If you have your giunsmith properly headspace your "switch" barrels when they are made, you can just screw them on and off. If you use the Savage "nut" system, you need to headspace them each time you change barrels...I think....

Is that right?

AC

Second silly question for today:

The Savage 110 lends itself to switching barrels quite easily due to the way the barrel is held in place. Would it not work just a well on a Rem 700, Mauser, M70 or any other bolt gun with threaded receiver, provided you made the appropriate barrel nut and extended the threaded section of the barrel?

Or am I just in LALA Land?

Yes it could be done. The Big Nut that is. But why? Part of the reason it is so appealing to the Savage is the price of the action/used guns. Any other action would probably have to have a nut made special for it. That adds to the cost of an already more expensive action. That is unless what ever you chose has the same thread as the Savage.

I know of a few people that have Remington�s with the recoil lug pined and switch from target to hunting barrels. I know others have done it with Winchester�s and 98�s. The only difference is you would have to have a smith do the head space for you. This is a one time thing and wouldn�t cost much more than a Big Nut. In other words most any rifle can have the barrels switched back and forth for not much more than the Savage. All you would need is an action wrench (you would need this for the Savage also) and a vise to hold the barrel, instead of a wrench for the Big Nut.

Shawn

In my opinion , the nut is one reason Savages tend to shoot so well . When you tourqe down that nut a bit , it will stiffen up the whole assembly , even if the action to barrel thread fit is a bit loose.......

Geez Marty, now what are you up to?

In short, yes, it can be done. Fred Moreo at Sharp Shooters Supply has done it, may be worth the phone call (419 695-3179).

That said, in my opinion, the nut is beneficial only if cost and large manufacturing tolerances are important. If you are paying for gun smith installation, I can't see any benefit. As a matter of fact, I picked up my rebarreled Savage from the smith yesterday, and it's no longer wearing a nut. One quick yank with a barrel vise, and the barrel comes off, and another can co on. No biggie to switch barrels, at all. HTH, Dutch.

Canuck, that is right. You have to mark your barrels or use a cartridge or gauge to headspace off with the nut.

With a "normal" shouldered barrel, you just unscrew and screw back on. Very commonly done by people in the benchrest crowd. Switching is much quicker without the nut, but you pay a little extra to get the barrels headspaced "permanently" by a smith. FWIW, Dutch.

Thanks Dutch -

I knew about just screwing on & off regular barrels, as I have done a lot of switch-barrel rifles that way, and own a shameful number myself.

It has been so long since I've done a Savage 110 or similar that I couldn't remember the deal with them.

In the recesses of my mind, though, it seemed to me that every time I took off or put on a Savage barrel, I had to fish out a cartridge or my headspace gauges.

Thanks for the confirmation.

AC