First off let me apologize for what has probably been discussed many times on here. However, I am new to Savage, and bolt actions in general and have some questions. I have spent all morning, the past 5 hours, searching this site and google for answers, and am only slightly less confused.

So here is my situation. I just purchased a Model 11 VT in .308. What I have found out through reading on here is they are the Dick's Sporting Goods exclusive, and seem to have some differences even in that line. I picked it up for what I thought was a good deal, $300 tax tag and title. This particular weapon has the plastic injected bottom metal (removable type), the axis style magazine (plastic release on front of mag), and the bottom bolt release. I am wanting to make a few changes to it, and I hoping that I can. First i would like a better stock. Even with the fatter front end, this one still seems flimsy to me. I also want to change this out to actual metal bottom metal. I would also like a better magazine release, something along the lines of the Accurate Mag setup, or at least something not attached to the mag itself. Is all of this too much to wish for with this rifle? I have been looking at stocks, and see that Boyd's now makes one for the bottom bolt release, but it may or may not need bottom metal. That is fine as I want metal anyway. So, if I purchase the stock and the metal, is there a way to get a better style mag? That is without having the gun converted to a top bolt release, which in reality I would actually like to do as well, but probably never will.

Thanks for you help. Again, I apologize for the newb questions.