There’s A Lightweight
Storm Brewing!
New Savage Bolt-Action Has Proven Pedigree
I took my first Northwest buck with a Model 99 Savage lever-action in .300 Savage, well into the last century.
It was my grandpa’s rifle, with the classic Schnabel forend, a full buckhorn rear sight and legendary rotary magazine. Even today, the rifle is superbly accurate, with handloads I cooked up using 150-gr. bullets from Speer, Nosler or Sierra, and a healthy dose of IMR 4895 and a CCI large rifle primer. I may hunt with it again this fall.
Some years ago, I picked up a Savage bolt-action Model 114 American Classic in .308 Winchester. I used it to clobber one of the biggest mule deer bucks I’ve ever tagged, a 4×5-pointer over on the Snake River.
And now comes the Model 110 Lightweight Storm. I think the guys at Savage are deliberately trying to tempt me because this is one slick little bolt-action that’d be right at home in the damp environment of my Pacific Northwest. Wish I’d had it last October on the season opener, when I woke up in the back of my pickup to about 12 inches of fresh snow.
Here’s why: Savage designed the Lightweight Storm with a tough synthetic stock impervious to such weather conditions. The stock features molded texturing on the grip and forend. It was about 25 degrees where I was camped near the top of Teanaway Ridge on the east slope of the Cascades, and slogging through snow invariably convinces somebody they’d rather have a lighter rifle.
The Lightweight Storm lives up to its name. It hits the scale at 5.65 lbs. and even after you mount a scope, it can’t weigh much more than 6.5–7 lbs. The barrel is clean, and the receiver is drilled and tapped for scope bases.
This rifle has an adjustable length of pull, and the action features an adjustable AccuTrigger, which is also on my Model 114. This may be one of the best developments in production rifles in the last quarter-century because the crisp letoff is terrific for making a precision shot.
The 20″ barrel is stainless steel with a lightweight contour, and it also has a skeletonized stainless steel receiver. To save weight, the bolt is spiral-fluted.
It’s also got a detachable box magazine, which my American Classic also boasts.
Like my own rifle, the Lightweight Storm is chambered in .308 Winchester, and that just scratches the surface. I did a little research and found out Savage also offers this new model in .223 Remington, 7mm-08 Remington, .243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor and .270 Winchester. They all have an MSRP of $749, which makes this new Savage not just a good rifle, but also an investment.
My grandpa always liked Savage rifles because he said they fit him. My guess is if he were around today, he’d grab the Lightweight Storm and tinker with it just enough to come up to his shoulder time after time. I’d have a heck of a time getting it away from him come October.
The MSRP on the Lightweigt Storm is $749. For more info, https://gunsmagazine.com/company/savage-arms/; Savage Arms, Ph: (866) 233-4776.
