Well, not so new, actually, but new to me. Savage was no help but I used this board to find it was manufactured in 1995. (Thank you for that!) I acquired it in January of this year.
Rescued it from the used gun rack at Cabela's in Lone Tree (south Denver metro). Paid a whopping $279 and change. The exterior of the 7mm RM barrel is rusty/pitted and the stock is dinged up, but it is just what I wanted - an inexpensive donor.
Bought a 11FXP3 in .243 Win, manufactured in 2004, back in February of 2016. Intended to turn it into a 6.5 Creedmoor but made the mistake of shooting it. A randomly selected upper-mid-level load of H4831SC and a 95g SST provided a 4-shot group measuring 0.4". So much for being a donor! Have used it since to break clay pigeons on the 600-yard berm and an antelope.
I don't intend to make that mistake with this one. The barrel WILL get ripped off and replaced. Have not decided what cartridge to rebarrel it to but have several candidates with 6.5 PRC, 6.5-06AI, 26 Nosler, .270 Win and .270WSM being at the top of the list. I already have a .22 varminters, the Savage .243 Win and others in .257 Roberts, 6.5-06AI (heavy barrel), .280 Rem, 7mm RM and larger. Have long wanted a sporter-weight 6.5-06AI to go with my heavy-barrel, but a 6.5PRC would have cost advantages and be only a few fps behind my 6.5-06AI loads.
Neither the .,243 Win or 7mm RM are my first Savage rifles. That honor goes to the 110E .22-250 Dad used for years and then gave to me. along with about 2,000 empty cases. That .22-250 could put 3 shots into a group you could cover with a dime at 100 yards. Took a lot of coyotes and prairie dogs with that rifle until the barrel went south at about 4,500 rounds. Decided to rebarrel or sell and ended up selling it in 2004 at a gun show to a guy that just wanted the action. Got $250 for it and was headed to Sportsman's Warehouse to buy a .25-06 when I literally bumped into a guy who had a Ruger hanging on his shoulder with a for sale sign on it. Asked what it was and it turned out to be a .257 Roberts. It had a Leupold M8-4x in the rings and no scratches in the bluing under the slide safety. Owner said he had bought it for his boys but they wanted something bigger for elk. (Can't blame them) He said it "might" have a couple boxes of ammo through it. First couple of trips to the range put scratches under the slide safety, it got a Leupold Vari-X III and it quickly became my favorite rifle - an honor it still holds. My daughters love it, too.
Ever since, though, I've often wished I had kept the 110E and rebarreled it and still bought the .257 Roberts. Fifteen years later I've essentially done just that. My ideal goals are as follows:
Availability of high B.C hunting bullets (ELD-X, AB Long Range and Federal TLR Edge in particular)
Relatively low powder consumption
The 6.5-06AI still seems to be the best overall fit with those goals. I form brass from .25-06 and 53.0g H100V/140g BT gives 3075fps from my 24" heavy-barrel. 130g Scirocco II's zip alont at 3161fps using 58.5g 7827SSC. The problem is I can't find my PT&G reamer, Just worked up a .270Win load for Daughter #1, 2910fps for a 150g LRAB, burning 52.0g H100V. That would be another good choice.
Decisions over the specific cartridge aside, I'm looking forward to tinkering with the 111GNS. The stock is birch and the bluing shows wear. It will probably get a stainless and possibly threaded barrel, the action will probably stay the way it is but may get Cera-coated, and the stock may get a home-spun paint job. (The birch is light and sturdy, which is what I care about most.) A replacement trigger may or may not happen - the factory is not an Accu-Trigger but isn't bad. Glass bedding, yes, another job I will do myself.
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