Savage Palma Rifle!

[Guy Miner]

Over on 6mmBR.com I saw photos of the new Palma rifle by Savage. It looks pretty good! Hopefully it will shoot well enough to be competitive, and sell well enough for Savage to keep making them.

One drawback to entering Palma competition has been the lack of a suitable factory made rifle. Everything was custom, with a big price tag. Savage may just have changed that.

Palma is an international competition in which shooters fire 15 rounds at 800, 900 and 1000 yards for a 45 round course. Caliber is .308, bullet weight is 155 (although in U.S. Palma other bullets are allowed). Rifles may only be supported by a sling - no bipod, no rest. All firing is from prone. Sights only, no scopes. It's tough. Perfect scores are hard to come by.

We'll see how this new Savage rifle does. If the F/TR and F-class rifles from Savage are any indicator, it should be a pretty good rifle!

 

[JD338]

Guy,

I would have to agree, the new Savage Palma rifle should be a shooter.
Thanks for the heads up.

JD338

 

[Asa Yam]

Guy,

The enthusiasm is great, but....

THE RIFLE IN QUESTION IS STILL A PROTOTYPE.

And no, such a rifle is NOT necessary to begin shooting Palma with either.

• In the US, an AR-15 Service Rifle (i.e., 20" barrel, iron sights) is a legal Palma rifle. And while the short sight radius and lower MV of the AR is a handicap, it isn't the show-stopper that some make it out to be. Total cost by going this route: ~$1000 retail.
  
• Another alternative for an entry level Palma rifle: Iron sighted .308 varmint rifles. While a really good set of sights might cost as much as the rifle, bases used to attach said sights are fairly inexpensive (<$50 for something workable). Don't let the cost of the sights put you off either - sights may be moved between rifles. Total cost by going this route: ~$1700 retail.

The discussion above does not take anything away from Savage and their efforts - they are to be commended for the work. However, based on about a decade of experience, having a factory ready rifle isn't the panecea that some claim. Solutions I've mentioned above have existed for at least five to seven years, and to date, there has been no flood of new shooters. What has made a difference? Actively recruiting new shooters.

 

[Guy Miner]

I agree Asa - as competitive shooters we should be out there, introducing other riflemen to the game. Seems there's an awful lot of gray hair on the firing line at most LR matches. Mine included.

Recently sold my dedicated match rifle. Tough decision, but working two or three weekends a month I no longer have the opportunity to shoot very many matches, and I can do it all with my .308 SWAT rifle - a very accurate Rem 700. Ideal for Palma or matches? No. Workable? Yes! Makes it one very flexible platform. Hunting big game, predators, varmints. LE sniper work. Tactical and LR prone matches. With a little more work, like sights and a stripper clip slot - it will work for across-the-course matches too.

Mostly though, we simply need to work on getting more new shooters to give match shooting a try.

Regards, Guy