Savage Weather Warrior (6.5x284 Norma)

[Mr. Ten-X]

A friend handed me his new Savage Weather Warrior w/24" barrel for testing. Gotta say that I am reasonably impressed by this factory rifle. It has the AccuTigger, the AccuStock and he had a Vais muzzle brake fitted. Otherwise, the rifle is bone stock. He mounted a Leupold VXII and Talley rings/bases on it.

Because there wasn't a lot of time to test a bazillion rds through this, I went directly to the bullet he intended to hunt elk with...the 140gr Accubond and began bench-testing with V100 powder. As it turned out, the bullet is seated out quite long to get reasonably close to the rifling (.025"), but even at that, there is still plenty of room in the magazine for even longer seating. The rear bearing band of the bullet is almost exactly at the junction of the neck/shoulder of the case.

At any rate, his rifle was testing pretty consistent 3-shot groups of 3/4MOA or better at 200 yards as I was increasing charges by 1/2 grain. Eventually settled on a load that is pushing the Accubond at 2855fps. We then wet-pack tested the bullet at that velocity at 100yds and that wet-pack is a tough test (hard bound books). Pics attached.

That 6.9# bare rifle recoils about like a 22/250 with the Vais brake BTW.

Needless to say that he is pumped to go zap a bull in CO this fall.

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

This is the recovered 6.5mm/140gr Accubond from the hard wet-pack along side of a 260gr/.375dia Speer Grand Slam tested in the exact same media.

We tested this because he had a Speer fail exactly like this in a 400# cow last fall at 100yds. Complete jacket/core separation.

MODERATOR: The only current .375 cal Speer Grand Slam is a 285--grainer. See: http://www.speer-bullets.com/ballistics/default.aspx?caliber=16&usage=0&brand=0&firearm=1

 

[Glenn Powell]

So he recovered the bullet from the cow, I assume it was dead at the time. Sound like it kinda worked. I highly recommend premium bonded, solid, and partition type bullets. That said, cup and core bullets are not, by design, supposed to stay together, that is why John Nosler designed the partition. By design, the partition is is supposed to open and mushroom and loose the front portion of the bullet, leaving the rear to continue pushing on. Good huntin, good times, and good luck.

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

It has been my experience that animals generally will not stick around for a forensic examination unless dead

The point is that the Grand Slam enjoyed a reputation for many years as a deep penetrator and a bone-buster on large game. Not sure that it has the construction that it once did and that was verified in this experiment. This bullet penetrated quite well, but came apart at a rather modest velocity once it encountered something hard. Which begs the obvious question: Would it hold up on a direct shoulder shot on a BIG animal and get to where it needed to go?

This is the specific bullet that hit the cow, minus the core. Nice expansion otherwise.

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

Getting back to this Savage Weather Warrior. It is really a fine rifle. If I'd not had a custom flyweight 6.5mm already in my closet, I'd have to give serious consideration to one of these. Savage has never impressed me for their design cleanliness or for their aesthetic appeal. In fact, I'd not really looked at them at all for 10+ years because I was too busy drooling over all of the other finely crafted firearms out there.

This rifle has given me a whole new opinion of Savage. The exterior is very pleasing to the eye, the fit/finish is very good, the feel is solid and the accuracy is as good as anyone could ever hope to get out of a factory rifle for medium to large game. Believe that this rifle has a dealer cost at just under $600 plus freight and that's a heck of a value. Kind of makes me wonder why I dropped $1700 to have a 6.5mm made 8yrs ago that is 20oz lighter.

In my testing, I saw no pressure signs at a full grain over the loads shown above, however the groups began to open up. Am going to revisit those loads next summer when I have more time because I am reasonably certain that the barrel was fouling out toward the end of my testing. As it is, my friend will be taking a reasonably light elk rifle afield that has sub-3/4MOA accuracy (better than anyone would ever need) and it will deliver 1500ft/lb out to 400 yards. He's a real hunter/predator however and I would be amazed if he shoots much beyond 100yds where he's hunting at. Should do a real bang-up job at that distance.

 

[Thorbird]

Enjoyed the report. I have a couple of weather warriors and they are as you described here, great shooters and great values. Good luck on the Elk hunt.

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

??? :-\ The Speer Grand Slam, along with all other cup and core bullets separate by design, just as bonded core bullets should stay whole (mostly). The Grand Slam would certainly "hold up" to any animal you care to hunt with it. That said, It is my belief that the bonded core bullets are, by design, a better hunting bullet for that size animal.

??? :-\

Any cup and core bullet that is supposedly "designed" to separate isn't much of a big game hunting bullet at all. The idea is to retain mass after expansion for momentum/penetration. It's why companies like Hornady use the Interlock feature, why Remington has used the "Core-Lokt" feature and why Speer has used the multi-hardness Hot-Core process with a mechanical lock at the heel of the Grand Slam bullet. Clearly, the Grand Slam is not working as claimed and could not be trusted on a bull moose, large bear or a critter the size of a Lord Derby Eland. At least not by me.

 

[Glenn Powell]

I could.be wrong, but didn't speer quit making the GS? I think they sold the design and name to Federal, and federal messed it up by changing design. As to 6.5x284, mine LOVES 120 TSX (not the tipped, hates them) got 1.25 group @ 300, and that is with a pencil thin barreled Cooper! 130 accubonds shoot pretty well also, just too hot, shot 5for5 north Texas whitetails last year, very good performance terminally. This year I am going with the TSX, and hope they perform as well as the accubond.

 

[Larryh128]

Only issue that I've had with the Grand Slam is that the design changed and along with the change came a marked decrease in accuracy. The old GS's were very accurate bullets. Not an issue anymore as I shoot all Barnes on critters.

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

Umm...the GS has only been around since 1975 and I had a goodly number of critters on the ground by then, but it is nice to know what experience level I am conversing with. The GS was the first US commercial "bonded" core bullet, made by the use of molten lead in a jacket that was internally cleaned of lubricants after drawing so that it would bond. Speer used a harder base core and then poured a softer core in the front of the tapered jacket to promote expansion. Several years ago, they went to a 3rd layer/hardness of lead in between.

The point that I am getting at is that the GS bullet that has been long touted as an 85% retained-weight, controlled-expansion, Hot-Core bonded bullet simply failed and it failed at a modest velocity, fired at a not-too-big critter. If the core separates in any true "hunting" bullet, other than a fragible varmint bullet, it won't be shot by myself or my compadres a second time.

Interestingly, I had a conversation with my partner just this AM and he was telling me about the last Great Eland that he had taken on his ranch in SA. This was a hot-loaded 375HH with the std Hornady 300gr Spire Points (#741855). He took a broadside shot at just shy of 300yds and struck this animal high in the shoulder. The spine was def broken and the bullet came to a rest against the other now broken shoulder. Weight of this Eland was estimated at 1800# on the hoof and it dropped him like a toilet lid. This was a beast. This simple core/cup bullet retained 85% of its weight and was intact.

The GS is still available through all levels of distribution that I can see, however we won't be investing in them

Me? I use SST's for med game and Accubond for anything larger in the NAC.

 

[Glenn Powell]

My first moose was taken with the 180 hornady interlock(poor mans partition), and though it took two, still a dead moose. My first black bear 6', same bullet one shot and the lights went out, good thing too, she was 2 feet from the THICK S#!√! Most all bullets will do the job, as long as you don't expect them to perform outside there design. Impact velocity, shot angle,shooting style, hunting conditions, size of the game, and the nut behind the trigger all have to be figured in the choice of bullet. 170 cup and cores out of the 30-30 will drop deer right there, and penetrate like there is no tomorrow. I have enjoyed all the hunting bullet chatter! This is right up my ally, hunting is my passion, too bad I am a better fisherman than hunter, and I don't even like to eat fish any more.

 

[1holeaddict]

Umm...the GS has only been around since 1975 and I had a goodly number of critters on the ground by then, but it is nice to know what experience level I am conversing with. The GS was the first US commercial "bonded" core bullet, made by the use of molten lead in a jacket that was internally cleaned of lubricants after drawing so that it would bond. Speer used a harder base core and then poured a softer core in the front of the tapered jacket to promote expansion. Several years ago, they went to a 3rd layer/hardness of lead in between.

The point that I am getting at is that the GS bullet that has been long touted as an 85% retained-weight, controlled-expansion, Hot-Core bonded bullet simply failed and it failed at a modest velocity, fired at a not-too-big critter. If the core separates in any true "hunting" bullet, other than a fragible varmint bullet, it won't be shot by myself or my compadres a second time.

Interestingly, I had a conversation with my partner just this AM and he was telling me about the last Great Eland that he had taken on his ranch in SA. This was a hot-loaded 375HH with the std Hornady 300gr Spire Points (#741855). He took a broadside shot at just shy of 300yds and struck this animal high in the shoulder. The spine was def broken and the bullet came to a rest against the other now broken shoulder. Weight of this Eland was estimated at 1800# on the hoof and it dropped him like a toilet lid. This was a beast. This simple core/cup bullet retained 85% of its weight and was intact.

The GS is still available through all levels of distribution that I can see, however we won't be investing in them

Me? I use SST's for med game and Accubond for anything larger in the NAC.

A+ on the SST It has become my go to deer bullet of choice!!