The Firearm Blog

A lot of people have been drooling over the new .338 Lapua Savage rifle because it packs a lot of features into a rifle with an MSRP of just $2,267.

American Rifleman has published a review of the 110 BA which can be read on their website ...

Although the Model 110 BA is found in the Savage Arms law enforcement lineup, and was designed with military requirements in mind, not to mention it has the ability to withstand operational use by military and law enforcement communities, long-range shooting enthusiasts will surely find this rifle appealing. What’s more, the 110 BA’s $2,267 price puts it within the reach of many shooters. All this, along with Savage’s renowned accuracy and commitment to quality, gives you a remarkable rifle at an equally impressive price.

Savage Model 110 BA (Excuse my poor photography)

The American Rifleman review is very comprehensive so I will not bother covering the same ground, but I will make a few comments about the rifle which I have had the pleasure of shooting on two separate occasions.

Recoil is not too bad. The muzzle brake is efficient. The blast, on the other hand, is significant. Firing it at the enclosed private single lane at the NRA HQ Range was quite an experience ! Again, thanks to Ed Friedman, Tyler Kreis and Daniel McCullough for taking me shooting at NRA HQ.

The rifle is more accurate than I am at half a mile. To be quite honest, being more accurate than me is not hard!

When I blogged about the original Savage Model 10 BAS, which this rifle is based on, many people criticized Savage's decision to use an AR-15 stock and pistol grip. Personally I found the ergonomics of a free standing pistol grip to work just as well on a bolt action as it does on a tactical style automatic rifle.

I have only two criticism. Firstly, to be frank, it is ugly. Savage have gone with function over form. Secondly, few, if any, civilians are going to get any use from the side rails. They just add to the weight and cost of the rifle.

The new Savage Long Range Hunter is a very compelling rifle. As the name suggests, it is designed for long range hunting where accuracy is paramount. It is packed full of features including the AccuStock, an adjustable muzzle brake and an adjustable comb.

Savage Model 11 Long Range Hunter

Savage Model 11 Long Range Hunter (top)

I believe this is the first rifle to feature Savage's new adjustable muzzle brake. The idea behind adjustable brakes is that they can be find tuned for individual loads so that the rifle jumps back on target, allowing the shooter to see if the game was hit. I have heard it also said that adjusting a brake can help accuracy.

Adjustable muzzlebrake

The Savage rifles are now equipped with Savage P.A.D (Personal Anti-Recoil Device) recoil pads. Premium recoil pads are now commonplace, so this is not a big deal.

The new 300-SD for .300 Win. Mag. and .308 Win. is a baby version of the .338 LM TiTAN-QD. Unfortunately civilian sales are on hold until military contracts have been fulfilled.

By the way, AAC are advertising for an assembler position.

Strategy Page reports:

June 18, 2009: The U.S. Army has ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester magnum ammunition for its newly modified M-24 sniper rifles, as well as similar SOCOMs Mk13 models. The new ammo will cost about $1.30 per round. The .300 Winchester magnum will be ordered in minimum lots of 56,160 rounds (117 boxes of 480 rounds each). The entire 38.4 million rounds will last a while.

$1.30 a round! I would have thought they could get it cheaper than that!

There is a discussion at SaysUncle about the pro’s and con’s of the cartridge.

Thanks to David for the link.

UPDATE:

A more factually correct article is at Defense Industry Daily, and it quotes regular TFB commenter Daniel Watters.

D.E. Watters of The Gun Zone adds that .300 Win Mag is used in the Mk13 sniper rifle, another Remington 700 long receiver derivative that’s assembled from parts at NSWC Crane. The most recent version is the Mk13 MOD 5, which allows the use of the same sound suppressor as the Knight’s Armament Company SR-25/MK11 sniper rifle.

Blaser, in partner ship with Norma, will be introducing a new line of magnum cartridges later this year. They are not giving out any detailed information until May, but they have said these are completely new cartridges, not based on any previous designs.

7mm Blaser Magnum, .300 Blaser Magnum, .338 Blaser Magnum and .375 Blaser Magnum
Factory cartridges will be sold by Blaser and Norma and will be available in August along with Blaser R93 rifles chambered for them.

More info here.

New for 2009 is the Kimber Model 8400 Police Tactical chambered in .300 Win. Mag. The rifle is designed with military and law enforcement in mind.

The previous Kimber tactical rifles based on the 8400 action got good reviews and I expect this one will not be any different.

I will update this post as more information becomes available.

Browning will be releasing a line of A-Bolt Target rifles.

The rifle will come in three calibers: .223 Rem., .308 Win. and .300 Win. Mag. It is a pity they are not offering more exotic calibers. The stainless model will cost $1489 for .223 and .308 while the .300 will cost $1519.

More info @ Accurate Shooter

The photo below shows a couple of South Ossetia militia. The guy on the right is carrying a Sako TRG.

It is unlikely Finland would allow arms exports to South Ossetia. It was probably bought on the civilian market and then exported. I cannot imagine that South Ossetia would have many snipers so this is feasible.

Their squad sharpshooters (or whatever they call them in that part of the world) are probably using the SVD.

I cannot make out if it is a TRG-21 / 22 (.308 Win) or TRG-41 / 42 (.338 Lapua or .300 Win Magnum). I have never seen a photo of a 41/42 without a muzzle break, but I think the 21/22 can have the Sako TRG muzzle break attached, please correct me if I am wrong.

Click to expand the image

H/T: MP.net