Savage stock and rebarreling

dvdcrr

New member
Thinking about some upgrades to a savage 14 dbm. What tools do you need to do the barrel swap? I would be starting with a basic bench vise, basic tools.
Secondly who makes a nice aftermarket synthetic stock for the Savage (detachable box mag)?
Thank you!
 
Does your rifle have a smooth or slotted barrel nut?
If it has a slotted barrel nut then you will need a barrel nut wrench, barrel vise and/or action wrench. If however you have a smooth barrel nut you will need a dremiel w/cut off wheel, a me slotted barrel nut, barrel nut wrench, barrel vise and/or action wrench.

As you might have guessed that the Dremel should be used to cut off the smooth barrel nut.

I can't help on the stock, that assumes I provided useful info regarding the barrel swap.
 
For the barrel swap, you need the action wrench, barrel nut wrench, barrel vise or at least, blocks for the barrel to put in your bench vise. Go gauge required, there is no need for a no-go gauge on a new re-barrel.

For best accuracy, you should replace the factory recoil lug with a precision ground lug like that from Holland, as well as a squared and trued barrel nut.

I do them for $125...and can source anyone's prefit barrels.

PM me if interested or if I can be of help.
 
A few companies make a wrench for the smooth barrel nut (I made my own). Basically a hole in a piece of flat stock with a relief cut and slot, with a bolt to tighten around the nut. Just Google it...
 
I've done.several savage builds and.all you need is a barrel nut wrench and a way to hold either the action or the barrel. A thick piece of leather wrapped around the action and clamped in a bench vise is all that I use anymore. The leather prevents damage from the jaws and the recoil lug prevents it from spinning. Once you get the nut loose everything comes apart easily by hand.

I used to buy the squared recoil lug and barrel nut, but I don't anymore. If you don't have a squared receiver then the recoil lug and nut won't mate up squarely either. Plus I never saw where it shows any improvement in my group size.

McMillan, Manners, and HS Precision are the top of the line stocks for Savage and the most expensive. Stockdale and Bell & Carlson are your mind range stocks with B&C being the easiest to get in a timely manner if you're looking for something more tactical. Boyd's will be the cheapest decent stock you can get in laminates or walnut. There is Choate and Houge as well, but Choate is extremely heavy and I don't like the rubber coating on Houge stocks.

Then there are chassis systems you can get for Savage rifles. I have no experience at all with these so I have no recommendations. However, they are modular and use many off the shelf AR style parts and seem to be very end user friendly.
 
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Taylor--?

You mean Boyd's no doubt...:)

OP--Where are you purchasing your new barrels? Northern Shooters Supply is a supplier for Criterion barrels. Jim at Northern will help you a lot. I changed a barrel last fall, and he talked to me on the phone while I was setting the headspace on the new install. Great guy.
 
I have one in an Accuracy International Chassis System. Top of the line piece of kit. Others like XLR and PDC get good reviews but no experience with them either.

I'll respectfully disagree on not replacing the recoil lug- at least for a precision build. The factory lugs are stamped, not machined, and are not true. Especially if the receiver is not epoxy bedded- as in a chassis- you're only going to get partial bearing on the block behind it (completely different issue and unrelated to a trued receiver face).

For $30- when you're spending $400 on a barrel, I think it's a few more pennies well spent. Replacing the nut, not so important IMO.
 
You can disagree all you want but I've had several smiths tell me that if the receiver isn't square then a precision ground recoil lug and barrel nut won't be square when assembled either. If you're building a "precision rifle" then why not do it right and square up the receiver? It's the OP'S money and if he wants it then he can buy it.

So if you don't square your receiver face the a precision ground recoil lug won't set square against a bedding block either. So you still won't get equal contact across the recoil lug and and the bearing surface of the chosen.stock. this is why I went away from using the squared recoil lug and started bedding all my stocks even the ones with bedding blocks.
 
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Factory recoil lugs are stamped and some what thin. A quality after market recoil lug is larger and stiffer, is it worth it who knows, as you can see opinions vary. Myself, I like the idea of a heavier recoil lug, if nothing else it just makes me feel better.
 
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