Savage Renegauge Semi-Auto 12 Gauge Shotgun: Review

The company's Renegauge shotgun comes tuned for turkeys, and everything else.

May 21, 2025 By Zach Hein

Nestled under a tall pine to avoid the spitting snow. Every muscle in my arms fired trying to keep the red dot aimed at the spot the turkey would surely pop out. Sam’s calls from over my shoulder were immediately answered by a thundering gobble. The big bird moved in the creek bottom, erupting again as he tried to find a path through the thick willows.

My mind was in overdrive, taking in every single detail of the soggy flat and the massive Idaho hillside jutting up in front of us. Frozen pellets of graupel pinged off the barrel and red-dot sight, my eyes straying to the junctures of the shotgun’s rib and barrel where the Mossy Oak Bottomland camo was perfectly rippled in a miniature yet familiar pattern.

turkey feathers and shotgun — (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

Another set of yelps, echoed by another commanding gobble. The turkey would rotate, we would call, he would respond. For thirty minutes we tried to coax him across the creek to no avail. The shotgun wasn’t getting any lighter—quite the opposite, in fact. Eventually we could hear him working further away, no doubt lured away by real flesh-and-blood hens that spoke sweeter than Sam could.

Those micro-ripples stuck in my mind though. Was the rib actually welded to the barrel? Laser-welded, no doubt, due to the incredibly fine stack of dimes, but the possibility blew me away. I’ve seen brazed ribs and barrel lugs of mass-produced guns, the more hand-built shotguns being soldered on and the best of those tending to be done with silver solder. Looking up and down the rib it was obvious – that sucker was indeed welded on. For a shotgun nerd like me, that’s pretty darn cool.

Repping the Renegauge

shotgun inside truck — The Renegauge’s gas-driven action is designed to cycle everything from light trap loads to magnum turkey loads. (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

When the Savage Renegauge debuted four years ago it checked nearly all the boxes. A gas-operated semi-auto, it shipped with an easily adjustable length of pull, multiple comb inserts and a full set of shims to adjust cast and drop. Gas-operation meant it was soft-shooting, since a good deal of combustion gasses get ported off to run the action. Add to that, the shotgun was totally U.S.-made—something that matters a great deal to some folks.

The rub? Weight. At just a bit over 8 lbs., the Renegauge tips the scale ¾-1 lbs. more than its direct competitors in the market. That doesn’t seem like a tremendous amount, but the source of that weight is the barrel itself. While it is fluted to reduce heft, the barrel doesn’t thin down after the forcing cone and then bell back out for the choke tube nest like the majority of shotguns.

That weight does two things—on the positive side, it reduces felt recoil while making the shotgun harder to swing. No quail gun, it’s more happy spitting out 3-inch magnums from a goose pit or in the turkey woods.

To be perfectly honest, the Renegauge is built like a tank. The rib is welded to the barrel, as is the barrel lug that houses the gas system—a very notable point all on its own.

close up of butt stock — (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

It should be said that whoever set forth the design parameters for the shotgun’s development might not have realized the difficulty of the task they created. From the outset, the Renegauge was required to cycle every shell from a sub-sonic Metro loads (the likes of which I first saw Tom Knapp shooting nearly silently during his exhibitions so many years ago) all the way up to modern 3-inch magnums at 1,550+ FPS. The breadth of pressures between those two extremes is incredible, and setting that base requirement for a gas gun with no adjustment system or swappable spring/piston bites off more than most could chew. Not having fielded a semi-auto shotgun in 50+ years, Savage didn’t want to just get on base, they wanted to hit a gas-gun grand slam.

With no easy task in front of them, the engineers in Westfield, Massachusetts started with an incredibly over-gassed system built to pick up the lightest loads on the market and cycle them properly. Harkening back to the wave-spring vent system of the first ever gas-operated shotgun debuted in 1953 by J.C. Higgins (house brand of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.), the designers created a spring-loaded system with dual pistons working in tandem to dump excess combustion gasses. Unlike the Higgins, which required the shooter to adjust spring tension to match the load they were shooting, the Renegauge’s system is pre-set to open up its massive venting ports as soon as sufficient pressure has been harvested, meaning it bleeds off more gas than most any gas-operated shotgun on the market and results in less actual recoil and a longer recoil impulse altogether.

Clean-Free?

gas system — The gas-operated system lies at the heart of the Renegauge’s design. (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

Back at the lodge after a fulfilling yet unsuccessful day in the Idaho mountains, I pulled apart the dripping-wet Renegauge for a once-over. With a flashlight illuminating the bore, I peered down it to try to get a look at the port system that supplies all the pressure to run the gun. Nothing.

I looked from either end, hoping to get a glimpse of the holes in the barrel but couldn’t see a thing. Another innovative (and patent-worthy) feature of the Renegauge is micro-porting. Depending on barrel length (since that influences the pressure curve as the charge travels down the barrel and exits), the shotgun has anywhere from 8 to 24 tiny ports cut into its wall right over the top of the gas system. Not only does this divert a substantial amount of gas, it means the gun doesn’t run into any issues with wad shaving that a pair of larger-than-normal ports might present. Slicing a bit of plastic off each wad passing down the barrel would quickly become problematic, both to the flow of gas and for the proper operation of the multiple piston systems present.

Previous gas-powered semi-autos I’ve had needed at least a cursory cleaning at 300-500 rounds, lest the carbon deposits and powder start slowing down the action’s operation. Savage gives guidance that they don’t expect users to clean the Renegauge any more often than every 1,500 rounds. I have no doubt that’s due to the combination of those micro-ports, slick chrome-plating throughout and the massive venting system that evacuates any and all unneeded gas right out the front of the handguard.

The Renegauge, paired with a Vortex Optics red-dot sight, was a deadly combination for the author. (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

The last part of the equation to ensure the hottest of the hot snow goose loads don’t destroy the gun from the inside is a new style of bolt buffer engineered to cushion the carrier from slamming into the back of the action. For those shooting mostly magnums, the polyurethane buffer won’t mash out like a rubber buffer might and is specified to last the lifetime of the gun, while fitting into a tiny footprint at the back of the action that doesn’t add to the bulk or length of the receiver itself.

Putting the gun back together with nary a wipe, I noted that the rail and optic were still secured tightly to the top of the action. A new addition for 2024, the ability to easily mount a red dot removes a roadblock for those addicted to chasing gobblers, with red dots having become almost standard equipment for many in the turkey woods.

Tom Take Two

set up and waiting for turkey — The Renegauge comes drilled and tapped, making the additon of a red-dot optic an easy process. (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

Light came up to rocky foothills shrouded in fog, with big fat drops of precipitation falling irregularly. Starting at the bottom of the same creek we hunted the day before, our goal was to locate that elusive gobbler and make our move. Standing on a stump, Sam let loose with his best owl hoots, immediately answered by an incensed gobble upstream from us and across the creek. We double-timed it to try to put ourselves across from the tom, coming to a clearing that felt just right.

Sticking my back against a pine, I watched as Sam slapped down decoys 20 yards in front of me then scrambled back to dig himself under a tree to my left.

hunter with turkey — (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

One series of yelps was all it took, because as I settled in behind the gun a white-tipped fan appeared out of a swale, rising quickly as the tom came in at a trot while in full strut. I’d never seen a more picture-perfect turkey, the big gobbler doing everything right (or wrong, from his point of view). He sidled up to the decoys, stopping just three feet from them in the most impressive display he could muster. Turning his fan to face them, he finally gave me a clear silhouette of his head and the Savage spoke, sending him over backwards with a load of TSS as a maroon Federal hull spun through the air, landing fifteen feet away.

The Renegauge had delivered. Built to digest anything that will fit in its chamber, it is no question over-engineered and a bit over-built. While it is front-heavy, that all goes unnoticed on hunts where it’s slung until use. What doesn’t go unnoticed is its reliability and soft-shooting nature. Add to that the easy and quick customization to fit hunters of different sizes (with three pad lengths, three comb heights and shims for drop and cast included) and it becomes a solid option for a highly versatile turkey and waterfowl piece. With the addition of a rail for optics, it now checks another box.

Brass Tax

hunter smiling with turkey — (Photo courtesy of Sam Soholt)

Is it a bit pricey? Yes. But in an age where quality U.S.-made products are getting harder and harder to find, Savage’s re-entry into the semi-auto shotgun market was a swing for the fences. Bouncing off the warning track and over the wall, the Renegauge hit a ground rule double. For a shotgun nerd like me who loves the design and engineering accomplishments hidden under the camo, I’d let it run the bases.