My latest Savage tinker project

My latest Savage tinker project.

Several years ago I picked up a pawn shop beater Savage 30-06 from Candler Rd pawn for $165 from their clearance shelf. I took it home and worked it over first stripping it down and then replacing the trigger spring and tuning the trigger to a crisp 2#, refinishing the stock and bedding it to the action, and putting some Burris bases and rings on it along with a Pentax Pioneer 3-9x40 (clearance from Cameraland) and a good slip on recoil pad. Here it is just before I presented it to my son.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...psbb26cf32.jpg

Well the tinker bug bit me again and with rampant Savageaholicism and tinkeritis I can never leave well enough alone. I had brought the rifle home from my sons house intending to upgrade the optics and switch it over to a synthetic stock. While visiting a friend yesterday I ran across a Factory 24" fluted threaded .308 barrel from a 10BA and it followed me home. So the transformation began. I had to open up the synthetic stock to fit the new bull barrel contour. I got out my Turkey fryer pot and filled it with water and brought it to a boil. I placed the fore end of the synthetic stock in the boiling water for about 4 minutes, and then while wearing gloves forced a 1" broom handle into the channel, wrapped it up with duct tape, made sure everything was straight and let it cool. I put some kroil on the threads, took my barrel nut wrench and popped the nut loose on the -06 barrel and removed it. At this point I checked the locking lugs and found the lugs to be making full contact. No surprise with the Savage floating bolthead design. I removed the ejector from the bolt then I installed and headspaced the barrel to absolute minimum using brass sized in my dies. After that I added a piece of shim stock and checked for no go and the barrel swap was finished. I dug through a few boxes and located the takeoff flash hider from an R25 project because there was no thread protector on the barrel. It wound up looking pretty cool and timed with no crush washer or filing needed. Sometimes you get lucky. Then I turned my attention to the bolt and installed a bolt lift kit made from a cutoff shell casing, a ball bearing and a spacer for the bolt assembly screw made from 1/2" galvanized pipe and sized to .001 with a hand file. I reassembled everything and upgraded the optics using an EGW picatiiny rail with Leupold rings and a Burris E1 3-9x50. Well here it is my budget friendly Long Range Hunter clone. Still needs a cheekrest to line the eye up with the 50mm but that's for another day. Any recommendations on a cheekrest appreciated. Pardon the cell pic I'll have to get some better ones up to do it justice.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps4b9afc03.jpg

Nice project. Thanks for the details. Was there any downside to boiling the stock? Any warpage or bending where you didn't want it to? I've never tried your method, but it's nice to learn something new.

A few tweaks to consider:
Your scope still looks rather far forward. Especially with a big 50mm objective scope, you could swap the EGW rail for Weaver brand rail. It sits lower and is just as effective as the EGW.
Also, by cutting off any part of the rail forward of the forward mounting screws, you can move your scope toward the rear (and get your eye relief the way you want with out having to crane your neck forward) and not have the objective bell hit the rail.

Thanks, I haven't found a downside to boiling the stock..... yet. I just did it yesterday so who knows what kind of disaster is waiting in the future or what effect it will have over time but I really don't think it had any ill effect. I had been checking into making a couple of Kydex cheek rests which got the Savageaholic tinker in me wondering about manipulating other thermoplastics. I was needing a Varmint contour stock so I just worked with what I had. I only boiled a portion of the fore end in front of where the barrel nut sits as that is what needed re forming. I had to do it twice because the first time I didnt realize the importance of having the duct tape handy to hold everything in place. It was by no means floppy soft and still took a good bit of force to get the fore end to open up and I did have to relieve the cutout at the tip of the fore end when I finished to accommodate the bull barrel. Once it cooled it did stay in the shape and size I wanted. I think the material and factory cutout here helped keep everything straight during the process.
I'm a stock crawler by nature and tend to get my cheek weld way forward. It seems my son does the same thing. That and the Burris E1 has over 3 1/2" of eye relief and is very forgiving. I couldn't find a Weaver rail for the flatback long action as mounts for the older flatback actions are getting harder to find every day. I would love to know of a source if you have one. The rear magnification adjustment barely just does clear the rail but the objective bell has about 3/8" clearance which isn't shown well in the crappy photo. The EGW does also provide a larger opening for the loading/ ejection port which wouldn't be as much of an issue except for the blind mag.
I'm thinking I will probably try a Karstan cheekrest as a permanent fix in the future but right now am open to suggestions. I do know I'm not getting a good cheek weld currently and have to find a solution for more than one rifle as these are very good scopes and I have upgraded a couple of rifles with them.

Thanks for the info on boiling. Very interesting.

I believe Weaver 413 bases fit. Part number is 48425. The Weaver website claims they fit long actions prior to 2003, ergo: flatbacks.
http://www.weaveroptics.com/mountcharts/default.aspx

I did a search for "Weaver 48425" and came up with the following links:
http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/weav...e-p-82762.html
http://www.theriflescopestore.com/4glblfi.html


There is also one left at Optics Planet:
http://www.opticsplanet.com/weaver-t...num-bases.html then search for 413 on the page. It's toward the bottom of the scrollable list of bases.

However, if you prefer EGW, no problem. What works for you is best for you. Loading and unloading is certainly an important consideration for a top loader.

I like the stock...is that maple? I like the figuring in the first photo.

All the best.

Thanks for the links.
Just one more note on the boiling make sure you have a very sturdy and straight piece of 1" something and it helps to have a very smooth surface as it has to be forced into place. Those "flimsey" tupperware stocks aren't as flimsey as some people think they are.
I'm not sure what wood that is just guessing birch but it does have a nice figure almost like a burl throughout. It was originally very dark and I had no Idea until after it was stripped and re stained it would look so nice. I did go to Ace hardware when I refinished it and got the paint lady to let me dip paint sticks into many different stains before settling on a Minwax golden oak color. The stain really did bring out the figure in the wood and I raised the grain on it with a warm wet rag prior to staining and before a final light sanding.
Again thanks for the links. I'm thinking a lower rail than the EGW I currently have would be just the ticket on my previous project a light short handy DBM .308 carbine. (37"OAL with the brake) As you can see there is plenty of clearance on this one for the 3-9x40 diamondback and a lower mount would probably benefit me greatly.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps191f1868.jpg