Back To The Future
The recessed bolt head of the new Savage has a bolt-face extractor, a slot for the mechanical ejector. The bolt release is in a familiar place on the receiver’s left flank. To function, it must be moved forward, then depressed, an easy rocking motion with your thumb. Before reading the manual (c’mon, I’ve been pulling bolts since Sullivan hosted the Beatles), I almost ruptured my thumb pressing the release without a forward nudge.
Cleverly, engineers designed a removable bolt handle with your choice of five operating angles. The handle also functions on the left side of the bolt. To slip it off, remove the bolt and depress the button opposite the handle. Slide the cap off the keyed handle post. Change angles; replace the cap. To install the bolt on the left side, unscrew the post and swap it with the handle, then re-assemble. Of course, cases still tumble out the right-side port.
You can remove the bolt head too. With the bolt out, uncock it by pressing the extraction plunger just forward of the bolt shroud and letting the bolt handle pivot forward. Depress the rear of the bolt head lock plunger behind the bolt head, rotate the head counter-clockwise and pull it off.
The bolt knob suits me, but Savage gave it threads (a half inch of 5/16-24 UNF). A quarter-inch hex wrench is all you need to switch it out.
Because the bolt locks directly to a barrel extension, the Impulse’s receiver needs no bottle breech pressures — so it’s of lightweight alloy. An integral Picatinny rail has 20 minutes of gain for long shooting. The receiver is held to Savage’s AccuStock (with imbedded forend rail) by twin action screws, fore and aft of the magazine well. A hole behind the guard affords access to the AccuTrigger weight-of-pull screw. A tool is supplied for this adjustment.
The Impulse comes with snap-on combs and butt spacers so you can adapt the AccuFit butt-stock to your body and shooting style, and to the sightline.
Available in three configurations and a range of chamberings, the Impulse was predictably scarce when announced months ago. I was fortunate to get for range trials the version and chambering most appealing to me: an Impulse Big Game in .300 Winchester Magnum.