Savage or Rem?
I haven't posted up here in almost a year, but I do know at least enough about this topic to be dangerous to myself...
A savage, or stevens for that matter, is more accurate out of the box than most of society is capable of shooting. They are not beauty queens. The stock is CHEAP! Some people hate the barrel nut thing. BUT, Savage fills a niche market or two. 1, they are a cheap and accurate alternative to a remmy 700 if you can put up with the tupperware stock and other nuances: 2, there is a following of people who tune their own savages (because you can do barrel changes and a lot of what would normally be "smith" work yourself), re-barrel them, and have sub .5 moa rifles on the cheap. I among those. I did my first Savage build last year, It would consistently hold a .75 moa group at 220 yds with cheap federal powershok, haven't shot it in 7 months until last Sunday (recently married), last Sunday shot a 3 round 3.4" group at 422 yds with same federal power-shok from a COMPLETELY cold bore (been so long since I've shot that I forgot the fouling shot). I paid 160 for the barrel for that rifle, did all the work myself. Total in the rifle... including optics, bipods, and everything ...is around 800 dollars. That includes the original price of the rifle. I am very confident that the rifle will perform at a .5 moa average when I begin reloading.
If you're more interested in having a pretty rifle with fewer nuances out of the box, and don't mind paying a 'smith, then the remmy is the way to go. They are amazingly accurate rifles. Good as gold... I never had any complaints with my M40. There is also a better selection of aftermarket stocks, barrels, etc. because the 700s have been around since Noah landed the ark. Because the stock isn't junk and the trigger is reasonable, I would rate the 700 better out of the box.
Gross better out of box: Remmy 700. The stock is decent, trigger is decent, maybe not quiet as accurate but can be. Need chamber reamers, lathes, or a gunsmith to "tweak". If you don't care to work on a rifle yourself, this is the way to go.
Most Cost effective, and more accurate out of box: Savage 110. You can do the majority of the work yourself. It's not rocket science. I also think, which is the general concensus among savage shooters, that they are more accurate out of the box. I've heard people bragging on a winchester or other rifle shooting 1.5 moa out of the box. If I grabbed a Savage that shot 1.5 moa out of the box I would take it back and swear it was a lemon.
Hope this helped.
