I recently traded into a Savage Axis. The previous owner had a round stuck in the chamber. I removed the barrel and then the round, but there's still "miscellaneous items" jammed into the bore where he tried to remove the stuck round. Lol. I'm confident the barrel is trash.

I'm not looking to spend a fortune on this rifle. It's original configuration was 223 with a camo stock. Should I look for a budget replacement / takeoff 223 barrel and stick with that? My other options would be to swap to something like 6.5 cm or a similar round.

Thoughts, advice, and input are greatly appreciated!