While I understand what Handler is alluding to as to quality, I have hard time saying the Savage and 700 are junk or thinking Browning or Mauser would throw them in the nearest dumpster.
I've owned a lot of rifles over the years in different cartridges and one of the worst guns I ever had was a Weatherby. Might be I got a lemon but I didn't like it at all. I've also owned numerous Ruger 77's, some were good, some were excellent and a few were downright awful.
Since I bought my first 7mm08 Sako 75 I have loved that little cartridge. It is perfect for the whitetails and pigs I hunt, not too big, not too small, just right. I handload and after experimenting I found a load that shoots about .75-1" out of the Sako. Problem is, the Sako is a pretty rifle and I hunt in high humidity, muddy, swampy tough areas and cannot stand to see a "pretty" rifle beat all up from it. I bought a couple of Savages to hunt with, a .243 and a.308, man they shoot too. However I wasn't satisfied with either of them, they weren't 7mm08. I like to get what I want and am not satisfied until I do. I found a 7mm08 Rem 700 SPS Varmint, bought it and changed out everything but the barreled action, it shoots about .5 or less with the same load as the Sako. Bought another one of the same 700's, cut the barrel down to 20", changed everything out again and the last group I shot with it you could cover the 5 shots group with a nickel and not see an edge on the Shoot N C target.
Do they feel like a Cooper or Sako or high end rifle, nope, not at all. Do they shoot as good or better, you bet, all day long.
Moral, get what you want and that shoots well for you and be happy. If it doesn't sell it and get something else.
Oh and what beats a .308, why a .309 of course.
