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Savage’s Trophy Hunter XP combo

by Thomas Tabor
Australian Hunter 41

Most shooters today purchase their rifle and scope separately. But by doing so, this can sometimes present a whole set of new problems and issues to contend with. If you are lucky, the rifle manufacturers may have included the scope bases with the new rifle, but that is not always the case, and seldom does a manufacturer include a set of scope rings with the purchase. Due to differences in rifle designs, scope bases will frequently vary in screw placement, in the height of the bases, and even in the style. Scope rings are varied too and must be matched to fit the scope, the rifle and the bases that they will be used on. For example, if you are planning to mount one of the now-popular larger objective scopes on a rifle, higher rings may be necessary to provide an adequate degree of clearance between the front bell of the scope and the rifle barrel.

The diameter of the main-tube is also a major consideration. Does your scope have a tube diameter of 1" (30mm), or maybe even 34mm? The type of rings used must match precisely all of those dimensions. In some cases, it might even be necessary to use offset mounts in order to accommodate some of the newer, shorter length scopes when these scopes are being mounted on a Magnum-length firearm. And, of course, shooters frequently like to match the finish of the mounts and rings to that of the rifle. All of these considerations add up to a lot of choices and sometimes your dealer may not be able to accommodate all those variations within their inventory of products.

But what if all those decisions could be put aside and you could go into your local firearms dealer and purchase a rifle and scope as a single package, with the scope already mounted and even boresighted? Wouldn’t that make things a lot simpler? Well, now you can do that with Savage Arms’ new Trophy Hunter XP series rifles. Through a working relationship between Savage and Weaver, you can now purchase a complete rifle set, which includes the rifle, a high-quality scope, scope bases and rings that have been perfectly matched and assembled for you. All that is needed after that is to fine-tune the scope adjustments to suit the ammo you will be shooting and with a few cartridges in hand, you will be ready for your next adventure into the outback.

The test rifle
I wanted to evaluate for myself the overall quality of the Trophy Hunter XP series rifle/scope combination packages, so obtained a Model 11 Trophy Hunter XP chambered for one of my favourite cartridges - the .243 Winchester. The rifle came with a matte-blue finish, black composite stock, high-quality recoil pad, Savage AccuTrigger, detachable magazine, 22"-long carbon steel barrel and swivel studs.

The supplied documentation indicated that the AccuTrigger had been set at the factory to have a pull rate of 3lb 7oz, but using my own Lyman pull gauge, I found the five-pull average actually measured a bit higher, at 4lb 1oz. Because I generally prefer lighter trigger pulls, I adjusted the AccuTrigger down to what appeared to be the minimum setting for that particular trigger, 3lb 4oz.

The action of the Trophy Hunter XP is the typical push-feed design and came with a removable clip capable of holding four .243 Winchester cartridges. The extractors were designed to permit an additional cartridge to be fed directly into the chamber, for a total capacity of five rounds. I liked the fact that the total rifle/scope package (when empty) weighed only a mere 7.25lb, but that weight, as well as the cartridge capacity, could vary depending upon the particular Trophy Hunter XP sub-model and calibre selected.

A feature I also found interesting was that a shooter could easily determine whether there were cartridges present inside the clip without the necessity of removing the clip from the rifle. A small gap is present along the right side of the receiver, which permits the shooter to see if any cartridges are present. This is a convenient feature when hunting, but it is important for safety reasons to always remember that just because there are no cartridges inside the clip, that doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a cartridge in the chamber.

In Australia, the Savage Trophy Hunter XP comes with a Weaver Kaspa 3-9x40mm scope mounted and boresighted. This particular scope is equipped with the company’s Ballistic-X style reticle. The Model 11/111 Trophy Hunter XP can be purchased in either a right- or left-handed version and in adult or youth size. Also available is a Model 10/110 Trophy Hunter XP, which comes with a hardwood stock and blued metal, and a Model 16/116 Trophy Hunter XP in stainless.

On the range
I found it pleasing that I could simply unpack the Trophy Hunter XP, run a few patches down the rifle bore to clean out anything the factory may have left behind, and then head out to shoot. Prior boresighting at the factory allowed me to get my first shots on paper at 100 yards, which can sometimes result in saving the shooter’s ammunition. In this case, those first shots hit about 6" low and a couple of inches to the left at 100 yards. Boresighting is a great first step, but it is always necessary, as in this case, to fine-tune those settings through live-fire!

The rifle clip slid in place nicely, but I found it was best to have the bolt in the open position when doing so and I quickly became accustomed to the audible sound that the clip made as it snapped into place. It did, however, take a little force to get the clip to lock in and out, but not an excessive amount, and I liked the ‘snap’ sound it made, confirming that it was locked in and unable to work free. A rifle possessing a removable clip, over that of a stationary magazine, comes with some advantages, particularly for a hunter. This design allows a shooter to purchase a second clip in order to keep it loaded and ready to go at all times.

My testing involved firing far more rounds through the Trophy Hunter XP than many hunters would shoot in their entire lifetime. I didn’t keep track of how many rounds I actually put through the rifle, but it would be safe to say that it involved hundreds. The vast majority of those cartridges were cycled directly from the clip into the chamber and I found that in every instance, they fed perfectly and without any sign of problems or hang-ups.

The cartridges shot were made up of both factory-loaded ammunition and some of my own handloads. These varied dramatically in both bullet style and weight and this affected the resulting placement on the targets. I made little effort to readjust the reticle settings to accommodate those variations, feeling the emphasis here should be on the size of the groups and less on the actual points of impact. In some cases, the variation between where the bullets hit on paper at 100 yards were substantial and this only adds credence to why it is imperative that a shooter fine-tune their scope settings to match precisely the ammunition that they will be shooting.

As is always the case, some rounds shot tighter groups than others, but overall, I felt the accuracy of all the rounds was exceptionally good. That fact didn’t really surprise me, as in recent years, Savage Arms has reinvented itself as a manufacturer of very accurate rifles. I was particularly impressed at how well the factory-loaded ammunition shot - see the accompanying table.

It should be noted, however, that every rifle is different and for that reason, the ammunition that proved to be slightly less accurate in this particular test rifle could very well perform better in another, even in an outwardly appearing identical rifle. The only way to determine which type of ammunition is best in any rifle is to dirty its bore on the shooting range with live ammunition.

Likes and dislikes
I find that few things in life seem to be perfect, but understandably, just because I might prefer one trait or characteristic to another, that doesn’t necessarily mean that another person will feel the same way. Having said that, some of the things I truly found to my liking on the Savage Trophy Hunter XP were the free-floated rifle barrel, the removable magazine, the light 7.25lb (3.29kg) total weight of the entire rifle/scope package, the Savage AccuTrigger and its ability to be adjusted to have a light trigger pull, the overall accuracy of the rifle, and certainly, the fact that the Trophy Hunter XP came totally assembled and ready to go to the range.

My dislikes were few and largely based on my own personal preferences. For example, I found the matte-blue metal finish on the rifle to be a bit coarse in its outward appearance. Personally, I prefer a finer textured finish, which is typically produced by glass bead blasting using a finer type of media. And a point in general, for some time, I have felt that Savage could substantially improve on the overall appearance of their rifles by trimming down the size of the rear portion of their bolts. While this would likely have no effect on the rifle’s shooting performance, I think it would simply make their rifles look better. Maybe you might not agree with these points, but that is how I feel. But in no way should any of those personal concerns be looked at as denigrating to this overall very fine Savage/Weaver rifle/scope package.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Savage Arms
Model: 11 Trophy Hunter XP
Distributor: Nioa
Calibre: .243 Winchester
Weight: 7.25lb (3.29kg)
Sights: Weaver Kaspa 3-9x40mm with a Ballistic-X Reticle (Australia only)
Action: Bolt
Barrel: 22" (56cm)
Stock: Black composite
Magazine: Box type holding four cartridges plus one in chamber
RRP: Blued: $900; Stainless: $1100, but shop around