Back in the days I worked at an outdoor tabloid, there were people who looked down their noses at Savage rifles, referring to them sneeringly as “Mart rifles.” It had something to do with the price tag and the fact people on blue collar budgets could afford them.
All of us blue collar guys got the last laugh, or course, when we were able to punch MOA groups repeatedly off sandbag rests, which translated to notched tags and venison in the freezer. My Model 99 may not shoot the hottest whiz-bang metric round and my bolt rifle doesn’t wear a Grade AA walnut stock with fancy inlays but both of them hit what they’re aimed at. Last time I checked, this was really the purpose of a hunting rifle, not necessarily to just look good in a glass-front display case.
Which brings us around to the newest intro from Savage, a rifle family with models to cover all the bases from shooting varmints and predators to the biggest of North American big game.
Enter the Savage IMPULSE, with three specific groups, the Big Game, Hog Hunter and Predator. Here’s what sets the IMPULSE apart from other Savage bolt guns — they have a straight-pull action, built around what the company calls a Hexlock. Savage describes this as “a robust lockup that allows for IMPULSE’s reliability, speed, safety and accuracy.”
Savage IMPULSE Rifle Family
Unique action and accuracy
The Savage IMPULSE Big Game model
Long ago, probably in a galaxy far away, I clobbered my first buck with a Savage Model 99 lever-action rifle, a straight-shooting specimen with the original rotary magazine, Schnabel forend and the safety latch on the lever.
Chambered for the .300 Savage cartridge, it has a steel buttplate, full buckhorn sight on the rear and brass bead front sight. It was my grandpa’s gun, which he gave to me upon my graduation from high school. Today, it occupies an honored place in my gun safe to become a family heirloom.
A few years ago, I replaced the lever, having buggered the original in the distant past. I worked on that replacement lever for several hours, polishing it with 1,500 grit sandpaper and then extremely fine steel wool, then added the blue.
Wanting a little more horsepower, some time back I bought a Savage bolt-action American Classic chambered for the .308 Winchester. Like my Model 99, this bolt gun is deadly accurate and I took one of my biggest mule deer in a canyon overlooking the Snake River a few miles downstream from Lewiston, Idaho. I was using handloads topped with Nosler AccuBond bullets for a 200-yard steep downhill shot — but those bullets went where they were supposed to go.
Indeed, I cannot remember ever shooting a rifle from Savage that was not accurate. Some people say it’s the way barrels are mounted to actions, with their trademark barrel nut. All that matters to me is they work.
A few years ago, Workman hunted with Savage’s 110 Hog Hunter,
a traditional bolt action that was a hoot to shoot.
Announced just days ago and with no “Day at the Range” at this year’s non-existent Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, I haven’t had a chance to actually shoot one of these guns, a dilemma I hope to overcome shortly.
But the literature got my attention. My grandpa always insisted Savage rifles fit him better than other brands and I’d never argue with a guy who put more meat in the larder than nearly anyone else I know. I wonder what he’d think if I showed up at his front door with one of these IMPULSE models and told him to run it down to the range.
The gang at Savage obviously did their homework. A quote from company president Al Kasper summed it up: “We’ve studied more than a century’s worth of straight-pull actions and kept running up against the same conundrum; straight pull actions are fast, but they don’t inspire confidence. Speed means nothing if you can’t hit what you’re aiming at. IMPULSE changes that. We’ve brought our tradition of accuracy into the mix to make the fastest, most accurate straight-pull rifles ever built.”
This Hexlock features six hardened steel bearings locking the bolt in place inside the barrel extension. According to Savage, “As pressure increases, Hexlock’s hold tightens, ensuring that there can be no rearward movement of the bolt. Once the round has left the barrel, the pressure subsides, and the action can safely open again with the straight pull of the bolt handle.”
Sounds good to me.
Dave is a fan of Savage rifles. Here is spending a pleasant afternoon
at the range with his American Classic bolt gun.
In the IMPULSE Big Game family, you’ll find models chambered for 6.5 Creedmoor, .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .300 WSM, .30-06 Sprg. and .300 Win. Magnum. The MSRP for any of these is $1.447.00.
For riflemen who live down south or in the Southwest, the IMPULSE Hog Hunter collection is sure to put the pain on porkers. Four chamberings are available, in .308 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, .30-06 and .300 Win. Magnum. The MSRP on Hog Hunter models is $1.377.00.
This model shouldn’t be confused with the 110 Hog Hunter, a Savage entry from a few years back. I had one of these rifles for a field evaluation and was a rugged little package chambered for the .308 Win. It is also available in .350 Legend and .223 Remington.
Each of the IMPULSE features the popular AccuStock®, Accufit® to adjust the length-of-pull and comb height, and an AccuTrigger®. The AccuTrigger on my .308 is the best factory trigger I’ve ever used and even though I can adjust it, I’ve never bothered.
Savage designers included a Picatinny-type rail on top of the receiver, which is going to be quickly popular among people who like user-friendly firearms when it comes to mounting scopes.
