savage

Shotguns are making quite the comeback in recent years. Somehow the gospel of the gauge has reached the ears of shooters, and more and more are adopting the tactical shotgun for home defense needs.

While having no previous experience with a straight-pull rifle before testing this Savage, I have grown to love his design.

The world of hunting rifles tends to be relatively stable. We have single shots, bolt actions, lever guns, and a few semi-autos. Nothing crazy, and most hunters don’t seem to want anything crazy anyway. Well, Savage decided to shake things up with the Impulse. The Savage Impulse is a bolt action rifle but isn’t your traditional rotary bolt. Instead, Savage went with a straight-pull bolt.

It’s got a lot of the features shooters love in other popular micros, but it also brings some features we wish others had — including an attractive price point.

It’s got a lot of the features shooters love in other popular micros, but it also brings some features we wish others had — including an attractive price point.

Savage’s 110 Elite Precision rifle has been well-received and is offered in both left- and righthanded models. Now Savage is bringing that precision gun to the pistol market…in a both left- and righthanded model.

The High Country has some other functional/aesthetic enhancements. The barrel is fluted in a dramatic spiral that runs most of its length. Savage button-rifles their barrels. The .308 High Country’s barrel is 22 inches. The long-action calibers have 24-inch barrels.

After shooting the Axis II Precision for several days and a couple of hundred rounds, I have to say it’s impressive and shoots fantastic. It delivers features and performance well above its weight class and price. It handles as good as it looks and will hit targets far beyond most shooter’s expectations; give one a try.

Savage Firearms’ newest shotgun, the Renegauge, was announced almost a year ago and purchasers are finally getting their hands on them. This new hot-rod semiautomatic shotgun has been totally redesigned and over-engineered by the good folk at Savage. At the core of the Renegauge is a new “D.R.I.V. System (pronounced ‘drive’) that utilizes dual pressure relief valves and a short-stroke piston to cycle the action reliably between shots, almost independently of the power of the shell fired.