chestsprings hit on it for me in a roundabout way. I've had to part with more of my collection/accumulation than I wanted to. I found in many cases I was more attached to the caliber than the firearm. The Savages give me the opportunity to regain some of those calibers at a lower cost than if I replaced each rifle individually.

I've tried the Contender route and just wasn't happy with them once the new wore off. Can't say why, it just happens that way sometimes. I picked up a couple of Mauser actions with the intention of building them up. Had I done the research for them that I am now doing for the Savage, I would have realized I don't have the tools to do it properly, I can't afford the proper tools or to have a 'smith do it and the tooling I have isn't sufficient to build my own gunsmithing tools. Plus, I have just enough ability to screw up a perfectly good project after making twice as hard as it needs to be. :D

Another benefit is fewer things to haul to the range and more tigger time on the same platform. The past few range sessions, I've paid attention to what I actually shot vs what I brought. Usually only half the things I bring get shot and I found I spent too much time having to get reacquainted with each firearm. That can't be good for consistency.

I have a 10FP .308 I traded into several years ago that is a joy to shoot. I fell to the temptation of the Academy sale on Stevens 200s a couple of weeks ago so I now have a 7-08 as well. If it shoots half as well as the .308, I'll have no complaints other than the loose trigger nut.