Savage Arms announced their new Impulse straight-pull rifles last January, and they have been busy building them ever since. The line includes the Impulse Big Game, Impulse hog Hunter, and Impulse Predator rifles.
Now, these are joined by the Impulse Elite Precision, and it’s got a strong feature set right out of the box.
Straight-Pull Action
The key thing about the Impulse series of guns is the Straight-Pull action.
Normal bolt action guns require you to lift the bolt handle, pull it back, and then push it back forward, and then pull it back down to lock it in place. With modern optics often using larger ocular bells, manufacturers have made an effort to reduce the classic 90° throw to just 60° to allow room for the bolt to move past the bell.
The straight-pull action reduces all that movement to simply pulling forward and backward on the bolt handle. The handle swings a few degrees forward and back to lock/unlock, but it has no vertical movement at all. It will likely fit well with all scope designs and mounts.
Plus, it’s much faster to chamber follow-up shots, and stay on target. Even novice shooters can chamber a second shot much faster than with a standard rotating bolt.
It’s also refreshing to note that the Impulse bolt handle can be switched easily by the user for lefthanded operation.
Impulse Elite Precision Chassis
Savage fans will recognize the chassis for this gun from Savage’s 110 Elite Precision chassis rifle. It’s MDT’s Adjustable Core Competition chassis.
The aluminum chassis has a fully adjustable buttstock with adjustments for the heel, cheekpiece, and length of pull. The vertical grip is favored by many competition shooters, and the tang-mounted safety is easily manipulated.
It takes AICS magazines with an ambidextrous mag release at the front of the trigger guard. The full-length handguard is slotted for M-Lok accessories, and the entire forend is shaped to fit ARCA mounts. Combined with the integrated pic rail on the chamber, this chassis is ready to go.
Precision Chamberings
The Impulse will be chambered in many of the most popular long-range cartridges, including:
- 6 CREED
- 6.5 CREED
- 6.5 PRC
- .308 WIN
- 300 WINMAG
- 300PRC
- .338 Lapua
Savage’s Impulse Elite Precision rifles will be available in the spring of 2022 with an MSRP of about $2,600.
Specs
- MSRP$2,619.00
- Action: Straight-Pull Bolt
- Barrel Color: Natural
- Barrel Finish: Matte
- Barrel Length (in)/(cm): 26 / 66.040
- Barrel Material: Stainless Steel
- Calibers: 6 CREED, 6.5 CREED, 6.5 PRC, 308 WIN, 300 WIN MAG, 300 PRC, 338 Lapua
- Magazine Capacity: 10
- Hand: Right (changeable to left)
- Length of Pull (in)/(cm): 14-15.5 / 35.560
- Magazine: AICS Magazine
- Overall Length (in)/(cm): 48.75 / 123.825
- Rate of Twist (in): 1 in 10
- Receiver Color: Black
- Receiver Finish: Matte
- Receiver Material: Aluminum
- Stock Finish: CeraKote
- Stock Material: Aluminum
- Weight (lb)/(kg): 13.7 / 6.21
I read another article about this rifle and I saw that the bolt handle is ambidextrous and can easily be switched to the left side.
August, Thanks for weighing in. You’re correct, and I’ve updated the article. Savage even has a simple video describing how to do it.
It would of been nice to hear what the rep. had to say about the specs on the rifle, who obviously didn’t have much to say. Like does it come in left handed models or other non essential details you deemed not worthy to mention?
Will it be offered with the carbon barrel?
At $2619.00 it’s $119.00 over the limit for production class in the PRS ?