Savage 12BVSS or Remington VLS? Both these rifles are around the same price. The Savage has a 26" fluted barrel and the Remington has a 26" heavy barrel. Both feature wood stocks which I would get glass-bedded. The Remington's stock has a special wide forearm fo bench shooting. I would be getting either one in 223. And the Savage has a twist of 1:9 opposed to the Remingtons 1:12. The Remingtons stock also has a raised cheekrest which I like. A fluted barrel doesnt mean that much to me, and Ive always liked Remingtons. But being as this is for accuracy, I am asking which is more accurate. It would most likely be topped with a 6-24x42 Burris Signature scope. Both have free-floating barrels also. And both weigh in around 10 pounds.

The savage will out shoot the Remington any day of the week.
I have 7 off them and use to be a remington man,the only two Rems that I have keep where custom built guns with trued actions and match grade barrels.
It is amazing how well them savage rifles shoot!

It wil be a toss-up boiling down to individual rifles. Either will be plenty accurate for what you want to do. It will also depend on you, how good are you at tweaking accuracy out of a mass produced factory rifle? Do you handload? I tweaked a Rem VLS in 223 a few months ago for a friend, with factory ammo it would group .5" consistently. If you like Remingtons go for it. MtnHtr

I do handload, and I have managed to get 3/4" to 1" groups out of a Remington ADL Synthetic in 300 mag with the only thing done to it is a scope and a trigger job that brought the trigger pull to 2.5 pounds. I have always trusted Remington, but Savage is well known for being accurate. I really like the Remington stock, I have always liked the feel of a raised comb stock. And I would be glass-bedding the action into the stock on either rifle I get.

One big difference is that the Remington VLS isn't a free floated barrel whereas the Savage setup is. For me, a free floated barrel is mandatory equipment in a target/varmint rig. I also believe that Savage is much more serious in making in-roads in the rifle market and will likely give you better accuracy right out of the box.

If you are serious about getting a Remington, there are better choices for varminting....they make a 700 VS (heavy blued barrel) and a 700 VS-SF (stainless fluted) in a nice synthetic rig that should out shoot that VLS model.

The thing is, is that the VS SF is a 900 dollar rifle and the VS is still 100 dollars more than the VLS. I could easily have the gunsmith free-float the barrel when he does the glass-bedding.

David, it sounds to me like you have pretty much decided on the Remington already.

I agree completely. While the Savage has a good reputation for accuracy, they are so darned ugly I could not stand to have one in the safe. And if you do buy one, you will have to buy an after market trigger for sure!

Seriously, I know that lots of folks are happy with Savage rifles these days. However, do you see any bench rest rifles built on those actions? And the triggers are just plain AWFULL!

I imagine either brand will be just fine. Having said that, I own a couple of 700VS rifles and one 70VLS and they all shoot under a half inch, I think that is good enough.

My 700VLS is completely stock and is chambered in 7mm-08. With match bullets when it does not shoot under a half inch I know how to blame (ME).

R F

The VS is already bedded on an aluminum bedding block and is free floated. It should shoot 1/2" right out of the box (mine did and many others I have heard about do to) but I expect you'll spend at least $100 at the gunsmith getting a VLS to shoot like that. Why do you think a laminated stocked heavy barrelled Remington is so much less money....they aren't selling very well. ANyway, good luck with it. I have to agree with the previous poster...sounds like you already made up your mind.

One thing to keep in mind is the barrel twist rate. I think that 1:9 will stabilize most bullets including the heaver bullets like the 62-grain military full metal jacket boat tail. However, while the light bullets will not be an issue, the 1:12 twist rate may have problems stabilizing heavy bullets. This is the reason that the military uses the fast 1:9 or 1:7 twist rates for their rifles.

Ben