That seems to be a lot of what I've read so far. Thanks for that! As far as quality of the receiver/bolt etc. am I better off with a Mauser than a Savage?
The other thing that's muddying the water for me is that Mauser has a lot of variation from Mfg to Mfg and timeframe.
A typical Mauser action (military) is weaker than most modern actions due to the steel quality alone. Ackley did a lot of testing on military actions, and he actually found that one of the Jap actions was much stronger than a Mauser. But on the otherhand a good Mark X. action would be a good action to use. (I you wanted to go the Mauser route)
Things to think about:
* just about any aftermarket item made for a Remington can also be had for the Savage from somebody out there.
* you'll also incurr added costs from reworking the action with the Mauser alone
* in the end you'll spend more money making a typical 98 Mauser shoot about as well as a Walmart Savage than if you bought a Long Range Varmit rifle from Savage
* The mechanics of the Mauser leave a lot to be desired in the world of precision shooting. (lock time, bolt design, are a couple)
* Building a Savage can be simple, or also incurr some extra spent money. Depends on how far up the scale one wants to go.
* you can buy a Precision Target action from Savage in several different styles that also come with their target trigger (best factory trigger made other than an Anschutz). The Savage action typically will come in under .0015" without any work done to it, so your way ahead there (but not really). If you opt to have the Savage action retimed your gonna be out about the same money to true up a Remington anyway. It does make a difference by the way. The action with trigger sells for about $650, and that's not bad really for a right bolt left port (or dual port) solid topped reciever. Plus it's a three screw action!
* barrels are barrels when they start out. You buy a blank and machine it, or buy a prefit. I prefer going the prefit route due to the engineering part alone. Krieger has been hinting around about doing prefits for a year now, and when they do the rest will have to follow or fall to the 5% that go the otherway.
* used to be that only two or three shops sold replacement stocks for the Savage action. Those days are long gone. Now there are probably a dozen. You can buy any base you want for a Remington, and guess what you can buy the same base for a Savage (I prefer Farrell)
* of course you could go the Remington 700 route, and there's nothing wrong with that one as well. You'll have to true up the action as they seem to be all over the map. Locktime is much better than the Mauser, but still a little slow. There are more triggers made for them, but in the end you'll still end up with a 2lb. trigger for use in the field or maybe a 8oz. for target work. Pacnor does sell prefit barrel for them with a nut, and for me that's a step into the modern world. The Remington action verses the standard 10 series savage is slightly stiffer, but when you go the single shot route they are about the same. But when you move into the solid topped recievers they fall behind. The Remington bolt design makes their bolt alignment critical verses the floating head savage uses that aligns the bolt face to the case head.
* But! You could simply order in a Savage Precision Target Rifle for $1700. Comes with a H S Precision stock and the large barrel shank. The action is solid topped and can be had in a dual port or right bolt left port. Has a center bedding screw that really changes things. The one example I looked over had a 10oz. trigger(checked with a digital trigger pull gauge) with little if any creep from the factory. Barrel is athirty inch 1" diameter strait contour that can be had in many calibers (the one I looked over was in 6BR). It came with a proof target using factory Federal ammo that was about .150" three shot group. The downside is that the rifle is a little heavy, but also nice for setting over a dog town. These rifles are so good that they and the LRPV rifles are banned at a lot of long range factory class shoots! Gotta keep the good old boys happy I guess
gary
