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If it were me, I'd sell off everything but the action and build a custom rifle. I've built quite a few for myself as well as others. I'm partial to varmint taper barrels. Most of them I've bedded into Bell and Carlson Duramax stocks. I built myself a .243 once with a Stainless Fluted factory barrel that shot factory Black Hills Gold ammo as good as any handloads. I foolishly sold that rifle.

Go big or go home. 358, 9.3x308, 375x308 or .411x308.

No

Colorado requires a second and redundant NICS background check. Colorado also charges $10 for said redundant background check. The House tried to do away with the secondary background check because it was redundant and used the same NICS system, but opponents killed the bill. After Sandy Hook the Democrat controlled House and Senate decided they would charge a fee to do this redundant background check, the Governor also a D signed this and several other "common sense" gun control measures into law.

That's why if you buy a firearm in Colorado you pay for a background check.

You're not from Colorado, are you? Although it may (or may not) have changed in the last year or so, Colorado law has required the CBI to collect a fee for background checks. Regardless, a lot of dealers charge for the service and at $305 out the door I don't really care if it was $10 for the rifle and $295 for taxes and background check.

It isn't important to me that you know why I bought it or that you approve my intended changes. And yes, the intended changes will cost more than the original value of the rifle. They will also, however, add to that value and, much more importantly, the Savage action allows me to customize the rifle to my desires without any added expenses for a gun smith.

I’ve already stated that if the .243 barrel shoots the rifle may stay as a .243. Or not, depending on a variety of factors including personal whims. The stock, however, is not long for this world and the scope, rings and bases have already been replaced. If I replace the barrel at a later date I will have much less invested in this rifle than I do either of my other customized rifles and I expect it to shoot every bit as well.

Personally, I think you snagged one heck of a great buy. As you stated, Savages just flat SHOOT! A .260 would be awesome!

They're butt one-rifled Kriegers. Good shooters from what I've seen.

The rifle is an FXP3 with synthetic stock. When I took the stock off I noticed it has steel pillars.

Anyone have a Savage in one of these stocks and how does it shoot if you do?


If it shoots well as-is I may just paint the stock.

Some thoughts on rebarrel options...

Last night I was looking at the ballistics for various short action cartridges and came to the conclusion that, when using 22" barrels for all, 7mm and .270 WSM ballistics beat any factory 6.5 offering I could find except the 26 Nosler and 6.5-300 WBY - and they compares very favorably even with them. Using Nosler #8 data and derating velocities by 25fps/inch for stated barrel lengths over 22", my calculations show the .270 WSM/150g ABLR and 7mm WSM/150g ABLR both shoot flatter and deliver more retained velocity and energy out to 1000 yards than either the .257 WBY/110g AB or 115g BT or a .264 WM/130g ABLR. Not bad for a short-action cartridge.

That said, having the fastest, flattest shooting and hardest hitting cartridge was not my goal when I bought the Savage. If it was, I would have bought a long action instead. What I want is a rifle that is reasonable to use for big game at 500 yards for elk and 600 yards for antelope, yet still be comfortable to shoot. Moreover, although I handload, I am not interested in a wildcat. This is to be a rifle I would use but more importantly a rifle that my daughters will like to shoot.

Again using Nosler #8 data (except as noted) and derating 25fps/inch for barrels over 22", here are some ballistics at 600 yards with 6" MPBR zeros and the 26 Nosler for comparison:
26 Nosler/129g ABLR @ 3371fps = 38" drop, 2398fps, 1647fpe, 18" drift
7mm WSM/150g ABLR @ 3086fps = 48" drop, 2237fps, 1667fpe, 18" drift
.270 WSM/150g ABLR @ 3127fps = 45" drop, 2288fps, 1744fpe, 17" drift
.308 Win/190g ABLR @ 2574fps = 77" drop, 1846fps, 1437fpe, 22" drift
6.5 Rem Mag/130g ABLR @ 3130fps = 48" drop, 2204fps, 1403fpe, 19" drift
7mm-08/150g ABLR @ 2769fps = 65" drop, 1976fps, 1300fpe, 21" drift
.260 Rem/130g ABLR @ 2900fps = 59" drop, 2018fps, 1176fpe, 22" drift
.257 Roberts/110g AB @ 3161fps (my handloads) = 54" drop, 1953fps, 931fpe, 27" drift
.243 Win/95g BT @ 3111fps = 60" drop, 1811fps, 692fpe, 32" drift
.223 Rem/80g A-MAX @ 2700fps (Hornady data) = 80" drop, 1684fps, 504fpe, 32" drift


Every time I look at those numbers I come back to the idea of a 6.5 Creedmoor, .260 Rem, 7mm-08 or .308 Win. The 6.5 Remington Magnum would be interesting except brass is hard or impossible to find.

I'm not familiar with the 26 Nosler, but the short mags won't work. Savage used a large shank action for those. The 223 is gonna be a problem because you'll have to replace the bolt head, mag box and follower.

Without having to replace anything but the barrel, you can go with any .308 based cartridge as well as a 22-250. If you want all the info, go to the Savage Shooters Forum.

Didn't realize the large shank was used for the short mags. That certainly shortens the list of potential chamberings.

The first couple years of WSM and RUM cartridges Savage did were all on the small shank rifles. So building a WSM on a small shank barrel is a non issue, plenty of guys over on Savage Shooter have been doing it for awhile. You will probably need to find a long action bolt head and shorten it down to work with the SA bolt.

Small Shank WSM

I would play with it as a .243 for a while before I made any major changes to it. I got a .243 last year and I really enjoy shooting it. Less recoil than my other deer rifles. There are several threads on here to give you some ideas for different loads to try.

Shooting the donor often causes a lot of unnecessary angst.

But I'll do it anyway.

Won't be selling it any time soon. After changing the rings and scope it turned out to be a one-ragged-holer with 95g SST bullets. Its's a keeper.

I was almost through reading this before I realized it was almost a year old. I'd have probably done exactly what you did. In my experience the cheap stocks shoot as well as most aftermarket stocks. At least for hunting purposes, a target shooter trying to squeeze an extra .1MOA out of a rifle might note a difference. Money is better spent elsewhere.

I don't currently own a 243, but think the round is very much under rated. With what you already own I don't see any need for anything bigger.

The Savages are under-rated, too, IMHO. Every one I've shot was quite accurate. I remember a gun-rag shoot-off from years ago and a Savage came out the winner.

OK, the FXP3 stock is about a purty as the 'walnut-look' stock on my old 110E .22-250 that my daughter graciously called 'homely'. Dad gave it to me with close to 2,000 empty cases and it would still put 5 shots into a group you could completely cover with a dime.

The .243 printed 4 shots into .4" last time I checked it at the range. For the $295 price out the door for the .243, I got a winner, too, plastic stock or not.