Savage Arms 110 Scout

At The Bench

When it came time to shoot, I selected a democratic assortment of loads accumulated over the past year or two, trying to work in target, hunting and “tactical” law enforcement numbers. They included Federal American Eagle 150-gr. FMJ, Federal Premium 168-gr. Tactical Tip MatchKing, Speer 150-gr. LE GDSP, Browning BXR 155-gr. Matrix Tip and Black Hills 178-gr. A-Max. The relatively short 16.5″ barrel exacted a reasonably light velocity penalty — .308s are nice this way. The chronograph numbers looked like this: American Eagle 150s (2,650 fps), Federal Premium 168s (2,560), Speer 150s (2,708), Browning 155s (2,620) and Black Hills 178s (2,520).

In terms of accuracy, the heavier stuff won out — the two top contenders were the Federal 168-gr. and Black Hills 178-gr. Both held 3-shot groups between 1/2 and 3/4″ at 100 yards. The lighter stuff ran from 1-1/4 to 2″. At 200 yards, both of the heavier loads were around 2″, which is about as well as we can do with a 4X scope with “Scouty” eye-relief measurements.

Of course, I couldn’t resist yanking the scope off to try my hand with the aperture sights. I discovered you don’t absolutely have to remove the rail to use them but keeping it in place does tend to confuse the sight picture, particularly in conjunction with the protective front sight “ears.” Five shot groups at 50 yards were done just as fast as I could rack the bolt and line up the sights. The best efforts were in the 2″ to 3″ range and owed as much to the AccuTrigger (which weighed a very nice “unadjusted” 3-1/2 lbs.) as to the irons themselves.

Of course if you’re going to take the backup irons seriously, you’d best zero them with as much care as you would the scope. I’d feel pretty confident with them at 75-100 yards or so on hogs or deer and they beat the hell out of the old buckhorn sights on a traditional levergun. However, I’d want the scope rail gone if I decided to use the irons and I’d be darn careful about lining up one of the front sight ears instead of the center blade.

This latest incarnation of Cooper’s concept is a fine-shooting rifle. If I could have one wish granted, I’d ask for an optional 5-round steel magazine. The synthetic 10-rounder the rifle comes with strikes me as a bit unwieldy and it also made shooting groups off a sandbagged rest kind of a drag — which is why I often resorted to single-loading. Incidentally, the 110 Scout was very pleasant to shoot as recoil was surprisingly light. The efficient recoil pad, substantial gun weight and effective muzzle brake obviously worked well in concert.

The MSRP is $819, which puts it on par with the “store-bought” competition. The verdict? It’s a stylish, great-shooting rifle combining handiness with a distinctive look. I think it would make an excellent hog or whitetail gun.

www.savagearms.com

https://www.leupold.com

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