I heard savage barrels screw off the action. If so you could get different barrles right? If ya can where do you get the barrels and how much do they run? im lookin to put a 7mmwsm barrel on it if i can.

Yes Savage Barrels do screw into the action. They are locked in place with the use of the barrel nut. Provided the case head dimension is the same you can change between cartidges by swapping out barrels and setting the headspace and then locking the barrel nut down.

You need a barrel, action vise, and barrel nut wrench. All these are available from either http://www.brownells.com or http://www.midwayusa.com

Lots of info on Savages in the internet forum below.

Lots of folks dedicated to Savage parts and specifically barrels. Any barrel below 50 caliber is readily available. Prices for ready-to-go barrels start at $89 and go up.

Savages are the erector-set toy for shooters.


http://www.savageshooters.net

Midway sells barrels for the Savage I believe. A couple things to keep in mind. The barrels do unscrew and are easy to change, but you`ll need a headspace gage to set headspace on the new barrel. Also, the bolt face is of differing size on the short mags from the bolt of a 308/`06 or the 223 size cartridges. The bolt from say a 270 won`t work with a short mag without opening the face. I`ve heard too, the feed rails in the std action can cause feed problems when going to a WSM from a std cartridge but I`ve no experiance with them.

The savage i have is a .270wsm so i figured it would be easy to change them out.

Then it should work perfectly! You can change from .270 WSM to 7mm WSM to .300 WSM to .325 WSM....... without feeding problems or other issues, I would think. I'm not sure that I would go from a .270 to a 7mm, though - not much difference?

big diffrence to me though i want all WSMs figured i work my way up. sorta goal of mine. scince i like the .270wsm so much i thought owning the others wouldnt be a bad idea. Besides id rather have barrels that dont cost as much as guns. My wallet is light right now.

Savage has a large and a small shank action. Make sure any barrel you order will fit the size of action you have. Most (but not all) of the WSM's use the larger shank due to higher pressures in these cartridges. You can find a lot of new take off barrels for $50 on the Savage Shooters website if you look under the Savage Parts section of their forum.

Savageparts.com also has new barrels in almost any caliber for a decent price.

Whoooooa! Critter Killer.
Savage WSM rifles have the large barrel shank, and won't accept all other Savage barrels. Aside from that little quirk, you can switch calibers as long as your action length is correct. I have a short action standard caliber model 16 action, which came as a 308, it will accept .243, 7mm-08, 260 etc calibers. A .270 action would accept 30/06, 280, 25/06 etc. They are easy to switch, shoot like a laser and have a super trigger with the accutrigger.
You will need to understand, (I SAID UNDERSTAND) headspace, as it is critical when installing a different barrel. If you don't know what you're doing, (and it isn't rocket science) you'll be fine.
The best place I've found to buy barrels is savageparts.com. You can get most anything you want and they are cheap. My .260 shoots sweeeet.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby:
... The best place I've found to buy barrels is savageparts.com. You can get most anything you want and they are cheap.

But they don't keep octagon barreled 219 Donaldson Wasp barrels in stock for same day shipping.

This probably doesn't apply to your situation, but you can interchange bolt faces as well.

Switching barrels is fine, but, you'll have to re-sight in your rifle each time you switch.

Rojelio

How can a nut control headspace?
I can see a lock nut keeping the barrel tight, but not controlling headspace.

The only place I know or that specializes in Savage rifles is Sharp Shooters Supply They can supply parts or do the work. Your choice.

Most barrels screw into the action. The difference is that Remington and others use the barrels shoulder to lock against the action. Headspace can be set by reaming the chamber to the proper depth or if you ream to deap by milling of part of the shoulder and an equal amount off the face of the chamber. Savage does not use the shoulder to hold the barrel tight. Their barrels are full chambered. You insert the headspace guage into the chamber and screw the barrel in to the action and against the bolt face. Then you use the nut to lock everything down.

54JNoll,
At that rate you could screw in any barrel in any action until it headspaced, but the sights will not line up on top of the rifle.

Don't Savage barrels have open sights?

Yes without careful measurement you could correctly headspace a barrel and have the iron sights off center. Aligning the iron sights on center requires careful meaurement such that they are centered once the shoulder of the barrel is tight against the action and may require that the barrel's shoulder be milled until that can happen. Naturally the chamber face must have a corresponding amount removed and then likely the chamber must be reamed to proper depth to set headspace. IF the Savage barrel you want to install has iron sights yes it is again possible to properly headspace on the Savage and have the iron sights off center. The only difference is that the Savage barrel has no shoulder which must be milled to properly center the iron sights. But you would still have to remove metal from the back of the chamber and then ream the chamber to proper depth. This if course negates the at home swap out. Thus use a barrel that does not have iron sights and the Savage swap become much easier.

My brother-in-law has several Savage's. None of then have iron sights. That does not mean that non of them do. Aftermarket barrels typically do not come with iron sights already mounted. The iron sights can be mounted later once proper headspace is obtained. Then place a witness mark on the underside of the action and barrel.

The nut on the Savage is required because Savage does not use a shoulder on their barrels to "control" headspace. This is a cost saving feature Savage uses. It requires less machining time to set headspace at the factory. The nut locks the barrel to the action to maintain headspace.

I've heard of some taking a Remington and turning off the shoulder then making a nut like the Savages have. Heard it works great. Makes a neat switch barrel setup