To celebrate the anniversary of the Model 110, Savage has produced a limited-edition run of 1,000 rifles with high-grade wood, gold inlays, a gold-plated trigger and high-gloss blueing. Fittingly, it’s chambered to .300 Savage. Photo by Mustafa Bilal

On traditional bolt actions, headspace is adjusted (and headspace problems corrected) by turning the threaded barrel in or out. In the case of excess headspace, the barrel needs to be turned another complete rotation and the chamber re-cut.

Brewer designed the 110’s barrel to be locked in position by a threaded collet. With the bolt in the action and closed, and a no-go headspace gauge in the chamber, the barrel is screwed on until it can go no further, ensuring minimum headspace, and the collet is then tightened down, locking the barrel in place.

A rifle’s recoil lug is the steel extension on the front of the receiver. It is embedded in the stock and absorbs the force of recoil rather than stressing the guard screws or less durable parts of the action. On the Mauser 98, it is an integral part of the receiver, machined to shape.

Brewer’s approach was to manufacture the recoil lug as a separate piece of steel that is positioned between the receiver and the barrel, slipping on like a ring. It is locked in place when the collet on the barrel is tightened.

The Model 110 was not Savage Arms’ first bolt action, but it was by far its most successful in terms of both design and sales. It burst onto the scene at a transitional period in U.S. firearms history. Bolt actions were shouldering aside the old American favorite, the lever action, including Savage’s own star, the 99.

Within a year or two of its introduction, Savage began bringing out variations on the Model 110. From the beginning, the 110 had a claim to fame that no other bolt action had: It was available in both right- and left-handed actions. Brewer’s principle of assembling a bolt from individual parts lent itself admirably to manufacturing a mirror-image action that worked from the other side.

So, too, it could be made in different lengths, and from the beginning Savage offered a short, long and “long magnum” action. In truth, there were only two lengths, the magnum action being merely a slightly altered version.

It is well-known today that having all the parts of an action exactly aligned--barrel, bolt and receiver--is the secret of good accuracy. This is best achieved by turning as many parts as possible on a lathe to get concentricity. By a happy coincidence, fashioning parts on a lathe from bar stock is also an extremely cost-effective method of manufacturing, and so the twin desires for great accuracy and low cost come together.

The Savage 110 was one of the earliest bolt-action designs to incorporate these benefits of lathe turning, and from the beginning, the 110 established a reputation for accuracy that belied its low price and, to some, rather proletarian appearance.

One complaint about the 110 was its original trigger mechanism which, while adequate, was difficult to adjust. In 1966, when Savage introduced the Model 110C with its detachable magazine, it also brought out an improved trigger. This remained the standard trigger on the 110-series rifles until almost 40 years later when, in 2005, Savage introduced the AccuTrigger.

The AccuTrigger incorporates, in effect, an integral safety that allows the trigger to be adjusted to very light, crisp pulls yet ensures there is no accidental discharge by the trigger “jarring off” through a fall or the bolt being closed violently.

Over its lifetime, the Savage 110 has appeared in so many guises, so many iterations, that several pages would be required merely to list them all.