Meet the 110 PCS
Savage’s Model 110 family of bolt-action rifles is highly regarded as accurate, mid-range priced, user-friendly long guns. With that same action downsized onto a handgun platform, the same should hold true.
The 110 PCS, or Precision Chassis System, is built of carbon steel on the company’s factory blueprinted action, with a matte black barrel and receiver against a machined aluminum, one-piece MDT chassis stock system with a 7-inch free floating modular forend with M-LOK slots. Of note, the company opted for a left-handed bolt against right-hand-eject action with a spiral-fluted bolt body.
The trigger, not surprisingly, is Savage’s user-adjustable AccuTrigger, with a range of 2.5 to 6 pounds. A 10.5-inch medium-contour barrel with a threaded and capped muzzle rounds out the package.
The one-piece 0-MOA rail comes standard for scope mounting, as there are no irons. A Picatinny rail at the rear of the chassis is intended for add-ons like a brace, while most AR-15 grips will interchange with the included MDT grip. A 10-round AICS magazine comes standard, along with an ambidextrous magazine release.
The Incognito 110 PCS Debut
Our first instruction to the idea of the 110 PCS came as a sidebar on an Oklahoma whitetail hunt with Savage. Though we were hunting with their rifles, a Savage rep pulled out a pre-production sample of what would become the PCS one afternoon after hunting was complete.
Suffice it to say, several hundred rounds and targets out to 1,000 yards later, the bait was dangled and hook ready to be set. Then all went quiet on the Savage end, and we feared the bolt-operated handgun had never made it to production.
Quietly over the years that followed, a few 110 PCSs trickled onto the market in a smattering of chamberings: .223 Rem, 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Win, .300 AAC Blackout, and .350 Legend. At nearly $1,000, retail pricing may sound high, but in this case, the quality and performance have our attention.
Field Notes
Unless you’ve spent ample time with competition guns or long-range hunting handguns, odds are the left-handed bolt, right-hand eject will take a little adjustment. Once you get the feel and muscle memory for the design, such an action becomes a fast-running one. The shooter can remain “in the gun” or in shooting position with the dominant right hand working the trigger and controls, while the left non-dominant hand cycles the action.
Feeding from the included 10-round magazine, shooters can send rounds downrange quickly if needed, though this handgun has the long-range accuracy to make every shot count at most any distance the rifle would. The gun feels good in the hand with the rubberized MDT pistol grip. The expected adjustable AccuTrigger is nice, with our test piece breaking at 3.5 pounds on a Lyman Digital Pull Gauge.
The threaded muzzle is practical and allowed us to easily add our Banish 30 direct-thread suppressor. There’s ample room for attaching a bipod or lower ARCA mount. Barricade grooves are milled into the front of the magazine well, and even for those not shooting competitions, that extra grip space is always welcome for practical field shooting stability.
The spiral-fluted bolt is attractive and practical, with weight savings and smoothness of operation. The 16-slot Picatinny rail offers plenty of optics-mounting space for even the lengthier rifle scopes.
Hunting, Tactical, or Neither?
At 10.5 inches, the barrel is useful enough and plenty accurate, yet many serious handgun hunters are left pining for longer options. Older hunting handgun standbys like the Remington XP-100, Nosler M48, and many T/C Contenders use barrels in the 12 to 14.5-inch range.
What’s more, other tactical features can be seen as getting in the way of a good hunting handgun. A hunting market has near zero need of the rear Picatinny mount for an AR-style stock brace. Likewise, a more standard Model 110 magazine, either flush or extended, would be just as welcome as the AICS included.
Whether tactical operators are seeking a bolt-action handgun remains to be seen, but the 110 PCS is immediately interesting for hardcore hunters, target shooters, and competitors.
Range Time
We topped the test handgun with a Burris 2-7x32 variable power handgun scope. For what it’s worth, one could easily opt instead for a rifle optic, a commonality among long-range handgun shooters.
A nice thing about having a PCS chambered in .308 is the abundance of factory ammunition. We opted for Federal Fusion 150-grain, Hornady Outfitter 165-grain, Hornady Match 168-grain, and the only subsonic load we could find at the time: Winchester’s Super-X Subsonic 185-grain.
Shooting suppressed takes down the already manageable recoil and noise to a seriously tame darling that even the most sensitive could shoot with ease. Shooting it well with the Burris Handgun Scope and the rear grip takes a little practice, but once a repeatable sight picture is acquired, the gun will outshoot most. We ended up finding at or near MOA with multiple ammunition types.
Using the 6.5 Creedmoor topped with a Leupold riflescope in Oklahoma, almost every shooter was able to walk through the 1,000-yard course with steel targets placed in 100-yard increments. That was all with little practice time, a testament to the 110 PCS’s capabilities.
Final Thoughts
Savage’s 110 PCS came onto the scene with little fanfare or advertising, which is a shame because the gun is a shooter. Unfortunately, it finds itself stuck in no man’s land between a serious hunting handgun and an awkward tactical number.
As it is, the 110 PCS is a perfectly serviceable hunting arm, but with a few improvements –namely barrel length and tactical deletes – it could take the hunting world by storm.
As the 110 PCS sits now, it’s an accurate, underrated hunter that would benefit from more chamberings, barrel lengths, and even stock options. We’d welcome a healthy list of chamberings found on any of the many 110 rifle variants. Only time will tell if any of that will come to fruition or whether our dear 110 PCS will fade as quietly into the shadows as from whence it came.
Kristin Alberts
Kristin is a Staff Writer with a focus on hunting and the wilderness lifestyle. When she's not traveling the world on the next outdoor adventure, Kristin enjoys fishing, motorcycling, field-to-table cooking, canning, antiquing and reloading.
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