Pulled the trigger on a Savage A17

Not literally, but I did finally break down and order an Savage A17 (.17 HMR autoloader) yesterday.

This was against my better judgment, I have to tell you, but if I wanted to have it tuned up and ready for the June p-dog trip, I had to do it now or do it never. I found a crazy deal on a Vortex 4×12 scope, so I bought rifle, scope, rings, and extra mag all in one sitting. God bless the interweb.

Please, somebody, tell me that I’ve waited long enough for Savage to have worked out the kinks?

I have had to pass on two EPIC dogtowns the past 2 years in a row because they were too close to stock enclosures or houses to be hammering away with heavy centerfires. If this thing turns into a jam-o-matic, I’m going to be so angry I’ll probably chew the stock off it. P-dog trips in June are not exactly casual evening plinking sessions, between the heat, the gritty dust, and the high round counts, this is a sink or swim test for rifles.

Anybody bought one of these in the last few months?

I’ll be posting a full review when I get it up and running.

Grouse

Grouse, please report back on your A17. That rifle interests me. I hunt game to the size of large coon with the hummer and like it. And I have killed coyotes with it. That said I would not take it out coyote calling. They were simply targets of opportunity. Killed them with .22lr for that matter.

I heard they refined a few things on the guns since 2015 and they’re pretty reliable little tack drivers. Also interested to hear about the trip and your impressions on the gun. I have never been a Savage fan, the fit and finish on most of the rifles I have held and shot were mediocre at best, but this offering is interesting.

Congrats on the new boom stick!

I LOVE MINE. ZERO PROBLEMS. ABOUT 400 ROUNDS whoops sorry caps on.
Not one hang up and more accurate then my bolt action. You do need to make sure clip is properly seated

Man am I itching for p-dogs.

Hopefully sweating in gumboland July 4th!

Found a hunting method to keep dogs within 200 yds and hit percentage skyrocketed last fall. Plan to execute same strategy this year and wallop em!

Plus, we got another ranch to pound!

I’ll post a full review and range report as soon as it gets here and gets set up.

The A17 had two phases of growing pains and hopefully, I’ve waited out both so that the dealer stock is “fresh” with rifles that have both issues corrected. We’ll see.

FishBlood, I will be out the week before you. Hopefully NOT sweating or seeing any gumbo whatsoever, but the chance of neither happening are remote. I wanted to go earlier but scheduling was difficult.

Eagle, I’m a Savage fan because the accuracy per dollar on Savage rifles simply cannot be beaten. I’ve changed all my varmint rifles over to Savage Axis platforms (with customizations) for the simple reason that they drive tacks and wack varmints with incredible precision for the price. The added bonus is that I won’t feel any need to cry when the barrels burn out or the actions wear out, which is the fate of every varmint rifle no matter what cost or beauty.

My Axis .223 is well over 1000 rounds and my .22-250 has almost 700 on the clock. Both should be good for about 2500-3000, which certainly beats burning up higher end rifle barrels that cost twice what the whole Axis rifle costs.

Anyone have any tips on which ammo brand and grain bullet the A17 seems to like best?

Grouse

My grandpa has one that he has been using on woodchucks that took up residence in his machine shed by the barn. He’s having a good time with it!

I’ll bet you will be tickled pink once suppressors are legal here!!!!

suppressors are already legal in mn…

mnfishhunt wrote:

suppressors are already legal in mn…

I meant easy to obtain (without long wait for tax stamp)

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Eagle, I’m a Savage fan because the accuracy per dollar on Savage rifles simply cannot be beaten. I’ve changed all my varmint rifles over to Savage Axis platforms (with customizations) for the simple reason that they drive tacks and wack varmints with incredible precision for the price. The added bonus is that I won’t feel any need to cry when the barrels burn out or the actions wear out, which is the fate of every varmint rifle no matter what cost or beauty.

I hear ya. A buddy of mine swears by Savage. There’s no question they’re accurate rifles. I have been more hooked on Howa and Ruger Mark II rifles. Both are heavy, but very accurate. But like you said, I am not looking forward to burning a barrel out of either…

Well, the ability to have a rifle that is both cheap and accurate is a very recent phenomenon.

When the Savage Axis and Ruger American rifles came out, I was highly suspicious of the glowing accuracy reports they received. If it’s too good to be true…

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I plunked down a few hundred on a .223 Axis (then called the Edge). And after one trip to the range, I was a believer. Yes, the trigger was poor, yes that is an easy fix, and yes even WITH the price of an aftermarket trigger, the rifle is still as or more accurate than anything that could be bought at even twice the price 25 years ago.

But I really felt like kind of a bad guy. Between my father and I, we had 3 middle aged varmint rifles, the cheapest of which cost almost three times what a new Axis cost… Kind of felt like wasting a fine rifle now that there were much cheaper options.

I’ve shot over 2000 rounds out of my two Axis rifles with only two mechanical issues. One was a case head seperation that left he rifle jammed and unusable until we got back to the tool box and extracted the case. Obviously not the rifle’s fault. The other was a broken spring clip on a magazine turning the Axis into a single shot for the remainder of the day. Luckily, I found a new mag in a small town gunshop and we were back in business the next day. Not bad for a combined investment of less than 800 (excluding optics) for the PAIR of rifles.

Grouse

They use a special round for the auto it is 100 Ft per second faster.