I'm getting a new barrel for my Savage, but I've been talking to a smith and contemplating taking it to him and getting a new barrel installed by him. He suggested a Benchmark since he's a dealer and can get them a little cheaper. It will be lathed to go on the action without a barrel nut. I'm thinking about that option or about keeping it with the barrel nut so one day I could do it myself.

I'm curious and know very little about the benefits of going this route. I always assumed you should stick with the barrel nut and get pre-fit barrels so you can swap them easily enough at home.

That being said, I have no tools or go/no go gauges, so my initial investment putting a new pre-fit barrel would be the same as taking it to a smith and having a custom lathed barrel put on (around $600). Maybe a little cheaper doing it myself, but after buying the tools and gauges, it's not far off in price. The smith would also do some extra work, including cerakote the action for very cheap since he's doing the work.

So my questions are: Are there any advantages ditching the barrel nut and going with a barrel lathed for the action? If you get a barrel made for the action by a smith, can you go back to a barrel nut/pre-fit barrel down the road or does the smith modify the action so that is no longer an option?

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I'm new to the Savage world and also new to gun mods. Mostly been an archery hunter that now has the long range bug pretty bad!