Savage 110 Hog Hunter Part 1

Chipmunks – Micro or Macro aggressors? My wife loves to watch the chipmunk families that live under the shop and along the property boundary stone fences. They scamper with their tails up like antennas, they pause and sit on their haunches to test the wind like a community of meerkats, but they are generally skittish around people. This morning my wife was walking up the shop ramp with me, when she spotted one slightly plump individual sitting up not 10 feet away. We watched it eating food held in its hands like a little T Rex  without a single sign of fear or distress.

My wife said, “What is he eating?”, which I knew couldn’t be good, because she used the pronoun “he”. Closer inspection, that also didn’t send… him into flight, showed breakfast to be a baby mouse, which caused my wife to say only “ewww”. Rushing to my wife’s protection, I advanced on the chipmunk, which did not budge until I was in boot stomping range, at which point he scurried under the shop, mouse and all. We stood on the ramp, thinking how disgusting nature can be, when the chipmunk scurried back out, dropped a mouse tail on the ground and scurried back under the shop. I looked at my wife, who was now mortified and said, “Look, Hon, he wants to share with you”. I’ve not seen the chipmunk or my wife since. Anyway….

Background on Savage Arms and the history of the Savage 110 have been addressed several time on Real Guns®… no, not like an envelop, but more in the way of foundation research. The most recent Real Guns coverage can be found within “The Savage 110 Hunter in 25-06 Rem Part I“. Few firearms, in presence, live up to their respective names, which makes the Savage Hog Hunter an exception.

The Hog Hunter is a stout, compact, fast handling bolt action carbine. Supplied with metallic sights and Weaver scope bases, a stock with adjustable length of pull, and a threaded muzzle to accept any number of brakes or silencer, the Hog Hunter can be configured to suit a wide variety of circumstances. Chambered in 308 Winchester or 338 Federal, The Hog Hunter’s suitability easily extends to New England woodland deer, moose and bear.

The Hog Hunter’s stock geometry is reminiscent of a Bavarian hog back stock without a cheek piece, but with a comb placed for a natural line of sight through metallic sights or a low mounted scope. The drop at the heel serves to raise the rifle’s comb from the shooter’s shoulder and to reduce felt recoil. During range and wood’s shooting sessions, the rifle was easily set up for metallic sights, illuminated reticle sight and conventional rifle scope, always adaptable for shooter’s comfort.

Some salient, if not sentient, Hog Hunter features…

The rear sight is an adjustable, windage and elevation, V notch type. The front blade is a ramp mounted with gold bead. Both sights are high to be visible above the installed Weaver bases and mounted silencer, flash suppressor or brake. The sights were very good in use; contrasting and fast tracking. The front sight is a standard dovetail mount so the gold bead can be changed, in the event the owner stops believing his or her own eyes and caves to social media peer pressure. The muzzle threads under the protective cap at 5/8″-24.

The Savage has a two locking lug bolt with a recessed face that contains a cartridge case head. The bolt head floats a minuscule amount on center axis to assure the breech face is always alignment with the bore. Behind the front locking lugs are bolt guides that rotate about the bolt body and assure precise and smooth bolt travel. The sliding extractor is embedded within one of the bolt lugs and the ejector is a spring loaded plunger type.

The Hog Hunter does not utilize the AccuStock system, so it does not have an aluminum chassis or adjustable comb. However, the standard stock is heavily reinforced with ribbing and it does have steel inserts where the fasteners pass through to secure it to the action to prevent compression damage to the stock.

The tubular form action is secured to the stock with two fasteners and locked down fore and aft with a recoil lug. The AccuTrigger’s pull is adjusted by moderating the spring preload at the tail end of the trigger. The AccuRelease allows for a light, crisp trigger pull, while preventing accidental discharge caused by a dropped or otherwise jolted firearm. The blade in the center of the trigger must be compressed flush with the trigger face before the sear can move out of position.

The detachable magazine is steel and poly construction. In 308 Winchester capacity is four regardless caliber; stagger loaded and self centering for feed. The Savage Hog Hunter lock and release mechanism is an ideal balance of secure fit, but easy detach.

The Savage Hog Hunter has an adjustable length of pull feature and is supplied with 1/4″, 1/2″, 3/4″, and 1″ spacers and appropriate assortment of screw lengths. I found myself changing spacers to coincide with the type of sight in use and to accommodate various shooting positions. I’d like to see threaded metallic inserts in the stock, rather than plain plastic bosses, anchoring the recoil pad and spacers.

The Hog Hunter was shot with metallic sights, with a Bushnell Accelerate 4x Prism and with a traditional 2x-7x Bushnell 3500 Elite. The metallic sights are standard, as are the Weaver two piece bases. A rail replaced the two piece bases when mounting the illuminated 4x Prism.

Conclusions at this point in time…

This should be an exercise is stating the obvious…

The Savage 110 Hog Hunter is a fast handling, compact rifle sold at a value price. The venerable 110C action design has been rung out, finessed and optimized since 1966 and it has proven itself in both hunting and competition firearms. The look, from my perspective, is a good one and the stock geometry is comfortable from the first shot fired. The sights are a thoughtful inclusion that tracks to the models intended market. Fit and finish on the subject rifle is good, as it mechanical actuation of everything from bolt throw to detachable magazine release and insertion. Live fire, accuracy and ballistic performance coming up shortly in Part II.