no one has any comments?

 

Not trying to be a jerk, but it sounds like you might have purchased the wrong rifle. ???? For what you want to do with it, you're doing so many modifications that maybe a different rifle would have been the way to go. But anyway, good luck with your project.
Oh, as far as the accuracy of the rifle is concerned, you might try some different ammo, and you'll want to reload of course. I've had nothing but excellent accuracy with every Savage rifle I've owned.

 

The reason I bought this rifle is two-fold.

First of all, I am not yet proficient with a bolt rifle/scope yet. .308 is an easy caliber to learn with and cheap to reload, or even buy factory ammo.

Secondly, I can upgrade a rifle such as mine to a higher level of quality than you can buy for the same price off the shelf and with customizations that are not available on a stock rifle. For instance, if I choose to go with a 7mm WSM for my other barrel, you cannot buy a savage rifle in this caliber as far as I know.

Either way, I am going to be reloading, I already turned out my first 20 rounds of .308 today and will be testing them next sat by having my friend shoot the gun (who is more experienced with precision rifle shooting).

 

The biggest problem with your switch barrel plans is the caliber switch. The WSM family has a larger case head than the .30-06/308 family (.535" compared to .473"). So...you're looking at having your bolt opened up to the new size, or getting a second bolt fitted so you've got a switch-bolt/switch-barrel rifle if you do want to keep the .308 option.

The basic stock that the bargain Savage/Stevens comes with isn't the best as you've noticed. That forearm is a bit like a wet noodle and it doesn't take much to push or pull it into the barrel when shooting with either a sling or even of a bipod/sandbag. They get the job done for basic, no-sling, offhand shooting but are easily susceptible to any abnormal pressure in any direction.
You could go to the trouble of getting this stock all patched up to make it how you'd like it by installing a full bedding block (not really necessary but nice) and inletting and embedding a fiberglass or steel rod into the forearm channel to stiffen it up.
Instead, after the time & effort it might be better off to start with a better quality aftermarket stock (either laminate, synthetic or real wood...your choice). Stick with a higher model stock that is laid-up resin (fiberglass or carbon fiber) instead of the cheaper ABS injection molded stocks...most of those aren't much better than the molded stock you've got now.

That Savage factory barrel will probably turn pretty decent groups once you keep the stock pressure off of it. I've been real impressed with their factory barrels.

All in all, I kinda agree with Thomas44. You might be better off starting with a different rifle a little closer to your ballistic specs, then getting the stock and accessories to trick it out how you want.


If you're looking at long-range target performance in the .473" case head family, check into the .260 Remington (6.5mm diameter). If you can fit 156-160gr bullets through the magazine they have real nice long-range ballistics compared to the 7mm or .30 offerings. If it's a hunting rifle, you'll have to tailor things more to the game you're planning on hunting with it to make sure you've got enough energy left at your max range (and I hope you're not planning on 1000yd max range while hunting...unless you're an exceptionally better shot than the average shooter).

 

Bindernut, thanks for your observations. I have been kicking around going aftermarket with the stock, the issue is that it needs to be either ready for the stock detachable magazine or be somewhat easily altered to accept it. I have looked at the manners stocks, sharp shooters or maybe just getting the new Savage Accustock when it hits the market (will already be setup for my detach b.m.) Money is a factor, or else I would just get a Macmillan tactical stock and get my gunsmith to tailor it to my setup.

As far as the bolt head goes, I have two options, the Savage bolt head is able to be relatively easily changed out. 2nd option is to get a bolt in the caliber I choose. The sell them on Midway for under $100.

The factory barrel is pencil thin at the muzzle, less than .600". Not exactly a precision piece. It gets hot pretty fast and needs to rest a bit mroe than usual between rounds. We took the gun out to the range and I had a friend of mine that is more skilled with a rifle shoot it at 100yds, since I lightened the trigger down to 3lbs it seemed to help accuracy greatly. We were able to get the rifle to hit the bulls eye a few times once the scope was zeroed. I was happy to know that my rifle was capable of moa accuracy in it's factory condition even with factory ammo.

I have loaded 20 test rounds with 168gr Hornady AMAX BT bullets, WIN LR primers, 40.gr of AA2250 and the bullets set back .003" from the rifling and lee factory crimped. My friend will be getting to enjoy some free shooting since I am physically still unable to fire the rifle.

This same friend thinks I should simply abandon the switch barrel idea and go all the way with a full conversion to which ever caliber I end up choosing. As far as buying another gun that really wouldn't do me any good, because I want a match barrel and either a modified factory stock or aftermarket. My action will work fine for whatever I end up doing. Besides this rifle did not cost me very much anyways.

As far as other calibers, I am not sure that I would feel comfortable going with a round smaller than 7mm or .284 for hunting elk. Maybe not a valid concern, but I have it anyhow. To answer your question of me trying to hunt Elk at 1000yds, umm no.... I will not be doing that. Once I am better with shooting a rifle and my gun is all set the way I want the furthest I would probably engage an elk would be 300-400yds. The 1000yd idea is because I would eventually also like to get into F class matches.

 

Ahh...more details = clearer picture.
Yeah, I'd probably look for a little more cartridge than .308 too for elk hunting. 7mm-08 or .308 would be my bare minimum short-action choices. I wasn't thinking you were seriously considering any 1000yd game shots...but you never know too, I've heard of stranger things before.

I'll be darned...I took a browse through Midway and I was surprised to see bolt heads already available for the .535" family. That eliminates one trip to the machine shop for ya! I wasn't aware that anything beyond the "standard" three head sizes were available.
The WSM or RSUM would be a good way to pack some more hunting power into a short action.
(I admit I've been in full-blown Mauser mode for the last couple years...have been ignoring most everything else although I have had a couple of 110s in the past for prairie dog rifles. )

If your base cost was cheap, then it would be a decent starting point to build up whatever you want around the action. My original thinking was that you bought new off the rack.

That's one nice thing about the Savage action. It's kinda ugly to my eyes but it is a real beauty once you start shooting it!

 

Seems like you have a thought out plan and plenty of time (neck surgery and all). I'm considering a similar idea for a 270-08 and tossing around an idea of getting a long action savage and getting all of the barrels chambered in rounds designed after the 30-06. Not for any real practical purposes but I figure it would be neat to have barrel for all of the wildcat and standard rounds from the 22-06 all the way up to the 416-06 rounds. I suspect my favorites would be the 280 remington and the 338-06. We'll see what my wife thinks about this first though.....I don't think it would be easy to hide all that stuff.

 

UPDATE!

So in my previous posts I mentioned we were having issues with accuracy which I thought were resolved. As it turns out, my gun was incapable of producing the MOA accuracy I was looking for.

The gun was returned to Savage Arms mid August. They picked up the shipping costs. After me badgering them for about 2 weeks, they found the barrel was bad. I was able to get them to replace the stock wimp-sized barrel with the Heavy Varmint Barrel for a minimal cost. The rep told me this was the same as the barrel on the 10FP, their law enforcement model. The only downside is they couldn't or wouldn't do anything about the flimsy stock. They were possibly going to put an Accustock with the full length bedding but found out it was incompatible with my non accustock action. They said I am looking at getting the gun back in about a couple weeks. YAY!

Then I found an answer to my prayers with a stock. Choate makes a tactical stock that will fit my post 2006 made gun. It has a full length bedding block, Adjustable length of pull, bipod rail on underside of forend, and best of all will work with my FACTORY DETACHABLE BOX MAGAZINES. All this at under $200. That will be my next purchase after I get the gun back. I am really happy this rifle is going to start coming together.

After I get the stock, the next step is getting a better scope. I eventually want something like the NightForce 5.5-22x56 with Illum MD Reticle. However, that will take a lot of time to save up the $1600. For now I think I will get the Nikon Buckmasters 6-18x50 that is about $300.

That should get me started, then eventually I will do the short mag switch barrel setup.

 

I know I have stated it on other threads here, so I am sorry if this is a repeat for you...You might find that as soon as you send some reloads downrange, things will tighten up a bit. I love my Savages, but I have only had one shoot flawless before reloading. As "flimsy" and "flexible" as those Savage and Stevens stocks are, they seem to shoot alright for me so far, but then again I am not shooting near the distance you will be. Good luck with your project, sounds like fun.