Yea, I was kind of up in the air on the 223/223AI thing. Case life was my main reason for going with the AI version, but brass should be readily available again in the near future.
I just ordered this stock...
http://www.tacticalworks.com/Savage-...by-Choate.html
Maybe not the best, but it does have the V-shaped aluminum bedding block and is fairly heavy. I'll give it a try and if it does not work out replace it with something better down the road.
I really wanted the Shilen barrel, but Criterion is a branch of Krieger and I can't imagine them producing a bad barrel. Either way I only had about $700.00 to play with right now and the barrel from Shilen was about $390.00 shipped. I want to contact NSS and see if their prices are any better. Maybe even order the bolt head and recoil lug from them also.
Thanks for all the info. It is greatly appreciated!
Gary