I would call that rifle an acquired taste, we have had and sold several of the impulse rifles, I do not like it. It's a heavy lift the pull is not bad, just not my cup of tea, one of the younger guys bought one and loves it and it runs it well. Maybe I am getting uncoordinated in my old age.
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Savage Impulse Elite Precision
- Thread starter AbitNutz
- Start date
Maybe I'll buy one when Savage's blued barrels don't rust the first time they're in very humid weather... like both of mine have. 
I purchased an Impulse Elite Precision chambered in 6.5 PRS a few weeks ago. Cleaned the bore mounted a Zeiss scope and went to the range to zero it. Used Hornady 143gr Precision Hunter which resulted in +/- 1 MOA groups. As the adjustable trigger was a little heavy for my tastes decided to adjust it down a bit. As the rifle is in a MDT chassis the action has to be removed from the chassis to adjust the trigger. Reassembled the weapon according to the manual and went back to the range. Now no matter what I use Hornady 143 Precision hunter, Hornady 140gr Black or Hornady 147gr Match the best group is now 6 MOA. I have reassembled this rifle several times with the same result. I have another MDT chassis I have mounted two different barreled actions in with no problems. Reached out to Savage but no reply. I would advise caution when purchasing one of these rifles mine does not live up to Savages’s hype
so it shot 1moa on a new barrel, with factory ammo
you took it apart. put it back together. and it's savages fault that it now shoots like ass?
you took it apart. put it back together. and it's savages fault that it now shoots like ass?
Savage uses the MDT chassis for this rifle. The adjustable trigger feature requires the barreled action to be removed from the chassis to make the adjustment. I have reinstalled the action into the chassis several times with the same result. I have other MDT chassis I have swapped 6 mm CM and 6.5 mm CM with only a change of POI but not group size. So yes I believe Savage has a problem if their rifle requires the action be removed from the chassis to preform adjusting their adjustable trigger feature but will not hold a group after the adjustment.
Manual stated 55 inch pounds and to tighten the trigger screw FIRST the the recoil lug screw
Logged into Savage’s site, registered, left a service request, received an automatic acknowledgment with a registration number and nothing further two weeks later
Well, barring some strange quantum spooky interaction, you know for a fact that mechanically (with you on the trigger), the gun can shoot at least +/- 1moa.
So it probably can’t be the gun.
It’s probably not you, unless you’re the drinkin’ + shootin’ type lol.
If you’ve checked the tang-to-chassis fit and that’s ok, then I’d check the scope and rings. Use a different scope. Different rings. Use a bipod? Check that. Etc.
Not sure what Savage can do for you at this minute. Heck, maybe the barrel unscrewed itself, but I’d check the easy stuff first.
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While I don't have the Elite model, I've disassembled my Predator rifles a lot of times for testing using factory and a Boyd's stock.
I barely snug both stock bolts, then fully tighten the recoil lug and then the trigger bolt.
I know several Impulse elite owners that have fully disassembled/assembled their rifles without issue using this method.
I hope you get it straightened out.
SJC
I barely snug both stock bolts, then fully tighten the recoil lug and then the trigger bolt.
I know several Impulse elite owners that have fully disassembled/assembled their rifles without issue using this method.
I hope you get it straightened out.
SJC
Scope has been changed, rings are nightforce and torque is correct. Have tried lesser torque on the action screws. The action screws attachment position on the chassis is clear and as the action is lowered into the chassis you can feel when the action drops into the chassis inlets. There is no play once the recoil lug is in the chassis inlet. The barrel screw is at the proper torque specifications. I shoot PRS and ELR so I don’t believe it’s the loose nut behind the trigger. I’m at a loss as to why this weapon will not preform. Still waiting on Savage. Probably will have to return to the factory. Thank you for your trouble shooting suggestions
Barrel/extension are tight in the receiver, clean and free of buildup ?
Crown looks good ?
Did you chamber a round, extract it and see if the chambering process damages the bullet in anyway ?
Just grasping at straws here, as I've been dealing with Impulse rifles since their availability and this is the first issue that I've heard of with an Elite model.
To go from 1 to 6 MOA is a rare occurrence with just a stock removal.
SJC
Crown looks good ?
Did you chamber a round, extract it and see if the chambering process damages the bullet in anyway ?
Just grasping at straws here, as I've been dealing with Impulse rifles since their availability and this is the first issue that I've heard of with an Elite model.
To go from 1 to 6 MOA is a rare occurrence with just a stock removal.
SJC
Crown is clean, no visual defects, dings or nicks. Each loaded round comes out clean either handloaded into the chamber or from the mag. I have tried everything I can think of to restore accuracy, but nothing works. Barrel is free floated from the muzzle to the recoil lug. Put graphite on the action base to see where it made contact with the chassis, and it appeared to make solid contact on the bearing surfaces. I have a tactical school coming up and will probably order a Seekens Havak HIT Pro in 6.5 PRC, as I intend to use the Savage but cannot get it to shoot accurately. Thanks again for your suggestions.
Even an improperly but firmly bedded action will still group, So unless there's something inside the barrel you missed, Savage will need to take a look at it.
6.5 PRC is a barrel burner, but this takes the cake.
SJC
I pretty much came to the same conclusion. This barrel has only 97 rounds down the bore, it has been cleaned and my borescope does not show any buildup in the lands/groves. Even my Weatherby 30-378 did not wear a barrel out that fast! Just waiting for a response from Savage to box it up and send it back to Massachusetts. Very disappointed with this offering from Savage. Thanks for the input.
I had a .22-250 that would throw soft-ball sized groups at 100 yards if I gave it a good cleaning. It would take about 10 rounds before the groups would shrink to 1/2 inch.
So I would just run a bore snake through it once after every shooting session. I put about 5,000 rounds through that rifle then had it re-barreled.
Keeping the barrel fouled 99% of the time sounds counter to everything we learned about cleaning guns but I know what I experienced.
I'm not saying this is the case but maybe you might try running box of the cheaper fodder through it. Then see how it groups.
I've also noticed that the type of bipod or rest that I'm using makes a difference. I hate shooting off benches. This is especially true with concrete benches. The rifle bounces too much under recoil. I would rather shoot prone with my bipod in the dirt. My accuracy is better that way.
I really like the atlas bipods with the legs at 45 degrees. If I have to shoot off the bench, I've learned a trick to emulate some of the "give" that a dirt surface has under recoil.
Place a section of stiff foam padding with a carpet section on top of the bench. I have 1" foam padding for exercising on that goes under the carpet section. Then rest the bipod feet on the padding.
This has just enough give and lessens a lot of the bounce that concrete benches produce.
My apologies if it sounds like I'm insulting your intelligence because it seems like you know what you are doing but just want to help.
This is my Savage Impulse in a Boyd's stock and a group it produced. By the way, this thing hates bipods. It will only take a Harris or Magpul but with them the croups approached your 6 inch results.
I now shoot it prone, resting on the bags with my support hand under the fore-end pulled tight against my shoulder.
Before I did that, I tried everything and the groups were really large. So out of desperation, I pulled off the bipod and held it like I did my WW2 sniper rifles and Winchester M70 Bull gun, which don't take bipods. I really love this rifle now.
Thank you for your input and that is a very nice rig and an even nicer group. Two rules I have is never hunt/shoot with a clean bore, never chase the "0" after cleaning a barrel. Have a 7mm/08 that takes more than 9 but less than 12 to come back to true "0". I use an Atlas bipod for PRS and a Pheonix bipod for ELR, both excellent for their intended uses. I do appreciate all the input from the site but I believe it will take a trip back to the factory to fix this rifle, which is really sad. My Savage Axis II will shoot 0.75 on a bad day when I'm SWHUA (shooting with my head up my axx) and one hole groups when I do my part, which is why I'm really disappointed with this rifle.
No, the chassis and the action are tight. No wiggle or give at all from the muzzle to the recoil pad.
When bolts have bound on any of my rifles, the first thing I look at is to remove the bolt and finger trace the inside of upper portion of the bridge rings. What I'm looking for is a protruding scope mount screw that's interfering with bolt passage. Often, these screws are long and short to be used with thicker and thinner bridge rings. Sometimes they get (re)installed with long screws in short holes, obstructing free passage.
I next ensure that sliding parts have proper lubrication; I use Lubriplate (a brand of white Lithium Grease) for lube where pieces slide against each other (like just about everything on the M-1 Garand). This reduces sliding friction without draining off in the gun cabinet like oil.
Nicked/burred muzzle crowns, silencers that aren't aligned out of the bullet's way, other things that can deflect the bullet, need to be ruled out.
Just a few "further off the wall" things to consider that I've found in my own past.
Greg
I next ensure that sliding parts have proper lubrication; I use Lubriplate (a brand of white Lithium Grease) for lube where pieces slide against each other (like just about everything on the M-1 Garand). This reduces sliding friction without draining off in the gun cabinet like oil.
Nicked/burred muzzle crowns, silencers that aren't aligned out of the bullet's way, other things that can deflect the bullet, need to be ruled out.
Just a few "further off the wall" things to consider that I've found in my own past.
Greg
Thank you for the input. I have fired the weapon with the factory brake, an API break, a Silencerco adapter and suppressor, and finally with nothing but a thread protector and the result is the same - 6 to 8 inch groups
If those devices leave the juncture between muzzle face and bore exposed, then I would be checking out the crown.
I get that the fouled barrel twigs you, it did for me, too. Then, I learned that bores can be too clean.
If you've owned a muzzle loader, you can recognize that their bores actually need to be seasoned, and that cleaning aggressively enough to remove the seasoning will also tend to affect accuracy. Something similar also occurs with Center-fires. Some small degree of Copper fouling, etc., can actually be beneficial to accuracy; which occasionally appears a little bit arcane.
When I gave my Win Featherweight .30-06' to my Son-in-Law, I replaced it with a Savage Axis II .30-'06. Wouldn't shoot well, at all. But I then replaced the Stock with a Boyd's, and now it performs pretty well for a Hunting Rifle, even though I didn't need to glass bed it.
Greg
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Attempted to zero mine yesterday, was inconsistent, had a light primer strike too. Shot a terrible stage at the range today (shot much better with my Lithgow), got an experienced shooter to shoot a stage, he used his F class style rear rest, still rubbish, will try a couple of other scopes on it just in case. Chucked a bore scope in, most of it looks OK, more machine marks than any of my other barrels but what concerns me is what looks like several gouges a couple of inches from the muzzle. Will be pretty disheartened if I have to send it back, cost twice the price of functionally equivalent conventional bolt guns, I only bought it as it was the heaviest 6.5PRC chambered factory gun I could find readily available to suit sporter class, wanted a Ruger M77 longrange but NLA.
Will separate action from chassis, lighten trigger and re-torque action screws and fit another scope before I get too excited.
You can dry fire and cycle it at your shoulder very easily, actually extracting fired cases has significantly more resistance, if I keep it I will get a longer knob.
Will separate action from chassis, lighten trigger and re-torque action screws and fit another scope before I get too excited.
You can dry fire and cycle it at your shoulder very easily, actually extracting fired cases has significantly more resistance, if I keep it I will get a longer knob.
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Light primer strike can sometimes indicate a short base-shoulder distance. This would show using a cartridge gauge.
Greg
Greg
I will get a cartridge guage and some hornady ammunition, federal too if I don't have to drive to Sydney for it. I will compare some unfired Lapua cases i have. I'm hoping this thing might break in a bit and come good but there are a few marks a couple of inches back from the muzzle that look pretty nasty.
Why bother shooting it if it has gouges inside the barrel ?
Go back to the shop you got it from and show them the damage.
Get it replaced or sent back to Savage for repair.
Sucks that this happened.
You would think Savage would have better QC with an Elite model, but shit happens.
Borescope photos have already been forwarded to importer rep. Busy for the next week, will see how we go but I think they will be responsive.
The other issue is it didn't feed well out if the magazine, which defeats the purpose of the action. Will have another go at cycling from the magazine fast and slower before I return it, I guess that will determine if I ask for a new barrel or a refund.
How have people found cycling from ACIS short action in Predator models?
AICS magazines need to be tested and sometimes adjusted to feed the round your using reliably in any rifle and the Impulse is no different.
Once adjusted correctly I've had no issues with rounds feeding in both of my predators and my coyote hunting partners predators too.
My predators are 243 + 20-250 and my buddy uses 243 + 22-250.
I haven't used the Poly/ Metal 10rd magazines, but I've heard users have had no issues with them in the Predator and the magazines are cheaper and lighter than the all steel 10rd magazines.
MDT Poly/Metal
Once adjusted correctly I've had no issues with rounds feeding in both of my predators and my coyote hunting partners predators too.
My predators are 243 + 20-250 and my buddy uses 243 + 22-250.
I haven't used the Poly/ Metal 10rd magazines, but I've heard users have had no issues with them in the Predator and the magazines are cheaper and lighter than the all steel 10rd magazines.
MDT Poly/Metal
I have a '91 Mosin-Nagant rifle, riding in a Tan Archangel Plastic Stock that had the usual buggered muzzle from Bolshie Conscripts cleaning it without the muzzle guide. Obviously I'm not able to send it back for a rebarrel.
So I did something barbaric; I stuck a 3/8" diameter drill into the muzzle, and back-bored it several inches or thereabouts.
It sat unfired for a couple of years and then my Grandson Patrick noticed it and we took it on a range day.
About an hour after he started shooting it with ComBloc, another shooter came over and remarked about amazingly well that rifle was shooting at 300yd.
Well; waddyaknow?
Greg
I think that sometimes I get that bug; and just say what the heck, why not try it, instead of getting myself all balked out by the maybes. This time I got a fairly good shooting rifle for my efforts.
So I did something barbaric; I stuck a 3/8" diameter drill into the muzzle, and back-bored it several inches or thereabouts.
It sat unfired for a couple of years and then my Grandson Patrick noticed it and we took it on a range day.
About an hour after he started shooting it with ComBloc, another shooter came over and remarked about amazingly well that rifle was shooting at 300yd.
Well; waddyaknow?
Greg
I think that sometimes I get that bug; and just say what the heck, why not try it, instead of getting myself all balked out by the maybes. This time I got a fairly good shooting rifle for my efforts.
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Action screws were not tightened correctly from the factory which is poor, also took a chance on Winchester match ammunition, still not sure if it was entirely rifle or ammunition but had several fail to fires over a few boxes of ammunition and a round I simply couldn't close the bolt on.
Action didn't feel loose in the stock but had miraculous improvement in rounds feeding from the magazine after removing the chassis, backing the trigger spring of and reassembling.
Have left the gun at the shop, will ask the importer's (NIOA) Smith to go over everything as a sanity check, headspace, barrel nut torque, barrel extension clamp fastener torque.
No local gun shops had ammunition in stock (most PRC users here are ordering specific ammunition or F class hand loaders). Think I will order a few hundred hornady match to get me going then try loading the lapua brass I bought.
There is a section near the muzzle on top of the rifling which collected a lot of copper and carbon, even clean you can see a shape to it, haven't seen that in any of my other rifles, hoping it's not enough for gas bypass to damage projectiles, pointless copping the barrel life reduction if it's going to blow up ELDMs or A tips.
Action didn't feel loose in the stock but had miraculous improvement in rounds feeding from the magazine after removing the chassis, backing the trigger spring of and reassembling.
Have left the gun at the shop, will ask the importer's (NIOA) Smith to go over everything as a sanity check, headspace, barrel nut torque, barrel extension clamp fastener torque.
No local gun shops had ammunition in stock (most PRC users here are ordering specific ammunition or F class hand loaders). Think I will order a few hundred hornady match to get me going then try loading the lapua brass I bought.
There is a section near the muzzle on top of the rifling which collected a lot of copper and carbon, even clean you can see a shape to it, haven't seen that in any of my other rifles, hoping it's not enough for gas bypass to damage projectiles, pointless copping the barrel life reduction if it's going to blow up ELDMs or A tips.
Importer NIOA have been great, got a call, they have tested with Federal and Hornady match and hand loads, also lapped the barrel, still no dice, offered store credit, completely new rifle from next shipment or new barrel from Savage, which was my preference. I did ask about getting a barrel spun up locally but they said they have raised that with Savage previously no dice. New barrel will be load tested before they return the rifle. Can't do much better than that.
Managed to get 40 boxes of precision hunter about 15% under what most shops will do on carton pricing when I dropped into a gun shop on a work trip too.
Managed to get 40 boxes of precision hunter about 15% under what most shops will do on carton pricing when I dropped into a gun shop on a work trip too.
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Sad update from me, after months and months to get the rifle back, I fitted a new unimount, scope, Atlas 5H, blast forwarder and ATP limbsaver recoil pad, finally got to zeroing and the POS still groups the size of your hand at 50 yards. Absolutely useless. Returning it tomorrow, will get a gunsmith to build me a rifle in 6.5PRC on a custom action.
Finally, nearly 8 months after Savage received my Impulse 6.5 PRC at their factory, I received a response from Savage regarding my complaint the rifle would not hold a 1 MOA group at 100 yds with any commercial match ammunition. The verdict was they could not correct the problem and get the rifle to group properly. I asked for them to send me another Impulse in 6.5PRC to which the Savage rep's response was there would be none available in the foreseeable future. Savage rep. did offer to replace the rifle with another rifle of my choice at similar price point. We agreed on the 110 Precision Rifle in 338 Lapua Mag.
While the exchange was reasonably fair, I can't really say much good about their service. It took Savage two months to respond to my initial email regarding the rifle. They did forward a return to the factory label quickly, but I had to pay for the shipping. Then 8 months before the Savage rep called back.
FYI
In the meantime, I replaced the Savage 6.5 PRC with a Seekins 6.5 PRC which shot 1 MOA out of the box and 0.5 MOA with hand loads.
I already had an Accuracy International AX 338 Lapua Mag but of the selections Savage offered it never hurts to have two!
While the exchange was reasonably fair, I can't really say much good about their service. It took Savage two months to respond to my initial email regarding the rifle. They did forward a return to the factory label quickly, but I had to pay for the shipping. Then 8 months before the Savage rep called back.
FYI
In the meantime, I replaced the Savage 6.5 PRC with a Seekins 6.5 PRC which shot 1 MOA out of the box and 0.5 MOA with hand loads.
I already had an Accuracy International AX 338 Lapua Mag but of the selections Savage offered it never hurts to have two!
