Upfront disclaimer: I get no kickbacks from Dick's Sporting Goods (DSG), and am not an employee thereof.

Today, I went into my local DSG to see if they had a specimen on the rack. I had not even finished my "Do you have the new Savage..." when the CSR behind the counter smiled and pointed to the top rack. "I thought you would be in sooner or later to look at these," he quipped. He and I have had a lot of very good rifle discussions over the past few years and he knows me as a Savage guy.

Anyway, I looked at the rifle. It is relatively heavy. I didn't have a scale, but I'd guess about 10+ pounds at least, not what you want for walking around the woods rifle, but fine for shooting off a rest. The stock has the wider beavertail and although it flexed when I applied pressure with my hand, I would guess that there was enough room between the stock and barrel that even with shooting from a bipod, the stock would not touch the barrel. (Those of you who have tried it may certainly correct me if I am wrong...I'm just guessing here).

One interesting thing my friend behind the counter did say was that most of DSG discounts specifically exclude firearms, but if you open up a new DSG credit card account, you could get 10% off anything, including firearms, that would bring the pre-tax $599 price down to $539.10.

That's what I know.