Author Topic: New Savage Mark II is junk-update (Read 3956 times)

ba_50 · « **on:** July 24, 2005, 04:33:30 AM »

I picked up the .22 rimfire at Walmart on 7/22/05 and gave it a good cleaning. A Weaver V12 was mounted on it.

The trigger was a lot worse than I expected, but figured it would need work or a Basix trigger.
Even so, I ran about 30 rounds of different brands (long rifle)through it. Almost everyone failed to eject while one loaded round failed to extract. It was hard to get a descent group with that miserable trigger. I can't do anything with the trigger till I get this problem cleared up, so it's on hold for now. A dollar bill wouldn't go between the barrel and stock of course, but not really a problem. This is the first bolt action I've run across that doesn't shoot shorts.

Neither Savage nor Walmart would give me a refund. I don't agree with that policy. If it doesn't work you shouldn't have to pay for it. It seems like when you buy something nowdays, you are stuck with it. Savage offered to fix it but I chose to try new parts first. It took 13 days to get the parts. At that point I decided parts wouldn't do it so I sent it back to Savage instead.

When I got it back it wouldn't pull Winchester Expert .22 hpts. out of the chamber, especially if the bolt was pulled back slowly, so I had to use a screwdriver. The spring that holds the clip in had to be pulled back to get the clip in and pushed forwrd to keep it tight, otherwise the last round would hit the barrel and jam.

I took it back to Walmart and they gave me a refund which suprised me.

I called Savage later and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it so I told them to try the same ammo(even though another brand had trouble too) and check the spring.

Two weeks later I called to see about it and they said they sent it back to Walmart, as they couldn't find anything wrong.

I won't buy another Savage because of the trouble I had and also because they didn't believe me and would rather stick it to another shooter. They don't care.

Lawdog · « **Reply #1 on:** July 24, 2005, 11:56:32 AM »

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They have to "escort" you out of the store before they hand it to you.

That is standard Wal-Mart policy after they lost their license to sell firearms in California a number of years back. Sorry but reports do show that people carrying firearms in stores(even in boxes) do make some people nervous. I am curious though, did Savage offer to replace or fix your rifle? Lawdog

jgalar · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2005, 05:14:08 PM »

The Wal-mart that I shop at will send a gun back to the manufacturer for you. I would contact Savage again and ask for a list of service places where you can send or take the gun. I wouldn't replace any parts that they send - they should fix it.

Montana Slim · « **Reply #3 on:** July 24, 2005, 05:56:32 PM »

I also picked up a savage mark II and after working the trigger over I got it down to a two and a half pound pull. I also had a problem with the extractor and I took the bolt apart and reshaped the extractor and cleaned the burrs off from the machining work. I tried the CB longs in it and it would not work them through the action. I was really wanting something quite and decided,' What the heck" and tried shorts. Ureka! This was the combination that worked! It not only shot shorts but placed them in the same POI as Winchester Dynapoints at twenty yards. It also worked the shorts through the magazine (5 shot mag). I didn't expect a whole lot for $99.95 (by the way this is less than the mom and pop stores have to pay for the gun wholesale), but am now satisfied with the gun. It is still true that you get what you pay for. In todays marketplace if you want quality be prepared to pay for it.

ba_50 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 25, 2005, 01:33:41 AM »

So is it against the law to take back firearms or is it Walmart policy? Yes Savage did offer to fix it, but I had them send the parts instead. Maybe I should have sent it back to cause them both trouble. Why did Walmart lose their license in California?

This rifle is up to $140.00 now which is comparitively cheap I admit, but still $140. It really perturbed me because I've had other defective products lately and get the same response. One, not involving Walmart was actual fraud and even the Credit card company went along with it for 3 months before I found someone that wouldn't go along with the "Big" guy. It cost me more in time and money than it was worth, but I won.

I'm afraid I don't agree with you about expecting to get defective products, just because times are bad. Marlin used to sell a bolt action for $4.95.

I did delete the Cities name because I don't want anyone to get fired over it.

Lawdog · « **Reply #5 on:** July 25, 2005, 09:19:50 AM »

ba_50,

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So is it against the law to take back firearms or is it Walmart policy?

A Wal-Mart policy. They exchange not refund on firearms.

Quote

Yes Savage did offer to fix it, but I had them send the parts instead. Maybe I should have sent it back to cause them both trouble.

By sending it back to Savage the warrantee stays in place. If you do any type of modification then you run the chance of voiding the warrantee.

Quote

Why did Walmart lose their license in California?

A number of stores didn't follow the laws that are set down for registration of firearms and the sale of ammunition(mostly failing to log sale of pistol ammo). Wal-Mart paid heavy fines($100,000 per store) and lost their license for at least five years before Wal-Mart can re-apply for a new one, if they care to do so. That remains to be seen but they still have a couple of years to think about it. Lawdog

Omaha-BeenGlockin · « **Reply #6 on:** July 25, 2005, 09:34:01 AM »

Not against the law to take em back----I returned one to our local Scheel's store less than a month ago.

A NIB 10/22 where the hole was drilled but not tapped for the scope mount.

ba_50 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 26, 2005, 02:16:21 AM »

Lawdog,

Thanks for the info, maybe I should call them before I put the parts in and see about the warranty. That's the reason I haven't done anything with the trigger yet. Maybe I got a lemon, but suspect there are a lot of them. It still might turn out to be an accurate little rifle.

Squirrel season is starts Aug 1 and need something to shoot, so I hate to send it back.

I wondered if they were just giving me the run-around with that law thing. Usually it comes from poorly trained people though.

Montana,

I'd like to know how you shaped your extractor for shorts. Since I have an extra one it wouldn't hurt to try it later. Was it just the black one or both of them?

Thanks. REA

Montana Slim · « **Reply #8 on:** July 26, 2005, 01:07:26 PM »

ba_50,
When I got the rifle I felt like you did with yours. I was unhappy that I would have to work on something as soon as I got it. I tried the CB Longs and not only would they not extract but the extractor would not 'grip' the shell rim. The first thing that I did was to place Flitz polish on a bore mop and after removing the bolt used a 12 Volt drill as a driver and polish the chamber. This helped a little with extraction but was still 'missing' some shell rims. I then took the bolt spring off and removed the extractor and the 'shell guide' on the other side of the bolt as well as the firing pin. I used a set of needle files to remove the burrs from the extractor edges and then filed down the inside edge of the extractor hook and changed the angel ~ 2 degrees. With these modifications there have been no more extraction problems. I still couldn't get the longs to work so I tried the shorts and they would work from the 5 round magazine that I bought extra and am now happy with it.

Lawdog · « **Reply #9 on:** July 27, 2005, 10:06:01 AM »

I can't help but wonder why try to get CB's, Shorts or Long .22 rimfire cartridges to work thru a rifle that was designed for .22 Long Rifle cartridges only? According to the technician I talked to at Savage the Mark II is .22 LR only. Lawdog

Paul Barnard · « **Reply #10 on:** July 30, 2005, 04:53:03 AM »

I have a few insights on this topic.

I work at a regional chain sporting good retailer. Some folks get worked up about the escort out. If someone decided to shoot the store up on their way out we would be sued and we would lose if we did not take prudent steps to prevent it from happening. It's that simple. It's a token measure to protect ourselves from civil liability. As far as I know our policy is not rooted in any concern for how our other customers might feel at the sight of a boxed gun.

Our policy is that we do not do refunds or exchanges on guns. Our customers are informed of this ahead of time and asked to sign a waiver. Why? It takes quite a bit of administrative time and effort (read that expense) to undo a gun sale. Kind of like asking for a refund or exchange on a car. You just don't see that happening with any degree of regularity. What we offer and what we tell the customer is that we will gladly ship the weapon to the manufacturer for repairs if something goes wrong. We have made exceptions to our policy based on the totality of the circumstances.

I own a heavy barrel Savage 22lr. It has a tendancy to have extraction problems when the chamber and the bolt aren't perfectly clean. I think Savage should address this problem as so many others have this problem too. The trigger is heavy, but manageable nonetheless. The gun is incredibly accurate and overall a joy to own.

Lawdog, I like the low noise of the CB longs. Great for plinking in rural areas where you have neighbors. Also good for squirell hunting. If you get into an area with a lot of squirells, they don't all run for cover at the report like they often do with the louder 22LR ammo.

ba_50 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 30, 2005, 05:11:17 AM »

Paul
It was a Walmart first for me, but if someone did want to shoot up a place, they could load up, turn around and walk back in. What happened to common sense? I'm just another frustrated gun owner. I see Ruger doesn't even have a warranty.

What good are gun permits, background checks, etc. if nobody believes in them? I don't know much about the paperwork except that it doesn't go anywhere, or at least never used to. So it has never really been registerd.

I would put more of the responsibilty on the manufacturer for refunds because they messed up in the first place, especially if, like you say,they don't correct it. They should have it understood with the retailer to make good on refunds.

It has been 9 days since I called in and still no parts. I should have sent the rifle back to make sure they got it right I guess. I hope I don't have to after all this. Can't see why they couldn't drop them in the mail the same day.

Lawdog,

I like shorts for squirrel hunting. Quiet, don't go as far, and accurate up close. The only negative thing about it might be chamber wear that might affect Long Rifles later on. I would only shoot about 1 box per year.

Lawdog · « **Reply #12 on:** July 30, 2005, 08:55:14 AM »

ba_50,

It's not that what you like to use it's the fact that a .22 rimfire that is designed for Long Rifle cartridges ONLY can give you rejections problems and it's not the fault of the rifle. That is the point I was trying to make. No flaming or offense intended, :toast: just was wondering why you expected the rifle to do what it was never designed to do? Lawdog

ba_50 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2005, 04:24:40 AM »

Lawdog,

I don't want to make anyone mad either. I wasn't sure how to take your question. I haven't tried shooting shorts, only LR shells. It's just that after shooting for 45 years I took it for granted that it would shoot all 3.

The intention of this post was to give shooters an idea of what to expect, and maybe get Savage to improve things.

It's been 10 days and no parts yet. In my opinion, that is lousy customer service.

As far as refunds, when we were in business we usually went along with the customers wishes so we wouldn't lose a steady customer.

Mike357mag · « **Reply #14 on:** July 31, 2005, 06:17:38 AM »

Managers that barely know how to fill out a gun form, nothing illegal about takeing a gun back. They don't trust they're managers at logging the gun back in and logging it out to mail off to the manufacturer. The walmarts in my area will not take a return on firearms or ammunition. You should pay a little more and support a local gun shop, most shops I'm experienced with would handle your problem by replaceing it with another and they would mail the other back for repairs and sell it later. I believe your gun is not the norm all savages I have had experience with function perfectly. I think your best choice would be to send it back to the manufacturer for repair.

Lawdog · « **Reply #15 on:** July 31, 2005, 08:19:15 AM »

Quote from: ba_50

Lawdog,

I don't want to make anyone mad either. I wasn't sure how to take your question. I haven't tried shooting shorts, only LR shells. It's just that after shooting for 45 years I took it for granted that it would shoot all 3.

The intention of this post was to give shooters an idea of what to expect, and maybe get Savage to improve things.

It's been 10 days and no parts yet. In my opinion, that is lousy customer service.

As far as refunds, when we were in business we usually went along with the customers wishes so we wouldn't lose a steady customer.

I don't want anyone to get angry over anything either.

One reason I can think of that firearms companies are getting away from making .22 rifles that shoot all types of .22 rimfire cartridges is the number of shooters that feed a steady diet of .22 shorts thru their rifles without properly cleaning the bore/chamber and after a period of time you can even chamber .22 long rifle cartridges in them and then they complain to the manufacture. The reason I say this is after my Father passed away my Mother went to use his old single shot Winchester to kill Raccoon that was after her chickens. Mom bought a box of .22 lr cartridges(Dad had kept his ammo where Mom couldnÂ’t find) but couldnÂ’t get them to chamber. Well Mom called me and I found the chamber so leaded up it was impossible to chamber anything but the Shorts that Dad had always feed his .22 for the 60 plus years he owned it. I just cleaned up that old Winchester and hung it on the wall and bought my Mother a Ruger 10/22. This isnÂ’t the first .22 rimfire I have seen like this and I know of a couple of incidents where the owners call the manufacture complaining. Sure itÂ’s the shooters fault for not cleaning the rifle but it does happen. My best friends Father never cleaned his .22. Wiped it down after use, oiled the moving parts every year of so(if he remember to do so) and that was it. Same man would religiously clean his shotguns and centerfire rifles after every use but neglected his rimfire.

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As far as refunds, when we were in business we usually went along with the customers wishes so we wouldn't lose a steady customer.

I agree with you on this but hugh retailers donÂ’t want to go to the trouble of refunds/exchanges. I have been told itÂ’s a matter of numbers(This is according to my wifeÂ’s DM(District Manager)). One refund on one bad firearm multiplied by the total number of stores, multiplied by the number of manufactures they have to deal with = one heck of a headache. Now take into account that the sporting goods department managers canÂ’t keep tract of the ammunition/firearm sales well enough to keep Wal-Mart form loosing their license(as in what happened in California) and you start to see how big the problem is. This is the reason I prefer to purchase from a local Mom & Pop store. Lawdog

ba_50 · « **Reply #16 on:** August 02, 2005, 06:25:44 AM »

Lawdog,

It sounds like they get a lot of bad ones then.

It has been 12 days and no parts. They must have forgot about me.

It has 3 problems now. It won't extract, eject, and misfired 3 times in a row. There wasn't any mark on the case rim.

After getting used to the trigger I was able to shot a few nice groups.

All things considered this rifle isn't worth the trouble. I'm going to send it back to the company with another request for a refund. Fat chance.

Lawdog · « **Reply #17 on:** August 02, 2005, 06:52:06 AM »

ba_50,

Quote

I'm going to send it back to the company with another request for a refund.

That is exactly what you should do. Don't care what the make or model of firearm the company should stand behind their product and refund/replace at no cost to the customer any faulty ones that come off the line. Let us know how things turn out. Lawdog

ba_50 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 07, 2005, 03:36:59 PM »

I re-edited the above post.

Paul Mohr · « **Reply #19 on:** September 11, 2005, 12:59:25 PM »

I have a savage 17HMR, a savage .22 LR youth model and used to have a 110E 30-06. All of them work perfectly fine. The .22 will shoot anything I put in it and is pretty accurate. Like 1-2 inch groups at 100 yards with velociters.

The triggers do suck, I will admit. It's an easy fix though with a few shims a spring from an ink pen. Or a new trigger system.

I've bought a few guns from walmart and it wasn't that bad. I didn't mind them walking me out of the store at all. Heck the guy even walked me to my car and put it in my trunk for me. No skin off my back. It went smoother than getting one at Cabela's, that took forever because of the number people in the store. Took about 4 hours to purchase a rifle! Most stores, even gun shops do not do refunds on firearms. They will help with getting it fixed though.

I think you should have sent it back to Savage and had them fix it, or decide to replace it. I had a bit of a problem with my savage .22 in the accuracy department at first. After a few hundred rounds it was shooting fine though.

The worst .22 I have owned was actually a 10/22. I had nothing but problems with it from accuracy to feeding and jamming. Sometimes you just get a bad one I guess.

Paul

ba_50 · « **Reply #20 on:** September 12, 2005, 08:08:14 AM »

Paul,

You must not have read the whole thread as I did send it back to Savage and it came back worse than before. Fired or live rounds won't usually extract and I have to use a knife to get them out.

The bullet noses hit and won't chamber all the time.

It leaves serious doubts as to quality and/or their abilities.

I don't need this. It's been almost 2 months.

Paul Mohr · « **Reply #21 on:** September 16, 2005, 07:37:58 AM »

Sorry I read it wrong. I thought you just ordered parts, not sent the whole gun back.

I would ask to talk to the person that looked at it when it was sent back to see what they did and how it worked for them.

Paul

ba_50 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 16, 2005, 04:46:05 PM »

I took it back to Walmart and they suprised me by giving me a refund. It's too bad it it didn't work as it was accurate. Sure gets old picking out cases and clips. It may have been a lemon, but I've seen others with the same problems.

Hopefully I can find something like a Remington 541S LH rifle. I don't like the .22 rifles they are making today except for maybe a Kimber. (Who wants to take one of those out in the timber?) It sure looks to me like the the manufacturers are cheaping up their products.

I too would like to know what Savage has to say about it.

ihuntbucks · « **Reply #23 on:** September 16, 2005, 10:06:33 PM »

ba_50,sorry to hear you've had so much trouble with your Mark II.I bought a Sav. 64F from Wally World back in Jan. of this year;gave $100 for it w/ 4 x 32 scope and have never had any trouble from it.I can group 10 out of 10 in the 10 ring at 50 yrds. with it.Probably have put 1,000 or so rounds thru it with no problem.You must have got one that was made on a Mon. or Fri. :lol: There's a sign at Walmart that says all gun sales are final.But I think I would just raise a lot of hell with Savage themselves.Good luck.....Rick

NONYA · « **Reply #24 on:** September 17, 2005, 01:05:25 AM »

I have bought and returned 2 guns from walmart,a Rem 22 semi auto that was a POS just like the savage you got and a Charles Daly semi auto 12 guage where the action block split in 2 pieces after 50 rounds,I will never buy a gun of any kind from them for any price,I dont care what anyone says I know they get 2nds or rejects. :roll:

ba_50 · « **Reply #25 on:** October 17, 2005, 12:59:55 PM »

I re-edited the original and cut a lot out.

Steelbanger · « **Reply #26 on:** October 17, 2005, 01:05:58 PM »

ba_50,
If you're looking for a LH 22, try to find a CZ 452. They had a small run of them in LH configuration and they're really nice. I bought one for my son and comparing it side by side with my Ruger 77-22 they look almost identical.
Good luck.

ba_50 · « **Reply #27 on:** October 18, 2005, 05:58:03 AM »

Steelbanger,

I appreciate your interest but I don't like the reverse safety. Maybe an old LH Remington 581 will turn up. The older firearms were better than a lot of the new stuff they are turning out now.

32WINSPL · « **Reply #28 on:** October 23, 2005, 03:31:43 PM »

I agree that you have a lemon. I have a Lakefield MkII, chambered for .22LR, made in Canada. I purchased it in 1985 and I think Savage currently makes their MKII's at this Candian plant. Lakefield & Savage = same rifle. Mine is very accurate, wears cheap wood and has simple sights. The trigger has a fair amount of creep and is crisp by no means.....Lately it fails to extract a spent case every 30 or so rounds, that is a bit of a pain.....I try to clean the rifle after every shooting day, a couple of patches through the bore and wipe the bolt and action. Oil it now and then. Functional, accurate and cheap, does that spell Savage? I don't know. I don't own any Savages though I wouldn't mind a nice Model 99. I have an Uncle who owns a M99 in .308Win. he bought it in the 50's for deer hunting and he mounted a Lyman Peep sight on it. Shot a 10 point buck last November, he turns 80 this year. Anyhow, I'm way of topic here. Maybe the Canucks were drunk at the plant the day yours was made. A Loyal Canadian

Jason · « **Reply #29 on:** December 01, 2005, 10:18:04 PM »

I've heard of several people having problems with the Savage rimfires over the last couple of years. This thread is the first time I've heard of Savage not taking care of the problem quickly and making the customer happy. I'd still buy a CZ before a Savage rimfire, though. I own some Savage centerfires and haven't had any trouble with them or heard of people having trouble with them. For a hunting rifle, I doubt I'd buy anything but a Savage in stainless/synthetic with an Accutrigger now. Nothing comes close for the price.