The New Savage 110 Ultralite Elite Rifle: Review

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…You know the rest. (If you don’t, it’s, “…sting like a bee” that describes the punch of Muhammed Ali.) I was at a private range, owned by a Precision Rifle Series (PRS) competitor, when he happened to comment, “I’m getting kind of tired of hauling fifteen pounds of four-foot rifle around the ranges.” It was to be expected. The impulse to build to win happens in any competition, and PRS is no exception. So, you have lengthy barrels, stunning optics, and effective suppressors in chassis stocks, because that’s what it takes to deliver .25 MOA at zip-code distances. And rifles closing in on twenty pounds, to further dampen recoil. Not what you want for hunting, except for the .25 MOA. So, how do you get as much of the benefits of PRS technology as you can, without needing a wheeled mount to haul it to the hunting blind? Why, that’s easy: the Savage 110 Ultralite Elite.

The 110 Ultralite Elite is a build with an agenda: put in all the accuracy-improving details that competition has taught us but keep the weight down. So, Savage starts with a factory-blueprinted stainless steel 110 action. “Blueprinted”? Okay, in the old days, we’d work from paper drawings of parts. The process to make copies used a blue dye, hence the term “blueprint.” A blueprinted action is one that has been given special, extra, work, such that each and every dimension conforms exactly to the blueprint. No “plus or minus” on dimensions. Everything exactly as specified. On the front end, they install a Proof Research stainless steel wrapped-in-carbon fiber barrel. I’ve had Proof Research install a barrel on an AR-15 for me, and their barrels are achingly accurate. The steel tube of the barrel inside the carbon wrap is what Savage calls the Sendero Lite profile. That is, no extra weight. The muzzle is threaded 5/8x24, for the installation of a flash hider, muzzle brake or suppressor. The features list also mentions an Omnibrake, but I never dug that one out of the box because this was only ever going to have a suppressor on it. In fact it spent its entire time here sporting the new Savage B.O.B. suppressor.

On top of the receiver, Savage installs a 20 MOA Picatinny rail. That is, it slopes down at 20 MOA, which means you gain an extra 20 MOA in elevation in your scope. If you are planning on shooting way out there, you’ll need it. If not, you’ll never notice it in zeroing for hunting distances. To match the rest of the parts, the receiver gets a black Cerakote finish. The bolt body is machined with a zigzag or diamond pattern, to reduce weight and friction, and then given its own black Cerakote finish.

Then, they install this into an MDT HNT26 chassis. This is a magnesium chassis with carbon fiber extras. The carbon fiber parts being the forend, pistol grip and buttstock, the HNT26 chassis cuts off a lot of weight compared to an all-aluminum chassis. How serious is Savage about paring weight off of the Ultralite? The bolt knob is carbon fiber. The HNT26 chassis is chock full of surprises and extras. The length of pull can be adjusted by means of the four spacers, each 1⁄4" thick you can add if you need to. The comb can be adjusted for height, to get your face directly behind your scope once that optic is mounted. The stock is foam-filled so there’s no “clink” or hollow “thunk” if you bang it into something.

The forearm has a built-in Arca rail and a slew of M-LOK slots. Rather than machine an Arca rail and then bolt it on, the Arca rail is an integral part of the forearm. Arca, you ask? Originally it was a quick-attach plate to secure a camera to a tripod. Bolt the Arca plate to the camera, and the Arca-equipped tripod was a quick on-off-on-whatever setup. PRS competitors quickly found out that an Arca plate on their rifle and a sturdy tripod was a primo combination for a quick setup to shoot at the next location in a match. What do the Arca people think about it? Dunno. The forearm, as well as the stock, also has QD sling swivel sockets.

The magnesium center of the chassis has even more extras. The stock is hinged. You press one button to fold it halfway. Then another press of the button to fold it the rest of the way. This makes it compact enough to transport without needing a coffin-sized hard case.

In the center, Savage has the safety in the center of the receiver tang, so despite being a right-handed action, it is readily available for both right and left-handed shooters. However, the real deal here is the trigger, Savage’s Accutrigger. The Accutrigger is obvious by the safety lever set into the middle of the trigger face. The big trick is not just that it is a safety lever in the trigger. If all it did was block movement of the trigger, that’s what so many others do. No, the Accutrigger blocks the movement of the sear. This means it can be lighter than others, since the sear is blocked from movement, and then, just to put icing on that particular cake, the Accutrigger is user adjustable. Yes, you can adjust to yourself with the safety lever still blocking the sear.

For feeding of ammunition, the MDT HNT26 chassis is set up to use AICS-pattern magazines. This is the single-feed pattern AICS, not the double-feed one, so be sure of that when you go and order more. The 110 Ultralite Elite ships with one three-round magazine (five-rounders readily available), because this is a hunting rifle, and it is intended to be as lightweight as possible. If you want to get into PRS-type completion, just source yourself some bigger-capacity AICS magazines, like a 10-rounder, and you’ll be all set. The magazine release is smoothly blended into the front of the trigger guard, and is unobtrusive.

Now, the 110 Ultralite Elite does not come with sights. Nothing, nada. So, I had to mount a scope on it. Well, I have a bunch of PRS-level optics, including a Burris XTR Pro. Now, were I building a 20-pound PRS rifle, that would be tops on my list, and I’d put it into a bomb-proof mount. As much as I love it, that combo would add three or four pounds to a rifle that comes out of the box at five-and-three-quarter pounds. Nope, not for a hunting rifle. Instead, I dove into the optics cabinet and come up with a pair of lightweight aluminum rings to clamp directly to the Picatinny rail, and a Burris Fullfield 2.5-10X scope, something much more suitable to hunting than a full-on PRS optic. The rings added 1.6 ounces, the Burris 15.2 ounces.

Now, the Burris is a compact hunting scope, and this presented a bit of a situation. The short tube meant I had very little choice in locating it on the rail. It meant I did not use the length-of-pull spacers, and I could shoot the Savage just fine, but, if you decide to go with this exact combo, you’ll have to crawl the stock as I normally do. If you do not, then you’ll want to find an offset ring combo that lets you place the scope where it fits you, as long as the front and rear bells don’t impact the rail, or just select a scope with a longer tube for more options in placement.

In initial testing, I found the Accutrigger to be all it is praised for. It was so pleasant to not have to struggle through a trigger press. Usually, that means keeping the reticle centered as I felt the various bits and parts of the trigger mechanism interacting, and in some triggers, acting up. Not the Accutrigger. Line up the reticle, take up the slack, and two and a half pounds later a muffled noise produces a new hole in the target.

I did this with the new Savage B.O.B. suppressor mounted, which made the range day all the more pleasant. (See Patrick’s column, In Hushed Tones in the September 2025 issue of Firearms News for a review of this suppressor). The loads selected (okay, grabbed off of the shelf as a representative sample) all shot small groups, groups that would have been smaller had I not been so generous with coffee that morning. Even with the Savage on bags in a shooting rest, and with only 10X power on the Burris, I could see my heartbeat in the movement of the reticle. Still, consistent half-MOA groups under those conditions is stellar for a hunting rifle. It might appear to be a bit “meh” to a pro-level PRS competitor, but a pro-level PRS competitor could likely shave my groups down with the Savage. I do not have an Arca-head tripod or bench setup to use, and that would have also provided some group shrinkage as well.

Keep in mind that this accuracy level was with a hunting rifle that tips the scales, scope and rings included, at six-and-three-quarter pounds. If you are looking for serious accuracy in a package so lightweight that you won’t notice it while you are huffing and puffing at high altitude in search of game, then here it is. Now, the starting price is more than a bit higher than you’d expect from your regular hunting rifle. But you have to keep the Savage 110 Ultralite Elite in perspective. You cannot take a regular hunting rifle (whatever that is these days) and rebuild it to be as light as this, without spending this much or more in that pursuit. By the time you’ve sourced a stock/chassis this light, and re-barreled it to be this light, and pay the cost of the assembly, you’ll be at or above the MSRP of the 110 Ultralite Elite. (Don’t forget the waiting time of this sourcing and work.) Some PRS shooters spend more than the MSRP of the 110 Ultralite Elite just on their optics. Your rifle will deliver nearly that level of accuracy (more of that depends on you than on the rifle) and it is light enough to hunt with. If you do ever get the idea of giving PRS a go, then you have a lightweight rifle to start your endeavor. You can always add weight just for the match, and take it off later for hunting. As much as I still love blued steel and walnut with the sleek lines of a classic stock, to steal a line from another cultural source, for modern hunting and competition, this is the way. 

Savage Model 110 Ultralite Specs

• Type: Bolt action
• Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor
• Capacity: 3+1 rounds (5- and 10-rd. mags avail.)
• Barrel: 18 in. w/ 5/8x24 threaded muzzle
• Overall Length: 38 in.
• Weight: 5 lbs. 9 oz.
• Finish: Blued steel, Cerakote, carbon fiber
• Furniture: MDT HNT26 Chassis with carbon fiber forend, pistol grip, and buttstock
• Sights: N/A, 20 MOA optics base
• Trigger: 2 lbs. 8 oz. as tested (1.5 – 4 lbs. adj.)
• MSRP: $3,299
• Contact: (800) 370-0708, SavageArms.com

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