Take an Insider’s Look At the Savage Accu Stock

Question: Which manufacturer holds a dominant position with accuracy-obsessed, cost-conscious varmint and target shooters? Answer: Savage Arms. That answer probably didn’t come as a surprise to you, and I know I’m not the only one who believes that no other mass producer of bolt-actions has made more advancements in rifle accuracy than Savage, all the while keeping the prices reasonable.

To me, this is especially interesting because the venerable Savage Model 99—unequaled as a high-power sporting rifle until 1950—was a lever action. In 1950, Savage introduced the bolt-action Model 340, which was succeeded in 1958 by the Model 110.

This basic platform remains in use today and is the action on which the modern-day Savage line-up is built. (A complete report on the Savage Model 110 appeared in the June 01 issue.) Top of page: This new Savage rifle wears the new Accu Stock and has the almost-new Accu Trigger as well. The newest models have a smooth barrellock nut, a bolt release on the trigger guard, and three action screws. Older models can be identified by the notched barrel-lock nut, a receiver-mounted bolt release, and two action screws.

The company’s successes not withstanding, Savage suffered a diversity of marketing problems and the company’s fortunes declined in the 1980s. Fortunately, Savage didn’t completely succumb to the pressures as some other gun manufacturers were forced to do. In 1995, the company was acquired, refinanced, and reorganized by Ronald Coburn, an individual dedicated to the shooting sports in general and to Savage Arms in particular.

Coburn put together a post-recovery team that was determined to build on the price/performance edge of the Model 110, bringing it up to an accu-

B A racy level that’s still unmatched by its peers. Perhaps the most dramatic result of this team effort came in 2003 when Savage rolled out the Accu Trigger™ The Accu Trigger, covered in our December 04 issue, dramatically improved the function and accuracy of the 110 platform. Since then, the advantages of this new trigger have been extended to Savage’s big-game and rimfire rifles. Six years after its introduction, most rifle manufacturers have developed and are offering their own answer to Savage’s Accu Trigger.

While some of these triggers do offer adjustability and relatively low pull settings, none of them offer the foolproof safety system of the Accu Trigger. (It’s patented). With the new trigger designed and in production, the Savage team turned its attention to the way barreled actions and synthetic stocks are joined together. Why the emphasis on synthetics? In the past 15 years, the use of thermo-setting polymers and injection molding has soared.

The synthetic stock might not appeal to the purists among us, but it does offer some benefits. For the consumer, a synthetic stock mean less weight, no concern over splitting, warping, or the absorption of moisture, plus a high resistance to the occasional and inevitable bumps and bangs. For the manufacturer, the synthetic stock means reduced cost. Perhaps you’ve seen one of those massive rotary duplicators that carve out eight to ten wooden A B stocks at a time.

If you have, then you probably know that the hardwood blanks are expensive—especially since most of that expensive wood gets turned into an eruption of sawdust and wood chips. And then there are the salaries and benefits of the operators who must stand by in shifts to feed the machine and fix it when it goes berserk. By contrast, injection molding of plastic is a quick and clean process. Despite the advantages to both the consumer and manufacturer of molded stocks, there was still a problem to be solved.

Plastic tends to "migrate" when torqued. This can occur when a sling on a rifle is cinched down for offhand shooting, when a bi-pod is added to the forend, or when a rifle is placed on a bag or rest. In some cases, the weight of the rifle alone is sufficient to bring the barrel and forend After "nesting" the stock, the screw is tightened to force the wedge into rigid contact with the barrel lug and hold it tightly against the rail. into contact. Then, when the barrel gets hot, the contact tightens up.

This can result in a rifle that starts printing vertical groups with an inch or more separating each point of impact. After a lengthy evaluation of the various plastic stocks available—thermo-set, laid-up, and resin poured— the Savage team decided to concentrate on injection molding. This is the least expensive method of producing a high-quality stock to exact tolerances that require no fitting.

With a stock injection molded to precise tolerances, Savage still needed to eliminate the accuracy problems related to torquing, heating, lifting, and shunting. Savage came up with a three-part solution called the Accu Stock™. First, there is the "backbone." In order to give the stock rigidity, an aluminum rail that measures 14.5 inches long by 1.75 wide was designed to run from the full length of the action area to nearly the end of the forend. Included in the rail design were undercuts on both lateral sides.

The plastic flowed into these under molding conditions, (continued on page 14)

bonding the rail and the stock together, and preventing movement in any direction. "Nesting the action" (rather than bedding) was the next innovation. The rail is provided with "lips" that wrapped around the action. Installing the action screws actually pulls the action down into the rail, thus producing better metal-to-metal contact than pillars or V-blocks. Nesting also gets rid of any canting, rotation, and floating by the barreled action within the stock.

The third part of the Accu Stock system is "wedging the lug." When a rifle recoils, its recoil lug will move forward and/or aft. Not any more. The Accu Stock system includes a steel wedge and a dedicated screw. This screw is partially tightened before the action is fully nested, and the wedge applies pressure to the barrel lug, holding it tight against the rail. Once nesting has been completed, the wedge screw is fully tightened.

The result of all these improvements working together is a rigid, one-piece assembly that prevents the action from moving in any direction. The Accu Stock reportedly produces as much as a 50-percent accuracy improvement over the same rifle with a conventional stock. The Accu Stock is featured only on certain rifle models, and only on 2009 and newer versions of those models.

For the latest information on which models feature the Accu Stock, call Savage or check their website And here’s where the Accu Stock gets really intriguing for the gunsmith: There have been some conversations held at Savage HQ about producing an Accu Stock for other brands of rifles. Don’t get too excited, though; if that happens at all, it’s not likely to be in the immediate future. ■