Savage does have a " Custom Shop", but there are limits as to what they do. Price wise, it's usually not much more expensive to build it yourself either with a Savage action or a Custom action and have a much better & more accurate rifle than what Savage could put together.
I had the Savage Custom Shop build me a Heavy barreled LH 25-06 several years ago. They had discontinued the production version a couple years before I wanted one, but still had some left over barrels. It cost around $800, and then it came with the only type of stock that Savage had which I didn't like, so I replaced the stock.
I could've built a better rifle cheaper on my own.
I have 3 Savage factory built rifles. A Model 12 FLVSS 223, a Model 10 FCP 308, and the Model 110 FLP 25-06. All of my other Savage action rifle's I assembled myself using aftermarket barrel's, trigger's, and stocks.
You're wanting a 280 AI rifle, so you will have to buy a custom barrel to begin with. I'd just build the whole rifle to begin with, and do it the way you want it without ever needing to change anything. I have always liked Savage rifles and actions, but after building 2 rifles off Custom actions, I'll never buy another Savage action.
American Rifle Company, Big Horn, and Shilen make actions that are the Remington 700 footprint, but have the same threads for Savage pre-fit barrels.
The pluses are you can use any stock / chassis, and custom trigger's made for a Remington 700, and still have the ability to easily swap barrels anytime you want.
The cons are that these actions cost about twice the price of a factory Savage action.
Building this rifle off a Savage 12 Varmint action, Shilen barrel, Choate stock, minus the scope / rings /and suppressor. This rifle cost me around $1300 to assemble
Building this rifle off a ARC Nucleus action, Trigger Tech Diamond trigger, KRG Bravo chassis, X-Caliber barrel, minus the scope / rings / and suppressor. This rifle cost me around $ 1800 to assemble. And it is twice the gun as the Savage build.
I'm not saying don't buy a Savage, but since you are already going to have to buy a custom barrel, spending another $500 -$1000 and getting exactly what you want right from the start is well worth it, and it will be a Custom rifle, not a Savage with a different barrel on it.
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