Anybody know anything about re-barreling a Savage 12 FVSS in .308 to...

[SWJewellTN]

...6.5 x 47 Lapua?

When I say anybody I mean people with gunsmithing experience for doing the actual re-barrel, and hunters as far as the ability of the 6.5 Lapua would be for hunting deer.

I will say this: I am NOT a hunter: however, I am entertaining the idea of learning to hunt deer in the event that I must do so to survive. I also like to shoot distance, and the 6.5 Lapua does that better than the .308.

Questions, comments, or snide remarks?​

 

[Charley]

Savage bolt rifles are easy to rebarrel, simply unscrew the retaining nut, screw off the barrel, and screw on the new barrel and retaining nut. Use a headspace gage to set headspace, and tighten the retaining nut. Takes about 15 minutes. Add more time if you need to change the bolthead.
The question I would ask is why go to a 6.5x47? The .260 Remington (6.5x308) gives very similar performance, and brass will be a lot simpler to get, as well as being much cheaper.

 

[SWJewellTN]

The 6.5 Lapua has a sharper shoulder and longer neck making it a shortened and “improved” .260 Remington case. Along with its small primer pocket it's stronger: therefore, it can achieve higher velocities with the same amount of powder than the .260. The brass for the .260 is also reportedly to mostly be of "marginal quality" as well. Besides, the 6.5 Lapua is good enough for Marine Snipers it's good enough for me.

 

[Charley]

You asked, I answered.
Nothing wrong with building/rebarreling a rifle in a caliber just because you like it, I've done that several times. Just that ballisticly, the two rounds are very close. No animal or paper can tell that one bullet is moving 100 FPS faster than another. You can get that much variation with the same load in a different rifle! And yeah, some early .260 brass had some QC problems, so I've heard. Tell the truth, I wouldn't buy the brass anyway, I've got enough .308/7.62x51 and .243 brass that I'd form it myself. The classic "Improved" cartridges mostly refer to brass life and less stretching, has very lttle to do with cartridge efficiency, though. If you do want a 6.5x47, Midway has Shilen 26 inch stainless barrels for the Savage at a decent price, a bit less than $300. Easy enough to change out. You can rent "Go" and "No-Go" gages for rebarrleing from 4D reamer rentals. Good folks, easy to deal with. Barrel nut wrench can be rented as well, or bought for about $20 or so.