The ‘Everyman’ Rifle: Sauer’s 100 Embodies Refinement, Affordability and Accuracy

By Tom Beckstrand

The current rifle craze of which a manufacturer can do the most for the least, is still very much in season. During the last year, we’ve seen solid contributions from most of the American manufacturers and a few quality submissions from our European cousins. One in particular that sticks out is the Sauer 100.

The Sauer rifle has been available for about a year and is one of the best so-called “value rifles” on the market, foreign or domestic. However, it is by far the most sophisticated rifle in this category.

European rifles occasionally struggle in the American market because they do things differently on the other side of the pond. For instance, where Americans like the idea of being able to rebarrel their rifles, many European companies don’t allow that. A common manufacturing process in Europe is to heat the receiver and press-fit the barrel in place. This makes for a very solid lock-up between barrel and receiver but also means the local gunsmith cannot put a new barrel on that rifle.