Posted by heggenstaller, Jun 19 2009, 08:06 PM
Chances are your dad has a Savage in his gun vault. It’s probably a Model 99 lever action, although it could be some variation of the Model 110 or Mark II, or—in the case of my dad—a Model 24F 12 gauge/.223 Rem. over-under. But I bet he doesn’t have a Model 10BAS-K.
So reverse the roles this Father’s Day and teach your dad something for once.
The BAS-K is built around the 51-year-old Model 10 action, and it’s chambered in .308 Win., but those are about the only things it has in common with Savages of yesteryear. Instead of a traditional, sporter-type stock, the BAS-K uses a four-piece, modular deal. The fore-end and action sections of the stock are aluminum and bolt together with Allen screws. And, yes, that is an AR-style buttstock and pistol grip on the gun. Savage gives the BAS-K a receiver extension (I’d call it a buffer tube if it were an AR), and the collapsible buttstock slides over it. The assembly includes a receiver end plate and a castle nut, which means you can easily swap the factory buttstock with one you may like better.
Inside the fore-end, just forward of where the barreled action’s recoil lug nestles into place, is a wedge nut. The wedge nut is part of Savage’s new Accu-Stock system, which, like the BAS-K’s Accu-Trigger, is designed to magically make your groups smaller.
The BAS-K has a heavy, fluted, free-floating, 24-inch barrel that ends in a wicked cool muzzle brake. An 18-inch section of Picatinny rail runs over and around the barreled action. You can attach in-line night-vision devices in front of the scope and mount infrared illuminators and lasers to the assembly’s “wings.” Or, if you’re like me and don’t own NVDs and IR accessories, slap a 225-lumen SureFire M3 alongside and see how far you can drill a soda can at night.
Former SOF sniper Steve Adelmann tests the BAS-K, along with two other rifles in the Savage law enforcement line, in the July issue of Shooting Illustrated. Look for the white cover with one heck of a big, black, bolt-action rifle running across it. That’s Shooting Illustrated, and that’s a Savage.
And take dad shooting Sunday. He took you.
