In early 2021 I heard some skuttlebutt about Savage coming out with a straight pull rifle that I thought was just talk, then they actually introduced the Impulse line of rifles, not just one rifle.
The predator model was the only model that used AICS magazines and I'm a predator hunter, so I put my name on a waiting list for a Predator model chambered in .243 and waited.
In March I was told the rifle arrived, so I laid my money down and my Impulse journey began.
The rifle was tight and after a thorough take down, cleaning and swapping the bolt to the left side, I went to work on making it run a little smoother by lubing the bolt and cycling the action till it felt better.
Since the mid 80's a .243 has been my goto predator caliber, so I had pet loads that worked in my other rifles and those loads didn't disappoint in my Impulse.
I've always had good luck with 70gr projos and loaded some Barnes and Nosler Ballistic tips first.
One range session and I had the answer as to what load I'd be using October first, NY's opening day of predator season.
Since October was almost six months away, I decided to work on the only con I had about my rifle and that was that it was very barrel heavy.
I could counter weight the buttstock, but that would've made the rifle heavier.
Instead I had the barrel spiral fluted and I duracoated it matte black.
I also loaded a bunch of NBT rounds and went to the range a lot to test the rifles POI shift after total disassembly.
It didn't disappoint.
Next I Mounted the Pulsar XG50 and went about ridding the countryside of woodchucks to make sure the Impulse/Pulsar combo would be my primary for 2021.
SJC
The predator model was the only model that used AICS magazines and I'm a predator hunter, so I put my name on a waiting list for a Predator model chambered in .243 and waited.
In March I was told the rifle arrived, so I laid my money down and my Impulse journey began.
The rifle was tight and after a thorough take down, cleaning and swapping the bolt to the left side, I went to work on making it run a little smoother by lubing the bolt and cycling the action till it felt better.
Since the mid 80's a .243 has been my goto predator caliber, so I had pet loads that worked in my other rifles and those loads didn't disappoint in my Impulse.
I've always had good luck with 70gr projos and loaded some Barnes and Nosler Ballistic tips first.
One range session and I had the answer as to what load I'd be using October first, NY's opening day of predator season.
Since October was almost six months away, I decided to work on the only con I had about my rifle and that was that it was very barrel heavy.
I could counter weight the buttstock, but that would've made the rifle heavier.
Instead I had the barrel spiral fluted and I duracoated it matte black.
I also loaded a bunch of NBT rounds and went to the range a lot to test the rifles POI shift after total disassembly.
It didn't disappoint.
Next I Mounted the Pulsar XG50 and went about ridding the countryside of woodchucks to make sure the Impulse/Pulsar combo would be my primary for 2021.
SJC
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