Yes, the barrel is made by Savage. It looks premium since it is nicely fluted SS, but, it comes off the same production line as the rest of the Savage barrels.

I use Varget in most of my .308 loads (and 6BR and .223). My rifle didn't care for the 168SMK's that much but others have had good luck with them.

They will collect copper. I found that frequent cleaning helped 'smooth' it out faster, ie, every 20 rounds or so. Cleaning here means getting as much copper out as you can. I use one of two copper cleaners, ProShot Copper Solvent or KG-12. I mostly use the ProShot since it turns the patch blue if there is still copper present. The KG-12 works faster but you have to look in the bore to see if there is copper remaining.

Breaking in is normally done on premium lapped barrels to get rid of the radial marks made by the chambering reamer. Basically you shoot and clean until you don't get any more copper fouling. Trying to do that on a Savage would be frustrating. It worked well for my Shilen barrel (1rnd clean, 1rnd, clean, 5rnds clean, done). Just takes a few extra minutes during the first range session.