My favorite Savage build

I suppose I'm not so "new to savage" as I once was, and over the past couple of years I've broken down and built about 5 Savage rifles now. Finally I understand "the system" and can figure out what parts will work with what. I've always been intrigued with the wood stocked Lightweight Hunter rifles, but never was that crazy about the milled receivers or spiral fluted bolt. I had this build in mind for a while, and it finally came together over the past few weeks.

This action started out as a Model 10 scout rifle in the rare 7.62x39 chambering. That's a rifle I've used for quite some time and I will probably always have a Savage 7.62x39 barrel and bolt face on hand from now on - they are just that much fun to shoot in a bolt action, and incredibly accurate for the price of ammo.

I pulled the 7.62x39 barrel and found a 7mm-08 Axis barrel for under $100. The stock I got off of FeeBay after nearly pulling the trigger on a brand new LWH wood stock. Saved over $100 going the FeeBay route, and as you can see, this is a gorgeous stock.

My goal was to build a short to medium range (anything from 50 to 300 yards) whitetail rifle in 7mm-08 that weighed about 7 lbs. total. I've always admired the way the 1.5-4x20 scopes look. I dig that "safari scope" look. So that's what I topped this one with.

I had to inlet the action channel a tiny amount to drop the Model 10 action into the LWH stock, but that took literally 5 minutes. I also had to inlet the barrel channel at the tip of the forend, but again, it was a very quick and easy job.

Now I have the whitetail rifle I had imagined. 20" barrel, 40" total length, beautiful walnut stock and "vintage" looking safari-type scope, in my favorite hunting caliber - 7mm-08.

The accuracy with my 139 grain SST handloads is more than acceptable (right around 1" at 100 yards and 3.5-4" at 300 yards, even with the 4x scope) for it's intended purpose. I am very pleased with this one. It's nice to finally have the knowledge and confidence to work with the fantastic, versatile Savage platform.

https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net...c9&oe=5CE70BF9

Good looking build, like the dark stock. I have a 20” 243 I’m going to use some day, will probably use factory Axis stock to keep it light.


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Nice setup

Very nice, 7-08 is one of my favorite cartridges.

I hear that a lot. Especially from experienced hunters and shooters. All the time I run into guys at the range who ask what I'm shooting, and as soon as I say 7mm-08, they usually respond with "that's a great caliber!" And then I ask them if they have one, and most of them say no. LOL Usually if I ask why not, they cite the price of ammo.

So this "great caliber" seems to have been stuck on the wrong side of the "chicken or egg" caliber:ammo equation since the 90's. So many people think highly of it, but most people who own one (or two in my case) are handloaders if not by choice, by necessity.

Oh well. I'll just keep enjoying the two I have.

Thank you for sharing.

Great job! That is pretty much what I am doing as well although the stocks I have certainly do not match up to yours. I recently completed a 07-08 rebarrel and a 260 Rem rebarrel and am now looking at a custom 250 Savage barrel on a 110 chassis with a nice OEM stock on it. I have been enjoying lighter recoil shorter stock rifles over the past few years and I am debating myself whether or not to get the custom barrel in 22 inch or 20 inch like yours.

Bought my wife a 110 in 7-08 in '87 or early '88, nice rifle and I really enjoyed loading, and shooting, it. Son has it now, and will be our granddaughters first rifle, so I'll get to load for it again. :)

What else do you need for almost anything withing responsible range. And very nice looking too.

Nice looking build !!! Thanks for sharing your story with us !!! Savage rifles are definitely an impressive platform...:first: