larueminati
Member
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2017
- Messages
- 58
Quick range report on my new Savage 11/111 light weight hunter in .308win, and a little backstory on choosing a lightweight rifle. I recently was on the search for a lightweight bolt gun to be used for tracking in the northeast woods, criteria was that it had to be under 7lbs. scoped/loaded and obviously I wanted the best accuracy for the money given the lightweight barrel. Budget was $1K or less on the rifle alone. I was coming from an AR platform that came in at 10 lbs. scoped and loaded… and I built that to be a “lightweight”. I’m a huge fan of the AR platform but it got to be too cumbersome and noisy in the brush for tracking deer, it was time to make a change to my first bolt gun. We regularly do 5-10 miles per day on foot in some rough country and the AR was fine for years but it was time to pivot. Yes I did look at pump guns, lever guns and lightweight semi's like the BAR but none fit the bill.
For reference I did look at the Kimber’s (hunter and Adirondack), Howa Alpine Mountain, CZ527 (6.5grendel), Tikka T3X and a few others. I went with the savage for a few reasons. I loved the traditional wood stock, it had great accuracy reports, it was 5.5lbs bare bones, and it just so happened to be the least expensive of the bunch. Kimber’s terrible reputation drove me away. The tikka would have been my choice if it wasn’t destin to be a lightweight tracking rifle, the tikka action is just unbeatable. The Tikka ended up getting cut because it was too heavy overall, it only comes in the full-length action size and the stock was “tupperwareish”. The Howa alpine mountain was really my second place choice, it was slightly more expensive than the savage but had a nice kevlar stock, good accuracy reports, and a two stage trigger which I prefer.
I do like pretty much everything about the savage, one downfall for it is the bolt is sloppy but I won’t be running the bolt too much in this scenario. It ended up getting a Trijicon accupoint 3-9 optic which comes in at 13oz, very light considering. Talley lightweight rings. Complete weight is 6.5lbs. scoped and loaded. It feels very nimble yet extremely easy to hold steady on target. No complaints about it being “too light” which a lot of people bring up in this discussion.
On to the range report. Quick disclaimer this rifle never saw any factory ammo so I don’t have that to compare to. In my .308 AR platform I had been running 125gr Nosler Accubonds at around 2,850 FPS and that was a nice flat shooter with a great max point blank range for 308. I had plenty of those rounds and powder left over. I figured rather than reinventing the wheel I’d try those out in the Savage given that it’s a lightweight rifle and the 125 recoil is AWESOME compared to a 165-180. The savage also has the same 1:11 twist that I was using previously.
I had been running H322 in a 16” barrel and that had a 99% burn rate, moving up to the 20” barrel it had a 99.6% burn rate. I bumped the load up by 1.4 grains to get me to 3,176fps average and the groups are great. There is a tiny bit of primer flow but other than that no pressure signs. With the lightweight barrel you can’t shoot too too many groups without it starting to walk, so I have two target examples. One cold bore, three shot group. Then another that was shot with a HOT barrel, 12 rounds down the pipe before the last group was shot. Given the results I’m convinced this rifle will shoot one hole if I do my part. The numbers are pretty impressive, 2,800 FT/LBS from a little 125gr with minimal recoil. I’m convinced the Accubond is a stout enough bullet to fit the bill.
COLD BORE:
HOT BARREL:
The 3,110 shot I believe was a misread, the light started coming in a bad angle and I had to move the chronograph. Without that i'm showing a 3,176 average, not recorded the highest velocity I showed was 2,028 with still "no" pressure signs. I have a cheap scale so I can't expect much better, i've also read with light bullets you can't achieve "as good" of a standard deviation.
For reference I still have not zeroed the rifle yet, just finishing up with load development. I have it close now but i'll need to fine tune it on a cold bore. The good thing is, the cold bore shot and the second shot almost hit the same hole. I was happy to not see some outlandish shift.
All in all i'm pretty happy with the rifle and the load. We'll see how she does come deer season.
For reference I did look at the Kimber’s (hunter and Adirondack), Howa Alpine Mountain, CZ527 (6.5grendel), Tikka T3X and a few others. I went with the savage for a few reasons. I loved the traditional wood stock, it had great accuracy reports, it was 5.5lbs bare bones, and it just so happened to be the least expensive of the bunch. Kimber’s terrible reputation drove me away. The tikka would have been my choice if it wasn’t destin to be a lightweight tracking rifle, the tikka action is just unbeatable. The Tikka ended up getting cut because it was too heavy overall, it only comes in the full-length action size and the stock was “tupperwareish”. The Howa alpine mountain was really my second place choice, it was slightly more expensive than the savage but had a nice kevlar stock, good accuracy reports, and a two stage trigger which I prefer.
I do like pretty much everything about the savage, one downfall for it is the bolt is sloppy but I won’t be running the bolt too much in this scenario. It ended up getting a Trijicon accupoint 3-9 optic which comes in at 13oz, very light considering. Talley lightweight rings. Complete weight is 6.5lbs. scoped and loaded. It feels very nimble yet extremely easy to hold steady on target. No complaints about it being “too light” which a lot of people bring up in this discussion.
On to the range report. Quick disclaimer this rifle never saw any factory ammo so I don’t have that to compare to. In my .308 AR platform I had been running 125gr Nosler Accubonds at around 2,850 FPS and that was a nice flat shooter with a great max point blank range for 308. I had plenty of those rounds and powder left over. I figured rather than reinventing the wheel I’d try those out in the Savage given that it’s a lightweight rifle and the 125 recoil is AWESOME compared to a 165-180. The savage also has the same 1:11 twist that I was using previously.
I had been running H322 in a 16” barrel and that had a 99% burn rate, moving up to the 20” barrel it had a 99.6% burn rate. I bumped the load up by 1.4 grains to get me to 3,176fps average and the groups are great. There is a tiny bit of primer flow but other than that no pressure signs. With the lightweight barrel you can’t shoot too too many groups without it starting to walk, so I have two target examples. One cold bore, three shot group. Then another that was shot with a HOT barrel, 12 rounds down the pipe before the last group was shot. Given the results I’m convinced this rifle will shoot one hole if I do my part. The numbers are pretty impressive, 2,800 FT/LBS from a little 125gr with minimal recoil. I’m convinced the Accubond is a stout enough bullet to fit the bill.
COLD BORE:
HOT BARREL:
The 3,110 shot I believe was a misread, the light started coming in a bad angle and I had to move the chronograph. Without that i'm showing a 3,176 average, not recorded the highest velocity I showed was 2,028 with still "no" pressure signs. I have a cheap scale so I can't expect much better, i've also read with light bullets you can't achieve "as good" of a standard deviation.
For reference I still have not zeroed the rifle yet, just finishing up with load development. I have it close now but i'll need to fine tune it on a cold bore. The good thing is, the cold bore shot and the second shot almost hit the same hole. I was happy to not see some outlandish shift.
All in all i'm pretty happy with the rifle and the load. We'll see how she does come deer season.
