Picking up a Savage 30.06, not sure what model. Wood stock, blind mag, pre-Accutrigger.Wanting to make it into a fun long range rifle in 6.5x284. What all needs to be done?
New barrel, Yep! the 284 case aint gonna fit in a 06 chamber and wouldnt shoot fer chit with all that play anyway. Seroisly there are a lot of mfg. that are makeing Savage barrels.
new stock, The factory stock will work as good as anything if you bed it but if you use a bipod the front stud should be moved back a couple of inches.
new trigger, If it has three screw on the trigger it should be tunable enough to work as is. If it only has one screw swap it out!
anything else? It is probably a flatback reciever so keep that in mind when ordering scope mounts. The 20MOA EGWs have been working well for me, they are light and allow most scopes to be fitted with ease.
How do you make it feed reliably, or are you better off getting a single shot follower? It should feed both round well, you may have to adjust the mag lips a little but it aint gonna be much.
I've got an old Savage that goes back and forth from 30-06,25-06 to 6.5-284 on a regular basis and all I have to do is swap out the barrels and adjust the scope setting. The 140 grain Amax from the 6.5-284 does a great job on goats and deer but 168 grain in my 30-06 barrel shoots a tad better and works better for small targets like prairie dogs and paper.
If you get stumped or need the tools drop me a line and I'll help if I can.
I hunted last year with the 6.5-284 barrel on it, got a goat @ 450 yards and a mulie across a canyon @ 620 yards. It was a tad heavy to haul around the prairie specialy with the 3-18 IOR on it but it workt great for the shot. There is a lot lighter 708 being put together this year I hope will shoot as good with less weight to pack around??
Here it is on the bench with the 6.5-284 barrel on it but the other barrels are about the same weight and conour.