Mr. October
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2020
- Messages
- 142
Long Post Warning:
The story begins with my purchase of a Savage 110 Storm in 7mm-08. I bought the rifle last year to replace a much more expensive other brand that was, frankly, awful. The Savage was 1/3 the cost of the rifle it replaced but still came in at around $900. I am very happy with the rifle. It is extremely accurate out of the box (more than I could say for its predecessor) and build quality seems very good for a sub $1000 rifle. It features a detachable magazine that is of all steel construction.
Prior to this hunting season, I wanted to get a spare magazine to leave in my pack for the inevitable time that I accidentally leave the magazine at camp. I found the correct item and part number using the Savage website and Gun Mag Warehouse and ordered the magazine from Gun Mag Warehouse for the cost of $54.00. Attached is a picture of the product from the Savage website. Item # 55109, P/N: 106236. According to the description all-steel construction, stainless exterior (matches the finish on the rifle).
Gun Mag Warehouse shipped the new magazine very quickly. The packaging matched the website except the base was all black instead of stainless. I hastily unpacked it to discover that the whole thing was a plastic POS. I looked at the package again. Correct item and part number. Cheap polymer magazine.
Being a sport I decided to at least see if it would fit and work. It seated well enough. Let me see if It holds cartridges and works in the gun. Bear in mind, I already knew I was going to send it back. I am NOT paying $54.00 for a cheap plastic magazine worth about $15.00. Still . . . let's see in case it is the only choice for a spare.
Loading the magazine was cumbersome. Rounds wanted to either slip out or submarine in getting stuck in a downward position. With care, I got 3 rounds loaded and put it in the rifle. I worked the bolt forward and the top round stripped out, popped up and missed the chamber entirely exiting the rifle out the top. I re-inserted the round and tried again with the same result except the next round popped loose too. Taking extra care to move the bolt very slowly I tried again and got a round to successfully feed into the gun.
I removed the magazine and emptied it and further inspected it. There were no metal feed lips, and the whole thing looked like it was made for a kids toy and not a hunting rifle. I flipped it over expecting to see it stamped with the Playskool logo. I dared not drop it as it obviously would not survive a fall of more than a couple feet on a hard surface. I also couldn't imagine it surviving long in the cold or smashed into a hunting pack.
My assumption at this point was that perhaps a magazine for the Axis line was mispackaged by Savage. I called Gun Mag Warehouse and explained the situation and they agreed that it wasn't the right product and sent me a label to ship it back. A couple days later I got this e-mail from Gun Mag Warehouse:
Our apologies, it seems Savage has updated the design of this magazine and we no longer carry the old steel design. We received and processed your return and initiated your refund. You should see the funds appear on your original payment account within 2-5 business days. You'll receive a separate email with a copy of your credit memo, which you may consider your receipt for this refund.
To verify, I opened a case with Savage explaining the situation and received this response:
We have indeed moved to a new magazine design.
I am surprised to hear you had issues, the new magazines were optimized for function, and in addition to being lighter are easier to load and smoother than the older all metal magazines.
There are still some metal mags available, if you prefer.
If you call our call center and order 106236, it will be the stainless bottom mag, and we do have them (I checked).
Parts orders may be placed through our call center at 1-800-370-0708. Please have your serial number ready, and our operators will be able to ensure they identify the correct part, and place your order.
To be transparent, I totally get it. Like every other company out there, Savage is trying to have a better bottom line. But to claim that the cheap POS magazine they replace the steel one with is supposed to be BETTER is just lying to your customers. And why not provide the option? I'd rather pay $50-100 more for a rifle with real metal parts than more plastic.
As I told the Savage representative, if I picked a rifle of any manufacture up off the shelf in a gun store and it had this magazine in it, I would leave it there. Not surprisingly, I have talked to several people that own new Savage rifles that came with the cheap polymer magazine that had problems almost immediately and now have a single shot rifle. I can picture all these rifles being a single shot in 10 years when the cheap magazine is broken and the owner can't find a replacement.
Perhaps the most appalling thing is that the magazine is still priced from Savage as if it is the metal version. They have an article right on their website about metal vs. polymer magazines and one of the items on their list of pros is that they are cost effective. Sure! Charge $50-80 for a magazine that cost $10 to produce. That's pretty cost effective . . . for Savage! Especially since the consumer will need to buy several if they plan to keep the rifle for any length of time.
The bottom line is that I'm really happy with the rifle and glad I bought it when I did but I can say that I won't be recommending a Savage bolt action with a polymer magazine to anyone that asks and I think Savage is doing their customers a giant disservice. I at least wish they'd be honest about it.
Attached are pics of the item on the Savage website, the packaging the plastic magazine came in (notice the part number), the cheap new mag, and the original mag that came with the rifle.
The story begins with my purchase of a Savage 110 Storm in 7mm-08. I bought the rifle last year to replace a much more expensive other brand that was, frankly, awful. The Savage was 1/3 the cost of the rifle it replaced but still came in at around $900. I am very happy with the rifle. It is extremely accurate out of the box (more than I could say for its predecessor) and build quality seems very good for a sub $1000 rifle. It features a detachable magazine that is of all steel construction.
Prior to this hunting season, I wanted to get a spare magazine to leave in my pack for the inevitable time that I accidentally leave the magazine at camp. I found the correct item and part number using the Savage website and Gun Mag Warehouse and ordered the magazine from Gun Mag Warehouse for the cost of $54.00. Attached is a picture of the product from the Savage website. Item # 55109, P/N: 106236. According to the description all-steel construction, stainless exterior (matches the finish on the rifle).
Gun Mag Warehouse shipped the new magazine very quickly. The packaging matched the website except the base was all black instead of stainless. I hastily unpacked it to discover that the whole thing was a plastic POS. I looked at the package again. Correct item and part number. Cheap polymer magazine.
Being a sport I decided to at least see if it would fit and work. It seated well enough. Let me see if It holds cartridges and works in the gun. Bear in mind, I already knew I was going to send it back. I am NOT paying $54.00 for a cheap plastic magazine worth about $15.00. Still . . . let's see in case it is the only choice for a spare.
Loading the magazine was cumbersome. Rounds wanted to either slip out or submarine in getting stuck in a downward position. With care, I got 3 rounds loaded and put it in the rifle. I worked the bolt forward and the top round stripped out, popped up and missed the chamber entirely exiting the rifle out the top. I re-inserted the round and tried again with the same result except the next round popped loose too. Taking extra care to move the bolt very slowly I tried again and got a round to successfully feed into the gun.
I removed the magazine and emptied it and further inspected it. There were no metal feed lips, and the whole thing looked like it was made for a kids toy and not a hunting rifle. I flipped it over expecting to see it stamped with the Playskool logo. I dared not drop it as it obviously would not survive a fall of more than a couple feet on a hard surface. I also couldn't imagine it surviving long in the cold or smashed into a hunting pack.
My assumption at this point was that perhaps a magazine for the Axis line was mispackaged by Savage. I called Gun Mag Warehouse and explained the situation and they agreed that it wasn't the right product and sent me a label to ship it back. A couple days later I got this e-mail from Gun Mag Warehouse:
Our apologies, it seems Savage has updated the design of this magazine and we no longer carry the old steel design. We received and processed your return and initiated your refund. You should see the funds appear on your original payment account within 2-5 business days. You'll receive a separate email with a copy of your credit memo, which you may consider your receipt for this refund.
To verify, I opened a case with Savage explaining the situation and received this response:
We have indeed moved to a new magazine design.
I am surprised to hear you had issues, the new magazines were optimized for function, and in addition to being lighter are easier to load and smoother than the older all metal magazines.
There are still some metal mags available, if you prefer.
If you call our call center and order 106236, it will be the stainless bottom mag, and we do have them (I checked).
Parts orders may be placed through our call center at 1-800-370-0708. Please have your serial number ready, and our operators will be able to ensure they identify the correct part, and place your order.
To be transparent, I totally get it. Like every other company out there, Savage is trying to have a better bottom line. But to claim that the cheap POS magazine they replace the steel one with is supposed to be BETTER is just lying to your customers. And why not provide the option? I'd rather pay $50-100 more for a rifle with real metal parts than more plastic.
As I told the Savage representative, if I picked a rifle of any manufacture up off the shelf in a gun store and it had this magazine in it, I would leave it there. Not surprisingly, I have talked to several people that own new Savage rifles that came with the cheap polymer magazine that had problems almost immediately and now have a single shot rifle. I can picture all these rifles being a single shot in 10 years when the cheap magazine is broken and the owner can't find a replacement.
Perhaps the most appalling thing is that the magazine is still priced from Savage as if it is the metal version. They have an article right on their website about metal vs. polymer magazines and one of the items on their list of pros is that they are cost effective. Sure! Charge $50-80 for a magazine that cost $10 to produce. That's pretty cost effective . . . for Savage! Especially since the consumer will need to buy several if they plan to keep the rifle for any length of time.
The bottom line is that I'm really happy with the rifle and glad I bought it when I did but I can say that I won't be recommending a Savage bolt action with a polymer magazine to anyone that asks and I think Savage is doing their customers a giant disservice. I at least wish they'd be honest about it.
Attached are pics of the item on the Savage website, the packaging the plastic magazine came in (notice the part number), the cheap new mag, and the original mag that came with the rifle.
