Any opinion on savage 110 tactical in 6.5?

One of the guys at my local club is shooting a 110 Tactical Desert in 6mm Creedmoor.  His is bone stock and he's holding just around 1 MOA at 600 yards.  I don't recall if he was shooting factory or hand loads.

Both he and I were impressed with the performance.  He said the stock is kinda lame but it's comfortable.

The 110 Tactical series is in the gap between the Savage Axis/Ruger Predator guns and the Ruger Precision/Tikka Tac A1/Savage Stealth.

Thanks for the input.

Good stuff. That desert tactical looks like a nice rifle. Wish I held off a little while. Buy now before the change in ownership affects QC or pricing.

Good point

Just to add. Not sure what you are looking for but... The gun makers have really learned to make great shooting rifles for low prices. I guess buyers got sophisticated enough to demand more accuracy than their fudd gramps demanded. Or makers like savage raised the bar. So you get a lot of rifle for your money. The cheap parts are the finish or the stock or the lack of model variations to simplify the production.

So like stated above the desert tac is a medium between the  fv and the chassis models. You get a stiffer injection molded accu stock and bottom metal. If you think you will ever want to change the stock then get the fv for less money.

Flawless functioning.  Excellent accuracy for my shooting ability (.7-.8" 5 shot 100yd groups).  Mine did come with the wrong bolt handle, for which Savage sent me the correct handle with no hassle and immediate shipping.  Easy to work up an accurate load.  Good price for all the features.  I'm of average height and build; didn't have to adjust the comb or length of pull as received from the factory.  Not too heavy that I couldn't use it for hunting.  Haven't fired it farther than 300yd, the length of my range.  A friend also has one (which is what led me to buy mine)...his works like mine except his groups are more like 1" at 100yd.

I have no regrets.

Can’t speak for the 6.5, but my 110 Tactical in .308 has been flawless and has been .50 - .75 with factory premium ammo.

I finally got out to get mine zeroed in the other week. Once I got it figured out it was doing quite well at 100 yards. I didn't measure it but it looked like approximately an inch. Looking forward to stretching it out some, but it seems like a great shooter for the money.

I have the 110 Desert Tactical and couldn’t be happier with it. I will say that didn’t like the replaceable cheek risers, the stock was too thin for my liking so I added a buckeye cheekrest to mine. It has been sub MOA with every load I have tried. It is sub 1/2 MOA with my handloads. I am currently working on a deer hunting load and initial groups with the 130 Sierra gamechanger are just over 1/4 MOA.

Thanks for all the info.

Mines nice and shoots well, I will say if you get one remove the scope rail and loctite the screws and torque them. They will loosen up if you don’t.

I’d say my only complaints arethe stock cheek pieces are pretty thin and the bolt handle to me is too big. But the stock is pretty good for a polymer factory option but it seemed to get dirty fast so I sponge camoed mine.

Do these take the magpul mag or are they a proprietary savage mag?

Magpul AICS.

These are fine rifles.  Not Sexy like a Barrett but the bullets don't look at labels.
The coolest thing about them is that you don't need a gunsmith to swap barrels.  Just a Gauge.

Are there any differences between the Desert Tac and the regular 110 tac besides bartal length and fluting?

Some of the early versions took a proprietary mag, but all the newer style ones take the magpul mags.

I have one coming, along with H brass and a supply of 95,105 , 107, & 108 gn bullets.I want to limit my selection of powders to about 6. I already have some IMR 4350 and RL 16. I think I have narrowed my selections to H and AA 4350, H Hybrid 100V and either Rl-19 or H 4831 SC ,if I ever decide to try any of the 115gn bullets/

Any others YOU have experience with ??

I just ordered one of these in 6.5 with the tan stock from Buds.
Be interested to see how it compares to my friends Savage Long Range Hunter in 6.5
With not much effort and new to reloading, he was able to work up a load that easily averages 1/2" with a best 5 shot group of 1/4" at 100 yards.

They now offer these in 6.5 PRC

I will give advice on which stock to avoid - the Choate Ultimate Sniper stock.  It's a heavy pig.  It works OK, but there are much better designed, lighter stocks out there.  I bought one about 20 years ago right after the 110 FP came out, and I could've spent another $100 and got a Bell & Carlson of Mc Millan stock.  Since then the prices on those two have nearly doubled.

So thanks to a black Friday deals thread here, I ended up ordering a 6.5 110 Tactical Desert from Buds.  I had a quick question I was hoping someone could answer for me.  I am planning on picking up an Accu-Shot rail that replaces the two sling swivel studs.  They make two different sizes, based on the distance between the studs.  If anyone has a 110 Tactical they can lay their hands on, would you mind measuring the distance stud-to-stud for me, please?

Attached File

Ballpark

That's perfect.  Thank you very much!

No problem!

I really want one, I know that

I did not like the heavy bolt lift but other than that I like the convenience of changing the barrel myself and the accuracy.

Just got mine yesterday.

*googles accu-shot rail*

This looks great. I’m in need of Uber-low 30mm rings. Are Badger still the way to go, or has something proven to be as good without the price tag?

Thanks!

I don't know if they are as good as Badger, but I think I'm going with a set of Seekins Precision rings.  They seem to be well regarded around here, and a little more in line with my budget (~$115 shipped from Amazon).  I'm not opposed to used, either, so I've been keeping an eye on the EE, with no luck so far.

I put Seekins precision on mine.

I used utg pro on mine. I installed them and they aligned perfectly and I was going to lap them and there was really no need they were great out of the box.

Because Christmas has me in the poor house (four kids) I went with Warne Maximas. They seem pretty well built and were spot on for alignment. I’ll shoot it this weekend.

Thanks, gang.

As a bit of a jump start, has anyone eyed up the new AXIS offering from Savage?  The Axis II Precision appears to be a medium profile threaded barrel AXIS dropped into a MDT Chassis...  I know it's brand new on the market, but what do you think about a head to head between one of these and a 110 Tactical (or Desert Tac)?  Both are going to real world run around $700, I've just not been able to find a TON on the practical differences between the two lines.  I know the AXIS is the more bargain of the two, but it SEEMS mostly an issue of a different action on the AXIS precluding the ease of barrel change/replacement that you have with the 110.  Is the action itself also inferior?

AXIS II Precision

I've been thinking of a 6.5, however I'm likely just going to go with a .308.  I'm already set to press .308, and I'm completely comfortable in the fact that this is going to be a distance plinker / pretend I'm a sniper at my hunting and fishing club range.  Whatcha think?

Update here. I got mine in and shot it at 50, looked ok. Went to 100, and the best I could get was 1.25”ish with American Gunner 140s. Swapped to American Whitetail 129s and got the same. 16x scope. Now, this will predominantly be a hunting rifle with a 3-9x Leupold, but this accuracy seems lacking. Yeah, it’s fine for hunting but I put the 16x on it to see what it could do and came away disappointed. I’ll buy some 143 and 147 ELDs but have no interest in the 147s because it’ll be a hunting rig. Am I being unreasonable? Are my expectations too high? Is the rifle not broken in yet? I followed break in if shoot, clean, shoot etc for 20 rounds then let just shot. I’ve got about 60 rounds down the pipe. Thanks.

I use the 143eldx in mine, it’s been a long time since I shot it though. I vaguely remember my best few groups were about 3/4”, but most were 1-1.25”. I wouldn’t call myself a good shooter though. I have a review on it I posted in this forum too that probably has pictures or what my groups were when I sighted it in. I did have my rail loosen up after a while so that is an issue with these from the factory, if you don’t loctite and retorque it.

Fantastic! Thanks for the input, it makes me feel a bit better. I’ll keep trying ammo including those and look up your review. Like I said it’s a hunting rifle (for me anyway) so I can live with it. I love the gun otherwise.

I would also call mine a 1-1.25" gun if I take my time.
Occasionally I shoot a lucky 0.5-0.75" 5 shot group.
This is with a variety of factory ammo including Federal and Hornady match ammo.
It prefers the 140 and 147 over lighter bullets.

My .308 Rem. 700 is more consistently accurate (0.5 MOA usually without too much trouble),
It has a short, heavier barrel, aftermarket stock and trigger.

I really like this 110 desert tactical though.
Fit and finish, factory stock, trigger and rail are all perfectly acceptable, especially for the price ($450 after the rebate).
I put an SWFA 3-15x42 on it.  Looks cool and a really fun gun to shoot.

This is good to know, sir. How many rounds through yours? I just got a few more kinds of ammo to try so I’ll Las what it does. I think I mentioned it earlier, but this will ultimately be a hunting rifle with. 3-9 and shots prolly no further than 300, so it’s perfectly serviceable. It does look good, and I love the stock and trigger, which I’ve got down to about two pounds. Mine was $434 after rebate so yeah, I’m happy. I do see some criterion/shilen prefits, so that’s an option later on. Many thanks.

ETA is don’t think I’ll even put 147 eld-m through it as I’ll not hunt with those rounds. Even though it may like them  better.

I'd guess about around 100-120 rounds through it.
Just ordered a bunch of American Gunner 140 stuff since that shot pretty much as well as the match ammos I tried.
That's what I'll be shooting in it for now. Eventually will reload for it, but for now just having fun shooting it.

A buddy of mine has a 110 Long Range Hunter in 6.5.
He's a bit peeved as he paid >2x more, it doesn't shoot any better than mine and he found he prefers the detachable mag of the tactical.
The tactical may be a bit lighter also, but I don't recall. His LR Hunter is a super nice gun though.

10-4, sir! Thanks for the input and good shooting.

I saw this thread pop up and figured I'd add this, since it is kind of relevant.

I do a good bit of competitive shooting, but mostly USPSA and 3-gun.  While I have always wanted to dabble in PRS matches, I have to drive a good bit to get anything more than 400 yards,  and I know that I won't be able to devote a ton of time towards it any time soon. Because of this, I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on this project, but I still wanted to be able to play a little.  So this is what I came up with.

I took advantage of the Savage rebate after Christmas, and picked up this 110 Desert Tactical in 6.5 Jesusmoor.  I know Savage is the rifle of the Poors around here, but I figured I'd use this rifle to figure out if I wanted to sink a bunch of money into the sport later down the road.  It was $435 shipped, which I felt was pretty reasonable for what you get.





The scope was free, believe it or not.  It was a prize-table-pickup from a match I shot a while back.  It's a Vortex Razor 4.5-27.  I never would have spent this kind of money on a scope, but dang...It's pretty awesome.  I guess you could count the match entry fee as the cost of the scope, so call it $300.

I picked up the Grey Ghost Precision muzzle brake and Leupold MkIV steel rings off the EE.  Both were essentially new, but out of the bag/box, and were a steal (compared to new).  Again, I don't know that I would have bought them if I was building a new rifle, but I was going for quality, yet cheap, so these fit the bill.

Pretty much the only thing I bought new was the Accu-Shot rail that replaces the two sling swivels and turns it into a Pic rail.

I was finally able to make it to the range today, and got to put a few rounds through it.  I decided to zero at 200 yards, since I zero all my 3-gun rifles at 200.  I'm really new to this, so I'm open to suggestions if this is wrong-think.  I had three different loads on hand--Sellier & Bellot 140 FMJ, Hornady Match 140 ELD and Federal Gold Medal Match 140 SMK.

After a bore sight, I went right to 200.  I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of my 100 yard groups, but all three loads were well under one inch.  So, right to 200.

The rifle certainly had an affinity for the Frderal GMM over the Hornady Match.  Here's the GMM:



My fancy shot-group-measuring device says it's right at an inch.

Next up was the Hornady 140 ELD:



Not quite as good as the GMM (and I only fired 4 on that one for some reason).

Then the S&B:



I then went to 300 and shot 3 rounds of the S&B.  I came back about an hour later and shot 2 more at the same target, which produced two distinct POIs.  A cold front (and a little rain) had moved through in between the two groups, so I don't know if that could have affected it, or I just suck (probably the latter).  I did recognize that my target/bull that I was shooting at at 300 yards was way too big, and I had a hard time figuring out where the center was.



Then I went to 400 (the furthest I can get at my local range).  I shot both the S&B and the Federal GMM.  I was really happy that the S&B not only grouped petty well at 400, but it was very close to the GMM.  The S&B 140 FMJ is only like 55 cents a round, so I'll probably be shooting more of that then anything else--and If I feel like I need the accuracy of the GMM, the two are pretty close in POI (at least out to 400--I'm sure they diverge further out).



Not shown, but I also did a 'tall target test' and was very pleased that I had apparently mounted my scope level.

Anyway, that's my budget bolt gun.  I hope to get myself out to a range where I can get some dope out much further, and hopefully shoot a couple of matches.

Cheers!

Hell of a lot of rifle for the money.

Awesome shooter you have there, sir! Very nice and thanks very much for the report.

Anyone have one in 300 wm?

Sorry. Responded to wrong thread. Nothing to see here.

I bought my 110 tactical from a member here, (24" barrel, gray stock) it had 798rds through it. It is currently hitting 3" gongs @ 300yds  the average 5 shot group is 1 3/4" the best is 1 1/2" from the bench using a MTM pistol rest. They are a great buy and makes anybody look good at the range. The ammo is Hornady 140gr American Gunner. The scope is a cheap Bushnell Trophy Extreme LR600 4-16x44 BDC. I did put a bolt lift kit in it, otherwise it's stock.

Just wanted to post a little update.

I spent the weekend in Anniston shooting the Alabama State USPSA match. Since it was held at the CMP range, I took advantage of their 600 yard range to shoot the 110. I was happy to find that the Federal GMM produced a group just a hair over 5” and the S&B wasn’t that much worse at about 6.5”. Very happy with the results, and can’t wait to get out farther.

Has anyone used one for hunting? Are they too heavy to lug around in the woods or are they pretty light? I really like the thoughts of one for a dual purpose rifle.

I have a very similar build, not the tactical and it weighs in at a bit over 11lbs.  It is what I hunt with.

Actually I do. It's a first gen 110FP in .300 WINMAG. Can hit the X ring all day @600yards.

Love it!