If it makes you feel any better, it's not the first time I've heard of your hurdles with bbl change on a Savage. A good number of members at the Sportsman's Club here run Savages with Shilen barrels (there must be a reason), same hurdles, seems to be the standard hurdles but once they're done, they're sweet shooters! I look forward to your range report, I bet it will be all worth your time and trouble.

Not to mention, 338FED is an awesome big game cartridge.

Jack

 

Shilen barrels are so nice. I have one on my Henry Big Boy in .357 (long story).

 

Thanks for the kind words Jack. Got two more to go! This old 112 Series J wood stocked Savage is getting an Eabco 26" blued heavy barrel in 6x55 Swede. The pictured stainless 12 with Choate stock is getting a Shilen 30" bull barrel in 284 Win. Those should go smoother.

The 338 Federal is a great cartridge. I have one in a Kimber with a 22 inch barrel. I chose a 26 inch barrel for the Savage project. Going to try Sierra 215 grain Game King and discontinued 180 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets.

 

Wow that should be a nice shooter. Glad you were able to navigate the hurdles. I nearly bought a Ruger Frontier in 338 Federal once but was concerned over muzzle blast from the 16" barrel. I have owned two others in .243 and .308 but now I regret not getting the .338 too.

 

kingstrider,

I would have passed too on a 338 Federal with 16" barrel. My Kimber with 22" barrel has a lot of muzzle blast. The 26" barrel should work out great and I will see the true performance of that cartridge. I shot a buck and a doe with the Kimber last fall with discontinued 180 grain 338 Ballistic Tips. I could put my fist through the exit holes. If the Sierra 215 grain GK's fly good, that will be my bullet this coming fall.

 

Nice builds! Thanks for sharing.

I am about to build at least a couple savage bolt guns in 6.8SPC II. It’s nice that savages are so module however there seems to be an exception to every rule.

 

Thanks! The Savage system for the most part is a lot easier. The Accustock is a pain because it uses a different shaped lug with no locator screw for align ment, and to my knowledge, no one makes an alignment fixture jig for that lug. If you are going to use a Choate stock or wood type stock they can be easily inletted for the thicker custom lug.

James at Northland Shooting Supply is my guy for barrels, lugs, and barrel nuts. He deals direct with Shilen and Criterion barrels. You will get quite a break on price compared to buying them directly yourself, and you will receive the barrel from either Shilen or Criterion a couple months sooner.

I recently found out my Eabco barrel was made and chambered by Shaw. They do not have the reputation like Shilen or Criterion so I will say no more until I shoot it at the range. I have two other Shilen barrels and they are fantastic.

To avoid some frustration, be aware Savage 10 / 110 have three different scope bases. The earlier model actions before the Accutrigger has a flat square rear base and uses 6-48 screws. The early round Accutrigger action gets a round rear base with 6-48 screws, and the current round Accutriger action gets 8-40 screws. I have all three LOL.

Also, the aftermarket lugs and barrel nuts from NSS and PTG are machined beautifully, and well worth the minor extra cost.

Good luck with your build!

 

Darkcloud,

Feel free to ask me questions. Most of my knowledge on this subject is because I learned the hard way and I believe I ended up with a rifle assembled 100% correct and far better than what people did on youtube.

I'll take some more detailed pics today so everyone here has a better idea of what I tried to describe and a more detailed report of what caused my frustrations. This should answer a lot of questions and solve problems before they start. I'm happy to help in any way.

 

A few people have asked me questions, so I will do my best to explain more in detail with pics. Savage has made many changes with their actions and lugs. The pictured lugs left to right is the original style with tab, SSS custom with screw, Accustock lug, and a Remington 700 lug.

The aluminium bedding block in the Accustock will only accept the one lug without tab or screw. Plus, the older style lug has a different shape. Modifying the thin bedding block to fit the lug would pretty much cut it in half. I had my custom lug milled down and surface ground. If I were to do an Accustock again, I would order a Remington 700 lug from PTG of correct thickness with a locator pin, then just modify the sides to fit. Below is my Accustock and Choate stock. The Choate has 2 inches of room and has a divot for locating tab or screw which I think is a must in getting the lug straight.

The last two new Savages I bought were in 2021 a month apart. The Accustock had the undesirable lug and the basic synthetic stock had the old style with tab and that stock had plenty of room to drop in any lug. I have no idea what Savage is doing after 2021. I've only worked on the 110 / 10 actions. I believe the Axis will rebarrel the same. My next post with pics will be installing and head spacing the barrel.

 

I taped the barrel to avoid any maring from the barrel vise. I also put tape on the action and drew a line with a straight edge to make sure the action stayed in place while tightening the barrel nut. Glad I did this because it did move the action and I could tell. To stop the action from moving I inserted a Davidson action wrench and attached a 18" breaker bar and just held it with my right hand while pulling down on the torque wrench with my left. It didn't take much pressure to hold the action in place and a padded vise grip would have worked just as good. I was told 50 pounds of torque on the barrel nut would suffice. I ended up with 70. It took me a 200 pound guy with all my strength and a 18" breaker bar to break the factory nuts loose. I used a tiny dab of high temp grease on the barrel threads. Some guys use Tetra and some use copper ant seize.

A retired 73 year old gunsmith strongly insisted to remove the ejector, spring washer, and cocking sleeve from the bolt to get the best possible feel when inserting the go headspace gauge. I sipped the go gauge under the extractor and closed the bolt and screwed it onto the barrel until it was lightly snug. Then tightened the barrel nut down as explained above. After the nut was snugged down with 70 foot pounds of torque, I removed the go gauge and inserted the no go gauge. The bolt would not close.So, guess I did it correctly, but a range test next week will tell the truth.

 

A frew random thoughts about tools. The Brownells barrel vise is the way to go. I ordered bushings on hand. I also ordered lead barrel shims. I will post pics of what I bought. The no. 6 does .900-.748 and will accommodate sporter barrels. I bought 1.150 with shims for my bull and varmint barrel contours.

 

Finally, got this girl completed today. Model 12 with 30"

284 Win bull barrel.