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Savage A17

Posted: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 07:33:39
by widefat
Well, I have owned several Savage Rifles, and still do. I guess it was inevitable that I buy one that should be melted down for a paperweight.

I picked up an A17 (Semi-Auto .17 HMR) because I read a couple of reviews that said Savage had cracked the .17 HMR semi-auto code.
Sucker! I wish I had taken time to read some real people reviews of the rifle. It seems that my rifle has most of the problems I read about others having - ie, 5 people report five different problems, well, I got em all-in-one, repeated (happens often)

Trigger. The first shot after inserting the mag and chambering the first round is atrociously hard, to the point that I thought the
safety was on. The subsequent pulls are ridiculously light. until you reload the mag and insert - first pull is always noxious.

failure to strip and chamber the next round.

light strikes - click, no bang

flyers, even with the special A17 ammo (yes I bought some)

Magazine has to be slammed in an hammered to latch (at least it doesnt fall out)


Okay, it is new, and I admit these problems happened in the first 100 rounds. But I have NEVER bought a rifle that performed this bad out of the box. I am going to push a few more rounds through it, do another deep cleaning, and see if it improves. If not, I'll work on sending it back to Savage. I did send them a note about the absurd trigger situation.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 11:09:39
by widefat
Update -

I called Savage, and they are sending me a UPS label to return to factory for warranty service. Reading up, I found that people with A17 problems were satisfied after Savage tuned them up.
Still, should not have so many issues out of the box.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 11:25:57
by WVUBeta1904
That's a pain in the ass. I'm glad that Savage is going to correct the issue(s) you've been having. Good on them.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:34:31
by widefat
Yeah, it is a pain. I have never had to return a firearm before.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:39:41
by FiremanBob
Doesn't sound any worse than some of the 10/22s I've seen in the past two years.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:47:47
by SHMIV
My wife wants a rifle in .17hmr. That A17 looks right up her alley. Guess I'll wait a couple of years, see if they can work the bugs out of it.

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Re: Savage A17

Posted: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 01:06:25
by FiremanBob
My LGS has some sweet Henry Golden Boys in .17 HMR.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 00:19:45
by Mindflayer
I have two Savage .17 HMRs in bolt action, and they are sweet, accurate shooters. I looked at the A17, but... sticking with the bolt actions.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Fri, 25 Dec 2015 02:24:34
by Remek
I have a bolt action Savage too, and its the bees knees, but that magazine does give you a hard time getting it slammed home. Otherwise, I love it!

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Re: Savage A17

Posted: Fri, 25 Dec 2015 08:18:15
by FiremanBob
The Ruger American Rimfire in .17 is also excellent, with a great trigger.

Re: Savage A17

Posted: Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:55:56
by Snakester
I've shot the A17 and also the A22 Mag. and have to say they both performed just fine . The A17 after a through cleaning and over oiling and a couple hours at the range and another cleaning and oiling did finally shoot the way it was intended ! We were shooting A17 ammo and can report we had no mis firing but did have a few ejecting issues. The trigger did take a while to get the hang of and both have a VERY light trigger pull. I think for a while I will stick with my Golden Boys....For my .22 mag. and .17 HMR shooting I like my lever guns.

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