SEtoNWHunter
Lil-Rokslider
Hi All, I’m brand new as a contributor Rokslide forums but I’ve been using RS as a resource for quite a while, so I guess you could say I have left the realm of the lurkers.
I have been researching the world of lightweight big game rifles for the last year or so. My goal was to get an accurate, inexpensive, and light set up. I recently dove in and made a few purchases… A savage 16 lightweight hunter in .308, Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40, and a DNZ Gamereaper mount. I haven’t found a huge amount of info on the Savage 16 LWH so I figured I’d share my experience. I thought it might interest some folks and hopefully be a good resource for others in the future.
In my search for a light, compact rifle, I looked at a bunch of options… including Tikka (I have a T3 lite and I love it, but you/I can never have too many rifles), Rem 700 SS Mountain rifle, Kimber Hunter, Montana and others, Winchester 70 featherweight, Howa Alpine, and some others. I was very seriously considering a “semi-custom” option of buying a cheap 700 SS ADL, dropping it into light stock, and having the barrel cut down to 20”. I abandoned that idea after I did the math, and I’d be into it for more than $1k, or much more depending on the stock, and I would probably end up with a rifle that weighed well over 6lbs. Also, I have seen some pretty poor manufacturing and quality control in the newer Remington products, and heard some real horror stories.
The savage 16 LWH offered a nice balance of everything I was looking for. Light, inexpensive, and savage has a good reputation for accuracy. I live and hunt primarily in Oregon so stainless and synthetic were a must also. It just met all my criteria so well that when I found one on sale recently at one of the big outdoor stores I couldn’t pass it up. With the sale, and some other promo deals they had going, I got the rifle, scope, and mounts for under $700.
So now that I have the rifle, I must say overall I’m impressed. First though, the things that aren’t perfect. The stock is questionable. With fairly light pressure the fore end visibly moves around the barrel. However, the barrel channel is wide and I don’t anticipate it creating problems, but it sure is flimsy. The detachable magazine is difficult to get to lock into place and unlock. Plus the locking mechanism is all molded plastic, so durability may be an issue. Once the mag is fitted though, it is snug and stable. When you shake the rifle, even with the mag in, it is silent, and fit appears good all around. There are visible gaps between the barreled action, and the stock. These loose tolerances probably allow savage to get away with some things in manufacturing and still bolt together a good functioning rifle, but it does not look fancy or refined. Or expensive, which it isn’t. In my opinion though, it is a good looking rifle in a “function over form” kind of way.
The trigger out of the box was not great. In fact, I was worried. It was heavy and had a bit of creep beyond disengaging the accutrigger lever. I took a chance knowing it was easily adjustable. I was actually really surprised how much it improved when I removed the stock and turned the accutrigger spring down to its lowest setting. I would now call the trigger very good. Crisp and light enough to make me very happy. Give Savage credit for having a product (the accutrigger) that works as advertised. The bolt, on the other hand, is rougher than I would like. It is fluted for “weight reduction” and more probably to look cool. I’m sure it does shed an ounce or maybe 2. However, you can feel the flutes as the bolt cycles through the receiver. All the savages I have shot have had somewhat rough cycling, but this one is the worst. It is light years behind a tikka's buttery smooth action. With all that complaining though, I don’t think it will affect function at all. I can throw the rifle up to my shoulder and cycle the bolt hard and fast without a problem.
On to the good stuff. It is very light. 5lbs 9.25oz. This is actually lighter than savages advertised weight of 5.65 lbs. By my calculation, 5.58 lbs. Perhaps because I got the largest available caliber there is less metal left in the barrel? Anyway I'm not complaining. Scope is a hair under 14oz, and mount is 3oz. Total weight 6lbs 10oz.
As I said earlier, trigger is very good, but it required adjustment. Overall, the rifle just feels good to me. Points naturally and balances well. Also, has a nice soft recoil pad from the factory (take note Tikka!)
With the scope mounted, I took it out to shoot. Unfortunately, conditions were tough. Snow and wind, but temps were comfortable in the mid 30s.
The rifle is was very comfortable to shoot. Recoil was actually less than I anticipated. It gives you a sharp thump, but with the soft pad and good positioning it was really a pleasure to shoot. I plan to shoot this rifle quite a bit.
It chambered rounds from the magazine easily and ejected well even though the bolt is rough, like I mentioned. There were no hiccups at all with feeding and ejection, although it does like being run forcefully, rather than being babied.
Today I shot it with 3 types of ammo: federal 150 gr power shock soft points, 150 gr barnes ttsx, and 165 gr federal trophy bonded tip.
I have to give credit to the dnz mounts, which made mounting and sighting in very easy. I was on paper immediately with no scope adjustment (all I did was bolt on the scope, look down the bore, see it was aligned with the scope, and start shooting).
Groups were ok but not awesome. My best came from the cheap federal soft points. A little less than 2" at 120 yards (where I was shooting it isn't really possible to set up at exactly 100yds). The Barnes ammo grouped almost identically, just a hair larger, right at 2". The federal TBT was pretty awful at about 3.5-4". In general, I know this rifle is capable of better, mostly because I know I could improve my shooting and conditions were a little rough. I'll be doing more shooting with the Barnes and some other types of ammo. Plus, I'm optimistic the rifle will improve as the barrel gets broken in.
I will likely be taking this rifle out for elk and deer this fall. I'm sure it will do the job well for me, considering I will be on foot, in fairly steep country, and hunting areas where shots are generally short (>300 yards would be very rare).
Here are a few photos of the experience so far. I will post updates as I continue to shoot and experiment.
I have been researching the world of lightweight big game rifles for the last year or so. My goal was to get an accurate, inexpensive, and light set up. I recently dove in and made a few purchases… A savage 16 lightweight hunter in .308, Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40, and a DNZ Gamereaper mount. I haven’t found a huge amount of info on the Savage 16 LWH so I figured I’d share my experience. I thought it might interest some folks and hopefully be a good resource for others in the future.
In my search for a light, compact rifle, I looked at a bunch of options… including Tikka (I have a T3 lite and I love it, but you/I can never have too many rifles), Rem 700 SS Mountain rifle, Kimber Hunter, Montana and others, Winchester 70 featherweight, Howa Alpine, and some others. I was very seriously considering a “semi-custom” option of buying a cheap 700 SS ADL, dropping it into light stock, and having the barrel cut down to 20”. I abandoned that idea after I did the math, and I’d be into it for more than $1k, or much more depending on the stock, and I would probably end up with a rifle that weighed well over 6lbs. Also, I have seen some pretty poor manufacturing and quality control in the newer Remington products, and heard some real horror stories.
The savage 16 LWH offered a nice balance of everything I was looking for. Light, inexpensive, and savage has a good reputation for accuracy. I live and hunt primarily in Oregon so stainless and synthetic were a must also. It just met all my criteria so well that when I found one on sale recently at one of the big outdoor stores I couldn’t pass it up. With the sale, and some other promo deals they had going, I got the rifle, scope, and mounts for under $700.
So now that I have the rifle, I must say overall I’m impressed. First though, the things that aren’t perfect. The stock is questionable. With fairly light pressure the fore end visibly moves around the barrel. However, the barrel channel is wide and I don’t anticipate it creating problems, but it sure is flimsy. The detachable magazine is difficult to get to lock into place and unlock. Plus the locking mechanism is all molded plastic, so durability may be an issue. Once the mag is fitted though, it is snug and stable. When you shake the rifle, even with the mag in, it is silent, and fit appears good all around. There are visible gaps between the barreled action, and the stock. These loose tolerances probably allow savage to get away with some things in manufacturing and still bolt together a good functioning rifle, but it does not look fancy or refined. Or expensive, which it isn’t. In my opinion though, it is a good looking rifle in a “function over form” kind of way.
The trigger out of the box was not great. In fact, I was worried. It was heavy and had a bit of creep beyond disengaging the accutrigger lever. I took a chance knowing it was easily adjustable. I was actually really surprised how much it improved when I removed the stock and turned the accutrigger spring down to its lowest setting. I would now call the trigger very good. Crisp and light enough to make me very happy. Give Savage credit for having a product (the accutrigger) that works as advertised. The bolt, on the other hand, is rougher than I would like. It is fluted for “weight reduction” and more probably to look cool. I’m sure it does shed an ounce or maybe 2. However, you can feel the flutes as the bolt cycles through the receiver. All the savages I have shot have had somewhat rough cycling, but this one is the worst. It is light years behind a tikka's buttery smooth action. With all that complaining though, I don’t think it will affect function at all. I can throw the rifle up to my shoulder and cycle the bolt hard and fast without a problem.
On to the good stuff. It is very light. 5lbs 9.25oz. This is actually lighter than savages advertised weight of 5.65 lbs. By my calculation, 5.58 lbs. Perhaps because I got the largest available caliber there is less metal left in the barrel? Anyway I'm not complaining. Scope is a hair under 14oz, and mount is 3oz. Total weight 6lbs 10oz.
As I said earlier, trigger is very good, but it required adjustment. Overall, the rifle just feels good to me. Points naturally and balances well. Also, has a nice soft recoil pad from the factory (take note Tikka!)
With the scope mounted, I took it out to shoot. Unfortunately, conditions were tough. Snow and wind, but temps were comfortable in the mid 30s.
The rifle is was very comfortable to shoot. Recoil was actually less than I anticipated. It gives you a sharp thump, but with the soft pad and good positioning it was really a pleasure to shoot. I plan to shoot this rifle quite a bit.
It chambered rounds from the magazine easily and ejected well even though the bolt is rough, like I mentioned. There were no hiccups at all with feeding and ejection, although it does like being run forcefully, rather than being babied.
Today I shot it with 3 types of ammo: federal 150 gr power shock soft points, 150 gr barnes ttsx, and 165 gr federal trophy bonded tip.
I have to give credit to the dnz mounts, which made mounting and sighting in very easy. I was on paper immediately with no scope adjustment (all I did was bolt on the scope, look down the bore, see it was aligned with the scope, and start shooting).
Groups were ok but not awesome. My best came from the cheap federal soft points. A little less than 2" at 120 yards (where I was shooting it isn't really possible to set up at exactly 100yds). The Barnes ammo grouped almost identically, just a hair larger, right at 2". The federal TBT was pretty awful at about 3.5-4". In general, I know this rifle is capable of better, mostly because I know I could improve my shooting and conditions were a little rough. I'll be doing more shooting with the Barnes and some other types of ammo. Plus, I'm optimistic the rifle will improve as the barrel gets broken in.
I will likely be taking this rifle out for elk and deer this fall. I'm sure it will do the job well for me, considering I will be on foot, in fairly steep country, and hunting areas where shots are generally short (>300 yards would be very rare).
Here are a few photos of the experience so far. I will post updates as I continue to shoot and experiment.
6.5 creed and had the exact same opinions as you, have shot it yet but am sure it'll do what it's made to do!
