Savage Trophy Hunter XP in .260 Rem – Conclusion

It’s been over 1,300 reloads, several pounds of powder, and many hours spent at the range. I figure its time to wrap this one up. What started as another economy bolt action has turned into an upgraded project gun. And even though the shooting will continue, I feel the review has run its course.

Much time was spent plinking steel at 545 yards.

I spent a lot of time with this rifle… a lot. Let’s get some of the preliminaries out of the way. Durability: this rifle is like any other of comparative value. I did not expect an outcome different than what I have experienced. Everything has held up fine. The receiver, barrel, bolt assembly, steel bottom metal. Aside from a little wear of the rear of the receiver and some finish loss on the barrel from leaning against a wall everything is tip top.

 

Appearance: if you remember the picture from the first update on this review series then you know what it looks like. After switching the stock and bottom metal nothing else was changed. I understand finish is a concern among some shooters. The Savage sports a matte finish and does not lend itself to scratches or the other peculiarities of a delicate bluing. I didn’t charge through prickly thorns while pursuing hogs with the gun but after two years I have not noticed any appreciable marring due to normal use.

 

Accuracy: This is a touchy subject. Let me start by saying I shot most groups while seated at a concrete bench. The bipod sat atop an old sweatshirt to dampen the effect of the rubber feet dancing on a hard surface after each shot. The butt stock was cradled in a sand bag rest. The 20% of shooting that didn’t include those parameters featured prone shooting in the woods, kneeling, standing, etc.

The .260 Rem allows a variety of bullets from varmint and target to deer and black bear.

The rifle does fine. Is it great? It worked great for me. The question is – does the accuracy I experienced meet your expectations? I said at the beginning my primary use was shooting steel and the occasional paper to sight in a load. My recommendations for this rifle are as follows: To the paper punching sub moa crowd: as the rifle comes I’m going to say no. Even with a little work I wasn’t able to achieve half moa. I understand a lot of accuracy shooting rests on the shooter but my best groups were around .75” on a good day and 2” on a not so good day. I think you’d be better off building a rifle from a receiver or at the very least bedding the action and stock, getting a better scope, lightening the trigger (I reviewed mine as it came from the factory), maybe switching out the barrel.

Lackluster 8 shot group at 100 yards.

That leads me to my next point; what do I think about the Savage barrel? Absolutely impressed. There’s a lot of negative opinions on the interwebs regarding sporter profile barrels. Yeah, they’re cheap to manufacture and keep overall costs down. They also cool down quicker and can put some very nice groups together. I ran my barrel hard. I’m talking 120 rounds over 90 minutes hard. And I did so on several occasions. If you want a rifle to plink steel at 500 yards I will give a hearty recommendation to this model. It will fail to provide gilt edge accuracy but I never required it when ringing 24” plates at a couple hundred yards.

Respectable 8 shot moa group from the Sierra 85 gr. HP. Shoots ~4″ higher than 140 gr. load.

And finally we come to hunting. I regret to inform that I have failed to take any animals with this rifle. And that’s too bad because I have everything from a ground hog load to a black bear hammer. I will say it carries like any rifle in its weight class. A 22” barrel is neither long nor short. It will always be a compromise length as it trades some extra bullet velocity for handling afield. I’d like to offer more from a hunting perspective but I can’t. It was carried often, laid over fallen trees, bipods, and shouldered many times. It’s laminate grained wood reflected many rising suns on frosted winter mornings, but never did it fire in pursuit of its namesake.

Hornady 140 gr. BTHP Match on a good day at 100 yds. 22lr for reference.

I’ll reserve the last part for data. I spent many hours working up loads, primarily with the Hornady 140 gr. BTHP match and IMR-4831 powder. I hope the data will be beneficial to those considering the .260 Rem cartridge. I tried a variety of bullets from the Sierra 85 gr. HP to the Hornady 160 gr. RN. I even tried cast loads with the RCBS 6.5-140-SILH mold (“RCBS” denoted in the chart for brevity). Accuracy was abysmal due to no fault of the mold or rifle. Hardness was lacking at around 12 bhn which caused significant leading on the crown. A separate review of loading cast bullets for rifles will address this issue. I’ll include cast data for curiosity’s sake. Cases are those of Remington, Federal, and Norma. All primers used were CCI #200. *Warning: cast bullet data using Unique with RCBS 6.5-140-SILH is unpublished and was worked up independently. Use at your own risk. I had chronographed the Hornady 123 gr. A-Max over 44.7 gr. of IMR-4831 but misplaced the data. All I can add is that the groups were 1 moa and promising.

Bullet	Powder	Charge	Vel. Low	Vel. High	Avg. Vel
RCBS	A5744	21.0 gr.	1916	1982	1945
RCBS	Unique	12.5 gr.	1628	1669	1649
Hornady 140 gr. BTHP	IMR-4831	40.8 gr.	2633	2677	2653
Hornady 129 gr. SP	RL-15	35.7 gr.	2592	2659	2630
Sierra 85 gr. HP	Varget	41.0 gr.	2962	3172	3126
Hornady 160 gr. RN	IMR 7828	44 gr.	2462	2541	2517

RCBS molds produce great bullets. Unfortunately, these were too soft to make any difference.

Savage Trophy Hunter XP Update II

It has been over a year with this rifle and I am still learning quirks about the system. It was my intent to feature the rifle in an article regarding advanced handloading techniques for rifle cartridges. Instead, this piece will focus on the equipment itself. I still plan to bring that other review out but work has been taking more time than expected lately.

Now to the rifle. Everything still works. As of this writing I have logged 812 rounds, 120 of which have been factory loaded. Over the last hundred rounds or so I began to explore loading off the lands, the subject of the aforementioned intended review. Without going into too much detail the process involves seating bullets beyond recommended length to a point where the distance between the bullet ogive and lands of the rifling are decreased, thus decreasing the initial jump of the bullet into the rifling after ignition of the cartridge. This practice is widely thought to increase accuracy and I would agree at this point.

Recall from my reviews over a year ago that I was getting about 1 to 1.5 MOA in factory and reloaded rounds. Earlier this fall I began to increase powder charges and test for velocity. When chronographing rounds it can be easy to fall into the faster is better camp. When velocities reached around 2,500 fps with my 140 grain bullet at 40.5 grains of IMR 4831 I knew it was time to stop. I could have gone a few tenths more and squeezed out 100 fps more but the gains would not be worth it considering published max was less than a grain away. Besides, I wanted some breathing room for what I had planned to do next.

I think when one begins to obtain 1 MOA accuracy with a handload it needs to be repeated over and over again. I repeated the result following several range sessions, restricting rounds, and giving the barrel time to cool between shots. I was already achieving one inch groups by this time. Next up was loading off the lands. It was a while before I was able to hit the range again but when I put those custom rounds on paper there was an immediate difference.

At this point I want to stress the reason for shrinking group size. Shipped from the factory, this rifle was obviously intended as a hunting rig at an economical price. Considering ranges presented to me in dense mountain foliage, 1.5 MOA meets my needs aplenty. The longest shot I’ve ever seen where I hunt was no more than 225 yards. Less than 80 yards is more common. Terrain in my area makes 40 yards likely on any given shot. So why the need to load more accurate ammo?

The answer is twofold. Besides the inherent challenge and joy of shooting tight groups with a rifle not initially set up for such tasks, the ammunition itself is a variable in the shooting equation. Shooting on a hunt presents obstacles not present on the firing line. Increased heart rate from hiking to location, adrenaline from seeing the game, shooting off hand, as well as taking aim and gently pulling the trigger under less than ideal lighting all contribute to the challenge of hunting. Never mind the added stress of having to make an ethical shot at any given range, it behooves oneself to eliminate as many variables in the shooting equation as possible.

Another motivation for better ammunition is target shooting beyond 200 yards. When shooting at longer ranges other variables come into the equation such as wind, velocity, and bullet drop. Beyond 1,000 yards or so the Coriolis effect comes into view but I’ve left it out since I’ll be limiting shots to around 500 yards.

Back to the rifle. I’m still running my setup in original equipment sans stock. As I mentioned before, I had replaced the rings with another set of similar quality due to stripped threads on the original rings. I’ve also added an adjustable bipod for prone shooting. The scope as well as every other major part of the rifle is original. I’ve even left the trigger pull alone, opting to test it as from the factory. As you can see from the pictures the rifle is capable of consistent accuracy. Add in bullets that have been seated off the lands and we receive a three shot group measuring .35”.

Unfortunately, that joy was short lived as a scope ring screw became loose. Successive shots began to “walk” to the right. Not wanting to pack up and go home, I adjusted the windage on the scope to compensate when I moved to shooting steel targets at 200 meters. Obtaining consecutive hits was no problem as long as I aimed about a foot left of the target.

If you really want to upgrade this package rifle I believe better quality scope rings and scope are a must. I would have made these upgrades by now except that I wouldn’t really be giving a review of the rifle that I know as the Savage Trophy Hunter XP. While the Boyd’s stock is by no means part of the package I felt the addition still retained the concept of the rifle and as such, enables the user to fully examine the virtues of the setup.

The offending scope ring screw

For now, adjustments to the scope rings will be made as well as more shooting. The next review on this rifle will feature a piece on loading off the lands in addition to a final conclusion after over a year of testing and evaluation.

Loading custom ammunition for your particular rifle increases accuracy and consistency

Savage Trophy Hunter XP .260 Rem Update

You didn’t really think I would leave the rifle in that plain, bland, flexible stock did you? I did for a while. I mean, part of the allure of the TH XP series is the low cost. But not being able to use a bipod because of the flexible fore end is a big sacrifice. And seeing as how I have to lug everything out to my shooting location I was looking for a fix after the first thirty rounds anyways.

After some time with the setup and after a little searching online, I settled on what I think is one of the most basic upgrades you can make to this line of rifle. First off is the stock. I purchased a Boyd’s Classic laminate stock in nutmeg (item #43A264D04111). I almost went for the walnut but since my shooting takes place in all weather conditions I felt the laminate would hold up better. Action screw holes are 4.44” which match the factory holes perfectly. My example features a slightly darker shade than the picture on the website but sacrifices none of the grain. Two sling mounts come installed. Inletting for bottom metal, trigger guard, and action screws are true.

And that leads me to the bottom metal. From reading online forums, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what is actually needed to make an aftermarket stock like a Boyd’s Classic work. The factory polymer tab magazines are not compatible with this system. Even if they were I would still change it out. A ten minute call with a Savage Arms customer rep solved the problem. When I explained what I intended to do with the rifle, the rep on the other end said they get these requests quite frequently. I ended up purchasing a metal trigger guard assembly (item #107217), metal frame assembly (item #106705), and a metal magazine bottom cap (item #106245). Total cost including shipping was $138.

Replacing the factory stock with the Boyd’s was as simple as unscrewing the two action screws, replacing the stock, adding frame and trigger guard, and then installing the screws. The factory polymer tab magazine is converted by squeezing the sides of the magazine body until it detaches from the polymer base. You then squeeze the sides again the install the metal magazine base. And that’s it. I now have a wood stocked rifle without a hint of plastic anywhere. The magazine locks into place with a strong audible click. The metal frame and trigger guard seat perfectly into the stock with no play. The action screws fasten positive and sure.

Next on the list of upgrades was a bipod. After receiving the stock and bottom metal, I was impatient and wanted to test the setup as soon as possible. The only bipod I found locally was a Harris Ultralight 1A2 BRM for $105. It attached easy enough and features spring loaded expandable legs with notches. It works great for the uneven terrain I find myself shooting from most days and stays put without hassle. If I had to buy again with more options I’d probably pick the same one.

Lastly, I made an unintended upgrade to the scope rings. When checking the scope before I re-zeroed after getting everything together, I noticed the cross hairs were canted. As I tightened the rings after correcting the problem one of the screws pierced the threads on the rings. A quick drive and $15 later had Leupold rings in its place.

Overall, I think the accuracy is about the same. I never had any issues with the rifle in its original configuration. On the other hand, making accurate shots is a great deal easier with the additional weight and bipod. The metal frame and magazine cap feels a lot more studier than the polymer counterpart and it along with the laminate stock look incredibly better. Cost of rifle shipped plus transfer: $521.31. Stock, bottom metal, bipod, and rings plus shipping: $258. Rebate: -$75. Final total: $704.31.

And just to give you an idea about the cost of reloading the .260 Rem vs. buying factory ammunition: 276 reloads so far at an average cost of $.48/round or $9.60/box of 20 vs. an average factory price of $1.65/round or $33/box of 20.

I’ve shot an equivalent of 13.8 boxes of factory ammo which cost me about $132 to reload. Had I bought that ammo I would have been out about $455 and that doesn’t include shipping. That’s a savings of $323 which have more than paid for the reloading dies ($45).

Savage Model 11 Trophy Hunter XP – Part IV

For accuracy testing I originally wanted to put out a target at 100 yards or so and start collecting data. Upon arrival at my shooting location I decided to put the steel as far as I could since the wind was calm and ambient temperature was around 65 degrees F. Seeing as how its December 2, I was not about to waste that kind of shooting opportunity and I think you’d agree. The max range I am able to shoot at with any kind of safety was 225 yards so that is where the steel went. I situated my shooting position on top of a hill across a mild valley. Per GPS, the elevation difference between my shooting position and the target was 31 ft. with my shooting position on the high side.

Additionally, I entered this review with the idea of shooting from a prone position off my pack. While that may be the utmost best way of taking out as many human variables as possible, I don’t think its common for the majority of shooters across America. You may have a covered bench to shoot from – great. You may have miles and miles of prairie with unlimited long range potential – I can only wish. So I decided to sit down and rest the rifle on a stand alone bipod. I’ll also say I have less than 500 rounds through glass in my entire shooting life so throw that variable in as well. These human and environmental variables exist not to cover my lack of skill. I’ll say upfront I bet the majority of my readers excel my ability. I feel the variables with the testing give you a practical accuracy result.

First up was some factory ammo I still had laying around. Fortunately or unfortunately, this was the worst ammo I tried for this review. Out of ten rounds I was only able to get one on target and that was after stopping and then resuming fire after I had fired about 20 handloads to ensure zero. For whatever reason, Federal Premium P260A, lot #05N322, would not group at all in my barrel. Rounds were all over the place. I have the same ammo from a different lot # that grouped well at 75 yards earlier this year so I may buy another box later on to see if it was lot or load induced.

The hand loads started off with neck sized Federal nickel cases, Hornady 129gr. SP Interlocks, under 40.5 gr. of IMR 4831. All hand loads used the 129 gr. Interlocks and CCI #200 primers. I fired a three shot group and was a bit surprised. Always forgetful, the tape measure was left at home so I used my Kroger mini card to measure the group.

The longest distance between the shots was the length of that card, 1.9”. Technically that is sub MOA but lets call it an MOA group. Other loads used varying amounts of IMR 4831 from 40 to 41gr. I blasted away getting the barrel pretty hot. Groups opened a little bit but the Savage is definitely an MOA capable shooter out of the box with hand loads. Switching to Federal’s P260B with 120 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips during the evaluation resulted in similar performance as the hand loads.

.260 Rem with parent cartridge .308 Win on right.

Reloading .260 Rem is like reloading any rifle cartridge in the .308 Win family of rounds. There are no surprises or quirks that must be understood to make quality ammo. The rounds I used in the previous review were full length sized. All of the rounds used for this testing were neck sized. COAL was set at 2.775” per Hornady 7th Ed. Manual. Powder was trickled by hand using a Marlin 444 case and RCBS 502 scale. In place of an actual funnel, some paper rolled and taped in place did the job fine. Case trimming was accomplished with the Forster Original trimmer set to 2.026”.

Seating the Hornady 129gr. SP Interlock

This will be a continuing review but I must draw some conclusive points. This is a great hunting rifle at a great price. You get this mounted scope on a light weight rifle for around $500 that shoots 1 MOA with hand loads and about 1.5 MOA with factory ammo. With that said I think you should exercise caution in selecting a cartridge for hunting. If you want to primarily hunt and do some plinking now and again, 308 Win may be a better choice financially. But if you’re like me and you find yourself busting steel more than anything else, start looking at reloading presses and choose whatever cartridge looks interesting. And that brings me to the next point – fun! This is a fun rifle. A recreational shooter. If your aim is ringing steel at distance you can find this setup will serve that purpose beautifully for a lot less than a more expensive rifle without glass.

Fun

So what about upgrades? I could go either way on it. A proper upgrade to this rifle might be another setup entirely. The Savage 11 is good for what it is but it doesn’t lend itself to add-ons like other rifles. Take the stock for example. With the Savage you will need short action bottom metal plus additional magazines if you want to get away from the Axis mag tab. A new wood stock with an updated magazine will run you $150 minimum. On the other hand, you’ll have a solid stock from which to mount a bipod. There is one way around ordering additional magazines. Since the body of the magazines for the 10/11/12/14 are the same, you can convert the Axis mag to a metal cap mag simply by squeezing the body of the magazine and swapping the polymer cap with a metal one. I’ll have to call Savage and see if I can order metal caps and short action bottom metal from them. You can change out the scope, rings, bolt handle, whatever you want. While upgrades can be done I think you will lose some of the original value. Then again, this rifle might prove to be a good project gun. I think the next steps for me will be a stock, bottom metal and metal mag caps from Savage, and maybe a bipod on down the road. This could turn out to be an excellent shooter. Now the heart of any rifle is the barrel. Considering the accuracy I’m getting now, I do not feel an upgrade is warranted at this time. Maybe 5,000 rounds later I will have improved enough to notice a difference.

But that’s it for the Savage Model 11 Trophy Hunter XP. I will continue to shoot and evaluate this rifle. If upgrades do happen they will be reported.

Savage Model 11 Trophy Hunter XP in .260 Rem

What makes an entry level rifle? What features must it have or rather, not have, in order to make it worth buying? We are in a new era. Even as a relative new comer to firearms in the past few years, I can see the change. Where else in the history of modern America could one get into a quality bolt for a fraction of what you would spend a decade ago (adjusted for inflation). Not too long ago, Savage came out with the Axis. Ruger followed suit with the American. Remington, the 783.

As great as those entries were, they were not without faults and gun writers were quick to gloss over the merits and rubber stamp the faults. Cheap stocks, proprietary magazines, rough bolt operation, etc. I guess people wanted a $350 rifle at a Mosin Nagant price point. But what about a non proprietary base model? Can you purchase a reliable stick for under $500 good enough for the stand as well as the range? Enter the Savage model 11/111 Trophy Hunter XP. For the purposes of this review, I will be focusing on the model 11 in .260 Rem.

As one needing a modern bolt gun in a cartridge suited to my needs, I found little solace in the choices of the day. Had a manufacturer put out a modern offering in 7.62x54r I would have put up with the recoil but it was never meant to be. What I needed was a round as suited for the deer woods as it was for plinking steel and paper at 50 to 500 yards and beyond. Now I’m not much of a hunter just yet so let me emphasize the plinking steel and paper part. After reading John Haviland’s article on the .260 Rem in Handloader magazine #272, I was piqued enough to research the round further and eventually settled on the cartridge.

Selecting a rifle was a whole ‘nother matter. Finding the rifle with the combo of features I wanted in the cartridge desired quickly narrowed down the selection. So it should have been easy, right? Well sure, if I wanted to shell out around $680 for just the rifle. Remington finally offered their model 700 SPS in .260 Rem with a sweet 24” tube. But at $600 and change, and without mounts and an optic? There just had to be another way.

Savage’s 11/111 is one such option. Opting for the short action model 11, the Savage is a giant step above the entry level models in terms of features and customizability. Weighing in at a respectable 7.3 lbs. and 22″ barrel, the rifle suits the hunter with a mounted scope ready to go. For the casual paper puncher, the setup isn’t ideal for those wanting clover leafs at 100 yards. While the Nikon 3-9x40mm BDC is a great entry level scope for the hunter looking to fill the freezer, its not in line for more detailed work. But as the Trophy Hunter name implies I don’t think the package deal is aimed at such customers. Even still, given aftermarket parts availability of stocks and optics, you could do a lot worse for target rifle builds.

First off, the 11 trophy hunter XP is differentiated from the XP by the addition of the highly regarded Accu-trigger. While not a requirement for great accuracy it definitely puts the Trophy Hunter in line with much higher priced setups. And lets talk about weight. While not a rifle you would want to hump over mountains all day, the TH XP is without peer given the cost. What other package deals offer so much for under $500? Then there’s the stock. Oh, the stock. One word: cheap. The Achilles heel of all entry level rifles is the stock and the one on my TH XP is no exception. Due to the price point, Savage opted out of the Accu-stock. There is no pillar bedding, it flexes, and I can tell just by feel that resting the rifle on bags will undoubtedly result in better groups than using a bipod. To be fair, I think most shooters looking for more accuracy will replace the stock at some point anyway and to achieve a certain price point, I think Savage made a good decision leaving it out. As to the action itself: smooth. Like all Savage rifles, the action is smooth and my bolt operates freely without any indication of hang ups. The four round detachable box magazine feels solid and locks into the receiver by way of a front facing polymer tab.

I’m really looking forward to sending lead on paper and determining what load the rifle likes. More to follow in the future.