Personally, I would swap out the barrel yourself. You can get a Barrel Nut wrench from NSS (and some other places) and if you have a bench vice and some wooden blocks you can swap a barrel. All you'll need then is the new barrel and a headspace gauge and you're set to go. Personally $300 for a new factory barrel is a bit much. You should be able to score a used aftermarket barrel and buy the wrench and gauge for less than that. Personally I would just order a new barrel from Either NSS (get a CBI brand, they shoot great) or call up Jim at www.apachegunworks.com and have him custom make you one. Jim does great work and good prices too.

As for your stock, I would get a boyds. Bed it &/or pillar it and be money ahead. Paying Savage to upgrade you basic rifle into a higher level one is not cost effective normally. It would be cheaper and faster to have bought the higher level model gun in the first place IMHO.