the action on the predator and the 12FV are going to be the same, but the barrel on the 12FV has an extra 2" (or 50fps roughly) Savage barrels are not "great barrels", but you do want a heavier contour for shooting 8-10 shot strings without getting it too hot and changes your POI too much.

I think you will be better served shooting from prone rather than a bench, but it is possible that the bench will work better....? I like shooting from prone whenever possible.