GM:
To answer your question on why "it seems Savage has a reputation for blowing up".
I never owned an in-line until my good friend passed and his widow gave me his Encore (about 5 years ago)- I've made post about it here and wrote an article a few years ago that was just published this past February in MB. I have NO experience with SML.
Here it is"
1) over the 25-26 years I've been attending both NMLRA Matches each year, I can't recall hearing of a gun plowing up until the Smokeless came out (we didn't have the internet either) I do recall old timers talk about the Douglas barrels blowing up when they started using 12L14 as the material (this is screw stock material and they screwed-up!) I also recall the NMLRA position on the SML - Tom Schiffer (past president) and I are very close and talk / email often, he was a LRML shooter too. Since the 2000 you hear every now and then a story of either a Savage blowing up or someone trying to put smokeless in a non-smokeless ML - most all being in-lines.
2) During the 1st NMLRA In-line match in the spring of 2013, I met the guys from Knight - thought they were out of business. Then found they were 45 min from me. After the match, they approached me and bestill as we were 1st and 2nd or I should say 2nd & 1st. I don't know what they talked to him about, but they were intrigued by my shooting BP and PP bullets out of a std Encore 209x50 with a 4x scope and Jason D. outfit. The Knight guys and pro-staff did not fair well, they along with others who quit after 200 paper, not to shoot the silhouettes at all. The cold, windy day ended many shooters hopes. But, it became the start of many long discussions on LRML shooting - I was now teaching them. Over the following years EACH ONE of the Knight guys either bought from me or asked me to locate an older Knight 1:20 - Gordy E. was the only one who had one and I told him they did not have a rifle in their inventory that could outshoot these older 1:20's with BP and proper 500gr+ bullets. This lead to the discussions on the birth of the K500. Anyway, on multiple occasions when Gordy and I get on the topic about smokeless powders or going over 120/84 BH209 loads he told me " Savage had 146 lawsuits filed against them from 2000-2006 and that's why you'll never see another maker take the liability risk". He went on and I could go on forever, but that's why they will never recommend overloading BH209 or Smokeless. Unfortunately, due to many issues, Gordy is no longer with Knight.
3) How many stories have we hear over the years about a Savage ML blowing up because it had to be double loaded? If it's alway double loading, then why don't we hear stories of guys blowing regular in-line ML up from double loading - it certainly can't be a coincidence that ONLY Savage shooters are double loading.
4) After the local Savage incident and talking to the guy who lost his hand. I've been reading and trying to understand what happens to make one blow up? Here is one of many internet instances. One in particular stands out Palatka vs Savage 10ml-II US District Court (2009 in MI, I believe) although I don't agree with one of the experts Dr. abc who testified, the other Dr. xyz is certainly in reason.
Here is a photo of one of the pages within the court documents, note the number of incidents.