Savage 110: What caliber/round to make it?

[DanM]

Here's a thread that sounds a little like your situation, with some interesting suggestions:

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/i ... 132.0.html

[FJ540]

My .25-06 is a Cooper model 22 with synthetic stock. If I'm going hunting in the woods or snow, that's the gun I'll be carrying. It already has a heavy #2 profile barrel and is guaranteed to shoot 1/2 MOA or they'll fix it free. It also has the best stock trigger, and one of the best triggers I've ever had under my finger, right out of the box. Like I was telling Dean the other day, why drive a caddy, when you have a ferrari? - and that was my argument for not keeping the gun. The only thing it lacks is a magazine (the 22 is a single shot gun), which would come in handy for varmints.

Having "another" .30-06 (class) won't do me any good until my kid is in his teens (4 years) and that assumes he'll want to hunt deer, which is a big unknown right now. My wife is a lefty, so I can't keep it for her. If only we could have cans - I'd build a suppressed platform with it...

A new bolt face isn't that big of an issue. They exchange right off the bolt pretty easily - the beauty of savage's being manufactured with common parts.

[farmerj]

there are a couple of concerns you are going to have.

.223 into a LA
http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/i ... 593.0.html

If the gun is old enough and has the large firing pin
http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/i ... 185.0.html
http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/i ... 511.0.html

For an idea of all the calibers you can put into a savage / stevens action.
http://www.gunnersgear.com/savage_pics/ ... _sizes.pdf

Some where on the site is a nice comparison of all the bolt heads with a good picture of the 4 next to each other. It's enough of a difference, that you could run in to difficulty finding a .223 bolt head for a LA which is entirely different than a .223 bolt head for a SA. Different lug sizes and head lengths.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=1094 ... Bolt-Heads

[minnesotatv]

Since my savage doesn't seem to be finding a new home, I'm going to rebarrel it myself and keep it.

It's currently a skinny barrel (sorry Joe, I thought it was thicker when I told you) .30-06, so I could cut that down and make it .308, but I already have one of those. It's a long action, so making it into a heavy .223 varmint gun doesn't make much sense to me. I could have the chamber recut to another .30 cal variety, but I'm thinking of trying my hand at fitting a new barrel (which will obviously be checked against headspace gages).

If you were looking at adding a tool to your arsenal, and had no intention of ever shooting anything bigger than elk, and already had a .308, .25-06, and 7.62x54r in the stable: what would you get?

I'm leaning towards a varmint gun, even though my .25-06 can be loaded very well for that task. I can put my weaver fine reticle scope on the savage and be set. Hand loads are possible, but not a design criteria at this point (cheap factory ammo would be nice).

6.5x55 or .260 Remington.
Lots of aftermarket pre-fit barrels in either. Check out the Criterion Barrels that
Jim Briggs up in Buffalo is marketing.
Can use the existing bolthead for either.
With the long action, you won't have to worry about COAL issues with the long
140gr, & 142gr bullets in .260 (like you might in a short action rifle).
Lots of interesting 6.5mm bullets being made.
Both good hunting calibers. Both good target calibers.
Just my $.02

[FJ540]

6.5 or 6.8 is what I was planning for my next short action AR build.

Thanks for the link's and info J. I'll check those out.

[Jbotto]

I like the ideas of the Mauser chamberings, either the 8mm, or the 6.5x55.I have no real experience with them, but they've always held my interest nonetheless. The 8mm, is pretty soft shooting too, so you could have a "bigbore" (as far as unwritten or unspoken MN standards) without undoing your back issue.

[mitchx3]

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/384077 ... less-steel

It's cool because you can load tiny 100gr 9mm (or is it .357, I forget) bullets or 300+gr bullets.

[h2opumper]

How about a 280 Rem or 280 AI

[FJ540]

Ended up trading it for a walther p22 with both barrels today. The p22 will be easier for my kid to shoot than the ruger mark 2, and will fit in a pocket for dispatching red rats while hunting.

Bottom line was that everything I would want to add to my collection is short action and I don't need another -06 size gun.