Savage Model 110 Hunter 57063 243 Winchester

The current “cool” trend among rifle enthusiasts seems to be long-range disciplines. Especially for the PRS game, 6mm rifles rule. Those chamberings offer good downrange performance, the ability to buck the wind well, and to do so with recoil light enough to allow the shooters to spot their hits and misses. We talked to the folks at RCBS recently, and they confirmed the popularity of the likes of the 6 Dasher, 6 BR, 6 BRA, and 6 Creedmoor chamberings in their competition die sales. Interestingly, the most famous of all the 6mms, the 243 Winchester, is conspicuously absent from that list. At least, that is, until you look at their sales of hunting-class dies, and then the 243 is in the top ten.

Some of our readers who hunt told us that they wanted to hear about rifles chambered in 243, so here we go. While we wanted to take a look at four quality rifles, we wanted to pick a quartet that wouldn’t break the bank. Our first selection is the Savage/Stevens Model 334 as imported from Turkey. Selling for a mere $425, this rifle sports a three-lug bolt and a real Turkish walnut stock. Next in line is the Savage Model 110, $760, with the outstanding Accustock and a trigger that was appreciated by this group of trigger snobs. Third is another rifle for the budget-minded in the guise of a Ruger American, $442. Batting cleanup is the Weatherby Vanguard First Lite, $923, the most expensive rifle in this test by a factor of two over the Ruger and the Stevens. The First Lite arrived with a camouflaged stock, Cerakoted action, fluted barrel, and a muzzle brake. It looks great, but was the shooting worth the extra cash? Let’s find out.

Savage Model 110 Hunter 57063 243 Winchester

$760

Gun Tests grade: A-

Offering good accuracy and a good trigger, we thought the rifle’s Accustock provided the best shooting foundation in this test group. The stock’s comb-height inserts and buttpad length-of-pull inserts allow for wide fit customization for many different sizes of shooters.

With rifle models that retail from $400 or so to about $2000, Savage seems to have done a good job at developing a solution for most budgets. Our Model 110 Hunter showed up at Cabela’s priced at well under $800 — and that includes the Accustock. If you haven’t taken a good look at one of those, you might want to fix that. The Accustock is molded polymer, and more. The walls are thicker and more rigid than we normally see. The barrel channel is well-relieved, giving plenty of room to free-float the barrel. We could make the stock touch the barrel, but it took some effort. Inside the stock is more magic in the guise of an aluminum cradle. The entire action is mated to this cradle via a strong recoil lug and two screws tightened into the action through the cradle or a pillar. Part of that cradle extends into the fore end, making that nice and rigid as well. “Checkering” has been molded into the fore end and the wrist. 

The buttstock is totally adjustable. Remove two screws from the recoil pad, and things come apart. Five different easily removed combs are provided that run from a flush fit to adding more than 0.75 inch in height to the cheek. Spacers are also provided that can add another 1.5 inches to the length of pull. Odds are you can make this rifle fit you without much effort. Cap everything off with a very soft rubber buttpad along with two sling-swivel studs, and you have a pretty nice foundation for your rifle. 

The action is vintage Savage with that humpback receiver and bolt shroud. Of course, it includes the Savage barrel nut. The bottom metal really is metal, as is the four-round detachable magazine.

We found the Accutrigger on this sample to be very crisp, requiring only 1.9 pounds of compression, with less than 4 ounces average deviation on the pull weight. The bolt removal method requires pressing two things in the proper order, with one of those being the trigger. Not our favorite. Our best results came when we checked the rifle to verify it was unloaded, stabilized the rifle on a bench, pressed the trigger to the rear with our ring finger, and then depressed the latch in front of the trigger guard with our index finger. The two-lug bolt was lightly jeweled and had a plunger-style ejector and a sliding-plate extractor. The rear of those two lugs still float a bit, helping the bolt line up as concentrically as possible with the action. Measuring 0.584 inch in diameter, the matte-black barrel is thinner than its Stevens cousin and the rifle weighs 4 ounces less, even with the reinforced stock. 

The Accutrigger had a consistent feel that was easy to predict and, therefore, easy to use. Ten measurements on our Lyman digital trigger scale showed required compression to be about 1.9 pounds. The Barnes 80-grain Tipped TSX ammo turned in the best group average in the Hunter, 0.91 inch, for the three-shot groups. Average accuracy across all shots was 1.04 inches.

Our Team Said: All in, the Hunter had the best stock in the test, offered a good trigger, and produced good groups. We’d be happy to hunt with this one.

Written and photographed by Joe Woolley, using evaluations from Gun Tests Team members. GT