Remington Model 700 VS SF II VS. Savage Model 12 LRPV DBM?

[Griff]

Hi all,

A shooting buddy of mine is selling his .308 and moving UP to the .204

We are after some information on two specific rifles. In particular it is very hard to find reviews or much info on the Remington Model 700 VS SFII - of which he is very keen. The other rifle under consideration is the Savage Model 12 LRPV. I have the Savage Model 12 VLP DBM which he has used and is familiar with.

There seems to be plenty of guff on the net including reviews relating to savage, but not so much concerning the Remington.

If you can provide some advice and comparison then that would be much appreciated - specificaly the Remington.

Griff.

[FireBallGuy]

Have owned a few savages and they are great shooters! The quirks of the savage bolt will prevent me from ever buying another though. Feeding and ejection issues are the norm with the guns I had. The model 700 on the other hand is my favorite! Never fails to feed or eject correctly and the action is likely one of the most tuneable on the planet! Myself.....I would go with the VSSF II and live happily ever after!

[jo191145]

On the other side of the coin a Savage would allow your friend to swap barrels and cartridges at will. No need for him to give up his 308.
Just by another barrel and bolt head and swap around. One Savage action is capable of firing rounds down to 17 Remington and up to 50 BMG. Yep, last trip to a gunsmith I saw a Sav action being fitted for a bloody BMG
A 50 BMG needs some smithing. Everything else you can do at home. Its not often I see my smith
It is true Savages have some ejection issues. Very easy to fix that problem with a little thought and a dremel tool. I used to fix mine to eject nicely. Takes only a few minutes. Finally figured out not to fix them. I shoot off a bench and all single shot so for me theres no reason to send my brass flying. Pick em right off the follower is faster than grabbin em as they fly across the bench.

[Captqc]

This is one of those Ford vs Chevy things, I for one am a Remington, Ruger, Cooper kind of guy and just don't like the savages despite that they are known for out of the box accuracy. So, that was a long way of saying tell him to get the Remington. Gary

[FireBallGuy]

I do a lot of bench shooting as well but most this be a hunting gun and functionality is CRITICAL! That has been the reason I have got rid of all my savages, great shooters....YES!

[glenn asher]

OTOH, , of all the complaints we hear about here, most of the complaints come from Remington users, overall. I haven't tallied them up, but since I've read most, if not all the posts, it seems like the Remington users have more complaints than any other brand.
I dunno why that is . It is, what it is, though.

Put me down as a Savage guy. They ARE a little quirky, but once you figure them out, they work well and shoot well. Without too much drama, usually.

[RUD]

My choice would be Remington before the Savage. I would choose the Cooper if you could swing one though. They are my favorite guns at this time, but I know they are pricey too. Rudy

[Captqc]

[quote="glenn asher"]OTOH, , of all the complaints we hear about here, most of the complaints come from Remington users, overall. I haven't tallied them up, but since I've read most, if not all the posts, it seems like the Remington users have more complaints than any other brand.
I dunno why that is . It is, what it is, though.

Now Glenn, thems fightín words! I'ts really quite simple, it's the law of averages.... Remington produces hundreds of thousands of rifles while savage produces hundreds! Let the fight begin! Gary

[glenn asher]

Now Gary, I'm old and tired, I don't want to fight. I'll just drag out the 1911 and fix this quick.




But, if you go all the way back to the beginning of this forum, from DAY ONE, you'll find more complaints from the Remington guys than all the others. Like I said, I don't know why, but that's definitely the case.
I don't want to argue about it, though, like I said, I'm old and tired.

[Wrangler John]

I don't purchase factory rifles anymore, simply because Savage has made their bare actions available in several configurations including the Precision Target Actions. That allows me to purchase a barrel from a high end maker and simply screw it on with a target recoil lug from Sharp Shooter Supply. Add a pre-pillar bedded stock from the same vendor and for a little more than the price of a factory rifle, I have something better. Because I use single shot actions, there are no problems going across the gamut of cartridge sizes, they function flawlessly with .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, .22-250, 6mm PPC, .243 WSSM, and anything else you want to chamber.

Remington is good, not great, and requires gunsmithing to change barrels. They can be set up with a Savage inspired barrel nut and made into a swap barreled rig, but that requires initial gunsmithing. Good thing is there are zillions of aftermarket parts for the Remington. I have purchased an equal number of great shooters and turkeys. My friend called last week to say his new custom shop Remington 40X arrived - and they forgot to crown the muzzle! It still had chop saw marks across the muzzle with burrs clearly visible in the bore. He had to send it back, they apologized. That's the reason I don't do factory rifles anymore - and Savage offers me the greatest flexibility. Spend a $1,500 on "blueprinting" a used Remington action and having it precision barreled with all the bells and whistles and it'll make a fine varmint rifle. If I'm using Remington as a starting point I allow $2,000 for the project including my own stock.

Yet, if you get a good one, either brand will make you happy.

Coopers are really great rifles, with one drawback - it's a small company that may fade away someday. I have a safe full of Wichita products for which there are no parts available, same for older Sako's. Remington and Savage will have parts available until the end of time.

[FireBallGuy]

Well I must say that my VSF came out of the factory box with a defective trigger assembly. A quick trip back to our canadian service center solved that and since this gun has been an absolute delight to shoot! The barrel fouls very little, it HAS put several loads into just barely 1/4". Other than seating out the bullets to magazine length my handloads are rather unrefined with minimal case prep work and this is by far the most consistently accurate gun I have ever owned. A little fickle with powder and bullet likes but most guns are anyway.

[Captqc]

That's okay Glenn, I was just messing with you! I've seen the comments about Remingtons and as we all know any manufacturer can produce some turkeys along the way! I'm lucky that my Remington is a shooter as I'm sure most are. By the way what .45 ACP? Mines a Kimber Tactical model. Gary

[RowdyYates]

Put me down in the Remington column if those are the only choices. Was gonna buy that VSSF II to replace my LVSF .204 until I came across a Cooper for not much more $. Have heard/read plenty of horror stories about both Rem. and Savage service lately and really didn't have problem jumping to another brand; will worry about parts if/when that time comes.
Don't you just hate it when you ask a simple question about two brands and someone comes up with another? Then there's the CZ 527 Varmint...

[glenn asher]

Gary, my current and only 1911 is a Colt Custom Shop 1991A1 Limited Model, it's got some stuff that I'd have had done to it, if I'd bought a plain old pistol, beavertail, Videcki long trigger@4 pounds, Navidrex grips, magwell, and some other "refinements". Minor stuff, really, just enough to make "Limited" class in IPSC, most likely.

I used to shoot a LOT of IPSC (at least 3 times a week for FIFTEEN YEARS ) and have had Colts done up whole hawg, compensators, checkering, Bomars, the whole bit, both .45s and 10mms, Supers, the whole lot. Arthritis made it "not fun" any more, so I sold 'em all but this one, and took up rifles and ratshooting. I miss the folks I shot pistols with, but not the pistol shooting so much. It wasn't fun any more. We won't even mention revolvers, which I also have a liking for.

[WaltherP99]

Savage hands down...and I own both !

that LRPV will be a GREAT shooter right off the bat with out spending any extra cash!