I have a situation where I want to buy a Savage Target Action with a 223 bolt head, right bolt, right port (savage part # 18185). These are sold by several internet vendors (Buds, Grabagun etc.) and can also be ordered directly from Savage, so this should be easy, right?

Wrong. The problem is I want to buy an action that has the 'standard' action screw spacing (4.4 inches) and Savage in their infinite wisdom has made this action in both the Palma spacing (3.44 inches) and the standard spacing.

Try 1 - Call Buds and ask if they can check one or two actions to see if they have one with 4.4 inch spacing in stock. Result - Response from Buds is that they cannot check what they have in inventory since the shipping is done from a distributor so they do not have access to the actions before they are shipped.

Try 2 - Call Savage and ask if I can order an action directly from them with the 4.4 inch spacing. - Result - Response from Savage (both in email and on phone) is that they cannot check what they have in inventory since the shipping is done from a distributor so they do not have access to the actions before they are shipped. They keep saying 'if you provide us with a serial number we can check what spacing they have'. To which I said 'I do not have a serial number since I am trying to purchase this product. Could you, as the manufacturer, selling this product to me, somehow produce a serial number of one of these actions you have in stock ahead of time so I can know what I am buying?'. Answer - no.

Try 3 - Contact two other internet vendors to ask them if they would be able to look at the item to either verify the action screw spacing, or provide a serial number so I can verify the spacing with Savage before placing the order. No response from either.

Unfortunately Northlands does not have this action in stock. I know they would be able to provide me with the information since they actually have the physical items prior to making the sale.

Does anyone have any tips for how to procure one of these actions, knowing with certainty what action spacing it will have?