Savage went back to 9.5 Twist in 7-08

For quite a number of years Savage and Axis rifles in 7-08 were coming out in an 11.5 twist. Far from ideal for bullets over 140 grains and this severely limited the number of guns they were selling in that cartridge. The new one I have is back to being a 9.5 twist. Does anyone know what year between 2011 and now that they changed to the better all round twist rate?

I have tried an initial loading of 162 Horn, CCI 250 primer and 8208 powder. I think the gun is really going to do well with this combo. It liked the starting load of 37 grains just fine but it really seems to like it the closer to max I am getting. The other thing I like about the 8208 is a small SD and some pretty impressive velocity.

Just waiting on some Lapua brass I ordered to do the next round of testing, the Federal 308 Brass I necked down because I couldn't wait has turned out to be as big a bunch of crap as most federal brass is. Should have necked down some Winchester. Not worth the effort to continue to refine an exact load since the capacity between it and Lapua is so different.

Love to hear about the twist change if anyone knows. Thanks.

Savage only used the 11.5 twist rate in 2009 and the early part of 2010. Before and after it's always been the 9.5" twist.

8208 seems kind of fast for that bullet.

8208 is about the same burn rate as 4895. It moves the 162 grain bullet at 2800 FPS out of a 22" barrel. The slower powders are accurate but they don't provide nearly the same speed out of the short barrels.