Savage Switch Barrel

[timmymic]

Good Morning All,

Wondering what the recommendation is for savage barrel swap or a remage barrel swap as for as how many times you should swap them out. I hunt coyotes most of the year and would like a smaller caliber barrel for that but also want the option to swap out for big game hunts if I decide to do that (maybe ever 3-4 years. I would really like to invest in one rifle so I can fully commit money without thinking of having to build 2 rifles (ie one really nice stock, one really nice scope). Would it be excessive to swap barrels back and forth of a savage or remington with the remage barrels?

Thanks guys

 

[desertcj]

Bottom line....no. Sounds like quite a hassle to me though.

 

[Barrelnut]

Would not be excessive at all to swap them every 3-4 years. Just would not want to do it weekly. LOL.

I have a Savage 300 WSM that I have two barrels for. One is a heavy, 26" target barrel that I shoot in the spring and summer and the other is a 24" carry weight that I put on in the fall for elk. Have switched them over about 3 times now. Has been worth it to me.

It's not too big a hassle if you have a scope that you can take off without loosing the rings on the scope itself. You would probably need about $300 dollars in tools to do it easily: Couple sets of go/no gauges, barrel vice, barrel nut wrench, action wrench, and maybe a torque wrench. And try to use cartridges that use the same bolt face.

 

[jrock]

It would be a bit of work but if that's what you want, then its more than doable. I've wondered if replacing barrels multiple times affects the overall accuracy. I have a .204 that shoots into a single hole and I'm afraid I'll loose the accuracy if I take the barrel off. If I think about it, there shouldn't be much risk but it just shoots so well.

 

[Georgiashooter]

You should be able to have two barrels cut with a shoulder as opposed to using the barrel nut on the savage. If the action face is squared and barrel shoulder is square then all you would need to do is tighten about 1/16 of a turn,or less, to secure it. A witness mark on both barrels to correspond with a witness mark on action would be a good visual aid for consistency. Not ideal but doable.

 

[Smokinghole]

I sort of went the other way. I just have multiple actions at this point with barrels installed. Savage actions can be had "cheap". Between a nice prefit barrel and an action you're less than a custom action by itself. Add in the costs of the shoulder barrel fitting and a savage action with barrel makes for decent swapability. It's not ideal but right now, I just swap a barreled actions in my GRS Berserk stock. I was drawn to Savage for the switch barrel capability but I'm honest with myself, I don't want to rebarrel just to swap cartridges.

 

[nkyshooter]

I own multiple savages and have installed the barrels on all but one of them and most of them multiple times. In my experience, I've not needed to spend a great deal to be able to do it. ... I do it using a barrel nut wrench and action wrench with a vise. Assuming you already have a vice, you're looking at under $100 in tools plus what you'd need in go/no go guages.

I am not a proponent of the shoulder as opposed to the barrel nut. In fact, I am now beginning to convert remingtons to remage setup's so I can easily swap barrels using prefits with no smith required. I suppose if I was investing in a $4k custom rig I might think differently but I'm working with $250-$350 actions and prefit barrels. I get solid 1/2 MOA and under shooters once I put them into good stocks (ala HS Precision and B&C).

The barrel swap task is about a 30 minute task start to finish once you are comfortable with it. You'll still have to re-zero, even if you didn't have to move your rings on the scope. But, if you have a good scope, with a ranging reticle that matches your turrets, you should be able to re-zero in just a few shots. (NOTE: on all of mine, I have to remove the scope mounts for my action wrench to work - I'd prefer if I didn't but that is not currently an option with my setup)

All that said ... for some reason, I still find excuses to add another action so I won't need to swap ... but that is just the 'nut' in me that just plain wants more.

Good luck ...