What to do with my impulse buy….

[Panhandlin Pat]

My wife sent me and my one year old son down to Cabela's yesterday (100ish mile drive) so she could have a break. They had a brand new savage long range hunter in 6.5x284 on clearance, out the door price was $380 or so. It had some bumps and bruises from being a display model on inventory for a while, figured it would make a good beater/ loaner. My question is, what do I do with it?
With lapua brass no longer available, I'm tempted to chamber something different. Maybe ream out to 6.5 rpm? Reamer prints look like it would clean the chamber right up.

 

[Calvin45]

My wife sent me and my one year old son down to Cabela's yesterday (100ish mile drive) so she could have a break. They had a brand new savage long range hunter in 6.5x284 on clearance, out the door price was $380 or so. It had some bumps and bruises from being a display model on inventory for a while, figured it would make a good beater/ loaner. My question is, what do I do with it?
With lapua brass no longer available, I'm tempted to chamber something different. Maybe ream out to 6.5 rpm? Reamer prints look like it would clean the chamber right up.

Man that's a good deal!

I have an older savage 111 long range hunter model in .300 win mag that had become my everything gun. It's a shooter!

The 6.5 rpm idea certainly sounds interesting. I will say, Peterson makes 6.5x284…as does ADG…the lack of lapua brass isn't really a reason not to go this route unless you just insist on that brand only (which is certainly your prerogative and choice) - but in my limited experience just with .300 win mag Peterson is every bit as good and tough and consistent as lapua is. My buddy says the same about ADG, I have yet to use adg.

 

[cajun]

My wife sent me and my one year old son down to Cabela's yesterday (100ish mile drive) so she could have a break. They had a brand new savage long range hunter in 6.5x284 on clearance, out the door price was $380 or so. It had some bumps and bruises from being a display model on inventory for a while, figured it would make a good beater/ loaner. My question is, what do I do with it?
With lapua brass no longer available, I'm tempted to chamber something different. Maybe ream out to 6.5 rpm? Reamer prints look like it would clean the chamber right up.

You can neck down lapua 284 brass. Thats what all the targets guys did until lapua started making it.

 

[fseaman]

My app for this says yes it can be cleanly reamed to 6.5 RPM

Is it a long action or a short action?

Savage Action Lengths: Long Action vs Short Action

Long or short action? We'll break down everything you need to know about Savage action lengths, the benefits of each, and how to determine your action length.

savagearms.com

 

[Dmagna]

My wife sent me and my one year old son down to Cabela's yesterday (100ish mile drive) so she could have a break. They had a brand new savage long range hunter in 6.5x284 on clearance, out the door price was $380 or so. It had some bumps and bruises from being a display model on inventory for a while, figured it would make a good beater/ loaner. My question is, what do I do with it?
With lapua brass no longer available, I'm tempted to chamber something different. Maybe ream out to 6.5 rpm? Reamer prints look like it would clean the chamber right up.

If you want a 6.5 rpm just buy a prefit for it. You can get 6.5x284 brass still.

 

[Panhandlin Pat]

My app for this says yes it can be cleanly reamed to 6.5 RPM

Is it a long action or a short action?

Savage Action Lengths: Long Action vs Short Action

Long or short action? We'll break down everything you need to know about Savage action lengths, the benefits of each, and how to determine your action length.

savagearms.com

It's a long action, mag length appears to be 3.49"

 

[Panhandlin Pat]

If you want a 6.5 rpm just buy a prefit for it. You can get 6.5x284 brass still.

I should add, I have a lathe so I'd only be out reamer cost. I've rechambered a number of factory barrels with great success. Actually most were savage factory barrels.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

Turn around and sell it for $600.