite usable, and the stock lacks a center position swivel.

The finish is a utilitarian matte blue. It seems to be best to order any Savage Scout Rifle  through Savage's "custom shop" who for very little extra will hand fit spare magazines,  add a third, center position swivel to the stock for the the attachment of a proper Ching or CW type sling, and ensure that everything is in perfect order.

2014-07-30 NOTE

The Savage scout rifle is currently not in production and not listed on their site.  However, it can be ordered through their custom shop in both left and right handed configuration and in a variety of calibers.  For ordering information, and pricing contact

Effie Sullivan
Savage Arms, Inc.
100 Springdale Road
Westfiled, MA 01085
(413) 568-7001

and she will help you out.  Please tell her I sent you and mention this web page.


Reports From The Field

Accuracy has been reported as excellent and with good ammunition it can be a consistent 1-1.25 moa rifle without a problem.

The Savage scout rifle has now been used enough under very demanding situations like the Gunsite 270 rifle class (where some 500 rounds are fired in a week) that its characteristics have been discovered.  

The major problem with the original model seemed to be poor magazine retention with some spare magazines not fitted to the rifle at the factory.  A minor and easy to do adjustment of the horizontal magazine lug fixed this problem.  There were also a few reports of the scope mount screws loosening under heavy use but this is fixed by the application of some Loctite.   The front sight base mounting was also occasionally reported as being kind of fragile as several were launched down range under heavy use.  The current model fixes these problems.

In a few early production rifles there were several reports of the "bolt head retaining pin" that holds the bolt head to the bolt body cracking under heavy usage .  This would cause a major stoppage.  This was apparently a fluke as there have been no further reports of this problem and I believe that bolt pin breakage is no longer an issue and that there is no need to be concerned.

Savage bolt head (12k jpg)
Bolt body, bolt head assembly, bolt head pin, and firing pin assembly.

However, when notified of these incidents Savage Arms, to their great credit (and something other firearms manufacturers could learn from), immediately investigated the bolt head pin problem.  While they were unable to duplicate the failure after some exhaustive testing  they did come up with a way to beef up this part of the their scout rifle by using their "magnum" bolt head assembly.

The Savage Arms' bolt assembly incorporates a floating bolt head to assure full bearing on both locking lugs. To achieve this, a bolt head retaining pin is used as a "pivot" point. The firing pin passes through a hole in the retaining pin and is ultimately guided/supported by the bolt head. To increase the cross-sectional mass of the bolt head retaining pin in their magnum assemblies, the diameter of the firing pin hole through the pin was reduced.

If, as a matter of course, you maintain a standard spare parts kit for any of your firearms you could always add spare bolt pin to the list of standard spares for your Savage kit if you worry a lot.  They are available from Brownells as Brownell's #855-000-008 / Savage #100099, at $3.59). 

The original trigger, while quite useable, was reported by several shooters  to be a  bit  loosely fitted, although that seemed to vary greatly between rifles.  Reports from Savage rifle (of all types) owners seem to indicate that the major problem with the original design factory trigger was that the pins were undersized for the holes.  Simply replacing the pins with a piece of proper size drill rod made them much more amenable to tuning for a really good pull and increased their ruggedness since bearing surfaces remained consistent. Many Savage scout rifle owners (and owners of standard 110 rifles) who didn't want to do this simply replaced the factory trigger assembly with the Sharp Shooter Competition Trigger available from Brownells (part number 436-100-110) which costs about $90 and which replace the trigger group.  Timney also offers a trigger & sear set which simply replaces the factory parts ot the original models (Brownells part number 883-000-001) for about $80.

The new design with the Accu-Trigger and new design magazine eliminates the complaints of the older design and has an excellent out of the box trigger pull, that needs no further attention.

The front sight uses a bead and the blade should be replaced with a flat topped blade to achieve a proper sight picture with the ghost ring rear.

All in all the Savage 10FCM scout rifle is a very serviceable scout rifle and those who cannot afford, or who don't want to spend the extra money for the Steyr, or who need a left hand action, will be extremely happy with it.  I highly recommend it.  


Tips & Tricks

Bolt Smoothing
Bolt operation can be a little stiff but this can be greatly eased and smoothed up by some judicious polishing of the "over-the-center" cam surfaces of the bolt and the other bearing surfaces shown below with a Dremel tool with a hard felt bob and some polishing compound.  In addition you can inspect and smooth up the inside of the bolt body.  You should also check the face of the ejector plunger. It should have no sharp edges where it contacts the base of the cartridge.  If the edges are sharp, lightly break them with a fine stone and polish the tip. Lubricate lightly and reassemble the bolt.

Pin cam area (14k jpg) collar cam area (13k jpg) Collar area (14k jpg)
Polish the indicated surfaces and the respective bearing area of the
cocking piece pin.
Polish indicate bearing areas of both
 the bolt handle and the rear baffle.
Polish the baffle rubbing area of the on
 the circumference of the bolt body.
 
Bolt face and ejector (7k jpg)
Ejector should be smooth faced
with slightly rounded edges
(This one needs work)

Breaking In The Barrel
While Savage barrels shoot very well, in the past they have had a tendency to be a little rough and prone to copper fouling.  They benefit greatly from fire lapping and/or the "shoot one--clean" break in routine routine which makes them much less prone to foul and easier to clean.  

Bolt Handle Replacement
The Savage Scout comes with a large knob on the bolt handle which most shooters like.  However, if you would prefer the standard sized knob it's easy to change. You can order a standard bolt handle (Part 12C) directly from Savage or from Brownells -- Small knob (right hand) is #855-000-209 for $10.65 or  #855-000-234 (left hand) for $12.66 from catalog 57. To go the other way they listed the big ball right hand knob as 855-000-220 at $18.33 in catalog 56 but it is missing from catalog 57.  Replacing the bolt handle is quite easy--simply unscrew the large Allen screw at the tail end of the bolt and slide off the bolt handle.

Savage bolt handles (5k jpg)
Scout bolt handle (top),
standard bolt handle (bottom)

Thanks to Mark Lindemann for this tip.

High Capacity Magazines
As far as I know there are no hi-cap magazines available for the original Savage scout rifle.  However, owners of the  the new rifles that use the center feed magazines are in luck.  Sharpshooter's Supply is in the process of making 9 rd magazine.  It is basically a standard box with an extension and an extra spring. These are for the new center feed type magazines only. Contact them via their website at www.sharpshootersupply.com for further details.  They also do
custom gunsmithing, and have stocks and parts for Savage rifles.


Odds-n-Ends

Slings - Attention Savage Scout/Ruger Frontier Owners:

Andy Langlois is now selling a "kit" with the proper sling (brown), swivels and stud for the middle strap with the correct drill bit.  Info and install instructions are at the link below..

www.shottist.com/scoutkit.htm

Savage Improvements

If I had any say at the Savage factory my recommendations for improvements would be to:

1) Make a middle position swivel a standard item for fitting a Ching sling.
2) Make the front sight a flat topped blade.
3) Make a 5 rather than a 4 round magazine standard, offer a 10 round magazines, and add a "dropped" position detent like the Steyr magazines for "shoot one-load one" situations. A 5 rd magazine would barely protrude and would allow the use of stripper clips to load the magazine in place.

Such improvements would correct its few minor shortcomings and would add little, if any, to the cost of the rifle while making it a truly excellent scout rifle. 

One of the nifty features of the Savage scout which is as yet unexplored (at least to my knowledge with the Savage scout rifle) is it's barrel mounting system which lends itself to easy caliber changes.  This opens up all kinds of possibilities such as having a .308 and a larger caliber available on the same action.  I have several friends who have done this with standard Savage 110 "tactical" heavy barrel rifles, creating a .22-250 and a .308 setup on one action.  Simply unscrew the barrel nut and unscrew the barrel.  Insert a "go" headspace gauge into the chamber and screw the new barrel in fully and tighten the barrel nut.  This is something Savage might want to look into.  Midway (www.midwayusa.com) is currently offering barrels in several calibers and the appropriate wrench for the barrel nut.  Brownells lists Shilen made fitted Savage barrels in their catalog.  Other calibers are available from Shilen.


I do have to, at this point, commend Savage's customer service.  Continuous reports from numerous Savage owners--not just Savage scout owners--and my own dealings with Savage indicate that they have their priorities straight and give a great deal of emphasis (and not just lip service) to excellent customer support--something that seems to have been lost in most other firearms companies.  Now if they'd just send a couple of employees through a Gunsite 270 rifle course....

Photographs of the Savage scout rifle and the Savage logo © copyright 2002, 2007 Savage Arms and used with their permission
All other photographs © copyright 2002 by John Schaefer


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Disclaimer

Neither Fr. Frog, the hosting service for these pages, nor this page is officially associated with Savage Arms. This page provided by Fr. Frog as a service to Savage Scout owners,  the good folks at Savage Arms, and the shooting community. Fr. Frog is not responsible for any errors, omissions, nor your inability to hit what you aim at when using this rifle. As far as I know all the information presented above is correct and I have attempted to ensure that it is. However, I am not responsible for any errors, omissions, or damages resulting from the use or misuse of this information, nor for you doing something stupid with it. (Don't you hate these disclaimers? So do I, but there are people out there who refuse to be responsible for their own actions and who will sue anybody to make a buck.)

Updated 2018-04-25

Visits since December, 2001