Savage American Classic Stock: Ok for centerfeed magnum build?

I am slowly collecting parts for a .458 magnum build.

I have the following questions about the long action American Classic Stock. (available at Numrich: http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/...70&catid=14244)

Question 1: I believe this is a set up for the current type of centerfeed bottom metal and DBM or HFP. Can anyone confirm this?

Question 2: Is there enough wood in the forearm so that I can enlarge the channel to freefloat a magnum barrel? (My barrel diameter will be approx 0.95" at the tip of the forend)

Thank you very much for your time.

I rebuilt my American Classic, using a magnum 7mm mag barrel with no problems. Just had to open it up a bit.

your .95 at the forend seems biger than a magnum contour though to me. more like a varmint contour. I am assuming it is a straight tepered aftermarket barrel, huh. If so the forend might be a little thin.

So is the American Classic already inlet for center feed bottom metal?

My barrel is a straight taper .458 Win bag barrel. It's 0.792" at the muzzle.

I believe the Numrich stock is simply a Boyd's Prairie Hunter with one of their stippling patterns. That's what I was planning on getting anyway, and this is less expensive.

The Savage American Classic is inletted, but not sure about the one from Numrich.

Well, I have one on the way, so I'll let you know eventually if I wasted my money or not! :rolleyes:

I've purchased a couple of discontinued Savage American Classic stocks from Numrich over the past few years for builds. The LA DBM/HFP magazine assembly should fit the magazine cut out with no problem. You may have to add bedding under the rear action bolt to raise the front of the trigger guard and rear of the magazine frame flush with the bottom of the stock. Savage used a thick washer on older models to accomphlish this. You will most likely have to open up the barrel channel in order to float a magnum/light varmint contour barrel. But there is plenty of wood on the sides of the barrel channel to do this. I currently have a 24" CBI light varmint contour barrel in an Savage American Classic stock that is 0.932" at the stock tip and it looks fine with no noticable loss of forend stiffness.

jpdown, thanks for your personal experience. That's what I was hoping for. The stock is on the truck and should be delivered soon. Eventually, when I get done with the build, I'll post photos. I appreciate all the information.

Got the stock. It's beautiful. Very classy looking and although it has a few very minor rub marks, it is in great condition. I recommend it.

I do have a bedding question because I don't want to mess it up:

The stock already has pillars installed, but they don't quite come up to the level of the wood inletting (they are a scosh too short, approx .023-.035 depending where I measure from the wood to the pillar).
If I relieve the wood around them prior to bedding (so the action sits directly on the pillars) it will change the relative position of the action and the bottom metal/DBM just a bit. Is there any way to know whether or not this will mess up feeding from the magazine? Is there some place to take a "critical measurement" to know if I am still within specs?
I know I can always shim the bottom metal with a washer on the other side of the pillar, but I don't want to have to do that if I don't have to.

I want to do a good job on this one and the devil is in the details.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Use Tru-Oil Gunstock finish to touch up those rub marks. Several hand rubbed applications with 0000 steel wool between will blend with the American classic finish.

The purpose of the pillars is to keep the action screw HEADS from crushing the stock wood and thus loosening over time. The bedding you are going to add between the action and top of the factory pillars will not crush. If you try removing enough wood so the action sits on top of the factory pillars, you are going to make for a lot of unecessary wood removal and create some other potential problems in addition to feeding issues.

So make sure the action screw heads will contact the bottom of the factory pillars when tightened down. Then you only need to remove enough wood from under the action to expose bare wood and around the tops of the pillars so the bedding will stick to the wood and hold the pillars in place. I put about 4 to 6 layers of painter tape around the barrel and under the tang to center and float the action. Put 2 layers of tape on front, sides and bottom of recoil lug and around the barrel nut. This will usually give plenty of room under the action for a nice, firm layer of bedding. I've also learned that using a couple of 4" long - 1/4" machine threaded bolts with heads removed as action guide screws is the best way to center and remove the action from the bedding after cured. Screw into action to bottom of threads. Put 2 rounds of tape around the screws to center in pillars when action is placed into fresh bedding to cure. Tape the action in place and wait for bedding to cure. This will give you a stress free bedding job.