Trade and buy again, or rebarrel...

[Groot]

Yep...it was right at 2 weeks or so.

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[Don A Parsons]

Why not buy a fairly new rifle in the caliber of your choosing and be done with it...

Building can """sometimes""" get pricey...

I got a new Frugal SPS 308 as a back-up rifle last year when I was in the North... We shot it out from 100 to 1400 metres,,, of course the groups looked much better in the 1240 meters...

Not bad for a $500 rifle and $50 used Leopold in 6.5-20x50,,, we switched it out to a 3x9 Leopold when we went to Eastern Canada to hunt Moose that year as well...

Yuppers,,, a good old Tikka will get you onto the range fast,,, then you can decide on the building idea from there if this is something your wondering about...

A rule of thumb for building a good rifle that will benefit you for years to follow is one that is specifically built for you and your needs with out cheaping out...

Of course this is the idea that I like to follow...

Good luck on your adventure in either path you choose,,, you will have to decide which idea suits you the best...

Cheers from the North

 

[Groot]

Why not buy a fairly new rifle in the caliber of your choosing and be done with it...

Building can """sometimes""" get pricey...

I got a new Frugal SPS 308 as a back-up rifle last year when I was in the North... We shot it out from 100 to 1400 metres,,, of course the groups looked much better in the 1240 meters...

Not bad for a $500 rifle and $50 used Leopold in 6.5-20x50,,, we switched it out to a 3x9 Leopold when we went to Eastern Canada to hunt Moose that year as well...

Yuppers,,, a good old Tikka will get you onto the range fast,,, then you can decide on the building idea from there if this is something your wondering about...

A rule of thumb for building a good rifle that will benefit you for years to follow is one that is specifically built for you and your needs with out cheaping out...

Of course this is the idea that I like to follow...

Good luck on your adventure in either path you choose,,, you will have to decide which idea suits you the best...

Cheers from the North

I know it would most likely be "cheaper" to buy factory but my biggest fear (and ive done this before) is to buy a new factory rifle feel sub par about certain aspects of it and then need to upgrade beyond that. I love the tikka action but I didn't feel the stock and fit felt good the last that I handled them, so I was concerned that I would be looking to restock. And then have to start over anyways.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

I just picked up a Savage Ashbury on sale 1/2moa gun very pleased with it out of the box. My brother has a Tikka T3 light that was very very picky on loads until we cut some little plastic tabs off the front of the stock that pushed on the barrel now it shoots most ammo MOA or better. I really don't think you could go wrong with either. A rebarrel wouldn't be a bad way to go either your very very likely to get a real shooter with a quality aftermarket barrel over a factory tube.

 

[BrentM]

Nice thing about a savage is you switch barrels and have multiple cartridges available in one action and stock.

 

[justinp61]

I put a Shaw pre fit 24" sporter contour in 260 on my model 16. It shots well under 1" at 100 with Sierra 120 grain game kings.

 

[dougduey]

You already have a donor action, so you can easily put a barrel on it. I've gone through every route you could go with factory rifles. Bought the cheap Rem 700 SPS and upgraded everything on it, which turned out to be not so cheap. But, I love the rifle. Just rebarreled my Tikka T3 from a .243 to a 6.5 Creed with a prefit Proof Carbon wrapped barrel and a new B&C stock. It's a tack driver. My gunsmith installed it and had to cut a little of the threading off since it interfered with the bolt but had plenty of headspace. So much for being an easy install prefit. Now, I just built an entire rifle and used NSS for everything but the stock. James was awesome and walked me through what I needed. I got a trued Rem 700 action and 24" Criterion barrel with the Remage set up. Per James suggestion, I purchased a Grayboe stock and it dropped right in. It's chambered in 280 AI, and, although I'm still early on in load development, it's looking like it's going to be a shooter. It was a lot easier to install and headspace the barrel than I expected
A lot of companies make prefit barrels now. Besides Proof, CarbonSix makes a good carbon wrapped barrel. I have one in 7 STW and it's very very accurate. They use McGowen barrels, too.
Figure out what you really want and do the math on it. If it makes more sense to purchase a factory built rifle, then go that route. It cost me more to build the 280 AI than purchasing a factory built one, but I got everything I wanted on that rifle.

 

[skipglo]

Looking for some advice, heres my predicament..

I currently have 2 savage rifles, one older basic model 110 in 7rm and the other is a 10T in 308. On the 10T it came with a bull barrel, and the cheap crapy stock that I had to put a polymer cheek riser on to get the proper height.

Im on a pretty tight budget but my original plan for the longest time was to build on the 10T action, buy a shilen (or McGowen) prefit in an undecided caliber and then buy a Boyd's pro varmint stock, maybe add pillars and bed it for sure. But then any time I got a new itch I could replace the barrel in the same contour in a different caliber.

I do a lot if varminting (ground hogs and coyotes) as well as deer hunting (when I don't fill tags in archery and early muzzle loader) and thats mainly what the rifle would be used for, so I thought a 6 creed or 22 creed shooting heavys would be a good fit, but thats another topic for another day.

But then I started second guessing it and considered trading both in with some added on top for a factory rifle possibly a Tikka in 6.5 creedmoor and would most likely not be used for varmint hunting and be used as a designated deer rifle. I just worry that if I do that and Ill regret not building.

thats all of your thoughts on it? Any advice?

IMHO...... are you comfortable that you have the necessary equipment and true ability to build! If the answer is absolutely a yes with no outside smithing necessary adding to the expenses...build but generally the expenses needed to piece one together don't usually come with a budget..... Therefore why build when there are so many great choices WITH WARRANTY for so little money today....and you can be shooting tomorrow....Bergara, Howa, Tika, under 1500.00. All tack drivers.

 

[freddiej]

Groot, my preferred savage pre-fit barrels are Shilen. I rebarreled a 223, 308, 243, 270 and 300 win mag all with Shilens and was never disappointed. match grade barrels and great chambers. the only thing I can say bad about them is I had to wait once or twice a few days more than I wanted to. but the rifles were tack driving machines after barreling.

 

[zr600]

Ok I have rebarreled my savage axis used James at nss nut and lug had the axis turned and turned back to get rid of the notch for the axis style lug, I used a Black Hole Weaponry barrel on this build shoots tacks. Then this summer I built a 7remmag mag on a tried 700 action, remage criterion prefit barrel, trigger tech trigger, got everything from James at NSS he is great to deal with good prices. Plus he is in my home town so it's supporting a locally owned business and I get to pick
My parts up in person and get a hand shake! So I vote for a barrel from James you will get first class service great prices and a good barrel and parts. He has muzzle breaks and triggers too.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Keep the 223, the 270, and the 7mag. Build the 308 into something cooler than a 308.

 

[freddiej]

Groot, PS, I would personally rebarrel the 308 to a 22-250 or 338 Federal. both have impressed me. the 338 Fed just in the last 2 years, the 22-250 was a gun everyone wanted 20 years ago while I was in gunsmithing college. I never understood why until 2005 when I was asked to bed and tune up the trigger on one. I had to test it out didn't I? now I no longer have a bolt action 223 Rem. I do have a 22-250 bolt gun. 400+ yard coyote hunting has never been more fun.

 

[Groot]

Groot, PS, I would personally rebarrel the 308 to a 22-250 or 338 Federal. both have impressed me. the 338 Fed just in the last 2 years, the 22-250 was a gun everyone wanted 20 years ago while I was in gunsmithing college. I never understood why until 2005 when I was asked to bed and tune up the trigger on one. I had to test it out didn't I? now I no longer have a bolt action 223 Rem. I do have a 22-250 bolt gun. 400+ yard coyote hunting has never been more fun.

Freddie,

At this time, I don't have much interest in bigger bore calibers, I have no real need for them as of now, and I don't see that changing for some time now, I've thought about the 22-250 and maybe even the AI version. But that was kinda debunked when I started looking into the 22 creeds performance... stuck between the 22 creed and the 6 creed, most likely going with 6 because of the possibility for use on whitetail.. and I think at relatively the same velocities a 75 6mm will mimic a 22 cal 75 under 400 yards which is primarily my varmint shooting ranges.

-Groot