Savage 114-U: Elegance And Accuracy - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Guns Magazine, Nov, 1999 by Jon R. Sundra

Last month I told you about the Savage 114-U, a new addition to that company's Classic Rifle series. Considering its suggested retail price of $475, I found it to be a classy, almost elegant-looking rifle and a real value. After shooting the rifle, its performance was such that I felt compelled to follow up and tell you about it.

The rifle is chambered in .270 Win., .30-'06, 7mm Rem. and .300 Win. I shot one chambered in .270 Win, with Pentax's excellent 4-.16x Lightseeker scope with the mil dot reticle.

To feed the Savage I grabbed a few boxes of the .270 Win. I had on hand - which turned out to be Winchester's white box 130 gr. Power Points and Supreme 140 gr. Fail Safes; Hornady's 140 gr. Light Magnums; Speer's Nitrex 150 gr. Grand Slams, and PMC's Silver line loaded with 150 gr. BT Sierra GameKing.

Four of the five factory loads shot very well. The Light Magnum Hornady, for example, averaged 1.2" for five, three-shot groups, and the Winchester Supreme 140 Fail Safes averaged just under 1.4".

What really impressed me was the PMC fodder pushing the 150 gr. Sierra GameKings. When my first three-shot group went into a tight .75" cloverleaf, I figured it was a fluke and that I'd not see another like it. Well, the next group spanned .78", the next .74"", and the next .80"!

And that from a relatively slender, sporter-weight barrel that measures just .57" at the muzzle. Moreover, the barrel is fully floated, meaning that this rifle should not only continue to shoot well, but more importantly, should retain its point-of-impact from month to month.

Before leaving the range I fired two more three-shot groups, measuring .70" and .95" for an average of .78" for six, three-shot groups! And I didn't have to discount even one flier. Also, the last two groups simply confirmed the fact that the groups I got were not flukes. You just don't see 18 consecutive shots print into less than .8" on random chance!