Savage Hog Hunter 11

[PHATSPEED7x]

Picked up the last one my local dealer had. I owned it's bigger brother a few years ago in 338 win mag, but it was just too expensive to shoot. This one is chambered in 308. Going to top it with a Vortex optic and have a nice medium to long range system.



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[Seismic Sam]

What's the barrel length?? And as far as not being able to afford to feed its bigger brother (still got the gun??), I have a .338 Ultramag, and last time I checked, ammo for that was $4 PER ROUND!!! Needless to say, being the 800 lb. reloading troll, I reload for everything, and "all" I have is a six position Lyman turret press. With a box of 20 costing $80, you could spend ONLY 4 times that and be comfortably set up to reload large rifle cartridges.

Getting back to the .308, I have an AR-10 with a 20" SS barrel, and at the time I had some pretty funny illusions about being able to reach out to 1000 yards with the gun and shoot decent groups, and it was all just a fantasy. The 308 simply does not have the horsepower to reach 1000 yards EASILY, and my autoloader can reliably shoot 1" groups at 100 yards and that's about IT. That rifle does not look like it's a 24" or 26" barrel, and my AR has a Leupold 6.5-20x50 scope that is simply overkill for the .308 cartridge. In other words, I had the same illusions you currently do for a .308 rifle system, and it's simply NOT a long range system. Medium range yes, but for a 1000 yards you need a 24" barrel or longer.

With that bolt action, you should be able to do 600 yards if you have good benchrest handloaded ammo, but with factory ammo you're forever locked in to whatever an ammo factory puts out for you, and the stuff you buy two years from now will NOT be the same lot. I'd get a 6 position turret press, and Forster benchrest dies, (you can save money by getting the dies on Amazon...) and from there on out at least your destiny is in your own hands. Good luck!!

[gun_fan111v2]

This might be a great example of how words have different meanings to different people. At my range 100yards is "medium" and 200 yards is "long" as it does not extend any further

[PHATSPEED7x]

What's the barrel length?? And as far as not being able to afford to feed its bigger brother (still got the gun??), I have a .338 Ultramag, and last time I checked, ammo for that was $4 PER ROUND!!! Needless to say, being the 800 lb. reloading troll, I reload for everything, and "all" I have is a six position Lyman turret press. With a box of 20 costing $80, you could spend ONLY 4 times that and be comfortably set up to reload large rifle cartridges.

Getting back to the .308, I have an AR-10 with a 20" SS barrel, and at the time I had some pretty funny illusions about being able to reach out to 1000 yards with the gun and shoot decent groups, and it was all just a fantasy. The 308 simply does not have the horsepower to reach 1000 yards EASILY, and my autoloader can reliably shoot 1" groups at 100 yards and that's about IT. That rifle does not look like it's a 24" or 26" barrel, and my AR has a Leupold 6.5-20x50 scope that is simply overkill for the .308 cartridge. In other words, I had the same illusions you currently do for a .308 rifle system, and it's simply NOT a long range system. Medium range yes, but for a 1000 yards you need a 24" barrel or longer.

With that bolt action, you should be able to do 600 yards if you have good benchrest handloaded ammo, but with factory ammo you're forever locked in to whatever an ammo factory puts out for you, and the stuff you buy two years from now will NOT be the same lot. I'd get a 6 position turret press, and Forster benchrest dies, (you can save money by getting the dies on Amazon...) and from there on out at least your destiny is in your own hands. Good luck!!

Barrel length is 20" I didn't have its big brother anymore.

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[xd ED]

As a novice F Class shooter, using Federal Factory GMM .308 WIN in a Savage 12, I shot a 194 - 7X @ 600 yds;....6 rds into the 12" 9 ring, 7 rds into the 6" 10 ring, 7 into the 3" X ring.
At 600 and 1000 this 'indian' is more the limiting factor than the 'arrow'.
You'll need either some Z rings or a ramped rail to add 20 MOA to the scope mount for optimum scope performance at mid-range, and to hold center @ 1k.
Good Luck

[Sigfan220]

I have two in 308, they are nice shooters. I like the barrel length and weight. It is sort of a medium contour, not too heavy but has some weight to it. My only recommendation if you are putting a scope on it is to get the PRI scope base. With the Savage center feeds it is somewhat difficult to load with a normal base. The PRI is cut out for easier loading.

[crbutler]

With known distance, the .308 will work almost as well as the big cases out until it drops to subsonic, which is around 900 give or take depending on your bullet and velocity. Velocity gives you some margin for error on your ranging, so a big case buys you a lot with hunting guns or a military situation where you have estimated range. To me, short range is 100 or less, medium range is out to 400, and long range is out to 600. Beyond that is certainly make able shooting, but not ethical hunting ranges. My basis for this is time of flight, not ability to hit a vital zone sized target, by the way.

For a paper puncher, the .308 has it all over the .338. The .338 mags are great for stopping bigger soft skinned animals out to further than one should be shooting at game. Bigger being big bears and elk or larger. The .308 will work reasonably well on anything short of moose or big bears in North America, so for 90% of hunting you are set there.

Savage is a great starter rifle. They tend to be quite accurate out of the box and with the goofy looking accutrigger, you get a reasonably good trigger at a good price. I don't know any top flight rifle smiths who want to work on savages due to components that are not made durably, but they all admit you will shoot out the barrel about the time this becomes an issue.

Enjoy your new toy!

[Seismic Sam]

Like I said above, I once thought that a .308 could be a long range rifle, and after poring over the ballistic tables it became evident that the .308 did not have the horsepower to drive the high B.C. 220 grain .308 bullets, and the lower BC 168 HPBT bullets, while ideal for the .308, simply did not have the "legs" for 1000 yards. Here is a picture of my own ".308 Hubris" in all of its foolishness:



The gun was worked over by JP himself quite a few years ago, and the barrel was cryoed and lapped, had the recoil reducer added, and a free floating front end with a bit of style was added. In addition, it has an adjustable gas block, which is VERY useful, and a JP speed trigger with the oversize pins. It recoils like a .223, which is nice, and you can shoot 1" groups at 100 yards all day with it. You cannot, however, shoot 1/2" groups with it even if you use every trick in the book. The great, hulking, Leupold 6.5-20x50 scope is testament to my n00bish illusions as to how far this gun would shoot. Just thought I would give you the benefit of my own learning curve concerning the .308. It will save you some money when you get a scope for it.

[Erud]

Like I said above, I once thought that a .308 could be a long range rifle, and after poring over the ballistic tables it became evident that the .308 did not have the horsepower to drive the high B.C. 220 grain .308 bullets, and the lower BC 168 HPBT bullets, while ideal for the .308, simply did not have the "legs" for 1000 yards. Here is a picture of my own ".308 Hubris" in all of its foolishness:



The gun was worked over by JP himself quite a few years ago, and the barrel was cryoed and lapped, had the recoil reducer added, and a free floating front end with a bit of style was added. In addition, it has an adjustable gas block, which is VERY useful, and a JP speed trigger with the oversize pins. It recoils like a .223, which is nice, and you can shoot 1" groups at 100 yards all day with it. You cannot, however, shoot 1/2" groups with it even if you use every trick in the book. The great, hulking, Leupold 6.5-20x50 scope is testament to my n00bish illusions as to how far this gun would shoot. Just thought I would give you the benefit of my own learning curve concerning the .308. It will save you some money when you get a scope for it.

A .308 can do very well at 1000 yards, but not that one.

[Seismic Sam]

Yes, that is correct. Everything I have heard about Savages is good, so while the hog hunter doesn't have an edge in barrel length, it IS a bolt gun so you should be able to expect better accuracy.

[Rip Van Winkle]

A .308 can do very well at 1000 yards, but not that one.

I was thinking the same thing.

But what do I know.

[PHATSPEED7x]

Scope mounts...



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