Savage Model 110 High Country

The stock employs the relatively new AccuFit system, which allows you to easily custom-fit length of pull and comb height for more comfortable, accurate shooting. The rifle ships with five different risers to adjust comb height, in 1/8-inch increments, and four different inserts to adjust length of pull, from 13 inches to 14 inches, in 1/4-inch increments. All you need is a Phillips Head screwdriver. This innovative system turns the rifle into a gun that can be made to more comfortably fit females or young shooters, and allows a hunter to adjust fit when bundled up in heavy winter clothing. Overmolded rubber inserts are located in just the right places to ensure a solid grip in wet weather, and the stock has a generously sized rubber recoil pad.

Easily attaching to the rifle’s forend, Swagger’s (www.swaggerbipods.com) super versatile Hunter42 bipod feature’s an extension range of 9-3/4 to 41-1/4 inches to provide steady support in any shooting situation. When not in use, it’s legs retract neatly into its polymer body.

Just about everything on today’s Model 110 rifles is designed to enhance accuracy. This includes the sometimes-maligned Savage barrel nut, which makes some purists turn up their noses. Frankly, I don’t give a hoot what it looks like because it permits precise headspacing. Similarly, the Savage floating bolt head self-aligns to a degree. Both components help the rifle shoot tiny groups.

As of this writing, the High Country rifle is chambered for 11 popular cartridges, including .308 Win., .243 Win., .270 Win., .280 Ackley Improved, .30-06 Springfield, .300 Win. Mag, .300 WSM, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, 7mm Rem. Mag. and 7mm-08 Rem.

The rifle sports standard Savage controls, which is to say is has the bolt-release button positioned beneath the stock just forward of the trigger guard. A tang-mounted, three-position safety allows you to cycle rounds through the action with the safety switch in the middle, engaged position, while the bolt is locked down with the switch in the rearmost position.

No longer primarily a long-range-target specific cartridge, those who hunt with 6.5 Creedmoor are spoiled for choice with ammunition options these days. Shown are the 5 loads used for testing the High Country.

Like so many sporting rifles today, the High Country is equipped with a detachable box magazine, but this one is actually made of metal. Capacity is four rounds in standard chamberings. I found the magazine easy to load and equally easy to insert and remove from the magazine well. Happily, it fed, fired and ejected rounds without developing any mechanical indigestion.

Of course, the rifle comes with the much-copied Savage AccuTrigger. This is a two-stage design incorporating a “safety blade” mechanism. Love it or hate it, the trigger provides a short lock time of under 2 milliseconds, and the pull weight is adjustable within a range of 1.5 to 4.5 lbs. The one on our test rifle had no creep, and broke crisply at an average and consistent pull weight of 2 lbs., 8 oz. That’s a pretty decent setting for a hunting trigger, so I left it as it arrived for testing.

Savage rifles have long enjoyed a well-earned reputation for fine accuracy out of the box, and the High Country is no exception. Although the company doesn’t publish an accuracy guarantee, the folks at Savage will tell you they do expect their rifles to group under an inch, with good ammo, at 100 yards. It’s the Savage standard, and our test gun, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, turned in a stellar performance at the range despite the fact that I was shooting in wind varying crazily between six and 15 miles per hour.

100-yard, sub-MOA precision came easily with the High Country, and sub-1/2-MOA with two of the loads tested. Shown is the best group, measuring 0.42 inches, shot with the Black Hills Gold 143-gr. ELD-X load.

Being pressed for time, I only shot 3-shot groups, but those groups told me all I’ll ever need to know about this rifle’s inherent accuracy. All five tested loads turned in sub-MOA best groups, and all but one produced sub-MOA average groups. The only one that didn’t, a soft-point hunting round, missed that mark by only six one hundredths of an inch. Two loads using the same bullet—Hornady’s 143 gr. ELD-X—printed the best groups of the day, including one measuring 0.42 inch with the Black Hills Gold load and another of just 0.46 inch for the Hornady Professional Hunter load.

With an MSRP of $1,129, this isn’t exactly an inexpensive rifle, but I’ve shot plenty of rifles costing far more that produced far less accuracy and were far less protected from the elements. In the case of the 110 High Country, you’ll get what you pay for . . . and then some. For more information, contact Savage Arms; Tel. (800) 370-0708,: Web: www.savagearms.com

Savage 110 High Country Rifle 6.5 Creedmoor

Load Avg. Velocity

(feet per second

Avg. Group

100 yards

Best Group

100 yards

Black Hills Gold 143 gr. ELD-X 2,570 0.63 0.42
Federal Big Game 120 gr. Trophy Copper 2,884 0.79 0.71
Federal Non Typical Whitetail 140 gr. SP 2,667 1.06 0.89
Hornady Professional Hunter 143 gr. ELD-X 2,587 0.61 0.46
Winchester Match 140 gr. BTHP 2,609 0.72 0.66

 

Note: Accuracy measured with three, 3-shot groups in wind 6-15 mph at 100 yards. Velocity measured as a 3-shot average with a Competitive Edge Dynamics M2 chronograph.

SPECIFICATIONS

Savage 110 High Country Rifle 6.5 Creedmoor

  • Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor as tested
  • Action: Push-feed bolt action
  • Magazine: Detachable box
  • Capacity: 4+1
  • Barrel: 22 in. stainless spiral fluted
  • Finish: Brown PVD coating
  • Rate of twist: 1:10 RH
  • Muzzle: Threaded
  • Stock: TrueTimber Strata synthetic
  • Trigger: Adjustable AccuTrigger
  • Weight: 8.1 lb.
  • Length: 42.375 in.
  • MSRP: $1,129