Building a Savage

Hello all. I'm new to the forum, but I've been doing a lot of reading. I'm going to venture into building a savage. I'm going to be building this with my grandfather. He is a retired gunsmith (he's 80 and I don't know if a gunsmith ever retires). He never really did much with rifles other than finishing stocks and putting barreled actions in them. He was much more involved with shotguns and I would consider him very knowledgable in repairing/modifing them. Nonetheless, it will be a special build as every rifle I have was either built/assembled by him or a combination of myself and him. It's funny because I think he takes more pride in the game that I get than I do!
At any rate.....I've ordered a savage sporter action with the standard bolt face. I got a long action and am planning on building a 308. I want the long action to be able to seat the bullets out further. Here is what I've settled on so far and I'm looking to get an "equipment review". I'm planning on a McGowan barrel, 26", 1:10. I'm going to get a different recoil lug, a stock from Richards (grandpa uses them a lot and so have I). It will be pillar/glass bedded. Also, going to get ewg picatanny rail and likely warne rings. I would love to stick a leupold on top, but I'm going to go with a mueller (I have one on a 204 now and for the money, I can say I'm quite pleased. It's not a $600 leupold or zeiss, but it will do the job for now). I don't shoot competitions; mainly will shoot at some varmits, from the bench and may hunt a little (will be from a ground blind with a table). I just enjoy shooting, but I also like being accurate. Any feedback would be appreciated.

sounds like a great build im doing something like that with my dad nothing makes it more worthwhile than doing it with family

A .308 is a bit much for varmints and the recoil will get old fast if you shoot it off a bench very much. How about a .260 Rem? Same case and overall length as the .308 but better ballistics and less recoil. It would be a more suitable varmint round with light bullets and a good big game rifle with suitable heavier bullets.

It is very accurate in a good rifle and it, and other 6.5 mm rounds, have become the darlings of long range competition shooters.

if you are going to hunt with it, you might want a shorter barrel. Unless your shooting out to 800-1000 you probably wont need the 26".
The guys at snipershide are shooting 1000 with 16-20" barrels regularly. I just went with an 18" mcgowen (winter build, prob wont be able to shoot it until the weather breaks a bit). What contour are you looking at for this build? That short barrel is just really handy, especially climbing in and out of places and lugging it around.
+1 on the warne rings, have many sets and they have never failed me. Ditto for the egw base (although they are a little tall). Warne and TPS also make nice bases, and look at the EGW hd base.
good luck on the build

oh, look at the 6.5creedmoor also.

I was going to go with the 308 b/c this may end up shooting some deer and the main varmits that I shoot are coyotes. Barrel length was a starting point so I'm open for suggestions there. As far as recoil goes...I shoot a 7mm mag a lot (75 to 100 rds at a time) and the recoil doesn't bother me (still young I guess). I don't know much about the 260....thought about the 6.5x284, but barrel life was somewhat of a concern (another reason I was thinking 308.

I built my 308 with a 27" douglass barrel 1.07" at the bore. Most of the work was done at SSS. The rifling was 1.10" twist. Its one of the most accurate rifles I've ever had the opportunity of shooting.

What you're looking at should be a MOA set up fairly easily, and good reloads should get you close to 1/2MOA.

I think the only upgrade would be the glass but you considered that.

The Richard stocks have gotten some bad reviews, but I think this had to do with how much work was required as received. But since you've used them before, you know what to expect, and maybe you could give us some feed back on them?

For caliber, even a fast twist 243 would be adequate for coyotes and 1000 yrd shooting.

I must say, I am jealous of the time you'll get to spend with your grandfather!

Adam

A 26" barrel is okay if you are going to set up and wait, but for deer hunting for me a 26" barrel is too long inside of a box stand and a real PIA in a truck. 20" is about perfect but you will lose 150 FPS.

I got around the box stand limitation using a 26" barrel by setting up a rafter hanger to hang the stock on and the front of the stock rest on a piece of rubber insul I shoot off of.
I did that after banging around one afternoon too much trying to get the friggin barrel out the window.

A tall Harris bipod works in a turkey chair on the ground behind a blind and is user friendly for a sit and wait situation for deer.

Right now I use a chopped 19" barreled 308 and am running 208 gr amaxes at 2500 fps over RL17.
That will stay supersonic out to 1200+ yards.
Carries 875 fpe out to 1000 yards.

If you load them long in a long throat with a 26" barrel you could probably get 2750 out of that combo.

7mm-08 is superb with the 162 gr amax with about the same ballistics.

For varmints I would want a 223 8 twist for less recoil, but for a 308 you could have a swap choate ultimate varmint stock.

It has so many cavities you can load them up with lead to about 13# or so. They have a V alum block so IMO they dont really need to be bedded. At least mine did not as I had a 6mmBR barreled action and it shot 3/4" at 300 yards.

As far as working with the Richard's Microfit stocks, if you've worked with them before you might be pleasantly surprised at how they're coming out now.
Much better than a few years ago. The inlet is pretty much a drop in.
The oustide is much better, not needing nearly as much work as their earlier stocks to get finish ready. And after 6 or 7 stocks, (I've lost count ;)) that's speaking from experience.

Grandpa has been building quite a few howas lately and he said that the inletting has improved dramatically. I know the last one that I worked, took about 4 hours to get it how I wanted (probably 5 years ago). Most of the work was getting the barrel channel to get it free floated. I got pretty picky getting everything else right. As far as their savages...that is yet to be determined. I really appreciate the feedback...it's fun to get everyone's take. My deer hunting will vary. I have several options ranging from 500+ yds to 100 yd max. In my longer range situations, I'm hunting out of a ground blind with a bench that I've built to fit it. I shoot off of bags. Some may think that this gets too far out; however, I practice, spend hours scouting, range targets, take a range card, and I handload....I don't want to risk just injuring an animal. If I shoot at the longer ranges, I may take this or just stick with my 7. Overall, the rifle season here is only a week and I spend more time bow hunting so this gun will mainly get used just to shoot....can't ever have too many!!!

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Originally Posted by uplander

I was going to go with the 308 b/c this may end up shooting some deer and the main varmits that I shoot are coyotes......As far as recoil goes...I shoot a 7mm mag a lot (75 to 100 rds at a time) and the recoil doesn't bother me (still young I guess). I don't know much about the 260....thought about the 6.5x284, but barrel life was somewhat of a concern (another reason I was thinking 308.)

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Well, for coyotes, a .223 is considered adequate and a .243 is more than plenty so the .260 or 7mm-08 would be very suitable and also excellent deer rounds. I guess the .308's recoil isn't a factor but i know many long range competative shooters have gone to the 6.5 mm rounds to get away from it. And, yes, the 6.5x284 is hard on barrels but the less intense 6.5's are fine.

Hey man, welcome to the forum. You will find a wealth of information on here. I am working on a savage build myself. I have also opted to go with a 26" McGowan for the tube. I think it sounds like a great build. Yeah, it may be a bit much for some smaller game, but you will still have enough gun to shoot bigger things. IMO you can never really have too much gun unless it's a recoil issue. Enjoy your time with your grandfather. Mine got me into reloading ammo a long time ago. He was a crack shot, enjoyed reloading and simple gunsmithing. He taught me more about ballistics than anyone else. Sadly, he passed away this past April, and words can't say how much I miss him. What I wouldn't give to load some ammo with him at my side and swapping shooting/hunting stories. Don't take it for granted man. Enjoy every second of it.

i hunt deer and shoot varmints with a 12 vlp in 300 wsm it has a 26" varmint barrel and weighs 14+ pounds and but i dont mind humpin it around the recoil isnt to bad either the gun is too accurate not to use if you want a 26" barrel go for it when yoour old you can worry about how much your gun weighs and the recoil i love the my 300wsm and am planning a 338 edge when im 40 or 50 ill get a light gun

[img width=600 height=450]http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n587/Tim_Erdman/ImportedPhotos00003.jpg[/img]
heres my deer/varmint/target gun

I'm 74 and lug around my heavy .35 Whelen all the time. I guess all that pumping iron pays off for an old man. I find that if your in shape carrying around a relatively heavy rifle isnt as much a chore as you may think.

El Lobo